R.I.P

The female of our species has often been a bone of contempt for the largely unaware and blissful male populace. I am no exception. And should any reader apart from myself, stumble upon this post, neither will he. But that is not my topic. It was simply a means to draw your attention. (apologies).
I recently watched the movie everyone's rambling about. Yeah, if you haven't guessed it right, you're probably from Lesotho or some place where they don't have electricity. Every bit of praise I hear from all corners, every accolade attributed to the movie, is because of one person. Heath Ledger. R.I.P. A posthumous oscar awaits, I am sure, but lets look at it from a wider perspective.
Christian Bale as the Batman does not have much scope for improvisation. How can he show facial expressions behind his mask. Batman is a cult, and you have to stick to the script. Probably as Bruce Wayne, yeah. The Joker however, is an entirely different ball game. He is a crazy, maniacal, normal man, defeated by circumstance. Plenty of scope for personal touches. This is where Ledger scores. His ruthless, careless, brilliantly on the edge performance endears him to the masses. But Christian Bale was good as well.
The only grievance I had in the movie was Maggie Gyllenhall. She looked more like an old woman, and Katie Holmes is a tough act to follow anyways. But the way the story moved is fantastic. Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, awesome as usual, and Aaron Eckhart as Two-face Harvey Dent manages to hold his own.
I am soon planning to watch this movie a second time.
P.S: Top of the IMDB lists within 2 weeks of it's release is something. Considering that it even beat the Godfather series to reach the spot, amazing.
In any case, movies like these make my life, anyone still raving about the movie referred to in the post below?