It was fantastic hanging out with friends from our ycombinator summer cohort of startups to grab beers and watch The Dark Knight. By the end of the movie, my eyes had dried out and I had a crick in my back from hunching over with suspense. Also, the 3 beers I had prior to entering the theater were a bad idea but even through a more urgent bout of bladder urgency, I could not tear my eyes away.
I guess I can't help but find social messages in major summer blockbuster movies. This time, The Dark Knight plays with themes around the role of chance, good and evil of men, and the chaos of anarchy in the face of order. Along the way, there are some amazing situations where the morality of choice is brought to the fore.
Also, excellent fight scenes, lots of building-to-building paragliding by Batman, a lot of complete mayhem by the Joker, and more than a few twists and turns along the way. I have to say though, it was the longest awesome movie I ever saw. You know how some great movies you watch and time just flies by, and it doesn't feel like 2 hours? This 152 minute film felt like around 4 hours.
Four hours of AWESOME.