Does Dark Knight Rises vs Amazing Spider-man

[fantastic_four]

History will not be kind to these films.

 

What does that mean, exactly?

[Dr. Balls]

... its just a movie?

 

Exactly...the only thing I care about is if it's good and I enjoy it. The only reason I would care if it does well financially is so there can be justification to produce more of what I like. The way some people here get all into it you would think they have back end points or something

 

Comic collector back end points = high grade Neal Adams issues

[Logan510]

... its just a movie?

 

Exactly...the only thing I care about is if it's good and I enjoy it. The only reason I would care if it does well financially is so there can be justification to produce more of what I like. The way some people here get all into it you would think they have back end points or something

 

Comic collector back end points = high grade Neal Adams issues

 

I think it's some of that. I also think it's equal parts of my dad can beat up your dad and dork angst.

[Comicopolis]

History will not be kind to these films.

 

What does that mean, exactly?

 

Somebody owns a time machine.

[ComicConnoisseur]

In all fairness over the years even the comic books themselves frequently re-tell origin stories. At the very least they have flashbacks of origin material much like the Captain America scenes in The Avengers.

 

 

 

I have absolutely zero problem with the retelling / recapping of origins. I go back to something Jim Shooter was known to say around the Marvel bullpen, " every issue is the first issue for someone".

 

(thumbs u

 

This is so important. Marvel CA books did this so well.

 

This is one of the reasons I found it so hard to bust into the DCU.

 

 

I think it's very important as well. I feel a lot of people have short memories and forget when superhero comics were not written for or pandering to the over 30 crowd and they counted on fresh batches of new readers every 3-5 years. Readers who didn't have the past several years worth of stories committed to memory. Readers who wouldn't moan and groan about seeing Kraven the Hunter fight Spider-Man for the umpteenth time.

+1

 

[The Troll King]

History will not be kind to these films.

 

What does that mean, exactly?

 

It means that someday someone really will get it right and we'll look back on these films as they truly are:

 

[Larryw7]

... its just a movie?

 

Exactly...the only thing I care about is if it's good and I enjoy it. The only reason I would care if it does well financially is so there can be justification to produce more of what I like. The way some people here get all into it you would think they have back end points or something

 

I was just responding to Buffyfan's contention that there was little hype or interest in the new movie.

[EJR]

The Dark Knight Rises will be smashing all the 2D movie records! ASM and Avengers are both 3D movies. EJR

[goldust40]

Both Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are great films.

 

Yep. Better written, better directed and generally superior in all departments compared to any other movie in the genre.

 

In the case of TDK, it is the only comic-based movie to have transcended the genre and not paid attention to convention. Put simply, it had ambition and a desire to keep audiences guessing.

 

I expect DKR to be a superlative finale to a tremendous series.

[Marvelfangirl]

In all fairness over the years even the comic books themselves frequently re-tell origin stories. At the very least they have flashbacks of origin material much like the Captain America scenes in The Avengers.

 

 

 

I have absolutely zero problem with the retelling / recapping of origins. I go back to something Jim Shooter was known to say around the Marvel bullpen, " every issue is the first issue for someone".

 

(thumbs u

Agreed.

[paperheart]

And yes, it will not come close to touching the Avengers (thumbs u

 

Your right it won't..... it'll be better.

 

A) I meant in box office, it won't touch what the Avengers grossed

 

B) No, it won't in quality either. don't get me started on the "Batjet" or whatever the hell that's supposed to be. When we saw the trailer at ASM this weekend, even my 7 year old was like "huh?!? That's stupid!"

 

It won't beat the Avengers box office gross, the fact that it doesn't have the added $ benefit of 3D ticket prices means it will pretty near impossible. I am sure if it clears the low 1B range WB will be more then happy with the results.

 

Quality for you I'm sure it won't, then again the Avengers and DKR are 2 very different types of movies. The Avengers a great summer popcorn flick that provides great entertainment, DKR a dark realistic crime movie with "superheroes" in it.

 

Listen I get the fanboy mentality and the DC vs Marvel thing but as a comic fan I am ecstatic every time a comic book movie is well produced. I also go to watch these movies expecting different things and if DKR is as good as people are saying right now I'm not sure how everyone here shouldn't be excited if it somehow gets an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (like the Dark Knight should have). The more success comic movies have and respect given towards the different kinds of films that can be made with comic book characters the better quality movies we'll have in the future.

