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First of all, my hat off to Mr. Nolan and his team of writers for creating such a deep and complex story.  From the beginning you can tell that there is more than just batman vs the bad guys.  This is a story that shows the conflicts of a man who is desperately trying to have a life…Batman really wants to be with his girl but duty calls, and he finds in Harvey Dent a man to follow his mission of fighting crime in Gotham.  Then we also have the conflict of the Lieutenant  Gordon fighting against a corrupt police department and at the end the conflict against the greatest betrayal of all…but more on that later. Right now it is fair to say that this is a reinterpretaion of a classic, taking elements from the comic books (like some references to Joker’s origin from Killing Joke, the ‘people will die” motif from Batman #1 and The Man Who Laughs) and transporting this to a more belivable setting, thus allowing us to see a world that could be like ours.

Harvey has a very dramatic, and believable fall from hero to villain.  He really lives up to his words “Either you become the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”  And Joker helps him in the transformation, making him suffer blow after blow until he reduced the hero to nothing but a mass of hatred and resentment whose only way to get even with the world is becoming the villain and take justice in his own hands.  I believed in Harvey Dent, and I really believed in his transformation.  How much can a man take before turning his back on the world?  Aaron Earckard did a very good job in his portrayal of Harvey Dent and Two Face.

Loved to see more involvement of Lucius Fox in the movie.  I think the character deserved it, not only as an integral part of Batman’s resources against Gothams mob, but also as Bruce Wayne’s conscience.  When Batman develops the surveillance system from Lucius’ idea of the sonar, Fox is quick in reminding Bruce…”how far is too far, Mr. Wayne”.  It makes us think that yes, we want a safer world but do we need to give up our privacy?  A little thinking there.

Then there is Batman/Alfred and i talk of them together because that how they interact in the movie.  They are a lot closer, and the father/son atmosphere is much more present than in the first movie. Lot’s of humor but also lots of loving and caring for the boy he help grow up. Great chemistry and awesome to get tiny bits of Alfred’s past in the English military service. Only thing that bothered me of Batman though was his raspy voice.  Man, more than once I wanted to offer the Detective a Halls…because it really was getting on my nerves.  But after the third view…everything was better.

Rachel Dawes was a neat surprise.  The selection of the new actress to take over the role from the first movie I think was a great asset because she brings a certain freshness to the character that lacked in the previous instalment.  This character’s “refurbishment” was done impeccably

Gordon’s character development like I said was wonderful, and I really loved his more direct involvement with the actual investigation.  I still remember in the Batman begins when he got to drive the Tumbler to help Batman against Ras al Guhl.  In here he gets to be the hero once more, taking on the Joker and making the ultimate sacrifice to make sure that Harvey’s accomplishments before his turn to villiany were not lost. One last word here and it goes to those that have said that Gordon’s family was not part of continuity.  I’m not a nerd, but I did my research and Jim Gordon was indeed married to a woman called Barbara (first wife) and had two children with her.  One was Anthony “Tony” Gordon and the other was Barbara Gordon (that will later become Batgirl) So yes, Gordon had TWO children…aparently Nolan made his homework too, go figures….

Anyways, this brings me to the most important part of the review.  Heath Ledger’s Joker and only one thing I can say. AMAZING.   Ledger was able to do what only a handful of actors in Hollywood can and that is to completely immerse themselves in the characters they portray to make then believable and realistic as possible and let us forget about the actor portraying them.  Literally, there is no Heath Ledger in this movie, only Joker.  Oh, and the Joker he creates is memorable…From his punk look, his smeared makeup and ghastly smile, his James Cagney style gangster speech, and even the way he walks.  This Joker is special.

From the first introduction of the character with his catchy phrase “I believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you….STRANGER!”  We know that we are in for a treat and that this is not your regular Clown Prince of Crime.  Then we see him again at the mob meeting and the well known twisted Joker humor is there with the disappearing pencil trick.  Yes, Joker is funny, but he is only funny to Joker.  For everybody else he is just shocking, unpredictable, and chaotic (though many of us laughed at his magic trick).  But this Joker rejoices in chaos.  Anything that serves to spread some anarchy in the world and challenge the established rules of society is fair game for the Jester. 

