The Best Comic Book Movie Ever? Think Again...

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2008)

I played hooky from work to see this film. I was so excited, I couldn't wait. I sat in my seat with avid anticipation. From the moment the film began, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. It was riveting.
Firstly, the story was so complex, offering twists and turns in the story and various subplots interwoven, it was obvious that this is not a straight-forward comic book film. The dialogue was expertly written and there was never a scene in which you roll your eyes & say "yeah, right." There was not a wasted frame, a useless scene or character. Everything you saw was intrinsic to the story.
In the other Batman films, there has always been a sense of "cartoonish-ness," even in the first two films, as good as they were. In DK, there was none of this. Everything was based in a strong sense of realism, that what you were seeing could actually be happening somewhere. In the first films, there were also characters who were there to fill up the frame, IE: Comm. Gordon, whose sole function seemed to be to flip the switch on the Bat-signal. There was none of that to be found in this film. Every character had a role, an end to be achieved; a raison d'etre, if you'll pardon my French. And every actor performed it flawlessly. I'm not going to break down the performances individually, that's been done in previous critiques and for me to regurgitate stuff with which I heartily agree would be redundant.
Suffice it to say, that to call "The Dark Knight" the best comic book movie ever made would cheapen it, pigeon-hole it into one tiny genre and I believe it deserves more than that. When the credits rolled at the end of this theatrical presentation, the entire audience stood and applauded. I own a copy of the Godfather trilogy and love those movies, so for all of you Brando/Pacino fans, I mean no disrespect, but in my humble opinion, this is the best, most perfect film ever made.