Seen–The Dark Knight

We weren’t among the millions of moviegoers who contributed to the Dark Knight’s $1 billion, 2008 box office. Still, when we finally settled in to see this spectacle, in front of a friend’s 60-inch HD TV, we were prepared to be impressed. But a confusing plot, swirling camera work, and cartoonish characters ably but not outstandingly played failed to complement the Dark Knight’s special effects. Both Christian Bale and Heath Ledger were exceptions to a mediocre cast. Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne was good, not great, and Ledger as the Joker was, being dead, not so much brilliant as strangely grotesque. B