Batman The Dark Knight and the return to what makes a movie good

Went to watch the new Batman movie today with my brother.

Posters from The Dark Knight website by Warner Bros.

Highly anticipating this one when Heath Ledger was cast in it and sadly he would never see it and how brilliant his performance had been in it.

I am thankful that Hollywood has gone back to putting good stories with good scripts and character development in movies. Now they know that movie-goers are NOT a bunch of clueless lot with sawdust where their brains should be.

I am still reeling from that awful 4th installment of Batman more than a decade ago. That was when Hollywood were hell-bent on getting the biggest stars into their vehicles and characters were "developed" with profits from merchandising in mind. They were more interested in how Alicia Silverstone's butt would look like onscreen rather than putting real meaning and depth into her Batgirl character. Also, to me, it wasn't that George Clooney couldn't carry the Batman character but rather he was let down by a bad bad script. The producers were more interested in making the special effects and CGI the stars instead.

Posters from The Dark Knight website by Warner Bros.

With this one, what we get are a strong plot, story-telling build-up layered in timely twists and turns, a glimpse into and understanding of how the main characters became what they are and of course brilliant acting from a stellar cast most notably Heath Ledger. Aaron Eckhart proves to be a league of his own especially in the second half of the movie where his character starts to fall to the vulnerability of basic human instincts. Reminds me of Smallville where Lex Luger said to Clark Kent that "Turning evil is a journey" and in the Dark Knight, it is a journey well told. Also, you can't go wrong with Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman in the team.

My brother called that the ugliest motorbike he'd ever seen.

Oh..........with Christian Bale, a Brit, and Heath Ledger, an Aussie, in the leads, I see another continuing trend in Hollywood movies now where non-American actors and actresses are the ones chosen to lead the show.

As the movie that serves as Heath Ledger's swansong, the Dark Knight does it with great pride and dignity.