#1 movie of all time, is this a Joke?

Rating: 7/10 (25 July 2008)

5 star reviews from respected movie reviewers. Rated #1 on IMDb as being the best movie ever made. You could at least say that I was excited to see this movie.
The thing Christopher Nolan does and does very well, is giving his movies a certain type of gritty dark mood and 'The Dark Knight' captures this mood better then ever before. The action sequences, music and specially the exceptional camera work combined make this movie a joy for the eye from start to end. Also as we explored the character of batman in ' Batman Begins', the movie starts with a quick pace and holds on to this through the whole film.
Also the acting in the movie is surprisingly above average. While Christian Bale does a descent batman (not much screen time as Bruce Wayne), is the Joker played by Heath Ledger a delight to watch. Also Aaron Eckhart who is among the top (with the likes of Josh Lucas) of non-charismatic actors, is surprisingly good as he portrays the inner turmoil of the character he becomes.
Where the movie fails is the fact that there is no clear choice made whether the purpose of it would be to entertain, educate or do both. The Joker is on a rampant mission to destroy Gotham city, but we never know why he does this. We know it is not for the money, it is a zero sum game to him. But is it then because of the problematic childhood or just because the man is crazy?
Second thing is that while the action driven sequences are very descent, but never mind-blowing at all, and in many cases already done in other movies. You cannot exclude the fact that the director at least seems to be 'inspired' by sequences from 'Heat' and 'Mission Impossible III'. Even at the big finale the Joker seems to put a morality test in the hands of some cons and civilians which could directly come from a 'Saw' movie.
After two and a half hours (WHY?) I can conclude that while this movie absolutely supersedes any previous superhero movies like the Spidermans and the Supermans, it is nothing more then a genuine summer blockbuster which many will look back at over a few years and wonder 'did we really rate this movie as better then the Godfather?