As if that IMAX preview of The Dark Knight weren’t enough, here’s the actual trailer for the Batman Begins sequel. It’s a perfect companion to the preview, because it’s all about The Joker. This time, though, we get to see more of Heath Ledger, without the rubber mask he wears for the bank heist. I guess there are a few shots in there of Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, but really who could pay him notice? I think Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes) has more interesting screen time here (poor Ennis — first he has to deal with the death of Jack and now Jack’s angry sister is trying to beat him up).

Ledger’s interpretation of The Joker is said to be inspired by Sid Vicious (I wonder if his TDK co-star Gary Oldman had anything to say about that), but I don’t see much of that punk attitude, really. I’m actually seeing a combination of Charles Nelson Reilly and Tommy Lee Jones. And somehow, it’s absolutely perfect. Certainly I don’t want to say it’s any better or worse than Jack Nicholson — heck, I don’t even like to dismiss Cesar Romero’s take on the villain — so I’ll just go with the easy response and say … it’s just different.

I will point out, however, that the scene between The Joker, Gyllenhaal and Batman in the dining room reminds me of the museum sequence from Burton’s Batman, mostly because of Bale’s “then you’re going to love me” line. It’s almost like a reference to Nicholson’s “wait’ll they get a load of me.” Unfortunately, I don’t love Bale’s Batman. I really wanted to with Batman Begins, hoping his Bruce Wayne would be like his Bateman (from American Psycho) turned good. But I’m a Michael Keaton loyalist, as boring as that is. And while I can manage to not compare Jokers, for some reason I just can’t seem to allow Bale to not be Keaton.

I also didn’t love Batman Begins as much as I wanted to. It didn’t have enough fun, in my opinion, and as a comic book movie, it lacked a clear enemy. I prefer an old fashioned single-villain storyline. It was like Superman without Luthor, or The X-Men without Magneto. This should all change with The Dark Knight, which thanks to Ledger looks both fun and focused (though mostly because there’s no sign of Harvey Dent in this trailer). And after watching that IMAX preview, which was one of the best comic-book-movie sequences I’ve ever seen, and now this trailer, I’m already thinking TDK could be one of the best films of 2008 (Batman Begins made a lot of people’s top ten of 2005, but wasn’t even close for me). And hey, wouldn’t it be awesome if Ledger could get himself another Oscar nomination out of this?

But enough about what I think. Here is what some other people are saying about the trailer:

• MOVIEBOB, liveblogging the whole thing, says: “00:25 - Batman, framed as an unmistakable silhouette, standing on the edge of a skyscraper surveying the city through binoculars. Perfect. Gandalf-vs.-Balrog-perfect. Last-two-minutes-of-“The-Mist”-perfect. Threesome-with-Korean-twins-perfect. Moments like this are why I forgave “Begins” for going the armored-costume route and doing that damn Jason Bourne shit with the combat cinematography.”
• Ryan at Cinematical: “There’s no great Joker moment like we would expect — he appears to just be a typical knife-wielding thug with a bit of flair. Also, there are no show-stopping lines to report. I remember enjoying Michael Caine’s speech from an earlier teaser trailer, about how Batman’s aggressive actions ‘pushed the mob into the arms of a man they didn’t fully understand’ but that’s absent from this full-length trailer. In fact, it’s mostly full of action beats.”
• Shawn at MTV: “Anyone who still has doubts about Heath Ledger’s Joker won’t after watching the footage. In scenes from the trailer, Ledger inhabits the character — the way his posture is just a bit cockeyed and his voice takes on the sing-song quality of a schizophrenic, slightly high-pitched in places, always playful.”
• IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com’s hilarious thoughts: “From what I can tell, Heath Ledger’s Joker makes Jack Nicholson’s look like your drunk grandpa. Except your drunk grandpa didn’t dance around to Prince songs. He was more of a Michael Bolton kind of guy.”