 

Best picture nomination?

 

As much as I tried to avoid it, and had preconcieved notions about Slumdog Millionaire, by the time I finally sat down to watch it, it truly was an amazing movie and deserved the top honor.

 

The other films in that catagory that year were also excellent. I contend that the ONLY reason Ledger won and/or was even nominated was because of his death.

 

I get it, you think the film was overrated and so was Ledger's performance, no harm in that everyone deserves to have their own opinion. Doesn't change the fact they modified the amount of nominees for the Best Picture category because the Dark Knight wasn't included nor that most other people including movie critics disagreed with you about Ledger and the movie. If you really think all of that was solely because he died well, we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

This new movie is only a few weeks away from release and everyone I know outside of the comic collecting "world" has no idea about anything about it or when it will be released.

 

If these movies are so "great" why aren't we seeing the mega-hype we saw with the last one? Oh, I know, because the studio can't parade around a corpse this time.

 

History will not be kind to these films.

 

you are a vile 'human being' that history will not be kind to

[TeddieMercede]

And yes, it will not come close to touching the Avengers (thumbs u

 

Your right it won't..... it'll be better.

 

A) I meant in box office, it won't touch what the Avengers grossed

 

B) No, it won't in quality either. don't get me started on the "Batjet" or whatever the hell that's supposed to be. When we saw the trailer at ASM this weekend, even my 7 year old was like "huh?!? That's stupid!"

 

It won't beat the Avengers box office gross, the fact that it doesn't have the added $ benefit of 3D ticket prices means it will pretty near impossible. I am sure if it clears the low 1B range WB will be more then happy with the results.

 

Quality for you I'm sure it won't, then again the Avengers and DKR are 2 very different types of movies. The Avengers a great summer popcorn flick that provides great entertainment, DKR a dark realistic crime movie with "superheroes" in it.

 

Listen I get the fanboy mentality and the DC vs Marvel thing but as a comic fan I am ecstatic every time a comic book movie is well produced. I also go to watch these movies expecting different things and if DKR is as good as people are saying right now I'm not sure how everyone here shouldn't be excited if it somehow gets an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (like the Dark Knight should have). The more success comic movies have and respect given towards the different kinds of films that can be made with comic book characters the better quality movies we'll have in the future.

 

Best picture nomination?

 

As much as I tried to avoid it, and had preconcieved notions about Slumdog Millionaire, by the time I finally sat down to watch it, it truly was an amazing movie and deserved the top honor.

 

The other films in that catagory that year were also excellent. I contend that the ONLY reason Ledger won and/or was even nominated was because of his death.

 

I get it, you think the film was overrated and so was Ledger's performance, no harm in that everyone deserves to have their own opinion. Doesn't change the fact they modified the amount of nominees for the Best Picture category because the Dark Knight wasn't included nor that most other people including movie critics disagreed with you about Ledger and the movie. If you really think all of that was solely because he died well, we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

This new movie is only a few weeks away from release and everyone I know outside of the comic collecting "world" has no idea about anything about it or when it will be released.

 

If these movies are so "great" why aren't we seeing the mega-hype we saw with the last one? Oh, I know, because the studio can't parade around a corpse this time.

 

History will not be kind to these films.

 

4 years after the fact do you hear people saying Dark Knight or Iron Man wasn't the movie that people thought it was say like Avatar ? I sure haven't.

 

Not sure what you mean about mega hype, there seems to be enough going on right now. If you're talking about opening weekend box office numbers right now tracking for Dark Knight Rises is very similar to what the Avengers was 2 weeks before that one came out, the expectation right now is that it's pretty much guaranteed to finish higher then the Dark Knight did in it's opening weekend. If your friends don't know when it's coming out not sure what to say except they don't like comic movies, Nolan movies, or Batman.

 

It's not so much that people I know and work with don't like these types of movies, only that most of them would not be able to tell you when the new one is being released. You're twisting things around, either intentionally or not, I do not know.

 

And yes, there are plenty of people now stating that TDK was overrated.

 

If you truly do have the comic-blinders on about how much hype the last movie received over this one then I don't know what to say for you.

 

You do realize that TDK does not rank in the top ten of Worldwide gross don't you?

You do realize also that the -tacular Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace both made more money then TDK?

 

How about this? Adjusted for inflation the domestic gross of Grease (among 27 other movies) is higher then TDK.

