The film's brilliant, and the acting even more so--as everyone else has said so far. I'll try not to rehash what others have said, though that may be hard to do.
- Somehow, after hearing how dark, twisted and disturbing the movie is, I was a little surprised to find myself unphased by the darkness.
Maybe it's because I've read a lot of Batman and, well, this the kind of badness that happens in Batman books. Or, maybe it's because once I'd seen Brokeback, I had a feeling that a Nolan-Ledger Joker would be deliciously twisted. So, it's not that the darkness and maliciousness weren't exceptionally well done. I just didn't leave the theater feeling ill-at-ease. (My wife, though, had to look at a picture of our daughter (who was at home asleep) on the car ride home in order to feel happy again!)
- So many awesome moments, many of which have been mentioned already. The Joker as the nurse--fantastic! Dozens more, but I'm too lazy to rehash them, esp. as we all know what they were.
- I was really, really impressed at the way the film kept you fully engrossed and tense through the whole thing. Not a single moment where you could've said, "Here's my chance to pee."
When the fat Batman swung on his noose into the window, the whole theater jumped. I was also impressed that it actually keeps you guessing. I get disappointed in a lot of films because I'll often guess what's coming well ahead of time. (example: I hated "The Man Who Wasn't There." Saw it with friends who were surprised at every turn, but I guessed every curveball 20 mins ahead of time
). With TDK, I
believed. I believed that Gordon was dead, even though I knew that they couldn't kill him. I thought I'd figured out that the driver of Dent's armored car was Batman...then he showed up. Somehow I next thought it might be Alfred...and didn't actually guess Gordon until two or three minutes before he revealed himself. Later, I fully believed that Dent would kill Gordon's son. I fully expected Batman to go after Rachel. And while I figured that each ferryboat had the other's detonator, when it came time that the civilan guy was about to push the button and blow up the prisoners, it had me wondering that maybe the Joker had given each boat its own detonator after all----what a wonderfully twisted turn that would've been!
- I think it's brilliant how much of the viral marketing for this film really fit in with the Joker's own methods. The notion of him recruiting random people--truck drivers, thugs, etc.--who don't fully know what they're involved in was reflected in the crazy-ass marketing techniques of having people show up to bakeries and get cakes with cell phones in them, then get instructions from strangers at the other end of the phone; post videos to
http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com to show support for Dent; have real-life Dent rallies in cities across the nation, etc.
- Heath Ledger. As others have said above, this film really hammers home the terrible loss the world has had in his death. To realize that he can't be here to reap the mountains of accolades. To know that there could've been so much more brilliance in the years to come.
Nowhere was there any sign of anything from before---no Ledger himelf, no Gabriel from 'The Patriot,' no Ennis---just pure, 100% The Joker, as if he'd always played the role and the role was always played by him. (I've felt the same about Gary Oldman's Gordon since the first film, though the Joker is more fun to watch and appreciate.) I think it was Oldman or Michael Caine who noted how Ledger gave such a brilliant
up-close performance. It's not the tongue thing (which seems to be a common ploy used in psychotic villain characters--i.e., Wormtongue). It's his face and delivery of the line: "It's not about the money...It's about the
message," said almost to himself. It's the moments when he's trying to persuade Batman, when he
does persuade Dent---those moments are where you see the depth of the Joker, understand and wonder at his ability move people to believe that maybe his insanity isn't quite so insane. Those moments, and the times when he flippantly, yet so very convincingly, changes the stories of the origin of his scars; confidantly applauds Gordon on his promotion, etc; they're the times that make you wonder whether he's so insane he's making sense or that he sees the world so damn honestly that he's completely insane.
And it's the delivery of this depth of character that makes Ledger's performance so damn incredible.