Tries to hard to be the "Syriana" of superhero films...unfortunately

Rating: 5/10 (14 September 2008)

I went into this film with a fresh mind, having not heard much about it or any spoilerish stuff. Other than the unfortunate passing away of Heath, everything else was neutral with me.
Wow did this movie try too too hard. It was like it was auditioning itself to become part of the rotation on the Bravo or AMC channel. There were just way too many unnecessary story lines involved here, all trying to make things more complex than they really were, all with that constant gloomy depressed feeling too, both staples of "serious" films. Don't get me wrong, it started off with a nice bang with the Joker, but soon after that Harvey Dent and his whole campaign issues became involved, then that whole storyline of the guy trying to frame Bruce Wayne came up, and then that whole byline about the commissioner's secret operation, and then the whole kidnapping of the Oriental mobster came up, and then the three-way romance between Bruce, Harvey, and Rachel came up, and so on and so forth. And that's not even including all the other segments involving Joker meeting up all the mobsters and following up on his big plan. You see what I mean, it was just trying to hard in too many areas all at once.
Iron Man did it quite nicely by not taking itself too seriously. Yes there were fantastical parts in that film, but it never wavered too long on one issue or tried to have too many issues plague the script all at once.
And that brings up another point about the dark knight. Was I only one a little offended at how the script just wanted us to so easily accept the Joker and his small crew doing so much with so little. I mean I just kept thinking that there's too many variables that have to be ignored in order for this to happen, but the movie sure makes it seem like everything should be instantly taken as fact.

Problem with all the powerful mob bosses and their hundreds of men? Don't worry, Joker took care of that with his one little meeting with them. - Problem with trying to kill Harvey Dent, who's being escorted by nearly the entire Gotham City Police force? Don't worry, Joker and a few henchmen inside a truck can take care of that, all while somehow managing to block off entire sections of the city streets too. - Problem with trying to get out of jail? Don't worry, Joker already planned on having some guy with a live bomb inside of him, and timed everything to the second. - Problem with trying to get all of Gotham onto two ferry boats charged with explosives? Don't worry, Joker must've figured out some way to block off ALL highways and freeways leading in and out of Gotham, not to mention figuring out a way to stop all of the airlines, trains, and the entire US government and it's military power too. All with a just a few henchmen too.

Anyways this movie get a 5/10 from out of me.