Watched Lately: The Dark Knight

• I think the truest measure of a person's age can be found in how many times someone can gain pleasure from consuming the same media repeatedly. As any parent can attest, a child when placed in front of a television will invariably request to watch whatever cartoon DVD they just watched before. When I was a teenager, I read the Dragonlance Chronicles several times even though there were many other books I could have read. In more recent years, I watched my Sports Night DVD at least three times. But the older I get, the less I go back to relive those familiar experiences. When my wife and I went to watch The Dark Knight in the theater for a second time, I knew that we weren't old yet.
• For the last few years, Batman Begins was my favorite superhero movie. I loved that it was a mature movie that actually took the superhero story to heart. It didn't try to do the "What if superheroes where real?" deconstruction modern comics have tried. It embraces the Batman mythos wholeheartedly, but on a level above "Yay, explosions!" which most movies aim for. As much as I enjoyed Batman Begins, The Dark Knight makes it look like a kiddie flick.
• Anything I could say at this point would be superfluous, but I guess I have to try. Actors Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, and Aaron Eckhart must be commended for showing the kinds of madness each of them has inside. But the hero of this picture is Christopher Nolan. In the hands of a less ambitious director, we might have gotten a good sequel. The Dark Knight is a better movie than the superhero genre probably deserves. The bar has been set and I don't think people will accept just anything from the spandex set anymore.