 

Everyone, even non-comic fans knows who The Joker is. No one other then comic fans knows who Bane is, and probably a large portion of those couldn't tell you anything about the character.

 

So, I will stand by my statement that had it of not been for Ledger's death, the last film would not have done nearly as well as it did. Anyone who doesn't believe that really shouldn't be talking about movies. Even if only 2 people in the entire world saw the movie because Heath killed himself then my statement is true.

 

I haven't even begun to get into the plot-holes and pretentious nature of the -script, and never have on here, because frankly, this is a comic forum and not a screenwriting one and opinions will be biased simply because it's a comic movie whether anyone likes to admit it or not.

 

Ok just for argument's sake I'll assume you're a professional movie critic or screen writer or the sort, again you think the movie is overrated and has it's flaws. Ok again that's your opinion and I'll assume a more informed one then the general public; you aren't the only one to state this, last I checked Dark Knight didn't get perfect reviews. Also the biggest Batman fanboy, which I'm not, will probably also agree with you that the movie wasn't perfect. And ? You're entitled to your opinion but you know what, you call Nolan's storytelling method "pretentious", many other professional critics etc have called it "audacious". I'm not seeing where the problem is you didn't like it and that's fine, you're also in the minority by thinking it's flaws outweighs it's positives.

 

Not sure why it matters that other movies would have grossed more then Dark Knight, in the time since it's come out it's been passed multiple times by Avatar, Harry Potter, and Avengers. And so what Gone with the Wind would have grossed 1.5B in today's market, is someone trumpeting Dark Knight as being the best movie ever because it grossed the most at the box office ?

 

Who said this movie has as much hype as the Dark Knight ? And yes I am sure 2 people may have seen Dark Knight because of Ledger's death, however last I checked it made $158M it's opening weekend, it finished domestically at $533M. You don't think people kept coming back to watch it to create $375M more in ticket sales because not only did Ledger die but word got out that he gave an incredible performance in a great movie ? Somehow logic tells me that if he died giving an overrated performance in an overrated movie as thought by the majority of people they would have stopped going to watch it.

 

Again Dark Knight Rises is tracking similarly to the Avengers and is expected to easily break the Dark Knight's opening weekend box office without the Joker and without any other actor in it dying. If the only reason why the Dark Knight made as much at the box office was because of the mega hype over Ledger's death how does this make sense ? Obviously the final BO gross will depend on how good the movie actually is.

 

Everyone has biases, just look at the Spider-Man movie thread, it doesn't mean you can't let some rational thoughts enter in also whether this is a Screenwriting forum or comic forum.

[The Troll King]

Both Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are great films.

 

Yep. Better written, better directed and generally superior in all departments compared to any other movie in the genre.

 

In the case of TDK, it is the only comic-based movie to have transcended the genre and not paid attention to convention. Put simply, it had ambition and a desire to keep audiences guessing.

 

I expect DKR to be a superlative finale to a tremendous series.

 

Let's examine the writing briefly, specifically the character of the Joker.

 

All we are given in this film is that the Joker is some crazed terrorist. No motive, no backstory, nothing. They actually make it a point as to confuse the backstory when he describes how he got his scars. Terrorists always have a motive. We may not like it, but there is always a motive.

 

We are left with a flat, one dimensional character who claims he doesn't like planning and lives in the moment yet seems to have masterminded several elaborate plans with dozens of support people throughout the entire film. If even one of those support people would have faltered, any one of those plans would have failed.

 

And really? What did the Joker really do in this movie other then kill a few bad guys and blow up a few empty buildings all the while claiming he's turned the entire city upside down?

 

Turning a city upside down would have meant actually killing innocent people, other then one.

 

It's serious plot concerns that are glaringly obvious to anyone that objectively watches this film.

 

I've just barely scraped the tip of the iceberg here concerning one character and I didn't even state anything about how anyone could have played the Joker role other then Heath and the performance would have been equally as watchable.

 

I'm not saying that the movie is bad either, only that it's ok and that it isn't the greatest film ever made like so many others are claiming it to be.

[The Troll King]

And yes, it will not come close to touching the Avengers (thumbs u

 

Your right it won't..... it'll be better.

 

A) I meant in box office, it won't touch what the Avengers grossed

 

B) No, it won't in quality either. don't get me started on the "Batjet" or whatever the hell that's supposed to be. When we saw the trailer at ASM this weekend, even my 7 year old was like "huh?!? That's stupid!"

