The Dark Knight, one of the summer's most anticipated releases, arrives in theaters July 18. But we got a sneak peek at a Los Angeles screening, and offer this highlight reel of Batman buzz:

ALL-STAR LINEUP:

** Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman

** Heath Ledger as The Joker

** Michael Caine as Alfred the butler

** Morgan Freeman as Wayne's gizmo guy Lucius Fox

** Gary Oldman as Gotham cop Jim Gordon

** Aaron Eckhart as District Attorney Harvey Dent

** Maggie Gyllenhaal as love interest Rachel Dawes (replacing Katie Holmes)

JOKER'S WILD

The late Heath Ledger's last performance as The Joker is the movie's highlight, and the film is dedicated to him and special-effects technician Comway Wickliffe, who died in a car crash during
production.

There's Oscar buzz for Ledger's repulsive but mesmerizing Joker, a chaos-loving terrorist. While Jack Nicholson and Cesar Romero
played The Joker as a character straight from a deck of cards, Ledger, who died of a drug overdose just weeks after principal
photography was completed, took a darker route with smeared clown makeup, a painfully scarred mouth and dirty, matted hair.

TECH TREATS