I saw The Dark Knight again.

My original review, from six weeks ago is here. Some observations upon reflection:

• It holds up rather well.
• It’s at #3 on IMDB (under Shawshank and Godfather) which is still too high.
• My initial appraisal of Maggie Gyllenhall was off. She really isn’t convincing as the tough-as-nails DA. What’s surprising is that, in retrospect, Katie Holmes was. But Gyllenhall is far more convincing as a hippie/folksinger/drifter than an authority figure, and sort of slouches and shrinks her way through this film.
• Mostly unchanged on my view of Heath Ledger: He did good. But he’s actually not even in the film that much.
• I was contrasting with Superman 3 and noticing that Bale does a good job acting even while wearing the cowl. I know people didn’t like the “Batman growl” he does, but it still works for me.
• Aaron Eckhart has the toughest role: He’s a good guy in a way that’d perfectly comfortable in a movie from the ‘40s. For a guy who played a cigarette PR guy (Thank You For Smoking), he does sincerity really well.
• Gary Oldman is too old to be Commissioner Gordon but it works.
• Caine and Freeman and Bale should make a non-Batman movie together.
• Joker’s claim to not be a “schemer” is not credible.
• Watching Spiderman 3–with celebrations for Spidey–twigged a vague recollection of something. In the DC world, with Superman and Batman, the heroes are generally publicly praised. I think it was Stan Lee and Jack Kirby who introduced the idea of public opprobrium to comic books. I never once read an anti-superhero comic as a kid, unless it was due to a temporary misunderstanding.
• The theater was about 2/3rds full. (!)
• UPDATE: Also, Batman’s head was HUGE. That was one problem with showing him in full light. What’s up with his head being almost a perfect sphere with bat ears?