The Dark Night...good, not great

Rating: 8/10 (14 August 2008)

One of the things I love about IMDb is the honest and frank nature of the reviews; however, I just cannot sit back and allow The Dark Night to be the highest ranked film of all time on this bastion of neutrality and reliability.
The Dark Night has eclipsed the all time great films; the greats on this site that were ranked by true die hard film fanatics. Now, we have every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Thelma, Debbie and Hennrietta) judging films. Sadly, they are probably no older than your average teenage porn flick. This is not to say they are not intelligent or tasteful, quite the contrary. I am sure most of the quarter million voters for The Dark Night are great folks; however, I suspect most just plug in a '10' because they enjoyed the film. I mean seriously, look at WALL-E, can you look me in the face and honestly tell me that not only is it one of the top ten films of all time, but also better than Toy Story, or even possibly the best follow-up movie--besides Godfather II--Toy Story II. I hope not. For all true film fanatics I know this is not the case.
So, I think, with The Dark Knight, we have witnessed the end of a truly great and wonderful era, when IMDb was a true, real and honest reflection of the best and worst in film. Now, sadly, it has become a McDonaldized landscape of McBig films that do not deserve anything better than being a meal for for a massive hang over.
All of this is not to say The Dark Night was not a good film; however, let us all be honest with ourselves. It lingered, it moved chaotically through its narrative and worst, it was stable, level in its cinematic impact. The best films yank and pull you through. Twist and gouge, make you run the gauntlet of emotions...The Dark Night did not do this. So, again, lets be honest with ourselves. Is this film really on the same par as The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, The Departed, The Return of the King, Gladiator, Braveheart or a handful of other films that ripped and shredded us throughout the film going experience? Did you really feel that you were 'moved' by this film? Do you really think it deserves the highest honour on this site? Or do you think, perhaps, we are seeing a gross over-rating? In the end, it is the film lover, the cinematic junkie, who will decide the epic nature of this film. Sadly, though I wished it would have fulfilled its promise, The Dark Night is not an epic film, just a very good one.