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Minor characters - paramour Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Katie Holmes) and the squeaky-clean, tough-on-crime DA, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) add little to the table. Gyllenhaal particularly doesn't connect emotionally with either Bale or Eckhart, both seeking her affections.

Bale delivers a solid, brooding performance that helps define the suavely perfect Bruce Wayne and the consummately heroic Caped Crusader. But it's Ledger that gives a career-defining performance of terrifying, yet mesmerizing intensity, made all the more poignant in light of his untimely death. Caked in mascara, flashing a weapon at every turn, and with a horrifying maniacal laugh, his Joker is flat-out scary, an anarchist who believes he represents the truth “civilized” people would rather ignore.

Clocking in at 2 hours and 32 minutes, "Dark Knight" is a lot of film, but it moves right along (Lee Smith was the editor, Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard collaborated on the driving score). With atmospheric Chicago locations representing Gotham City, The Dark Knight is indeed ahead of the curve, and Ledger's performance is every bit as inventive and freaky as rumors have led you to believe.