yeah much like the first film i thought christian bale was as wooden as ever and the show was stolen by the vilains. whether or not ledger was a better joker than nickelson is hard to say though especialy given heath ledgers untimly demise. i to thought it was a stroke of genius not to have any back story to the joker, made him so much more interesting, my favorit bit of the film was when he burnt his share of the robery. i would like to know the real story of how he got his scars though