The Dark Knight - See It In Imax

I don't do movie reviews often here, but last night my partner and I wen to see "The Dark Night" in Imax. Quite an experience!

The movie is much darker than any previous Batman film, or for that matter than any other comic book inspired movie and that is OK. The plot has characters that, though they are analogs of the comic, have all the dimension of a good drama. That is rare on the latest crop of comic book movies. Most, like Ironman, have been fun, but would hardly qualify as thought provoking drama.

No so for The Dark Night.

This movie raises some really deep existential questions about what qualifies as good and evil, as well as digging deep into the whole "meaning of life" thing. Heath Leger, as the Joker, is haunting and very disturbing. He is a genuine madman, but with the kind of persona that gets under your skin and makes you want to like him, homicidal maniac and all. That quality is what makes sociopaths so powerful. They can be charming and frightening at the same time. As the Joker tells his, "how my face got this way" story over and over. It actually draws you into to his psyche, until you find it's a different story every time. He actually made me shudder, and having his face so large you could see every scab and scar of his greasepaint covered disfigured face, made it even more creepy.

Portions of the movie were actually shot in the Imax format. those parts really put this movie over the top for me. Though there was a bit of a jum between aspect ratios, it actually worked to focus action on the characters when needed, and give a larger scope to the move when the panoramas of Gotham appeared.

Christian Bale is perhaps the best Batman of them all. He is sophisticated yet deeply tortured as the character should be, and yet he never goes over the top like so many comic book heros.

I suggest seeing this film in Imax, but be prepared to make reservations days in advance, it is sold out much of the time.