all the other batman movies were hollywood driven, some were ok, some were crap, by true batman standards (comic book)
batman begins (the last one) was the first one to truly embrace the darkness of the true batman character
dark knight is following similar lines, which will also show the true character of the joker as well
jack nicholson is an awesome actor, but his portrayal of the joker was of a joker that only existed for about 10-15 years, the one that predominantly existed since the creation nearly 70 years ago will be properly shown by heath ledger, that being a complete homicidal psycopath
i've made an effort not to watch much in the lead up to this, but i have a feeling this will be the finest batman to date