Fanboys declare Dark Knight as the ‘Greatest Movie Ever!’
Not only has The Dark Knight achieved a record highest opening weekend ever (an estimated $155 million, beating Spiderman 3’s opening in 2007), but the film is now “officially” the “Greatest Movie of All-Time”. As of midnight, Monday, over 46 000 users of The Internet Movie Database have given The Dark Knight an average score of 9.5. This puts it in the top spot of IMDB’s Top 250 Movies as Voted by Our Users list.
What are these people smoking? The Dark Knight is a very good movie, and not just a very good comic book movie. But is it really a better movie than Goodfellas? According to the list The Dark Knight — according to all the fanboys and girls – beats out such cinematic classics as The Godfather parts I and II, Psycho, Rear Window, and Dr. Strangelove to mention but a few. Hopefully, with only 46 915 votes calculated so far, there’s still a chance that The Dark Knight will eventually settle into a more honestly represented ranking on the list.
The critical consensus according to Rotten Tomatoes is that The Dark Knight is one of the year’s best films. Again, this should be taken with a grain of salt. It seems that despite the fact there have been many comic book films dealing with mature themes and subject matter before, The Dark Knight is the first film of its kind to avoid the “trappings” of being “just a comic-book movie”. This statement simultaneously devalues other comic book movies and gives The Dark Knight a sliver too much credit. Just because the movie touches on edgier, darker material doesn’t make it any more valid an achievement as, say, Superman or Spiderman.
Interestingly enough, any critics who have dared to go against the flow and post negative reviews of the film have been swarmed by rabid fanboys declaring that they “just didn’t get it”. On www.cbc.ca, Katrina Onstad’s review was fairly critical of the film. Not long after it was posted, 81 rebuttals slammed her as being “self-indulgent”, suggested she “look into another line of work”, or dismissed her opinions entirely with comments like, “Leave it to a chick to just not get it”.
Eventually — and predictably — the fanboys and girls will return to their bat caves, lying in wait until the next “Best Movie Ever” comes out in theatres (will it be The Watchmen?). The tidal wave of hysteria surrounding The Dark Knight and its omnipresent viral marketing will have ebbed, and it will simply be known as a great movie.
Just read the CBC review, and I’d have to agree with the fanboys on this one. Though she’s 100% right that some of the morality tale elements are delivered with all the finesse of a drunk wielding a jackhammer, her whole review seems predicated on the need for a Batman movie to be ‘fun’.
Though some of the commenters are pretty juvenile, the core point that it’s okay for a superhero movie to be dark is valid. Hell, I would have preferred it even darker, not smoothed over to maintain a PG13 rating to ensure higher box office returns.
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Whatever they’re smoking obviously puts them in a much more optimistic and communal mood than what YOU’RE smoking. Mayhaps I suggest you consider switching dealers 😛
TDK can’t be faulted for being a superb movie, no matter what its core audience is. I do agree with Doug: The moral of the story is communicated with much less flair and panache than the rest of the movie, and feels not only tacked-on but unnecessary, as Chris Nolan gives us enough clues and credit to allow the audience to figure it out for ourselves. But that’s all it suffers from, in that it doesn’t drag on and on and and ruin the tone of what is otherwise a near-perfect movie. Bale’s Batman is easily the best there’s ever been, schticky “bad-ass-bass” voice aside, and the pacing of the movie is such that no one character, element, or plot device is given any more time on screen than is absolutely necessary.
And at the risk of sounding like I’m jumping on the Heath Ledger bandwagon: Kevin Spacey’s “John Doe” (in Se7en). Anthony Hopkins’ “Hannibal Lecter”. Daniel Day Lewis’ “Butcher” in “Gangs of New York”. Even Spacey’s “Verbal/Keyser Soze” in “The Usual Suspects.” This is the great list of villains thus far (there are many others, but I’m rounding these guys into the top 5.) Heath Ledger’s Joker edges its way into the number 1 spot, IMHO. (It’s almost a tie with Lecter, but he earned an extra point for the Disappearing Pencil trick :P) He plays him so perfectly as a sociopathic genius with a purpose that calling him the best Joker of all time is simply not enough, not to mention plainly obvious.
