Dark Knight For Dummies.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing The Dark Knight in IMAX. It was an absolutely amazing film, tinged slightly by the passing of Heath Ledger. Although the movie is really a fitting memorial.

During the movie I was surprised initially at the rambling feel of the plot, and the ridiculous feel of the dialog in some parts. I read a review that described it as "operatic", that's a very good way of putting it. Phrases like "Gotham's White Night", "He's not the hero we deserved, he's the hero we got.", "We'll hunt him, because we have to...because he can take it.", ...the word "MUST", and such are peppered in.

And it seemed like every 20 minutes the movie was reaching an epic climax, which would lead directly into the next building sequence. Not that I don't think movies should do that, I thought it was excellent, but it just didn't fit with the very clear and straight plots modern films and the previous Batman films have had.

It took me until almost the last frame of the film to realize what I was missing. And I'm disappointed it took me so long. I realized all these make more sense when taken in a different context. If you think about it not as a movie, but as a comic book series, it all makes more sense. The dialog while somewhat overstated and strange when spoken is now perfectly at home in a speech bubble. The repeating epic points are like end of each book, keeping you there so you buy the next installment.

Recent films have been following in this trend, emulating graphic novels. Most are far more blatant, being based on the novels, being cell shaded (Or using a very obvious visual style). The Dark Night is very much like these in scope and attitude, but opting for a more striking true-to-life visual look.

Viewed with this in mind the whole thing really does feel more ingenious, a more epic vision. It's a little strange to think that a MOTION PICTURE is made better by imagining it as a photo-realistic, live-action comic book...but it works.