I know... it's a day early. But I saw The Dark Knight this morning and figured you'd want to know if it lives up to the hype.

I can tell you one thing for certain... Heath Ledger will get an Oscar nod and probably the Oscar next year for his performance. And I'm not even a Ledger fan...

The Dark Knight brings the revamped Batman franchise back to the big screen in this very loud, very long sequel, that aims to outdo the spectacularly successful Batman Begins.

As with any sequel to a successful movie, there is a burden of expectation that is hard to meet. People want more, they want better and they are easily distracted. Christopher Nolan delivers, aided in no small way by the late Heath Ledger.

The story, which is overly complex for a movie like this, I fear — because you have to pay attention to the plot amid all the action — tells of the psychotic Joker (Heath Ledger), who volunteers to unmask Batman (Christian Bale), recover millions in stolen mob money, and bring chaos and destruction to Gotham City, for no better reason than, well, he can. The Joker’s evil, in addition to being utterly amoral, is ethically challenging, as he forces good people to do bad things in order to reinforce his own depressing view of the venality of man.

He achieves this, both physically and mentally, his biggest target being the noble DA, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), whose crusade to clean up Gotham City is a clear and transparent, as Batman’s mission is dark. Harvey just also happens to be dating Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Bruce Wayne’s ex, making her a target also.

The Joker’s plans within plans are unrelenting, as are the gobsmacking stunts that go with them. His evil is diabolical and all the more effective for the ramifications it has on other characters finding themselves faced with ever more dire choices, in order to bring him down.

This is comic book movie, make no mistake, but the cartoonish element of Batman is nowhere in sight. It is violent. It is dark. It is the dark knight of the comic books, the vigilante who is sometimes as bad, if not worse, than the scum he’s removing from the street. In the Joker, however, he meets someone prepared to see how far he’ll go.

Christopher Nolan has, once again, delivered the goods with a surprising cast (I remember having what the? moments when he cast Bale as Batman in the first film, and when I heard he’d hired Ledger to play the Joker). But his instincts are spot on. The action is stunning. If it has a weakness, it's that the plot does get a bit too convoluted in places. But the film belongs to Ledger. He owns the screen, making this most evil of villains almost sympathetic, as he holds a mirror up to Batman’s soul, forcing him to face what he has become. The other characters, Michael Caine as Alfred, Morgan Freeman and Lucius Fox, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, all do a fine job, but nobody is watching anyone but Ledger as he eats up the screen.

For a movie as anticipated as this one (and for the saddest of reasons), it doesn't disappoint. If you liked Batman Begins, you will love The Dark Knight. If you didn’t, then you’re not going to see the movie anyway, which is a pity, because you’ll be missing something well worth watching.