John A Massie's Review

Summary - Great 4.0

Well made, very entertaining, and without a moment of drag, and yet I was still slightly disappointed witht this film. Probably because all the hype created unrealisitic expectations. Dark Knight is just a well amde summer blockbuster, nothing more, nothing less.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

Ledger’s Joker, while creepy, was a bit too theatrical for me to consider him great. Gary Oldman probably gave the best performance although it was entirely unflashy support. Eckhart was pretty good and Bale and Gylenhaal did OK considering how little they had to work with character wise.

Film - Really Great 4.5

Edge - Sordid 3.5

Reality - Surreal 2.3

11 Comments

• MJ5K Apr 13, 2010 3:52PM

  Ah, how could I forget. There were just too many good movies out that year.

• Wick Apr 12, 2010 10:57PM

  Agreed. Let’s not forget Iron Man, also from 2008.

• MJ5K Apr 12, 2010 6:44PM

  I gotta say, Wick, as far as movies go, I’d say 2008 was the best year for movies since 1994 and movies such as “The Dark Knight”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “The Wrestler”, and “Milk” prove my point.

• Demona Feb 17, 2010 2:04PM

  Totally, on the flipping truck part.. I saw the behind the scenes.. it was pretty amazing how they pulled it off too!

• Demona Feb 17, 2010 2:04PM

  Totally, on the flipping truck part.. I saw the behind the scenes.. it was pretty amazing how they pulled it off too!

• Wick Dec 10, 2009 6:53PM

  Regarding loisamorton’s Review
  Great review w/ lots of interesting details. I wasn’t aware this was the first movie to have a real flipping truck.

• Wick Jun 12, 2009 11:53PM

  And now the advertising dominates an awards ceremony, sayeth the Hollywood Reporter. Seems a year late, but whatever. Well deserved. One click on the MoviePosterDB link atop this page confirms that.

• Fire at Will! Jan 24, 2009 11:36PM

  It’s a shame, but I think that it sent a big message to the Academy as well as Hollywood as a whole; big-budget, fantastical movies can be serious, engaging and just as award-worthy. I expect this to impact heavily with the release of films such as Watchmen – Lord of the Rings cleared the way for fantasy and blockbuster movies to be recognised, and perhaps one day the snooty idiots might begin to realise public opinion doesn’t often run parallel to their perceptions of what is “successful” or not.

• Wick Jan 24, 2009 1:37PM

  What a gyp that Dark Knight wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. It just goes to show how divorced from the audience the Oscars are, which is not to say that huge box office alone makes a movie Best Picture material. By the same token, neither does puny box office and prestige topics.

• Fire at Will! Aug 2, 2008 2:01PM

  I thought it lived up to my expectations, but I was struck by how it felt so much more like an actual crime film that happened to star Batman, as opposed to a Batman film.

• Wick Aug 2, 2008 4:07AM

  Agreed AMC, though I’d like to rescreen the original Batman movie to do a fair heads-up comparison.

  So funny story: I got out to see The Dark Knight about a week into its run, on a Thursday night. Was privileged to catch it at the Century 21, the biggest screen around, damn near IMAX sized. So after the movie, some guy in the row behind me says “I still get chills the third time.”

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