I didn't like the first Batman either. That's not to say that the movie was bad. A movie can be great but that doesn't mean that it would be liked by people. I didn't like Lord of the Rings. I didn't like Pulp Fiction.
There was something missing in the movie.
Batman's not struggling hard enough. You don't get the feeling that Batman's vulnerable even when buildings around him are exploding, people are dropping dead like flies. You just know that Batman's going to win, and win by not killing his enemies. So what's different here?
What's Batman fighting for? To clean up the streets? Throughout the movie, there was chaos created by Joker that at the end, you wonder why Batman even wants to try. What's Batman trying to bring back? What was lost?
Maggie Gyllenhaal wasn't the a great cast as Rachel Dawes. She doesn't have the glow Katie Holmes had. Maggie Gyllenhaal also looked pretty tired in the movie. Even when she smiles or laugh, there wasn't any glow. There's always a glow when a good screen actress smile on screen. Always. I've just watched Black Book a few days again and the lead actress' smile still stayed very clear in my mind.
Heath Ledger's role as Joker was fantastic. Somehow, I felt that it was the character itself that was great. The no-rules thing with him was very frightening. He was worse than a terrorist because he has no motive except to kill. Just like Alfred said,"Some people just want to see the world burn." And that's just scary. How do you fight with someone who has nothing to lose?
Batman in a way is like Hancock. Because he couldn't kill the Joker when he had the chance, he let the mad man destroyed everything in his path. There's nothing wrong with killing people, if that's not the message that wars are telling us everyday. There has to be a cause.
Overall, the screen writing was terrific. The movie was a little too long at 152 minutes. I started looking at my phone for the time at the hour mark. But I'm someone with very short attention span.
Overall: 4/5
I still liked Spiderman 2 better.