I actually don’t even think it’s Bale’s idea or anything, nor do I believe that it’s done with massive electronic amplification. It’s just distracting.

I’d also like to point out that I was huge fan of Spider-Man 2, Iron Man, and Sky High.

WOW.

That’s probably the nicest thing you’ve ever said about a superhero film.

Seriously though, I can’t argue with what you say. All things considered, the film did an excellent job of imagining the Batman comics, as they might happen, were they to occur in the “real world” — which I guess is Nolan’s intention. The characters had depth, the plot had twists and turns, and the acting was pretty good. It also came much closer to capturing the spirit of a noir (which has apparently been a Holy Grail to Nolan for his entire career). I have very little to complain about.

It did, however, remind me of what bugged me about the first one. That voice that Bale uses when he’s in the Batsuit? Totally ridiculous.

All things considered, I consider The Dark Knight pretty low on the silliness/grittiness ratio. There are a number of real life things that have killed many people that are much sillier. I’d love to go into them, but I’d just end up offending everyone.

A man in a rubber bat suit is still silly, though. No amount of “grittiness” can hide that.

Oh, and Aaron Eckhart was excellent. I enjoyed his performance more than Ledger’s…but he’s still alive, so of course no one will notice him. Sad.

Saw TDK. Liked it. Didn’t love it because it is loaded with continuity errors and horrible editing which almost ruins a pretty great film.

But then I must be an idiot because I didn’t lurv lurv lurv it.

As far as Begins, I felt the same way… Actually Evan was the one that schooled me on why it’s a better Batman than the rest and once I saw it in that light it is easily the best Batman. Although it is crippled a little by the 3rd act, it’s still a very cohesive movie. That aside it’s a great reboot and falls in line with Frank Millers reboot. Evan do you remember the countless morning coffee pot conversations? Especially about movies and games? haha.

I admit it was a tight race, though.

Thanks for the nod to my use of the word “guano,” Courtney. Bat-related puns…is there anything they can’t do?

Hey, Keltners, wanna trade off babysitting for each other so we can all see TDK with spouses?

I can’t do Mama Mia. It feels like Hairspray + My Big Fat Greek Wedding put together. Can’t do it.

And I’m seeing The Dark Knight tonight. I’m not a fanboy, but I’m very excited to see it. Thought Batman Begins was excellent. Wait, maybe I am a fanboy. Scre that, I’m no fanboy.

The script beautifully weaves that theme in and through and around all of the characters. Where Batman Begins dealt with fear, The Dark Knight deals with choice.

These thoughts will probably all make it into my review in one form or another, so I apologize if they become redundant down the road.

This is probably the first movie that I’ve said “I have to own this the first day it’s available.” This is the first title to get me really excited about Bluray. Maybe it won’t have the “staying power” or whatever and I won’t feel so strongly after weeks/months/years, but, wow. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I’m still trying to process some of it, though. I felt it was sending contradictory messages and I’m not so sure about the messages it was sending, anyway. I won’t get in to it too much so I don’t spoil anything, but the movie makes all of these claims:

- Trust people; they’re basically good and they’ll do the right thing.
- Don’t trust people; they won’t do the right thing, so you should lie to them instead to protect them.
- Privacy is sacrosanct and one person should never have too much power.
- Except when it’s expedient to violate privacy and grant said power because a) we have cool special effects we want to show off and b) we must protect the world from terrorists.

I look forward to your review, Evan!

And as always…apologies to any Batman fans I’ve offended. I just could not, for the life of me, see what was so great about Begins. Perhaps it’ll click when I go see this one.

(And as for ABBA…I got nuthin’ against ‘em. They’re just kinda bland.)

It. Is. Stunning. One of those rare films that functions on an entertainment level (exceptionally so, one of the most jaw-dropping thrill rides in recent memory) as well as an emotional one. The closing words of the film bring new meaning to the title, and they are reverberating with me even now.

The Dark Knight.

I’m not going to be able to write about this until I see it a second time, I think. It demands that level of respect and attention.

Best. Movie. Ever.

No seriously. It didn’t even feel like a Batman movie, not like it should have felt. It was super dark and very scary. Not the visceral comical mess you would expect from this 70-yr old franchise.

Heath’s performance was…. literally – insane. I was very creeped out by his way too serious performance of this psychopath. If you have read The Killing Joke, then it borrows heavily from it, and Heath Channels that Joker very well, better even.

This wasn’t fanboy awesomeness, this was oscar nomination, even academy award winning awesomeness.

My blog reader has been down, and for me to manually search my blogs out is way too time consuming… so I just got bloglines and I’m back to join heartfelt discussions about Rambo and Batman.

Ummm … no.

Midnight showing of Dark Knight here I come!