After leaving the screening hall, Stephen Carragher glanced at the time it was almost ten at night. He quickened his pace but couldn’t really speed up because the cinema was packed! Compared to last weekend evening’s visit, the number of people in this theater had nearly tripled. Stephen Carragher clearly knew why. These people had come to the cinema for the same reason as him to watch the socially hyped movie The Dark Knight.
Thinking about the film he had just seen, Stephen shook his head. Such a shallow superhero movie about good versus evil paled greatly compared to his favorite The Godfather. Shrugging, Stephen squeezed out of the cinema and headed toward his nearby apartment. Although in his eyes, this was Duke Rosenberg’s deepest film among his shallow popcorn flicks, it still paled in comparison to The Godfather. The Godfather had been ranked first on IMDB’s TOP list for a long time! Over the years, his beloved The Godfather had faced challenges, such as Duke Rosenberg’s The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King briefly taking the top spot, but time was the best judge, and two years ago, that film relinquished the crown back to The Godfather. Making Duke Rosenberg and The Lord of the Rings 3 lose the top spot on IMDB’s TOP list was something The Godfather’s die-hard fans were proud of.
Back at home, after washing up and preparing to sleep, Stephen still pondered The Dark Knight. The film wasn’t particularly great nor terrible; at least it was much better than Duke Rosenberg’s usual visual effects-heavy films... In a daze, he fell asleep. The next day was Saturday, and he didn’t have to work, so he got up close to nine. After a simple breakfast, Stephen sat at his computer and habitually logged into IMDB. He clicked open the TOP 250 rankings, and his half-closed eyes instantly widened.
The Godfather was ranked second not surprising since new releases had sometimes temporarily claimed first place before. Currently, The Dark Knight
Frowning for a while, Stephen calmed himself. Perhaps it wouldn’t last. As more people watched The Dark Knight, the ratings would naturally drop. However, he still clicked into The Dark Knight’s related sections. Ignoring the glaring ten score, he opened the comment section, which was filled with what he considered the praises of brainless fans.
"A masterpiece, no explanation needed..."
"Perfect. A must-see..."
"Can I give it twenty points..."
Seeing this, Stephen’s brow furrowed further. What he had considered an average film was now growing to be hated in his heart. Especially one comment afterward deepened his loathing:
"The Dark Knight’s kingly momentum has formed; it’s ranked first on IMDB with a perfect ten, and this likely won’t change for a long time. Duke Rosenberg is undeniably Hollywood’s box office king."
"In my opinion, the only Hollywood figure who can challenge Duke’s commercial box office reign is James Cameron, the former world king, who is now preparing a new film, but it is said Duke is investing in it... As for other top and second-tier directors, I think it’s basically hopeless."
"Steven Spielberg is old now; though powerful, he can’t create another sensation; David Fincher hasn’t had a film that succeeds in both art and business; Ridley Scott’s works are consistently good but never show an invincible king’s aura; Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi are not yet masters in creativity; Roland Emmerich is now content to contribute bad films; Jane Campion and Martin Campbell lurk in the second tier; Brian De Palma is past his prime; Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola? Don’t make me laugh..."
Reading the last sentence, Stephen’s anger surged. What did "don’t make me laugh" mean? Francis Coppola was the great director of The Godfather! Stephen slammed his computer desk heavily, dragged the mouse, and gave The Dark Knight an extremely low score of one. If there were an option for zero, he would have given that!
But it wasn’t over. He opened the comment box and quickly typed:
Now Stephen was filled with hostility toward The Dark Knight.
"Take the most attractive character in the film the Joker played by Heath Ledger. The overestimation of The Dark Knight mainly lies in this character being overrated."
"Putting aside the acting, what kind of character is the Joker in the movie? This is clearly a character with no weaknesses in terms of logic. Neither the underworld nor the police can find his background; no one knows his methods. This is logically impossible. Ignoring this, one can praise the Joker as flawless—he’s extraordinary, utterly dark, and the top villain in Gotham City, overshadowing all other movie villains."
"No one knows who the Joker really is, what his past is, what he likes or fears. None of this is known to anyone. From a logical standpoint, this makes no sense. Because no one knows any information about him, no one can discover his weaknesses. He lacks nothing; his henchmen come and go at his command, huge piles of dollars are burnt at will. Whatever his ultimate goal is, at least he has any resource he wants. Therefore, he is a perfect villain, technically undefeatable."
"Thus, the Joker’s brilliance, his fascinating methods, and his intricate psychological tactics all stem from this fundamental point: his character is set up this way from the start; he is supposed to be perfect, not made charming through plot development."
If a character with such a design were the protagonist doing good deeds, then he would be Superman, or the flawless, impeccable version of the Dark Knight Harvey Dent in ’The Dark Knight,’ but because such a character is cast as the villain, that’s why we find it stunning."
"Finally, did the Joker really succeed?"
"The Joker failed completely. The situation he meticulously planned—two ships’ passengers killing each other—never occurred, forcing him, in frustration, to try to detonate it himself. This was the root of his failure, proving that this city inherently rejects the chaos he yearned for; people’s hearts are not as ugly as the Joker imagined."
"Secondly, many believe the Joker succeeded by corrupting Gotham’s bright knight, Harvey Dent, thinking this was his greatest victory, that it would plunge the entire city into despair."
"In reality, the people of this city were indifferent to Harvey Dent because the film never shows that Harvey Dent is respected by the city or seen as a savior. The so-called ’Bright Knight’ was just Bruce Wayne’s wishful thinking alone, not even Gordon cared much about him. Moreover, Harvey Dent himself had a lot of showmanship; his dark side was already evident, only Batman kept him from falling off the cliff."
"So, the Joker’s victory was merely a blow to Batman’s wishful thinking, not the victory he originally sought."
"In summary, the Joker’s image is overrated, the Joker’s victory is overrated, and the Joker is the core of the entire film. Therefore, although this movie is passable, it is not a work that can far surpass other films, and it certainly doesn’t deserve a perfect score or repeated viewings."
"I think the Joker’s phrase ’why so serious’ isn’t warning his opponents not to be too serious, but telling the audience not to take things too seriously, because if you watch this film focusing on details, you will find logic loopholes everywhere, exposing Duke Rosenberg’s extremely weak narrative ability!"
After posting this comment, Stephen Caragher felt a bit relieved, as if all his pent-up anger had found an outlet. He believed many fans of ’The Godfather’ who were dissatisfied with ’The Dark Knight’ would stand up angrily like him to defend the fairness and justice of the IMDB ranking.
Of course, he automatically ignored the rumors about IMDB’s paid voters that he had heard before.
As the screening time lengthened, various survey data were sent by Warner Bros to Duke’s hands. Just as he thought, ’The Dark Knight’ was still rejected by some groups, even among his own fan base, many disliked this film.
According to the survey data, those dissatisfied after watching ’The Dark Knight’ were not the art-house or thoughtful cinephiles, but many superhero movie fans.
There was a note specially marked by CinemaScore that undoubtedly represented this group’s opinion.
"Watching movies comes with expectations, especially commercial films. ’The Dark Knight’ shattered all my expectations for superheroes. Just the death of the female lead Rachel alone made me unable to bear it!"