‘The Dark Knight’ Trailer: Heath Ledger Is Not Joking Around

Tagline: “Let’s put a smile on that face!�

Translation: Yes, there are explosions.

The verdict: Shaky YouTubed camera-phone footage may not be the ideal way to experience the brand-new trailer for Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight (particularly the morning after, say, an office holiday party), but until the real version hits the Internet on Monday (it’s playing in theaters now before I Am Legend), it’s your only option. In the clip, Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne continues to wrestle with his still-newish superhero status by blowing shit up and riding motorcycles indoors, while Maggie Gyllenhaal ably makes us forget that her character, Rachel Dawes, looked a lot more like Katie Holmes in the last movie. The real news, though, is that, as the Joker, Heath Ledger looks like he might exceed even our admittedly high expectations, and after just these two minutes, we’re quite ready to declare him the greatest-ever Batman movie villain. Maybe 2008 won’t stink so bad after all!

Update: Two YouTube files up, two YouTube files down … Warner Brothers legal is fast! Well, for now enjoy this lovely photograph of Batman riding a Batcycle. We recommend trying this YouTube search, for “Batman,� sorted by date added.