The Dark Knight

So Saturday night I saw The Dark Knight (IMAX) in Providence and in my opinion, it lives up to its hype. I was honestly blown away but I found myself rooting for the Joker more than Batman. Oh well. It must have been Bale's Batman Voice; it was a bit overdone.

Many people are throwing a fit because it currently is number one on IMDB. Many arguments consist of "How can a superhero movie beat out classics like The Godfather, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca?", "Movies that are rated 10 should be Oscar winning movies", etc. Honestly? The IMDB voting is inflated. It's not about "Oscar Winning Movies"; if a movie is generally enjoyed by a wide varitey of people, large audiences, and most critics, it's going to beat out "classics". Most people don't view some "classics" as "good" movies because our society enjoys entertainment. Why do you think most movie goers do not care about the Oscars? Because they think a majority of the movies are boring.

I'm not saying The Dark Knight is a movie for idiots who don't appreciate cinematography. And I'm not saying The Dark Knight is merely just an action movie, it is much more than that. However, people do want entetainment and most people don't find movies like Atonement and There Will Be Blood entertaining.

More on The Dark Knight. (WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS) It was lengthy but still completely enjoyable. I didn't want it to stop. I wanted the Joker to keep going. So when he kept coming back, I was satisfied. Ledger was The Joker. He will always be the Joker from now on. It didn't hit me that it was the Ledger that died. The Ledger from 10 Things I Hate About You and Brokeback Mountain. He was engrossed in this, more than any actor on that screen. And the makeup might have helped. The only time it did hit me that this was the Ledger who passed away, was when you saw him without makeup for a split second in the crowd. And at the end with the "In Loving Memory" during the credits.

Bale left me content. His Batman voice was a bit irritating at first but you get use to it. Aaron Eckhart was a little over the top/trying to hard, which is strange because I normally enjoy Eckhart, especially in Thank You For Smoking. Maggie Gyllenhaal was trying to hard to be sexy. She didn't do anything for me, except stand on screen. I really wouldn't have cared about the character any less if Holmes still played her. Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman were, as usual, entertaining. And the mere fact that Cillian Murphy was present for about 5 minutes made the movie that much more complete. I wish he did more though.

I actually plan on seeing this movie multiple times before it leaves theatres. It's worth the ridiculous ticket price and I can almost guarantee you will enjoy this movie. Unless you hate Batman for some reason or picketed Heath Ledger's funeral because he played a gay cowboy.