In my mind Batman Begins was probably the first superhero film since Superman The Movie that had its feet firmly placed o the ground in terms of story telling and plot. The long awaited sequel is about to be released and this for some is what the fans have been waiting for, that is the return of The Joker.

At the end of the first film, Batman gave his word to Jim Gordon that he will investigate the actions of a criminal called The Joker. This film continues the story a year later but takes it to another level entirely. Batman, Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent have joined forces to combat the crime levels within Gotham City, remember all the patients that were released by the Ra's Al Ghul from Arkham Asylum in the first film? Well they are still at large in Gotham City so it is up to the newly formed alliance to deal with this terror. Working together they basically break up the criminal organisations that are attempting to run the City for there own good.

Batman as a character has also changed, a new costume and a new location, instead of Wayne Manor, you see Bruce Wayne based in his company building. Christian Bale looks settled and comfortable in the row of Wayne/ Batman, and actually looks fitter than what he did in Begins. The one thing that I respect Bale for is the fact that he goes to some depth about researching the character he plays and this is evident he is on-screen as Batman. His stance, his mannerism and how he talks all changes. He becomes very aggressive and this only allows the audience to differentiate effectively between the two characters he plays.

The main difference between this and the previous film is that there are a lot more characters added to the story and the plot, the introduction of Harvey Dent for instance is a good addition to the story , but I cannot help thinking that we should really have seen him in the third film. Dent's character does change and evolve throughout the film and this is entirely true to the legacy of the comics. Aaron Eckhart who plays Dent, is in my mind the best choice of actor for the role, when the character itself takes a turn for the worst then you see Eckhart really give a strong performance in the dual role that he now plays. Fans will know what I'm talking about so I won't go into any details. It does feel that he has been bought in far too early into the series and I hope this isn't a wasted opportunity.

The saddest part of the cast is the late Heath Ledger; we all know that Ledger passed way earlier this year. His input into this film is staggering. His take on The Joker is what the cinema just hasn't seen for years and I think that it is this film that Ledger will be remembered for as he effectively grounds the character and totally rebuilds him into a totally different type of villain that we haven't seen before in this genre of film. His Joker has all the trademarks of the comic character in appearance such as the green hair and build, but what Ledger has done is to take his attitude towards life and increase it by 200% so that the character in the film has something against everyone and everything that means he has no boundaries or more importantly ethics, which his style towards destruction and death is shown a number of times in the story and at some points you feel guilty for laughing at what he does as the darkness of the action is truly pitch black. Forget about Jack Nicholson's version as he was overweight, and very much overpaid to play the Joker. Ledger looks the part, memorably plays the part and is awesomely mesmerising on-screen. Joker's back-story was not covered I the film at all. Thinking about it, this is actually a good idea as it means that what you see on the screen is what you get on the screen.

The film isn't perfect, such as the size of the cast of actors, but in all honesty I can say that these doesn't distract from the story or the plot, yes there are more Bat-Gadgets and Bat-Vehicles than before and yes the character of Wayne/ Batman has grown and evolved and his immediate colleagues have also evolved with him, but there is some points in here that feel as if the story is going by the "golden rules" of hero films, one example is at a slow point ion the film when Wayne is contemplating giving up the Batman mantle as he feels he is in second place to Dent who is on a personal crusade and basically feels as if he is not required anymore. The film has more emotion and feeling that gives it a lot of gravity. In this film there is just a hell of a lot of stuff going on that is told throughout the length of the film.