Cillian Murphy comes back as Scarecrow for a very brief moment in the flick. That's a positive for me. Scarecrow is down at the bottom of the list of my favorite comic book movie villains. He's down there with Sandman from "Spiderman 3" and the Governor of California's interpretation of Mr. Freeze.

The big villain in this outing is, of course, The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. The Joker can be played as a campy character -- consider Jack Nicholson's dancing around in his royal purple suit. Ledger's Joker is not as campy and fits well in Nolan's Batman universe. The Joker is insane, but incredibly brilliant. Despite the clown makeup, you can see this guy being a serial killer. There are some Hannibal Lecter elements to the character where you secretly hope he gets away.

Ledger deserves the Oscar buzz he's been getting as this is the best portrayal of a movie villain that I've seen in a long time. Last year, Javier Bardem won for his portrayal of Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men" and Ledger's Joker is a transformation that is beyond the scope of Bardem's award-winning role.

Bale's performance as both Wayne and Batman has improved. Bale still has a goofy Batman voice, but I'm happy to see that Batman has more screen time, so I can look past the voice problems.

The supporting cast of Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Maggie Gyllenhaal do well in the flick. Gyllenhaal's Rachel Dawes was way better than Katie Holmes who played the love interest in "Batman Begins." Eckhart will garner some fanboy love for his portrayal of Harvey Dent.

Visually the movie is better than the first as well. On the IMAX cut of the film, you can definitely feel heights and the speed of Batman as he propels himself off of tall buildings. Nolan shot four action sequences using IMAX cameras, so that experience is one to consider. The camera work is non-obtrusive and all the angles seemed to be done with a careful eye.

There aren't many flaws in the film, but one that stood out was the runtime. It clocks in at a little over two and a half hours, but the film could have wrapped up around the 2-hour mark.