Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batman!

If you haven't seen The Dark Knight yet, you're probably the only one in the country. It opened at $155 million (Mama Mia, the second biggest movie this weekend, only made $27 million) this weekend, breaking all sorts of records including biggest single day and biggest opening weekend ever. I was one of the 22 million people who saw it over the weekend. Thursday night, specifically, at midnight (which is technically Friday I guess).

It is a really brilliant movie. Especially if you remember (how can you forget) that it's based on a comic book. I guess I don't really have to gush about it. If you have any interest in the movie, you've probably read all the reviews already that laud it as a fucking awesome flick. Critics everywhere loved it, except a bunch of New York rags, including the New Yorker. I actually read that review and it made me very sad. David Denby completely missed the point and basically whined that TDK wasn't campy enough to measure up to Batman ala Michael Keaton. And yeah, I guess if what you want out of your movie is a bunch of two dimentional fluff and a few laughs, TDK is not nearly as good as Batman. But if you want some real pathos, believable characters, plot depth and a villian who is actually villanous, TDK wins out by a long shot.

Let me clarify what I mean by believable characters. I will readily admit that it's a little far fetched that Bruce Wayne would deal with his rage over his parent's death by dressing up in a batsuit and fighting crime. The Joker is another character that makes you go "yeah, that's cool, but there's no way that would really happen." My point is that the characters are portrayed in such a way that they become believeable. And once the premise of the character is set, the way they react and interract with each other is consistant and makes sense.

I'm sure it doesn't need to be said, but holy cats was Heath Ledger brilliant!

I'm still excited about Batman five days later. It really was mind blowing amazing. I need to see TDK about 6 more times, I think. Anyone want to go to a movie this weekend?