How I Felt About the Dark Knight

I'm almost speechless. What can you say about a movie who's only flaw is that it was awesome for so long that I was almost exhausted by amazement? Whatever you've heard about TDK, triple it. Demond threw me a quote earlier this week comparing this movie to the greatest movie ever made: The Empire Strikes Back. And it is. It so thoroughly and completely perfects and redefines the comic book genre that quite simply nothing can compare to it. If there is a better film this year, I'll be amazed (and that's coming from a guy who sees most every significant movie every year because I love film).

To start with, they might as well just nominate Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor five times, because no one else will win. He could be alive and well and making Casanova 2-Casa is the Nova, and I would still say that. His performance was creepy and funny and brilliant. He could play gay cowboys from now till the end of time and never come close to a performance like this again. The fact that it most likely killed him adds an odd voyeuristic quality to what was already a disturbing and brilliant character.

All the supporting roles were well cast, and I love Maggie Gyllenhall (Donnie Darko, Stranger than Fiction) as a serious upgrade over Katie Holmes. Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon was rock solid again, and one of my favorite parts of the film. I had heard lukewarm comments about Aaron Eckhart, but found them to be unfounded as he nailed Harvey Dent.

As for action, I tire with most movies. I've seen every conceivable car chase and fist fight. I liked Hulk until he started to smash stuff. This movie though...this movie was sick. Car chases, fights, Batman flying around the city...everything was fresh and new and amazing. It was note perfect.

There were so many amazing laugh out loud, cheer, groan, and just flat "HOLY CRAP" things in that movie that I couldn't even absorb them all. Don't even get me started on the ending, which miraculously and unexpectedly managed to pay off the previous 2 hours and 20 minutes in an amazing way that I simply didn't expect.

Again, this movie is so good and so long, that I feel that it isn't a stretch to say that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are the best comic book trilogy every made, and fit to stand along side the very best of triple features in movie history. What? There's only two movies? Didn't feel like it. They could have cut this one in half and made two movies out of it. Instead, they hammered us with one of the great accomplishments in popcorn cinema. I hope Lucas and Spielberg study it before making Indy 5 (The Search for Shaia's Lebouf). THIS is a movie that pays off on the promise of Star Wars, Jaws, Indy Jones, Superman 2, and every other movie that threatened to swallow a summer whole.

Counting the babysitter, I just dropped $35 dollars to see this with my wife. I spent the whole movie holding her hand and hugging her because we both knew what we were seeing was special. Every penny was spent.

So yeah...I liked it okay, I guess.

Demond Sanders: "I spent the whole movie holding her hand and hugging her because we both knew what we were seeing was special." Wow, you are a dork, but you're right about the movie. Ten minutes into the show I leaned over to my wife and calmly told her it was the best movie I've ever seen.