I can't possibly be the first to have checked it out(just got back) and it is well worth the price of admission. I think it is much better than Batman Begins. It's darker, better action, better story and one helluva finale for Heath Ledger. His performance deserves every rave its been getting; truly one of the most hypnotic pyschos to ever grace the screen. A definite theater-worthy flick.

I can't possibly be the first to have checked it out(just got back) and it is well worth the price of admission. I think it is much better than Batman Begins. It's darker, better action, better story and one helluva finale for Heath Ledger. His performance deserves every rave its been getting; truly one of the most hypnotic pyschos to ever grace the screen. A definite theater-worthy flick.

I haven't watched it yet (too busy) but I was shocked to see that it was rated 9.7 out of 10 on IMDB...a database that I normally agree with (give or take 0.5)...that makes it the highest rated movie of all time!

Looking at their top 250 (they use a secret weighted average calculation) it drops to 9.5, but that is still 0.4 higher than The Godfather!!! Which is the second highest rated movie of all time!!! It has been 1st on IMDB since I started visiting the site back in the late 90s! Shawshank is tied with Godfather at 9.1 and every other great movie you could name has a lower rating than that.

It looks like it is going to break the opening weekend record for highest grossing movie of all time (it already eclipsed Spiderman 3's record for opening Friday box office by over 7 Million dollars).

No wonder people are talking (posthumous) Oscar for Heath Ledger.

What will Chis Nolan do for an encore? Probably whatever he wants.

Memo to Beacon Communications.

[SIZE="7"]GET ON THE PHONE TO THIS GUY AND PROMISE HIM WHATEVER HE WANTS TO DIRECT REPAIRMAN JACK I: CLAWS OF THE RAKOSHI!!![/SIZE]

...if I'm gonna dream, I'm gonna dream big.

-Wapitikev

I saw The Dark Knight on Saturday and really liked it. First two criticisms - I thought the movie was a little long, at least one too many turns of the plot before the climax and some of the choices seemed a bit arbitrary. However, the story was still compelling and the action was great. Then there is Heath Ledger as The Joker - wow! I was not a big fan of Jack Nicholson's Joker, he was good but too cartoonish, too Jack. This Joker is wonderful, in a disturbing, dangerous, compelling and darkly funny, insane genius way. The performance was inspired, seamless and steals the movie.

I can't possibly be the first to have checked it out(just got back) and it is well worth the price of admission. I think it is much better than Batman Begins. It's darker, better action, better story and one helluva finale for Heath Ledger. His performance deserves every rave its been getting; truly one of the most hypnotic pyschos to ever grace the screen. A definite theater-worthy flick.

Heath played the Joker that FPW wrote about in "Definitive Therapy". He's not your everyday bad guy, he makes the extra effort. In fact Alfred probably said it the best when trying to describe him.... "Some men just want to watch the world burn."

When it comes to Heaths performance, I was afraid all the talk about how well he portrayed the Joker was because of his death. Not so. That boy deserves an award for this character.

Heath played the Joker that FPW wrote about in "Definitive Therapy". He's not your everyday bad guy, he makes the extra effort. In fact Alfred probably said it the best when trying to describe him.... "Some men just want to watch the world burn."

When it comes to Heaths performance, I was afraid all the talk about how well he portrayed the Joker was because of his death. Not so. That boy deserves an award for this character.

We'll never know, but wouldn't it be something if Heath read Paul's story?

I haven't watched it yet (too busy) but I was shocked to see that it was rated 9.7 out of 10 on IMDB...a database that I normally agree with (give or take 0.5)...that makes it the highest rated movie of all time!

Looking at their top 250 (they use a secret weighted average calculation) it drops to 9.5, but that is still 0.4 higher than The Godfather!!! Which is the second highest rated movie of all time!!! It has been 1st on IMDB since I started visiting the site back in the late 90s! Shawshank is tied with Godfather at 9.1 and every other great movie you could name has a lower rating than that.

It looks like it is going to break the opening weekend record for highest grossing movie of all time (it already eclipsed Spiderman 3's record for opening Friday box office by over 7 Million dollars).

No wonder people are talking (posthumous) Oscar for Heath Ledger.

...

-Wapitikev

Meh - it's viral marketing campaign was world class up until Heath Ledger went and gave the studio manna from Heaven in the form of his foolish death - at which point the marketing campaign went into orbit.

Critisising Heath Ledger at the moment is worse than laughing at AIDS.

I think that over time the aggregate score of The Dark Knight will probably slide down the scale . . . makin comparisons to The Godfather on it's opening weekend is perhaps pre-emptive?

All that aside .... I'm looking forward to seeing it for myself soon!

Steve D

This was a movie that was very hard for me to watch, yet impossible for me to turn away from. I dreaded the Joker coming on the screen, but when he did, my eyes were glued to him. Fascinating evolution from ambitious street thug to psycho villain, Batman's nemesis and equal. And that ending: who knows where the next movie will take us, and which villain can follow this act (maybe not a villain but a superhero)? Either way, I look forward to more Batman.

P.S. I watched this on an advance copy dvd a friend lent me, so I got to pause many of those dreaded scenes. The lines at the movies are clear around the block. I'll wait a week or two before seeing it in the theaters.

Meh
Critisising Heath Ledger at the moment is worse than laughing at AIDS.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA AIDS!!!! Thats classic!

Ehem... I mean...

Seriously, this movie was only a step or two from perfection. Ledger was the perfect Joker. BUT he never woulda done so well if he hadn't had Jack Nicholson as starting material. He still kept many of Jacks traits and refined them.

My one problem with this is Harvey Dent/Two Face. WHY NOT BILLY DEE WILLIAMS?! He did so well with the first series! HE coulda won an oscar!

No, my only problem was

Spoilers below

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[SPOILER]Why did they have to kill off Two Face already. Batman's villains should not be dying off just yet! Its TOO early. But oh well. Gordon looked dead but wasn't. Why not Dent?[/SPOILER]

Heath played the Joker that FPW wrote about in "Definitive Therapy".

I was thinking the exact same thing; not a guy you would want to encounter.

I saw it yesterday too and when a friend asked what I thought, I told him, "You know all the hype? Believe every word of it." I think that every actor in the movie hit it out of the park, Aaron Eckhart in particular was astonishingly good, but of course it was Heath Ledger who stole the show. I also was a bit concerned that all the talk about his performance was in part due to his untimely death, but the fact is, it is just THAT good.