Hey, Did You Know 'The Dark Knight' Is the BEST FILM EVER MADE?
Filed under: Action, Drama, New Releases, Warner Brothers, Comic/Superhero/Geek
Well, it is. Or so say the Internet Movie Database users, who have already rocketed the film to the #1 spot on IMDb's Top 250 list with a rating of 9.5 out of 10 and about 47,000 votes. It displaces The Godfather -- a film that doesn't even HAVE a pencil-wielding psycho-clown -- which had held the top spot for about a decade (according to our pal Peter at SlashFilm). The rest of the top 10 on IMDb's list isn't as depressing as I thought it would be: Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather Part II, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Pulp Fiction, Schindler's List, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Empire Strikes Back, and Casablanca. I was expecting to see nothing older than about 1990, and certainly nothing in black-and-white.
IMDb notes that for the Top 250 list, "only votes from regular voters are considered," but they fail to define "regular voters." Does that mean people who vote regularly? Or do they mean "regular voters" as opposed to "guest voters" or something? Either way, these apparently aren't people who, in a rush of enthusiasm for The Dark Knight, hurried home and gave it a 10 out of 10 despite never having rated anything else on IMDb before. Apparently they have exercised their right to vote before, and presumably they know what they're doing.
Now, I loved The Dark Knight and all, but come on: the best film ever made? Surely that is not an opinion held by very many people, if any.
When you vote on IMDb, you're just grading the movie on a scale of 1-10, not comparing it to other movies. I'm sure a lot of the people who rated it, even those who gave it a 10, would agree that it probably doesn't deserve to be ranked higher than many of the other films on that Top 250 list. A lot of those are 10's, too, I'm sure. And The Dark Knight will almost certainly plunge down the list as more voters make their voices heard and the current frenzy diminishes.
What's really noteworthy about this is that it reflects the enthusiasm that so many people feel for the film. (A good chunk of those votes were cast, ahem, before the movie even opened.) We saw it in the insanely overzealous reactions to negative reviews, and we see it in the record-breaking weekend box office. Cooler heads will probably prevail on the "best movie ever made" issue, but there's no question The Dark Knight is a landmark film.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-21-2008 @ 10:17AM
Corey said...
Yeah, after a few months, it'll probably settle somewhere in the top 50, maybe top 100. IMDb voters are always a little overzealous when a flick is first released.
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7-21-2008 @ 10:23AM
amazo said...
i abstained from all reviews until i actually saw the movie (i loved it). upon reading the reviews, even the good ones, sometimes i wasnt even sure you guys watched the same movie i did given the harsh nitpicks. for the guys who didnt like it, i'm not even sure what kind of movies they *would* like.
now i'm not sure if its deserving of imdb#1. i would have to wait a month and let it all die down, and if it's still there, than it probably is. i honestly didnt think i would see a movie top #1 on imdb anytime soon given what was there, but as of right now i have no problem with it being #1 on imdb.
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7-21-2008 @ 10:40AM
Eric said...
Regular voters could also consist of people who rate everything a '10' or a '1', like in the case of 12-15 yr. old girls rating "Prom Night" a '10', boosting its rating higher than it should be. I predict that "The Dark Knight" will probably move down the list (considering it has a less votes than "The Godfather" but possibly more '10's than its predecessor) to the top '50'. It was a remarkably great film, but definitely not the best of all time.
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7-21-2008 @ 11:06AM
RvB said...
It's a great film. You do really feel like you've seen something after you've seen it. That aside, the inflation rate at Rotten Tomatoes is worse than the one at the federal reserve.
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7-21-2008 @ 11:08AM
Riley Freeman said...
Peter: Since we're all gonna die, There is one more secret I feel I have to share with you. I did not care for The Godfather.
Lois: What?
Peter: Did not care for The Godfather.
Chris: How can you even say that, Dad?
Peter: Didn't like...didn't like it.
Lois: Peter, it's so good, i-it's like a perfect movie!
Peter: I-this is what everyone always says... Everyone says "Oh-"
Chris: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino... I mean, you never see- ROBERT DUVALL!
Peter: I know, I li-no-fine, fine actor, did not like the movie.
Brian: Why not?
Peter: Did not-couldn't get into it.
Lois: Explain yourself. What didn't you like about it?
Peter: It insists upon itself, Lois.
Lois: What?
Peter: It insists upon itself.
Lois: What does that even mean?
Chris: Cause it has a valid point to make, it's insistent!
Peter: It takes forever gettin' in, and you spend like-you spend like six and a half hours, and then-you know, I can't get through- I can't even finish the movie, I've never even seen the ending.