His insanity is obvious throught the movie, from the interrogation of the false Batman that he televised to the media, the total disregard for human life, the perception that everything is a game, a joke and worth laughing at, even pain (and please don’t tell me the scene of Joker’s interrogation at MCU  was not painful even though Joker was enjoying every minute of it), to the little twisted mind games he played with the Detective. And let’s not forget that little speech at Gotham Central with Harvey Dent.  “I’m an agent of chaos” and “Do I look like I have a plan?…I don’t have plans…I just do things…go to the flow”. Then he states that his plan is to turn people’s plans onto themselves.  And let’s not forget the moment he puts the gun on his head and let’s Harvey decide hi fate.  I think that you have to be pretty crazy for that…and that is the essence of Joker.

Mr. Ledger’s portrayal of the Clown Prince of Crime will go down in history as probably one of the best if not THE BEST one in the genre, but I would still like not to compare him to Jack Nicholson’s 1989 Joker.  These are totally different characters.  While I have to admit that Nicholson portrayed a great Joker, it was a COMIC BOOK JOKER.  He was the skin-bleached, demented, clowny psychopathic killer that we remember from the comic books and Hamill’s animated Joker.   Ledger’s Joker is darker, more sinister, more realistic, portrayal as if trying to show what Joker would look like in the real world.  I don’t think that comparing DC Universe to Nolanverse Jokers does any justice because both are such different takes on the same theme (but if someone put a gun in my head and asked me…I like Ledger’s best because I love my Joker very dark and evil.  That’s just me.)

Then the last encounter between the Batman and the Joker ensure on the building and we see the extent to evil that this insane criminal is capable of playing.  Yes, the people in the ferries prove him wrong and show us that there is hope for our souls, but Joker is the “unstoppable force that meets an unmovable object”  He is literally a response to Batman;  the Ying to Batman’s Yang and we believe that “they could do this forever…” And let’s us not forget that though Joker is in Arkham; couldnt blow the ferries and Gordon gave Harvey a ‘clean death” without Two Face’s ghost, the Jester still won his battle against the city by destroying whatever was good in Dent and leaving deep scars on Bruce Wayne’s heart and soul.

That is the line that got me.  Because i admired what Mr. Ledger did for my favorite villain in the screen, it is really a masterpiece, and it is oneof those things where you hate a villain so much (figuratively because i love Joker with a passion beyond reason), but you want to see more of him on the movie.  And that will not happen.  Unfortunately we lost a great actor on January 22, 2008. and unless Mr. Nolan sees fit replacing the actor, there is not going to be any more Joker.  I will treasure Ledger’s performance, it promised to be incredible in a sequel, but need to enjoy this little gem Heath left as a legacy of his talent instead.  And I will

Well, I think this is all for now.  Definitely this is a great movie, done with brains and heart.  Very enjoyable action and plot.  If you can…see it on IMAX, and if I were a professional reviewer I would have to give this movie 4.5/5 BATARANGS

I received this review early on by Ms G **:

“Go go go go! I love the story, ye’ve got me hooked lass 😉
Only one thing though… I think you need a beta reader, there are quite a lot of grammer errors, it doesn’t effect the story, but some readers are rather picky about that and if you smooth out the grammer you will probable get more readers ;)…”

Ms. G** is hooked on my story (YES! SUCCESS!), but even though she’s  hooked she knows it is not perfect and notes that the grammar needs some working.   Yes, my grammar sucks, but that doesn’t scare people off.   Just need to get a hold of that grammar and things will get better.  See?  This is the right way to do  a review.  She is even nice enough to end her review with a winking emoticon.  No hard feelings Ms. G**

Here is another one:

SM sent me this…
Oh, this is very interesting. I can’t wait for more. No rush though. I’ll be on the look out for any updates. By the way the song actually goes “Sweet dreams are made of these, …”

Intersting doesn’t mean SM buys it, but is promising (that is the good thing), and the fact she asks for more, is even more promising.  Then she finds something wrong… my own version of Annie Lennox “Sweet Dreams”  to the protagonist to sing. Oops, she is good enough to let me know the right lyrics.  She is nice, polite and shows me where i have erred and the correction.  Thanks SM…

H writes this… “Good story, but with many grammatical errors. Please get someone to edit your work. Some of the vocabulary is inappropriate as well, producing comical effect where it’s not supposed to be funny.”

