A complete movie - even better second time around

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2008)

Well I just saw the movie for the second time, some weeks after seeing it the first time during the opening weekend. I have to say that knowing what was coming made me pay attention to the actual content even more than the first time, and you know what? It held up, in my opinion. Surprisingly so. So all of my comments below apply, except for the one about the bit I didn't like. Still didn't like it, but appreciated it more in the overall context of the plot and character development. So what I said the first time was:
This is a movie that is so complete, it actually is better than the hype (and that was a hell of a lot of hype, wasn't it?). It works on SO many levels; it actually IS a darkly philosophical, character-driven action movie. That sounds like a contradiction, but as my companion put it so nicely afterwards, the action sequences actually pushed along the plot and the character development.
Philosophical? An action movie? Well, yes. Just type in the words "good evil philosophical" and "Dark Knight" into Google and you get the likes of this link, amongst 57,300 weblinks: "The Dark Knight - A Philosophical Review" www.gregboyd.org/blog/the-dark-knight-a-philosophical-review/
As I said, the movie works on so many levels.
So why don't I give it a 10 then? Because I didn't want what happened to Rachel Dawe to have happened. Yes, it was true to the spirit of the story. Yes, it was consistent with the story, and in fact was necessary for the further development of the Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne characters, BUT I DON'T HAVE TO LIKE IT. So there.
Amendment: The second time around I was able to be prepared for the moment and appreciate its place in the film. And there was SO much more to see and to catch the second time that made the movie that much better for me (and for my friend who normally doesn't like "action" movies - she liked it better the second time, too).
That said, this is now THE Batman movie, in fact THE action movie. It has set a new standard for the quality and the depth. I for one cannot see a third in this current sequence coming out anytime soon, because this one has done such a good job.
And as I said before, it was _better_ the second time. There aren't many movies about which you can say that, except those on the "Best of" lists. And this certainly belongs on that list.
Oh, and Heath definitely deserves at the very least a posthumous nomination for Best Supporting Actor.