 

It won't beat the Avengers box office gross, the fact that it doesn't have the added $ benefit of 3D ticket prices means it will pretty near impossible. I am sure if it clears the low 1B range WB will be more then happy with the results.

 

Quality for you I'm sure it won't, then again the Avengers and DKR are 2 very different types of movies. The Avengers a great summer popcorn flick that provides great entertainment, DKR a dark realistic crime movie with "superheroes" in it.

 

Listen I get the fanboy mentality and the DC vs Marvel thing but as a comic fan I am ecstatic every time a comic book movie is well produced. I also go to watch these movies expecting different things and if DKR is as good as people are saying right now I'm not sure how everyone here shouldn't be excited if it somehow gets an Oscar nomination for Best Picture (like the Dark Knight should have). The more success comic movies have and respect given towards the different kinds of films that can be made with comic book characters the better quality movies we'll have in the future.

 

Best picture nomination?

 

As much as I tried to avoid it, and had preconcieved notions about Slumdog Millionaire, by the time I finally sat down to watch it, it truly was an amazing movie and deserved the top honor.

 

The other films in that catagory that year were also excellent. I contend that the ONLY reason Ledger won and/or was even nominated was because of his death.

 

I get it, you think the film was overrated and so was Ledger's performance, no harm in that everyone deserves to have their own opinion. Doesn't change the fact they modified the amount of nominees for the Best Picture category because the Dark Knight wasn't included nor that most other people including movie critics disagreed with you about Ledger and the movie. If you really think all of that was solely because he died well, we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

This new movie is only a few weeks away from release and everyone I know outside of the comic collecting "world" has no idea about anything about it or when it will be released.

 

If these movies are so "great" why aren't we seeing the mega-hype we saw with the last one? Oh, I know, because the studio can't parade around a corpse this time.

 

History will not be kind to these films.

 

4 years after the fact do you hear people saying Dark Knight or Iron Man wasn't the movie that people thought it was say like Avatar ? I sure haven't.

 

Not sure what you mean about mega hype, there seems to be enough going on right now. If you're talking about opening weekend box office numbers right now tracking for Dark Knight Rises is very similar to what the Avengers was 2 weeks before that one came out, the expectation right now is that it's pretty much guaranteed to finish higher then the Dark Knight did in it's opening weekend. If your friends don't know when it's coming out not sure what to say except they don't like comic movies, Nolan movies, or Batman.

 

It's not so much that people I know and work with don't like these types of movies, only that most of them would not be able to tell you when the new one is being released. You're twisting things around, either intentionally or not, I do not know.

 

And yes, there are plenty of people now stating that TDK was overrated.

 

If you truly do have the comic-blinders on about how much hype the last movie received over this one then I don't know what to say for you.

 

You do realize that TDK does not rank in the top ten of Worldwide gross don't you?

You do realize also that the -tacular Alice in Wonderland and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace both made more money then TDK?

 

How about this? Adjusted for inflation the domestic gross of Grease (among 27 other movies) is higher then TDK.

 

Everyone, even non-comic fans knows who The Joker is. No one other then comic fans knows who Bane is, and probably a large portion of those couldn't tell you anything about the character.

 

So, I will stand by my statement that had it of not been for Ledger's death, the last film would not have done nearly as well as it did. Anyone who doesn't believe that really shouldn't be talking about movies. Even if only 2 people in the entire world saw the movie because Heath killed himself then my statement is true.

 

I haven't even begun to get into the plot-holes and pretentious nature of the -script, and never have on here, because frankly, this is a comic forum and not a screenwriting one and opinions will be biased simply because it's a comic movie whether anyone likes to admit it or not.

 

Ok just for argument's sake I'll assume you're a professional movie critic or screen writer or the sort, again you think the movie is overrated and has it's flaws. Ok again that's your opinion and I'll assume a more informed one then the general public; you aren't the only one to state this, last I checked Dark Knight didn't get perfect reviews. Also the biggest Batman fanboy, which I'm not, will probably also agree with you that the movie wasn't perfect. And ? You're entitled to your opinion but you know what, you call Nolan's storytelling method "pretentious", many other professional critics etc have called it "audacious". I'm not seeing where the problem is you didn't like it and that's fine, you're also in the minority by thinking it's flaws outweighs it's positives.

