"It was a dark, and stormy knight...."

Last night, I saw "Batman Begins" for the first time. Today, I decided to go see The Dark Knight.

I'm not big on going to the movies. I am a hard critic to please, when it comes to fully enjoying everything about a movie; although I am easy to please by keeping my standard for enjoyment relatively low.

Dark Knight has lived up to its hype, and the praise I've been reading about it are well-earned. It has action, lots of explosions, yes; but also story, psychologically-driven character/archetypes, and a complex exploration into morality.

Although the movie isn't political, the line about "it's always darkest before the dawn" struck a chord in me, as I've used the line to describe Iraq. "Things will start to get worse, before it gets better." Same goes for medical treatments- there's that rough moment when surgery puts you through misery and pain in order to heal you.

And in the movie when people were finger-pointing their anger at Batman and those who have tried to protect them, rather than laying blame and responsibility squarely on the shoulders of The Joker....well, you all know where I'm heading with that one.

Anyway, the movie is outstanding on a host of levels. It's the kind of masterpiece moviemaking that takes comic book nerdiness, and elevates it into the realm of graphic novel maturity and dramatic sophistication.

Funny how the movie shattered box office records over the weekend, when we're supposedly in the grips of a recession. But I suppose a movie like this is classified as "must see", moreso than belonging in the category of frivolous "discretionary spending".

This trailer is outstanding, btw....doubt many of you have seen the version.