Sitting through the latest and biggest money-making franchise of Batman, one can’t help but wonder if every show is sold out because (like Trekkies) they form ticket lines as Bat fans? Or is it because of a morbid curiosity factor – like a highway accident – the need to slow down and see the very dead Heath Ledger alive and larger than life, again? And alive he is. With a riveting performance worthy of an Oscar nomination, it’s hard to watch him on the big screen without realizing he’s not coming back. Batman (Christian Bale) takes a back seat in the lead role about the Joker who blows up hospitals, robs banks and kills for kicks. By day he’s Bruce Wayne the billionaire playboy, but by night, he’s the Caped Crusader. Michael Caine returns as the trustworthy, Butler, Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on the Katie Holmes role as attorney Rachel/Batman love interest, and Eric Roberts joins the cast as Salvatore Maroni, a mobster affiliate of the Jokers. And that’s where it gets confusing. While the plot is multi-faceted with bad guys seemingly going nowhere with minimal direction, one thing is certain: We can determine good guy from bad guy in Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) reprising his role, in being joined in justice by the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) all in the name of protecting the citizens of Gotham. Often pulse-pounding and an amusement-park-of-a-ride, the screen bursts to life and the audiences go wild, every time Ledger appears. In the final twenty minutes the movie derails like a bad joke – maybe that’s how the joker intended it – but you’ll walk away wondering two things: Who decided to cast a soft-spoken, gay, cowboy to fill the shoes of Jack Nicholson’s joker? And two: whatever happened to the boy-wonder, Robin? Two and a half tiaras. Four tiaras for Ledger’s performance.