I get the message immediately…the story has promise but the ghost of my faulty grammar still follows me.  Still working on being better at this thing H, I promise…

Then K writes this…
High intensity, but I find myself going, “Yuh huh, sure” too often, which sort of breaks up the rhythm. A couple really nice moments, but the emo-ness goes too far for my own personal tastes… I don’t quite buy the rational to explain all the “feelings” as the story progresses. Just my opinion, since I respect freedom of writing, and your story-telling abilities are doing very well; 

This one is a nice critic of the problems I was having with the rythm in the chapter he is reviewing.  He explains his reasons and states this is his opinion  Though he sounds disappointed, there is a word of encouragement at the end…not all is lost.  THANKS K…. 

One last one of the DOs if I may…
SG writes this about a chapter:
The suspense of this story is really nice, and the storyline flows very well. I anxiously await to see how everything will pan out. There are just few small details that should be addressed. Sometimes words which should be in a sentence are missing, or a word is used in the present-tense when it should be past-tense, and at one point, it is written that batman is chained up against a wall, but then joker walks behind him later in the scene.
Overall, well done, please finish.
 
She says something good (suspense), reminds me that my grammar still sucks (politely and with examples and a problem with a scene.   I am thankful of this review, SG…

Now lets see examples of the DONTs.
MJB wrote: “Gosh, how do you do it? Your details are so picturesque it’s not hard to fall in love with this piece of work.”

Then under the full moon, MJB becomes PA and says this…”you take everchance to insert some element of it [sex] and rub it in our face. Please stop that. It makes you look desperate. Every heard of the saying less is more? I say this because this reminds me of the garbage JokerHarley fans enjoy so much. 

Then once more, during a solar eclipse, PA then becomes LE and writes this:  “It’s such a shame that despite all the praise, hardly anyone has mentioned all the eye sores and errors that make this story a bit time consuming to read… I was going to suggest some rewording and tweaking but…it just wasn’t worth it.Your grammar is lacking…Also, you have told people that they need to watch their mistakes. What is it that they say about pots and kettles?… 
…I just think it is such a shame that there are stories out there that are more disciplined in their form and yet stuff like this gets sickening panagyric praise just because it fits their crack needs… It’s okay that people like this, but I wanted to take the time to give you a review that you rightly deserved.

OK…I will take this one in parts.  First, what jumps into my face?  Why do this person needs to speak  as three different people? Either this person has personality issues or he’s  trying to hide something. I would gladly have preferred this person would have stuck with one name…any name, but just one.  And I forgot to mention, I KNOW the real name, is not like he is getting away with making me think it is different people, you know?

So OK, this person started to like the story as is obvious from MJBs comment, then started disliking it.  No biggie.  All authors dissapoint fans every once in a while.  So I take the criticism, and I’m sorry that it didn’t live to his expectations.  At this time I went back and reviewed the direction the story was going, just to make sure I was not going too far on my presentation.  I have a particular view of the subject I’m writing that I know this person does not share.  But heck, its worth reviewing still, because maybe I’m missing the point. Actually it was reviewing the story what made me change the direction it was going, not because of what he said, but because i found I much interesting one to explore. Thanks, friend.

Then the last review… I didnt paste any highlights because there weren’t any.  Apparently there is nothing left in the story worth praising according to him and though it really hurts as a writer to get reviews like this, it is a possibility that he couldnt find anything good for real.  But notice the change in the character of the discurse. It becomes bitter as this person changes personalities.   It is a shame that people praise this story when its full of mistakes…OK, it is not nicely said , but I can take that .  Next… ‘I was going to point out some of the mistakes…but its not worth it...’ OUCH!

