WOW.

Saw the midnight release of The Dark Knight last night at Regal Cinemas, and... just... WOW. AWESOME. WOW.

First off, this was the biggest midnight premiere that I've ever seen for any film. Normally at Regal Cinemas they have from two to five screens showing a midnight premiere. Five is pushing it for a HUGE movie event (think Star Wars ep. 3). Last night the theater was busier at midnight than I've ever seen it on a normal Friday or Saturday night, and they had TEN screens (possibly more - they may have opened additional showings after I got my tickets a 11:30) showing The Dark Knight. And every theater was packed.

I won't give anything away about the movie or its plot. Let me just say that the whole thing is amazing. The direction, the action, the effects, all great. I give huge credit to Christopher Nolan (who directed this and the previous Batman Begins) and his brother Jonathan Nolan for writing an amazing screenplay. And of course the acting... fantastic from all involved.

As for the performance of Heath Ledger, which everyone is already talking about... the biggest compliment that I can give is that at no point during the movie did I see anything other than The Joker. You can watch the other performances and still see the actor, whether it be Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, or even Christian Bale. Gary Oldman does a great job simply being Jim Gordon. But between the makeup and the performance, I never saw or even thought about Heath Ledger. It was only The Joker.

I did have two small nitpicky problems with the movie... but they're fairly insignificant and I'll save them for another post.

So see the movie. Even if you had absolutely no desire to see the movie... still go see the movie. You won't regret it.

And if you're looking for a complete Batman maration experience, listen to our next episode - #24: The Batman Special - where John and I review and discuss every live action Batman movie prior to the Dark Knight, including the 1966 Batman movie starring Adam West as the caped crusader, the two Tim Burton films with Michael Keaton as Batman, the two lame Joel Schumacher attempts that nearly killed the franchise, and Christopher Nolan's reinvigoration of the series in Batman Begins.