"Dark Knight" is the "Godfather II" of superhero films?

Well, at least according to a reviewer over at Ain’t It Cool News. 

Warning: the link contains spoilers - the excerpts below do not.

…”The film feels more like a crime drama in a grand cityscape than a typical comic book movie. It feels like Heat except Batman is Al Pacino and The Joker is Robert De Niro and just like in that film we have a great scene between Heath Ledger and Christian Bale across a table. There is also an element of a Greek Tragedy.. There is a vast sense of morality at play within the film.” …

“…The run time is two and a half hours. It doesn’t feel that long as there is so much going on within the film. I’ve always felt Christopher Nolan was able to handle pacing unlike many movies that are over two hours these days. This is also his first entirely linear film and he proves himself to be a gifted storyteller and a master of utilising film as a visual medium. He fills each frame with so much scope and detail. You can tell he is enjoying himself with the amount of money he is being allowed to play with and wants to better himself and the franchise. Although this movie doesn’t feel like an instalment in a franchise. The best thing I can think of for comparison is The Godfather Part 2.” …

If the review is valid, and the reviewer reasonably objective under exciting conditions, we could be set for an amazing Batman movie.