This is a much more complex story than I expected from a comic book movie. The story line constantly sets up morally complex issues and choices for the characters to make. 

Christain Bale does an excellent job in the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne. Michael Caine is a better than expected Alfred. Heath Ledger deserves the accolades for his performance as the joker. I would also be remiss not to mention the work of one of my favorite actors, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

Since I am not really a comic fan and not a Batman Fan I found much of the special effects with buildings blowing up etc a bit over the top. After a while that became more of a distraction and decreased the believability of the story even more than the make up of the characters, the costumes, or the possible existence of a Batman vigilante character.

The actors deserve praise for their work but the real star here is the writer of the story line that created so many moral dilemmas and made the story worth watching and remembering.