my hypothesis on the high rating of "Dark Knight"

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2008)

I'm putting "Dark Knight" in the 7.8 - 8.5 range, so certainly it is well within the IMDb top 250, meaning, it is a good movie.
But is it worthy of number one? Certainly there are objective and subjective components to this analysis! Well, certainly, "Dark Knight" is a film of mesmerizing scenes and performances.
I felt the first quarter of the film was quite literally, spellbinding... The Joker's quite cavalier dispatching of all his partners in crime during the opening bank heist is iconic and will be legendary. It was darkly humorous, enthralling and vaguely satisfying on a primal level how Heath Ledger's Joker is able to so ably, so deftly, and so cavalierly implement chaos to his personal benefit.
Everything clicked more or less up until Lao was apprehended by Batman in one of the most unique and superbly imagined action sequences I've ever seen on film.
And then the movie sort of winded down for me. Or maybe I winded down. Or maybe a little bit of both. I'm not sure.
But on to the rather strange question: why is "Dark Knight" number one? Humor me for a moment!
Well, the editing certainly doesn't help its cause... But then the producers and filmmakers would say, "Well, that's how we intended it: sharp, concise, and we believed the audience could draw their own conclusions without being spoon-fed the story-- yaddah yaddah yaddah..." Okay, okay. I'll dismiss that then. I won't go too deep into the mechanics of the film, which I felt needed more fluidity, but, well, I suppose that's more a matter of personal taste. Some people just like more set-up, more build-up, more details, and I suppose I'm one of those people.
But, "Dark Knight" is number one on the IMDb listing, for the time being at least, because, mainly, Batman's time in the limelight and social consciousness has truly arrived. Furthermore, "Dark Knight" may very well be the quintessential Batman movie, with every prop, every idea, every actor, every special effect, every brooding sentiment, in place and thoroughly engaged to create the epic maelstrom that is this film. In short, Christopher Nolan's directorial handling of the Batman series is "Batman" revisited and "Batman" evolving into its powerful potential as an epic saga, and not just a weekly or monthly comic.
The deep philosophical and moral issues which the Batman story brings to the fore has always deserved a treatment on film. And director Christopher Nolan has done just that with "Dark Knight." And he has done it well, or at least well enough...
I credit, also, Frank Miller for giving the "Dark Knight" its soul. His groundbreaking graphic novel in the 1990's about a Batman for the modern era without the hokey prime-time TV kitsch and parody, set the stage for this ultimate and haunting vision of Batman as he was supposed to be, as he was meant to be...
So finally, I would say, "Dark Knight" is what "Batman" should have been all along and why it's getting the acclaim and attention it's getting, deservedly or not: it is haunting. It is frightening. It is fantastical. It is plausible, especially in our current day and age of twisted, demented, deluded madmen and principled, driven super-soldiers.
While "Batman" is a DC comic about a crime-fighter, "Dark Knight" is a movie about "the fight," the ultimate fight, one which we all must ultimately wage at some level, played out in the backdrop of a sprawling, brutal and relentless metropolis and in the staggering vacuum of an amoral human world.
In "Batman Begins," the character Bruce Wayne seeks to create a symbol out of his crime-fighting alter ego, to last through the ages, to impart a sense of perpetuity so that evil-doers and revelers in chaos will take pause and so that stricken masses will feel hope and capacity in the face of dire circumstance. It's quite messianic, actually, if you think about it...
And "Dark Knight" continues in that same vein, with Bruce Wayne sacrificing the reputation of Batman for the sake of the greater good, for the sake of hope, for the sake of the people, because, as Jim Gordon puts it, "he can take it," because he is the "protector..."
I welcome and relish the envisioning of the Batman story in capable and committed hands.
This envisioning by Christopher Nolan, I felt, needed some fluidity and polish, but Nolan takes "Batman," with the gift of Christian Bale in the lead, where it ultimately needed to go, into the realm of legend and allegory and symbol.