The Dark Knight is a great movie, I'll say that. I'm not really superfond of Christian Bale's Batman, but I loved Heath Ledger's Joker.

The thing about Batman though -- what makes him as powerful a character as he is -- is that he really is only human. He has human thoughts and human feelings. He struggles not to break his #1 rule in crimefighting and that's not to kill anyone.

Is he the force of "ultimate good" in The Dark Knight while the Joker is the force of "ultimate evil"? I don't know. The scene with the two boats, to me, shows the indecisiveness of the supposedly "good" citizens of Gotham versus the certainty of the supposedly "bad" citizens. That "good" people argue and talk out whether or not they should press the button on the detonator and cause the other ship to explode -- that's Batman.

The Joker, on the other hand, is decisive and knows what he is going to do as well as why: "Some men just like to see the world burn." He burns all the mob's money -- which I think goes back to that quip by Alfred.

I don't necessarily see the Joker as an evil man but an agent of chaos.

But, yes, for good men to be seen as good men, they have to come up against something truly bad or "evil" as you might say.