If you only see one movie this summer yada yada yada...

Rating: 10/10 (15 July 2008)

Remember those sayings that magazines or critics would say? One of the more popular ones was: "If you only see one movie this summer, this is it". Well, until now I never understood that too well, but now I really... really do. The Dark Knight is THAT movie. As plain as I can say it, The Dark Knight is by far the greatest, most entertaining movie released all year. Period.
I had the privilege of seeing an advanced showing for management only in IMAX about a week before this movie released. I was ecstatic that not only was I seeing this much anticipated movie a week early, but it was my first IMAX experience. If you have the option, definitely go with IMAX, it was unbelievable really. It felt like you were flying thru Gotham City about to fall into another scheme by the Joker. But enough about IMAX, how about the movie? Well, Batman Begins received exemplary ratings from critics, about an 8 out of 10 on IMDb if I recall correctly as well. Since Batman Begins turned out so well and ended with Batman receiving word of the Joker, every fan was ready for this movie ASAP. Just a short, quick, 3 years later... we finally got The Dark Knight. The main attraction for this show was Heath Ledger's part after his sudden death. Some will be saying that this was one of his best performances, and I can agree strongly. The Joker was thrilling, yet comical. Heath brought out the dark villain even though he is, well, a joker. All his phrases and sayings made the movie what it was, but it still kept your mindset in fright mode; very hard to tackle.
Looking back on every scene, noticing it was 2 hours and 30 some odd minutes, I can not find a scene unnecessary. Few movies bare the exception of being insanely long but not at all boring, and this one fit that perfectly. Very long, very detailed, but with patrons paying that IMAX ticket price, you want every minute you can get. I also could not find any flaws really with the movie, except for the casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal. Anyone but Katie Holmes wouldn't be good enough. I mean, Maggie is pretty, but not nearly as good looking as Katie Holmes; sort of ruined her character for me. She is very talented though, absolutely.
So after all was said and done, this movie to me was just about perfect. 10 out of 10. Christopher Nolan absolutely took Batman to a new level and said 'forget the rest'. This is top notch... I want to watch it again.