Yet again, Nolan compulsively obsesses over moral righteousness as he did in Batman Begins. Despite that, this movie is a massive improvement over the first one. Everything is bigger, badder, and more streamlined. Christian Bale aside (he gives the greatest phone-in ever witnessed in cinema), the performances are passable, and it seems like Nolan took some lessons from Batman Begins when it came to tightening the script and dialogue for this one. My only real complaint is the running time- Nolan could have easily chopped off thirty minutes and still had a very passable movie (the "dueling barges" scene was completely unnecessary as a plot point, and it obliterated the flow of the movie). Props to Heath Ledger, but I still like Nicholson's Joker better.