Not just a comic book movie.

Rating: 10/10 (20 July 2008)

There are some movies that simply transcend the genre they're supposed to fit into. As much as I loved Iron Man, Hancock, The Hulk and Hellboy II they were unabashed comic book movies. You will often hear people say things like, "That was a good Superhero movie" or, "That was a good comedy." Only serious movies like No Country for Old men and There will be blood are considered good movies, movies that aren't just dramas or historical fiction, but movies, pure and simple movies.
The Dark Knight isn't just a great comic book movie, it's a great movie. I think that fact that it's been named The Dark Knight and not Batman: The Dark Knight speaks volumes. A title like The Dark Knight makes it a pure movie, a title like Batman: The Dark Knight makes it a comic book movie and this movie deserves to be treated with more respect than that. This could very well be the first Comic book movie to be nominated for Best Picture (I don't think it'll happen, but I think it'll be considered.) Heath Ledger could be the first Super villain to be nominated for best actor and have a good a chance to win. If you're going to see this movie see it for his performance which was just as captivating as Javier Bardem is No Country for Old men. It's rare you get a bad guy where every time he comes on the screen to wonder to yourself, what's he going to do now? And a lot of the menace was in Heath's performance, he made the Joker evil yet, funny. My goodness, there were some jokes that you couldn't help but laugh at even though the situation wasn't really all that funny. (BTW, never asked him to do the magic trick with a pencil.) There were no wasted moments in this movie, there were no bad scenes, there were no moments where you rolled your eyes. It's hard to make a perfect movie, there's always something that I don't like about a movie, even the great ones but not this one. Sure, if I see it a few more times I'm sure I'll find a flaw somewhere but right now I'm marveling at how amazing it was to watch it for the first time. How often do you see a movie that blows you away the first time you see it? As much as I loved all the movies I mentioned above none really got to my insides like The Dark Knight. I left the theater feeling I had seen something truly amazing, something I'm going to come back to watch time and time again. Heck, I want to see it in Imax now and I might look to see it in Imax next weekend! I need to see this movie again cause it's just that good. I'm still buzzing about it almost 24 hours after seeing it and I'm sure I'll be buzzing about it for a very long time.
Even if you don't like Comic Book movies I'd recommend this movie without any reservations so, everyone who reads this, if you haven't seen it yet what are you waiting for, go see it!