A truly phenomenal movie, and without a doubt one that deserves to be in the elite company of Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II as a sequel that surpasses its original.
'Batman Begins' got the origin story totally out of the way. There are no scenes of Bruce Wayne crying over mom and dad or flashbacks to his time before becoming Batman. In many ways this is a classic 'Batman vs. Villain' tale, but written and filmed as a serious crime drama like 'Heat,' 'Zodiac' or 'Bullitt.' A fast pace and with some of the most epic, gorgeously filmed action sequences I've ever seen.
Heath Ledger owns this movie. An insane performance that demands Oscar recognition. At once totally original but totally loyal to the source material portrayal of the Joker. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the movie is how they kept the Joker's unique brand of violence rooted in that realistic setting but without losing any of its twisted black humor.
There are flaws in this movie, maybe 10 minutes too long and the ending was a little bit of a letdown for me, but thats just being nitpicky. Go see this.
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