Energetic, fast paced both with action and ideology, this film can't help but impress from a technical standpoint. Performances by all main characters involved are solid to stunning - Ledger's Joker being the stunning, Bale's Batman being solid. To be completely fair, it's got to be hard to convey intent and meaning thru all that plastic. In the end, there were just too many similarly paced and cut scenes. This "more, bigger, better" kind of feel squelched the momentum a bit. A kind of patchwork of stunning scenes. Not to say I ever got bored. A real good flick, but couldn't possibly live up to the expectations the hype had given me. Definitely worth seeing, but I think that probably the first Nolan installment was the more groundbreaking; TDK was not allowed to breathe under it's own weight. PS - sorry if I PO any fans (I AM one). I just believe that more could have been achieved with less.