 

Not sure why it matters that other movies would have grossed more then Dark Knight, in the time since it's come out it's been passed multiple times by Avatar, Harry Potter, and Avengers. And so what Gone with the Wind would have grossed 1.5B in today's market, is someone trumpeting Dark Knight as being the best movie ever because it grossed the most at the box office ?

 

Who said this movie has as much hype as the Dark Knight ? And yes I am sure 2 people may have seen Dark Knight because of Ledger's death, however last I checked it made $158M it's opening weekend, it finished domestically at $533M. You don't think people kept coming back to watch it to create $375M more in ticket sales because not only did Ledger die but word got out that he gave an incredible performance in a great movie ? Somehow logic tells me that if he died giving an overrated performance in an overrated movie as thought by the majority of people they would have stopped going to watch it.

 

Again Dark Knight Rises is tracking similarly to the Avengers and is expected to easily break the Dark Knight's opening weekend box office without the Joker and without any other actor in it dying. If the only reason why the Dark Knight made as much at the box office was because of the mega hype over Ledger's death how does this make sense ? Obviously the final BO gross will depend on how good the movie actually is.

 

Everyone has biases, just look at the Spider-Man movie thread, it doesn't mean you can't let some rational thoughts enter in also whether this is a Screenwriting forum or comic forum.

 

I commend you for actually having a logical smart discussion on this subject. At least you didn't call me "vile".

 

Secondly, I absolutely assure you that even right here on this very forum there are many people who called TDK the greatest movie ever made.

 

I'm just too lazy to search for and read a dumb thread full of nonsense again.

[Logan510]

Both Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are great films.

 

Yep. Better written, better directed and generally superior in all departments compared to any other movie in the genre.

 

In the case of TDK, it is the only comic-based movie to have transcended the genre and not paid attention to convention. Put simply, it had ambition and a desire to keep audiences guessing.

 

I expect DKR to be a superlative finale to a tremendous series.

 

Let's examine the writing briefly, specifically the character of the Joker.

 

All we are given in this film is that the Joker is some crazed terrorist. No motive, no backstory, nothing. They actually make it a point as to confuse the backstory when he describes how he got his scars. Terrorists always have a motive. We may not like it, but there is always a motive.

 

We are left with a flat, one dimensional character who claims he doesn't like planning and lives in the moment yet seems to have masterminded several elaborate plans with dozens of support people throughout the entire film. If even one of those support people would have faltered, any one of those plans would have failed.

 

And really? What did the Joker really do in this movie other then kill a few bad guys and blow up a few empty buildings all the while claiming he's turned the entire city upside down?

 

Turning a city upside down would have meant actually killing innocent people, other then one.

 

It's serious plot concerns that are glaringly obvious to anyone that objectively watches this film.

 

I've just barely scraped the tip of the iceberg here concerning one character and I didn't even state anything about how anyone could have played the Joker role other then Heath and the performance would have been equally as watchable.

 

I'm not saying that the movie is bad either, only that it's ok and that it isn't the greatest film ever made like so many others are claiming it to be.

 

I can't argue with that.

[fantastic_four]

Let's examine the writing briefly, specifically the character of the Joker.

 

All we are given in this film is that the Joker is some crazed terrorist. No motive, no backstory, nothing. They actually make it a point as to confuse the backstory when he describes how he got his scars. Terrorists always have a motive. We may not like it, but there is always a motive.

 

We are left with a flat, one dimensional character who claims he doesn't like planning and lives in the moment yet seems to have masterminded several elaborate plans with dozens of support people throughout the entire film. If even one of those support people would have faltered, any one of those plans would have failed.

 

You point all that out as if the Nolans didn't very intentionally write the character this way. Why do you think they did that?

[fantastic_four]

Secondly, I absolutely assure you that even right here on this very forum there are many people who called TDK the greatest comic book movie ever made.

 

Fixed, and I'm definitely one of them. So are the majority of critics.

[The Troll King]

Secondly, I absolutely assure you that even right here on this very forum there are many people who called TDK the greatest comic book movie ever made.

 

Fixed, and I'm definitely one of them. So are the majority of critics.

 

Oh no, you can't backpedal this and you're not going to force me to use the lousy search function either.

[goldust40]

Both Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are great films.

 

Yep. Better written, better directed and generally superior in all departments compared to any other movie in the genre.

 

In the case of TDK, it is the only comic-based movie to have transcended the genre and not paid attention to convention. Put simply, it had ambition and a desire to keep audiences guessing.

 

I expect DKR to be a superlative finale to a tremendous series.

