As a slightly late birthday present33, my older nephew (don’t ask) took me out for dinner and a movie. We watched The Dark Knight. I’d been looking forward to seeing it, as everyone and their dog has been telling me how great it was; I wish they hadn’t, because I was ultimately let down a bit.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s a good movie. I enjoyed seeing it. But for a time, it was #1 on IMDb’s Top 250 list. That’s just cooky. The Dark Knight better than Schindler’s List? Than Star Wars? I don’t think so. The Dark Knight has since slipped to the #3 spot, which I still think is way too good of a spot for it. It was a good movie, but I wouldn’t put it in the top 10 at all. I felt that it dragged on a bit too long, or perhaps a lot too long. If it had been 45 minutes shorter, I would’ve liked it more, I think; as it was, I kept thinking, “okay, here’s the big action sequence that’ll wrap it up.” And then that sequence would end, and the movie just kept going.
Despite my complaints, I still liked it. Some good points:
- One thing I heard from folks was that Heath Ledger’s Joker was excellent; and on that point, I’ll agree. I liked his psychotic killer version of the Joker a lot more than the classic look. I’d have to rewatch the original Batman movie to refresh my memory of Nicholson’s portrayal, but I think I’d end up liking Ledger’s more.
- A few too many of them, but the action sequences were excellent. I particularly liked the car / truck / armored car chase scene.
- The special effects in general. Two-Face was quite impressive, among many other things.
Do see the movie, whether it’s in theaters or on DVD. Just don’t pay as much attention as the hype as I did.3
- I turned 24 on the 11th. One more year and I’ll be a quarter of a century old!333
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Tags: All Entries, batman, Movies, the dark knight
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But for a time, it was #1 on IMDb’s Top 250 list. That’s just cooky.
That damn 250 list is very cooky in general when it comes to new movies—they blast to the top at first because fans are always the first ones to vote, then it evens out. I loved the movie though; the magic pencil trick cracked me up.
Happy birthday!
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Aye, happy birthday.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks the movie deserves a lower placement on the lists. In fact I wasn’t really impressed by anything in the film and was quite bored. Like you I kept waiting for something, however, for me that “something” was something that was supposed to make the movie good. Everyone kept saying how great it was and so I assumed there must be some tipping point at which the film just gets great, there wasn’t.
Ah well.
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I did see the movie twice. The first time I got bad seats in the IMAX theater so I went back and saw it again. I enjoyed the introduction of the Joker and the climax of the movie, but that’s 30 minutes of the entire 2 hour movie. When I got out of the movie I felt completely empty in the inside and wondered why I had seen the movie in the first place. I do think that the movie was over hyped and raised my expectations of the movie but I became disappointed after what I saw on the screen. Even though it was an entertaining movie to watch I also don’t think that it should be up there on the list as compared to the other movies on the list.
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But you gotta admit.. it’s definitely got to be the best movie for 2008 rite?
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This movie was above average I guess I’d say but that’s really not that fantastic. The middle part was very slow paced and I didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t as much a superhero movie as the first ones. If I want to see another action movie I’ll go see one of the many great action movies out there, I see superhero movies for the fantasy aspect.
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Well, this makes me feel rather awful, only getting to these comments weeks after they were posted. Must get back to maintaining my blog properly… anyway:
Hrafn: Yeah, the list is a bit weird. And indeed, the magic pencil trick was one of my favorite points. No pun intended.
Tom: Yeah, I kept waiting for the “aha!” moment; it never arrived.
Goviel: Agreed on all points. The Joker was my favorite aspect of the whole film, and I liked most of his segments, but other than that… *shrug*
Uncannyman: I can’t really comment on that, as I believe it’s the only movie released in 2008 that I’ve seen. I’m not a big movie-goer.
Dvergur: I actually liked the grittier, slightly-more-realistic aspect of the film.
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Yes I agree, Not speaking from a fan-boy point of view, This movie was the best of 2008. But no it doesn’t deserve to be compared with the classics. Maybe only in sales and Ledger’s performance is the only honest non-fan-boyish way should this movie be remembered.
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