Agreed with Doug’s comment re. the low rating. This should have been an R. I look forward to the BluRay with all the scenes that didn’t make the cut. (I’m in mind of Count Dooku’s execution scene at the beginning of Episode 3 which set the tone so well for a megalomaniacal villain, but had to be cut to keep the movie’s PG rating. Stupid Lucasfilm…)
~I’m in mind of Count Dooku’s execution scene at the beginning of Episode 3~
Oops, I meant General Grevious
-10 Nerdpoints
Finally, and because I forgot to touch on it in my last comment…I would take the CBC author’s comments with a giant brick of salt. Anyone who writes 1500+ words praising the virtues of Sex and the City and cooing over its deliciously gooey centre, but spends 996 words effectively trashing a movie like the Dark Knight, and ostensibly all those who enjoyed it, clearly has her own set of criteria on what is of a mind, makes a movie. That is not to say her opinion lacks merit; I’m just simply stating that I’m not likely to share it.
Okay, I don’t have time right now to get into this comment into depth, but I think that The Dark Knight is an awesome and superbly crafted movie that drew upon finely tuned characters (and not just Batman & The Joker, but everyone; Rachel, Harvey and Gordon). It also touched into the psychology and duality of the relationship between The Joker and The Batman; although, I wished they’ve gotten into that aspect a bit more.
Is is the greatest movie ever made? Well, no. On this I have to agree with Alex. But I do think it is right now, the best comic book-based movie made and it is going to be really tough for someone to surpass Chris Nolan on this front.
In any case, that’s all I have to time to rant right now. I’ll be going through all the reviews tonight and will be writing an in-depth article/essay on why The Dark Knight movie could be the best comic book-based movie made and how/why it works as well as it does.
Keep your eyes peeled gent! Especially you Alex…
There’s a song by Sloan, “Coax Me’, and one of the lines is “It’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans”. I think that’s more the focus of drsquid’s post. Yeah — it’s a great movie. But in all honesty — “The Greatest Movie Ever”?
And no doubt Heath Ledger is fantastic, but the greatest villain? What about Joe Pesci’s take on Tommy DeVito, Al Pacino’s Tony Montana, or Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance? Deniro’s Travis Bickle, Mitchum’s Max Cady, Kathy Bates’ Annie Wilkes… No quirky or colourful costumes, no cannibalism, but astoundingly villainous nonetheless. And none of these guys make it into the top 5?
And what about BTTF’s Libyans? Okay…kidding.
At any rate, I wouldn’t pay too much attention to imdb’s list. In all honesty if the voting was accessible to people offline as well as online, I doubt TDK would be so high on that list. Alot of the people putting these things together seem almost incapable of reaching farther than fifteen years back into the history of film.
The people who want to see the film will see the film whether they want her salt or not (iodized salt? sea salt? epsom salt?) who the hell cares? In the future are critics supposed to play dead until the fanboys sniff them and leave them alone? In the future, through evolution, there will be no ‘critics’. There will only be ‘gushers’. 😉
So far this is my favourite fanboy: “this is the 2nd negative review..another one was found yesterday..but hey..this is the first arrive on the tomatometer..as long as the movie stays above 90% i’ll be satisfied.”
Satisfied with life? Is it that simple? My life started to go down the crapper when I found out that BTTF has only a 95% rating on RT. Now I drink. Alot.
I’m worried. If the movie’s rating dips below 90%, will he end up in a belltower with a rifle? Could this guy be The Next Greatest Villain?!
I’m going to go make some tea and watch Dr. Phil. You know, because I’m a chick.
Heheh… it’s a pretty sad state when people need their tastes validated by IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.
HA!! love it 🙂
While your list is valid (except may be Tony Montana…was he the villain?? I think I’m gunna label him as “misunderstood” :P), I’m still gonna stick with Ledger’s Joker as being the #1 of all time. There’s playing the villain, and just plain being the villain, and I thin khe’s done it in this case better than anyone.
Other top contenders include Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner, Gene Hackman in Unforgiven, and (and I can’t believe I forgot this one earlier) Michael Madsen as “Mr. Blonde” in Reservoir Dogs.
+10 for the Lybians.
Alright, I’ll concede that the fanboy factor is taking its toll on the IMDB boards. The more google searches I do to find a greatest villain of all time, the more I realize that TDK doesn’t really deserve top spot, as far as a story goes. (And now that I’ve had a day to chew on it…wtf is up with Sonar Vision?) But I’m of a mind that putting a new movie in anyone’s “top 10” list is as clichéed as Heroin in the 90s.
DrSquid is totally right in retrospect, even if I feel like I’ve taken a shot 🙂 It’ll be interesting to see how this movie’s rating nets out in a couple of weeks. until then, let the Batdemonium continue.
“Heheh… it’s a pretty sad state when people need their tastes validated by IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes.”
Seriously. All these fanboys are going to become victim to alot of ulcers and anyeurisms if they keep denying themselves food and fresh air solely to search and destroy negative reviews and their reviewers! All the stress and strain they’re putting themselves through! Blood vessels will burst! Skin will rash! Groins will become itchy and chafed with sweat! Is it the critics we should really be worried about?
