Saw Dark Knight. At a matinee that was not packed, thank the lord. Mostly, what Jessica and Ethan said. I liked it a lot, but I do not quite understand why the reviews are so rhapsodic. Although a lot of them seem to comparing it to other comic-superhero movies, and if I'd seen more of them I might understand that reaction better. Like the first one, there's a long slow build, which I'm okay with. Like the first one there's a weird fetishization of all the Bat-tech, which I find quite tiresome. Like the first one, I'd like to edit it down a little. Although there's other stuff I wish there'd been more of, so there's that. Like the first one, I love the themes and ideas and world enough that I'll probably see it again in the theater despite my quibbles, and like it more the second time.

I will disagree about a few things: I liked the mobster/corruption stuff in general, although some of that is in what I'd trim. But I wanted more of the Batfans, so. And I actually liked the sonar effect itself, though the concept and the fact that they needed to make an ethical issue out of it was silly and too on the nose.

And my problem with Eckhardt was that I didn't really buy his feelings for Rachel. Which made his transformation rather problematic. Though I think some of that was the writing, and maybe some of the things I'd cut could have been replaced with a few minutes that would make that play better. This may be superstition on my part, but I feel like if Nolan had done his usual messing about with chronology, that might have worked better for me.

And I'm not sure I understand Gordon's "death" either. I think that it was because he was Batman's special friend and the next obvious target. When he returned to his family, didn't he say something about how it was to protect them? Or am I blurring things together? The thing that bothered me about that was that it was so fast that I was like, "Wait.. what? He did? Just like that?" Not out of surprise that he'd been killed, but surprise that it seemed like a throwaway. Maybe it was hurried so that people wouldn't think about it enough to question it, but it had the opposite effect on me.

I agree with some reviewers I've read that this movie is a post-September 11th allegory and I think it is very effective.

I agree with your statement about Eckhardt. I feel like we are missing a few scenes there.

I almost forgot! I was strangely delighted that Batman kept beating up dogs.

I'm not sure why. Maybe because I read Chris's Invincible Super-Blog.

ETA: Hee. I swear I wrote that before seeing his review, which says Seriously, at one point Batman punches a dog off a building while also punching two other dogs. It is the greatest cinematic achievement of our time.

Tiny Lister! OK, I was about to ask which role he played, but Sean confirmed it was the one I thought and he was AWESOME! More than anything else, him throwing the trigger out the window (after saying he'd do what the cops should have done ten minutes ago) floored me with surprise in the most positive sense.

I was so worried that the asshat who said he'd pull the trigger on the other boat was going to, since Nolan had been playing decidedly not fair all movie.

Oh yeah, and Armond White is my go-to guy for most off-the-rails end-of-movie-culture-as-we-know-it guy. Who also worships the ground that Stephen Spielberg walks on, which makes it even weirder.

They're showing TDK at two different drive-ins here, and I would love to see it that way. It's been about a million years since I went to a drive-in. I thought they were all second-run now!

Every single Imax show for the weekend is already sold out out around here. That's just incredible. This thing is going to make SO much money.

I'm VERY curious what Nolan decides to do next.

There's a first-run drive-in near where my office is, but it's a totally sketchy neighborhood and I wouldn't go there by myself.

When I looked at tickets this afternoon, all the shows until after 11pm were sold. I didn't check again, as I'm totally jealous because I won't be able to go see it until Sunday.

Seattle IMAX sold out. Hoping to catch it Wednesday. Am trying to work out how to see sooner.

Just saw it, so of course I turn to the internets.

I was SURE that with the ferry mindfuck detonator thing, what would end up happening was that each ferry had their OWN detonator. The Joker would totally do that shit.

Heath Ledger was good, absolutely. And disturbing. I may never be able to watch Brokeback Mountain again. But I certainly don't think his performance was Oscar-worthy, as lots have been suggesting.

Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon still rocks my socks. He's so fucking good. (Also? I *totally* thought that Harvey really was going to kill Gordon's son. I mean, I thought the movie would go there. And I'm really glad it didn't.

I thought Aaron Eckhart was fanfuckingtastic. I mean, REALLY. There was some backstory I would have liked -- for instance, everyone who knows the comics knows that Dent was going to become Two-Face, so it wouldn't have given too much away if, earlier on in the movie, Gordon or another cop had actually revealed Harvey's nickname. It just felt really clunky and avilly when it did happen.

I'm so taken by the Harvey-needs-Batman/Batman-needs-Harvey storyline, and I plan to write more about it later.

Part of me has never been all that thrilled by the Joker, which is why I'm going to say this: I got the sense that this was supposed to feel like a Batman vs. the Joker movie, yet it didn't, to me. It felt mostly like a movie about Harvey Dent. (Or at least, to the extent the Batman Begins felt like a movie about Jim Gordon, this one felt like a movie about Harvey Dent. Yes, Batman was there, and Bruce Wayne's journey, etc. is significant, and definitely took a HUGE leap closer to the scary-ass dark twisted weirdo that's in the comics these days. But past Batman and the toys -- all Harvey Dent.)

And I certainly didn't expect to come out of the movie thinking THAT.

(Also, I lamented Katie Holmes being replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal, since Rachel got killed anyway. It would have been SO much more satisfying to see Katie Holmes blow up.