"The Dark Knight" - A

To say that the hype machine was working overtime for the newest Batman flick would be somewhat of an understatement.

The only difference is that this time, the hype is completely justified. The Dark Knight really is that good -- period.

Overview: While Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) continues to come to grips with the practical and symbolic nature of his alter ego, Batman is forced into a very public confrontation with The Joker (Heath Ledger).

Explosions and great public calamity ensue ...

"It's all that": Critics were saying that the late Ledger gave the performance of his life here, that Oscar would come calling posthumously. I tend to agree with this whole line -- I'd never seen the actor show up with this much intensity. You will believe that Ledger is the Joker.

I was a little less wowed by Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent (Two Face). The cg for the post-accident Dent was great, but I guess it was not as solid an outing when paired with Ledger's over-the-top Joker.

Overall, The Dark Knight packs a tremendous punch of highly capable actors delivering a moody, dark action storyline and character development. It is rare to see so many elements arrive so well pieced together, and that's what makes this production an outright "A" from start to finish.

A special tip of the cap to director/co-writer Chris Nolan for giving us another great trip to Gotham. His seamless, chilling vision is as close as you'll likely ever get to the progressive and adult-friendly comic books. This is great work, and I appreciated ever minute of it (even the stuff copied from the very fine "Heat").

As a side note, The Dark Knight and the equally enjoyable Iron Man (B+) continue to show that comic books and graphic novels are fantastically original and entertaining for readers of all ages. So do yourself the favor of reading some of these before and after you see the films.

And I couldn't more pumped to see the Watchmen film next year. The Dark Knight was great, but this trailer is giving me goosebumps ...

WATCHMEN trailer 1