The Dark Knight

I don't usually rate movies and when I do I have a pretty simplistic system. Hated it, tolerated it, liked it, must own it, and all-time great. The Dark Knight is an incredible movie. I'm obviously going to own it but it's probably going to go down as an all-time great. This is a great violent crime drama to similar to Heat, Collateral, The Departed, or even Reservoir Dogs. Sure it doesn't have as much gore as Reservoir Dogs but the movie did feel at times like a Michael Mann movie. This crime drama just happened to have a superhero in it.

The movie also felt like one of the all-time great Batman stories like The Long Halloween, Dark Victory, Dark Knight Returns and The Killing Joke. Christopher Nolan obviously gets Batman or at least the post 1970's Denny O'Neil and post 1980's Frank Miller Batman.

Dark Knight just hits so many of the great Batman story highlights. While most people think Batman's key partner is Robin. I think Batman's key part is actually Jim Gordon. Gordon is Batman's partner in crime fighting more than any other costumed character. As much as it's a cocktail joke to make fun of Gordon and his reliance on Batman; Batman has the same reliance on Gordon. They both have the exact same goal; one of them is a cop and the other runs around dressed as a flying rodent.

The other aspect they got so right was obviously the Joker. To say Heath Ledger was incredible would be an understatement. For a three dimensional version of the Joker there was nothing I could imagine better than what they put on screen for the Dark Knight. He was disturbing and brilliant at the same time.

There are two only two negatives with the movie. First off the sheer amount of explosives show and used was just too much. I understand the Joker's great and the Gotham City PD isn't but come on. The explosives in the hospital, the amount show in the Dawes/Dent scene or the amount show in the ferry scene. That was just too much for me. Sure, I know, in a movie with a superhero that hacks into everyone's cell phone I shouldn't be that picky.

The other thing I didn't like was the rating. I'm not one for censorship but if you have a rating system you should damn well use it correctly. The Little One is not squeamish at all, at least for an 8 year old. She took The Dark Knight okay but I'm sure there will be plenty of other kids even older than her who don't do so well. I loved the movie and I can't think of a better movie for Batman. Still a movie staring Batman released on 4400+ screens in the summer should at least be viewable by children. If it's not good for children to see then it should be rated correctly to give parents a fair warning.

That stuff aside this movie is great. If you aren't a child then GO SEE IT! Now I'll have to revise my Top 100 Movie List.