Now I must get back to fine-tuning my reply to “Who would win in a fight — Dr. Manhattan or Alan Moore’s beard?” Finally, a thread I can really sink my fangirl teeth into!
Ooh — ooh — ooh, Mr. Kotter!
Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone!! How the hell I forgot him I have no idea! Michael Caine’s Jack Carter!!
Bob Gunton’s portrayal of Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption is fantastic and highly under-rated. It’s so hard to pick out the best villains without being swayed by the lists already out there. It’s tough to put yourself back in the shoes you were wearing when you first watched the film.
Most of the villains on the lists are played by big name actors, and not necessarily actors in first-time, breakout roles. Not that it takes away from the achievement but it’s easier to remember Al Pacino playing MIchael Corleone in The Godfather than it would be remembering Anne Blythe’s performance as Veda in ‘Mildred Pierce’.
And where are the women, anyways? And not just Barbara Stanwyck in ‘Double Indemnity’ or Glen Close in ‘Fatal Attraction’. What about that villainous, snooty sales associate who gave Julia Roberts so much grief in ‘Pretty Woman’? What about that devilish Benny who called Molly Ringwald’s Andi “Jim” in ‘Pretty In Pink’? You KNOW she did that on PURPOSE!!
I’d put my money on Alan Moore’s beard. It has mad magic mojo!
Even so, the one point I would give the fanboys is that a critic should rate the movie on its merits, not the critics (possibly ill-informed) idea of what comic books are. At the same time, fanboys aren’t known for being very rational either.
The real fanboy question will always be “Hulk or Thing… who wins?”
Oh, and one point about the IMDb rankings… I’ve been using IMDb since it was a downloadable database back in the Commodore Amiga days, and I’ll suggest to those fanboys who have found validation in The Dark Knight’s #1 status to come back and revisit its position about 6 months after the DVD is released.
I agree with Doug, I’d also put my money on Alan Moore’s beard. 🙂
Best movie villains? That’s I tough one. Off the top of my head my favourites are Michael Corleone from the Godfather movies, Butcher from “Gangs of New York”, and Jack Nicholson’s Jack Torrance from “The Shining”.
I just read Katrina Onstad’s review of The Dark Knight, and I have to say I also very strongly disagree with her review; partly (as Doug put it so well) because of her “(possibly ill-informed) idea of what comic books are.” The fact that she thinks that Batman is “supposed” to be fun shows her lack of understanding of the fundamental principles of Batman’s psychological makeup which has been done over and over again in the comics; that he is the flawed hero, driven to make the world a better place, not by any noble intention, but by a selfish, almost maddening need to seek approval from his surrogate father figure, Gotham City. It is an approval that he can never get. In my books, this is what makes Batman not a fun character, but a great tragic hero. And we all know, tragedy = drama = great compelling stories.
-whew!-
Anyway, I’ll have more to come when I post my article on The Dark Knight movie.
As has been said ad nauseum, but still bears repeating:
COMIC BOOKS ARE A MEDIUM, NOT A GENRE.
I’m very very VERY much looking forward to the airing of this week’s podcast 🙂
I realise this is now slightly off-topic, but there were login issues… I feel the need to defend Katrina Onstand a little bit.
1) If you don’t read graphic novels and haven’t gone to a comic book store since you were a kid, you can be forgiven for thinking–truly, a bizarre concept–that movies about superheroes are supposed to be “fun”.
2) Second, and possibly more offensive to me personally, were the attacks made to her on the CBC website, basically making a single observation: “girls” (in this case one solitary woman) don’t “get” (is not a raving fan of) comic book movies. One woman dislikes a movie and publishes a critique of it, in her role as a movie-critic no less, and the entire gender is called out because of it.
http://xkcd.com/385/ says it all.
Anyway, my login has been fixed and my points made and now we can let the thread die. 🙂
Nope 🙂
~If you don’t read graphic novels and haven’t gone to a comic book store since you were a kid, you can be forgiven for thinking–truly, a bizarre concept–that movies about superheroes are supposed to be “fun”.~
Hardly. Your ignorance of the medium does not mean you are free to assume the tone of a genre. And beyond that, define “FUN”. I had TONS of fun at Batman…maybe the most fun I’ve had at a movie in a long time. I think she thought Batman was supposed to be campy and stupid, like the 60s version.
Regardless, she spoke as though she had NO clue about the medium, and clearly didn’t get that comics aren’t just “funny books” and are rarely for 12-and-unders these days.
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