I’m getting more and more excited for The Dark Knight everyday, and with Oscar winner Michael Caine making such huge claims, Heath Ledger may have huge expectations to fill.

“I tell you the big surprise in the new ‘Batman’ — Heath Ledger as the Joker,” Caine told reporters in New York Tuesday. “He’s fantastic. He’s gone in a different direction than Jack (Nicholson) … Jack was like a really scary old, nasty old uncle with a funny face. Heath is like the most murderous psychopath you’ve ever seen on the screen,” Caine said.

“I was waiting for Batman’s guests, but (the Joker) had taken over the elevator with — he has seven dwarfs and… oh! wait until you see them. So, I’d never seen any of it and the elevator door opened and they came out and I forgot every bloody line. They frightened the bloody life out of me …. It’s amazing and it’s so different from Jack.”