"I've never seen such brilliance put on screen," was the statement I said after someone asked me did I like it. I couldn't have asked for more in this movie. Great action sequences, terrific story, great acting, more humor than I expected, a real Batman/Joker connection, and a few surprises that even I did not expect. I thought I knew everything about the movie form spoilers, trailers, and clips, but I did not. Pretty much the whole third act was new to me.
Spoiler...
The coin came in earlier than I though it would. I figured the second act would bring it in, but nope. It's there from the very beginning. I was sad to see the Tumbler go, but the Bat-pod was a worthy replacement. At least we got the Tumbler through two movies, as plans were for the car to blow up in Batman Begins. This is why the modern Batmobile blew up in the video game.
Nolan pulled a fast one on me, as I thought that Sal Maroni being brought into the mix would make him the reason why Dent was scarred, but I was wrong. The Joker, there's nothing I can say that can give the character justice. But I'll try to by saying that he was a criminal genius who managed to kill Loeb and the Judge without even being there, as his prey was Harvey Dent.
Speaking of Dent, man, Eckhart did Dent maybe as good as Ledger did Joker. We saw the calm, cool, collected, and ass-kicking Dent in the first act, a more pissed off Dent in the second act, but he did manage to do a pretty astonishing act as he saw Batman more than just a crime fighter. The third act was a great Two-Face rendition. I saw the hatred he had but also how he kept to the coin.
The final Joker monologue was fantastic and something Keaton/Nicholson were light years away from. The Joker knew that Batman wouldn't kill him because he has morals in what the Joker sees as a world without morals. And he wouldn't kill Batman because he's "Just too much fun."
The ending had my heart pounding. I had to take deep breaths after the movie ended. Batman decided to take blame so that the Joker wouldn't win, even though that would ruin his image to Gotham City residents. Then Gordon went on a great monologue about how Batman isn't a hero, he's a vigilante, he is the Dark Knight.
10/10