The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight took in $155.34 million Fri-Sun. Beating Spider-Man 3's 151.1 million in 2007. The new Batman film is now the biggest debut ever in U.S. box office history, especially impressive for an opening on a non-holiday weekend. (perezhilton.com) *Insane amount of money*

So - I contributed to the $155 mil Friday night. It was a last minute decision, and the theater was packed. It was true to its title, in that it is very dark. It was sort of sad, actually - lots of death, destruction and loss. If I didn't know Heath Ledger was playing the Joker, I'm not sure I could have figured it out.There is one character who ends up disfigured, and they keep showing the gruesome image. I had to shut my eyes and look away.

I'm still deciding if I liked it, but here are my thoughts: There was some really great acting in it; Maggie Gyllenhaal is better as Rachel than Katie Holmes, Aaron Eckhart played his character well, and I think Christian Bale is my favorite Batman. (I have had a thing for him since I saw him in Newsies.) Michael Caine was a great Alfred, but I think the role Morgan Freeman played was too understated for his talent. And, Heath Ledger did an amazing job with his part. It's not hard to understand that someone in the head of that character would have problems sleeping afterwards.

Comic book based movies sort of bug me when they have cheesy one liners by random characters thrown in. (of course I can't think of any examples right now.) I guess it lightens the mood of all the fight scenes, but they tend to make me roll my eyes. True to comic books though, the Dark Knight definitely does not lack action - fight scenes, car chases, tractor trailers flipping, and lots of gunfire. The film is almost 3 hrs long, and at some point I thought, isn't this over yet?

The strange thing was, there were parts when the audience laughed out loud. Once or twice, it made sense - if the Joker or someone made a sarcastic joke. But there were times that people laughed at things that were mean, or disturbing - not humorous. It was like someone put on a laugh track at an inappropriate scene. Maybe I missed the joke?

When I first left the theater, I thought, I don't think I would want to see that again. But now I'm sort of curious to watch it again, now that I know what happens, and catch other parts of the movie.