Absolutely. Everything about this film was great, not just Heath.
If I were Christian Bale, I'd be a little bitter and disappointed also with the way the press is going on about Heath all the time.
His performance in this film was to the highest caliber and I applaud him for leaving a Batman fan like myself immensely satisfied, but he wouldn't have saved another Batman & Robin affair.
I've seen plenty of bad films with a great lead or supporting actor that was better than the source material ever deserved. They were still in a bad film at the end of the day.
The Dark Knight is a terrific film because all of its elements are brilliantly crafted. It isn't terrific merely because Heath Ledger's performance was. To even insinuate this is nothing more than both biased and unjustified.
The large majority of these reporters don't care about the quality of this film at all. They merely care about what gets the masses talking. Heath Ledger's untimely death being their number one topic of debate to latch on to for this occasion.