Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie''s plot.
They need to stop spending $185 million dollars on comic book movies. At best, you use the $185 million to make a huge profit and decrease the maturity of America. But there's immaturity, and then there's this:
(from Wikipedia) "For seven years, IMDb's Top 250 Movies of All-Time (a list of the top movies based on user ratings on a scale of 1 to 10) had The Godfather ranked number one and The Shawshank Redemption ranked number two. On July 19, 2008, however, The Dark Knight finally dethroned The Godfather from that number one position. The last time The Godfather hadn't been ranked number one was in 2001 when it was dethroned briefly by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. While The Dark Knight held the top spot, many fans of The Godfather were angry and began giving The Dark Knight a 1 rating (the lowest) to try and return The Godfather to the number one position, even if they thought the movie deserved a higher ranking. Conversely, fans of The Dark Knight were doing the same for The Godfather to keep it at number two. Eventually and ironically, all of the 1 ratings for both movies pushed them both down to number 2 and 3, and the The Shawshank Redemption up to number one, where it currently resides today. If it hadn't have been for The Dark Knight fans giving so many 1 ratings to The Godfather, The Shawshank Redemption most likely would have never been ranked at the top. Currently, The Dark Knight is ranked sixth while The Godfather is ranked second."
Yea, it's easy to imagine how the millions of people who came out of the theatre after Dark Knight like they saw the Virgin Mary weep would participate in something like that - I do, by the way, consult IMDB.com ratings to decide if a movie is worth viewing. Dark Knight is all about non-lethal vigilante justice, and what greater example of non-lethal vigilante justice is there than IMDB.com rating wars? But, what is especially worrisome is some people who watched Dark Knight rather eloquently throw around descriptors like, "gritty realism," and "dark sociological study." Excuse me, but I find these overwhelming and absurd reactions to a comic book movie a dark sociological study.
This isn't the Stanford Prison Experiment, this is Batman. He wears a cape. You can pretend to seriously explore the good and evil of human nature, the true north of the moral compass, and the abyss of chaos and depravity... but once you put on a cape, you lose credibility. On one corner you have pundits who argue Heath Ledger's joker is not reflective of the original comic book, and on the other you have those who are convinced the movie is some deep, intelligent analysis of the human psyche. It's daft; there should be no corners. It's Batman; he wears a cape. Stop making these movies, please. Hasn't The Incredibles taught us anything about capes?
The biggest problem with Dark Knight is that it is too long. It is too loud for too long. It's 150-minutes of explosions, histrionics, and very intrusive music. It reminded me of Armageddon, only longer. Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace; I completely agree he was very talented) tries his best as the Joker, but he does not encapsulate the word "dark." Every fan of Ledger's Joker compliments on how "dark" his performance is, but "dark" is a word that ought to insinuate qualities that are subtle and unnerving. Ledger was more dark in Monster's Ball. Ledger's Joker, confined to a PG-13 film, fails to titillate our sense of dread through violence, sex, or drugs. No, Dark Knight's Joker is not dark, but he is conspicuously irrelevant.
You cannot hope to make this film work without the R-rating. I felt Watchmen had some small measure of success because it did not fear to let morality stagnate and rot. Dark Knight is stuck somewhere in between Spider Man and Watchmen, stuck somewhere in between bubbly teen exhileration and the cold, sinister dish of vengeance. The stupidest example that echoes the over-inflated self-importance of this film is Joker's "sociological experiment" with the two boats. Yes, an important point is made, but why make that point in a fashion so obvious, extravagant, and long? The same reason, I guess, batman wears a cape. By Dark Knight's popularity, many people obviously see a sensible reason; I, for the life of me, cannot. And so I implore once more, stop spending $185 million dollars on comic book movies.
Recommended:
No
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8
Actors: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine Directed by: Christopher Nolan Writing credits: Christopher Nola...More at JUSTBUYDVD
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