I saw The Dark Knight for the second time, catching a late showing on an IMAX screen in Manchester, Connecticut. The film holds up quite well upon repeat viewing; in fact, there were plenty of details and thematic nuances I picked up this time around. I was once again struck how the acting throughout was first rate: yes, from Heath Ledger, as widely noted, but also from Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhardt, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Michael Caine. The action sequences were well staged, with the exception of the final showdown with the Joker in which the sonar view in the quick cuts made things a bit confusing. Hard not to marvel at the high intensity scenes with the vehicles on the streets of Chicago--oh, right, make that Gotham City. And apparently this flick continues to set all kinds of box office records. Well-deserved success, I'd say.
Perhaps it was just the theater I was in, but all the hype surrounding seeing this film in IMAX seems a bit over the top. Basically whenever Batman jumped off a building or during the Batmobile's assault on The Joker's truck there was just a little bit more of the picture filling the screen. You had to really look to appreciate the difference in the frame. Maybe that's because the screen size was not significantly bigger than what I expect to see in a movie theater. Seeing The Dark Knight on one of those six-story IMAX screens would be much more impressive, I suppose, if the picture expanded so the viewer really had a sense of flying through the towers of the Hong Kong or Chicago skyline.