 

Let's examine the writing briefly, specifically the character of the Joker.

 

All we are given in this film is that the Joker is some crazed terrorist. No motive, no backstory, nothing. They actually make it a point as to confuse the backstory when he describes how he got his scars. Terrorists always have a motive. We may not like it, but there is always a motive.

 

We are left with a flat, one dimensional character who claims he doesn't like planning and lives in the moment yet seems to have masterminded several elaborate plans with dozens of support people throughout the entire film. If even one of those support people would have faltered, any one of those plans would have failed.

 

And really? What did the Joker really do in this movie other then kill a few bad guys and blow up a few empty buildings all the while claiming he's turned the entire city upside down?

 

Turning a city upside down would have meant actually killing innocent people, other then one.

 

It's serious plot concerns that are glaringly obvious to anyone that objectively watches this film.

 

I've just barely scraped the tip of the iceberg here concerning one character and I didn't even state anything about how anyone could have played the Joker role other then Heath and the performance would have been equally as watchable.

 

I'm not saying that the movie is bad either, only that it's ok and that it isn't the greatest film ever made like so many others are claiming it to be.

 

I doubt anyone here has claimed that TDK is the greatest film ever made. It isn't. Obviously. It may be the best in its genre. To say that it is comparable with Citizen Kane or The Godfather would be ludicrous. But it is still an excellent film.

 

However you are belittling the movie by using specious arguments. For example, you equate The Joker's inconsistencies and lack of apparent motive with plot-holes. I see these character traits as an authentic symptom of a person who lives outside of society's rules. Nolan is trying to keep the audience off-balance, whilst not telling them everything in a straightforward fashion.

 

Nolan's decision not to spell out The Joker's motives was just his method of avoiding the usual schematic storytelling that is so prevalent in super-hero flicks. Why tell the audience everything?? Let them provide closure.

 

Everything else you mentioned is opinion cloaked in arguments about logistics that frankly, with a smidgeon of disbelief suspension do not matter. So the Joker has delusions of grandeur regarding his grip on the city. That isn't inconsistent with his insanity at all. And his plans weren't watertight and were flawed. So??

 

And in the end, Heath Ledger was chosen to play The Joker. Maybe another actor could've done better, but that too is a moot point.

 

And to claim that the studio used Ledger's death in any capacity to hype the film and add gravitas to it is cynicism bordering on lunacy. Did Ledger's untimely death create a need in cinemagoers to see a film they may otherwise have avoided? Again, there is only opinion and conjecture here, and to use such arguments to condemn a film that deserves praise at the very least for being ambitious is frankly unreasonable.

 

There may be anecdotal evidence if you look hard enough, but there is no proof. TDK did great box office because it was a good film. That is all.

[The Troll King]

Is The Dark Knight the best movie ever? Yes, according to some web jokers

 

The new Batman film, The Dark Knight, is obliterating box office records left and right. It recently passed the $300 million domestic box office mark faster than any film ever (by 6 days!) and should do the same for $400 million. Some are even saying it could threaten Titanic for the top grossing domestic movie of all time. But for all that success, its reception on the web has been arguably even greater. After all, it is now the number one movie of all time, according to the Internet Movie Database’s (IMDb) Top 250 list.

 

Now don’t get me wrong, The Dark Knight is an excellent film, the best one I’ve seen this year in theaters. But are we really prepared to say it is better than films like The Godfather? I’m of the mindset that it takes a bit of reflection, context and multiple viewings to declare a film the best ever. On the web, the opposite seems to happen.

 

The so-called “wisdom of the crowds” can easily turn into a mob mentality, as The Web Services Report Harrison Hoffman details. He brings up the situation that arose when the social news voting site Digg censored a code to decrypt HD-DVDs that had been submitted to the site. The Digg users, normally praised for their ability to pick the best stories on the web as a group, revolted. It was not pretty. Soon nearly every story on Digg’s front page was a copy of the code.

 

This hive mind mentality could well be driving The Dark Knight’s score on the IMDb as well. The movie has an average rating of 9.3 out of 10 right now, the number two film is at 9.1. Something else that is interesting is that The Godfather, which was previously number one, has fallen to number three. This is odd since there appears to be no reason why The Godfather would gain a significant number of negative votes at this time. Instead, this could be a case where The Dark Knight fans were trying to ensure their movie would stay at the top and were voting down the competition, as film site /Film observes.

 

 

Article is from 2008