Lastly, the last words are like the clue that gives me into the real intention of this review. Just read by yourselves the last three lines.  There are other forms out there ‘more disciplined’ and yet ‘this gets sickening panagyric praise just because it fits their crack needs… ‘

Then the crowning sentence…. ‘It’s okay that people like this, but I wanted to take the time to give you a review that you rightly deserved.’  

Is this really a review?  It sounds more like somebody wrote this out of spite rather than desire to help me become a better writer.  It hurt, it slashed at my pride, but it didnt encourage me to become more than what I am.  That was probably the aim of this so called review and though it is not a full FLAME…its getting very close.  Why the venom?  There were ways of saying what he had to say without having to spit on the face of the author.  This review was written with the heart, not the brain.  A review from the brain sounds intelligent, has a purpose, is neutral.  A review from the heart, lacks intelligence, and is just full of passion.

I still get the criticism….My grammar still needs improvement. CHECK!  The story might be getting out of hand CHECK!,  need to remember that I’m a writer-in-training, so don’t need to get a big head even with all the other positive reviews…CHECK, CHECK! but the real intention of the so called review was not point out the weaknesses of my story to help me improve it, but to hurt the author and its work.  And I would like to tell you a little secret…All the name changes and he still didnt use his pen name; the one through which all other writers know him. WHY?  Because he doesnt want to be caught by the audience, flaming.  He is committing a crime and don’t want to be caught.  Only cowards behave in this manner. Oh well.  I just juice this pseudo-flame of whatever I could use to be a better writer and besides all the words and fancy vocabulary, could not find anything.  As a review this is useless but still worth having there in the reviews section.  Not hide it like dirty laundry, just because it doesn’t say what I want to hear.  

Boy and have I the winner for you This happened to a fellow author… 

BBD wrote this to her: I’m going to just disregard the atrocious, unconvincing characterizations
that make these two seem like completely different characters that have
nothing at all to do with…[B & J, the characters she writes] …But does it have to all be so trite and superifical and simplistic?
Seriously, it’s like watching some bad TV soap…But really, I hope you find that beta soon. You’ve got run on sentences and
poorly phrased lines galore. (And these were  the nicest parts)

Nothing positive here.  Just  angry ranting like the one before this one, though he points to some grammatical issues. This individual was very upset with what my author friend was doing with the characters.  He has a right to not like what she is doing but does he have a right to say it this way? Again, this is someone who is speaking from the heart not the brain and after reading the whole statement, I doubt there was a brain to use but I don’t want to judge anybody.  Maybe he was just upset, because these are his favorite characters… who knows?

Unfortunately, this individual felt confident enough and signed his little flame and my author friend made the mistake of emailing back. That just made things worse.
My friend wrote: 
“You have your views on how Joker should be written and I have mine. I would like to ask you, since you think that Batman/Joker slash can be done [better], what would you reccommend?
..”Finally, I would like to ask, which versions of the J** do you find to be the best in the 70 years he has been written? […] what would you reccomend on improving the character(s)?”

BBD didnt like the tone of the conversation and emailed back.
And on went the ranting….”your work is littered with mispellings, poorly constructed, run-on sentences, nonsensical themes and prose as bland as dry toast…. Just this whiny, whingy romance novel character. It would be so much more interesting if you didn’t castrate his nature. ” 

Well, his email is long but I can only post this much before making this R rated….The ranting became more passionate, angrier.  and the comments instead of being constructive, became destructive.  That is NOT the way to review.    This person’s intention was not of making my friend improve on her craft.  It was to sweep the floor with her pride and her work.  She asked for concrete help, if this person had the magic formula for perfect slash she wanted to hear it, an when inquired about what other literature with the character in question he had read, he refuse to answer.  Again, the lack of information confirms that…First, the person does not seem to know what he is talking about, and second, he didnt want to help…. This is a real FLAME, and that is a crime.

That’s it for now.  Sorry that it took so long….