Chris: YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THE ENDING?!
Stewie: Well-well, how can you say you don't like it if you haven't even given it a chance?
Lois: I agree with Stewie, it's not really fair.
Peter: I have tried on three separate occasions to get through it, and I-I get to the scene when all the guys are sitting around on easy chairs-
Lois: Yeah, that's a great scene. I love that scene!
Peter: I have no idea what they're talking about, it's like they're speaking a different language-that's where I lose interest-
Chris: THEY'RE SPEAKING ITALIAN!
Lois: The language they're speaking is a language of subtlety, something that you wouldn't understand.
Peter: I love The Money Pit... That is my answer to that statement.
Lois: Whatever.
Chris: Yeah, I like that movie...
Whats wrong with it being considered the best movie ever. I dont think I could ever get bored of it. it contains all important traits of a good move. good story, good writing, AMAZING acting. Why because its based on a comic book thats why it cant be taken seriously?
absolutely ridiculous. im not saying it is and im not saying its not. But dont say it isnt just because its a guy in a costume. it has every right to be up there. what doesnt it bring to the table that those others do? it has even more right as it managed to capture an audience even though it is make believe and a guy running around in a tight suit. a mob movie? any idiot can make that no offence. They have been done a 1000 times and they will be done forever.
and my family guy quote is posted because i agree with peter i couldnt get into the godfather. I watched 3 straight on dvd. and it didnt do anything for me.
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7-21-2008 @ 11:11AM
cj said...
Technically, not a single person voting on IMDB would have to think of TDK as their favorite film for it to be #1. It just has to have the highest average.
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7-21-2008 @ 12:07PM
doa766 said...
there will be blood went to the top ten when it was release and then quickly falled to the mid fifties
so did wall-e and no country for old men, I suspect the dakr knight will end up around number 15 after a couple of weeks
the IMDB top 250 I S A POPULARITY CONTEST BETWEEN GREAT MOVIES, nothing else
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7-21-2008 @ 12:18PM
MosquitoControl said...
As mentioned, this ALWAYS happens with new movies. Maybe not #1, but they're always overly high.
Why? Because people paying to see a movie, especially opening weekend, are more likely to enjoy the movie. The kids seeing TDK opening night were the ones that love Batman, love Christian Bale, loved the first one, etc. I'm not saying they'll love this movie, but the people that are inclined to rush out and see a movie, or pay for it, period, are more likely to enjoy the movie. They're the ones the movie is made for.
The rating will drop a bit as the people dragged to see the movie with fans rate it.
They'll drop more when the movie hits DVD and people that wanted to see it but didn't think it was worth $12 rent it from Blockbuster for $5.
It'll drop more when the people that didn't care enough to leave the house and pay for the DVD see it on HBO.
And it'll drop a bit more when the people that have avoided it for this long catch an airing on NBC.
The longer the movie is out the more likely it is to reach the people that aren't part of the built in audience, and the more of those it reaches the more the ranking drops. Or, rather, stabilizes.
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7-21-2008 @ 12:18PM
Meh said...
no way! number one FOREVER. This is Bat-LAW!
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12-10-2009 @ 7:37PM
patrick said...
Well, Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring was number one right after it came out. I found a post a friend of mine did on a newsgroup on jan. 3 2002 and at that point it was still number one. In april it had fallen to #3. Now it's #20.
More interesting stuff: Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain was #18 in jan. 2002, #11 in april. Now it's #42. Shrek was #75 in jan. 2002, Now it's not even in the top 250. Moulin Rouge was 92 in jan. '02, #139 in april and now also no longer in the top 250.
So, it'll take some time before we know whether The Dark Knight really is the best film ever.
(Btw, he only posted the 2001 movies in the top 250 at that moment, in april 2002 I copied the whole top 250 to a text document and I recently found it when looking in a folder I had just copied wholesale from my old pc when I got a new one)
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7-21-2008 @ 3:33PM
evergreen said...
Yeah, there's a lot of hate going on, but why SHOULDN'T it be #1? Just because it JUST came out? Why shouldn't all the other movies be questioned in their placement? Because of age?
TDK is a well-crafted film that warrants placement on that list, and I feel top of that list is not a bad place for it to sit.
So... how about a magic trick?
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7-21-2008 @ 4:38PM
Killer said...
"it contains all important traits of a good move. good story, good writing, AMAZING acting"
Amazing acting from Heath Ledger and that's about it. Gyllenhaal (though I love her) was worse than Holmes, and I didn't think that was possible after seeing Batman Begins.
The writing was good in some parts, but the overall story was an hour overlong. Seriously, after the midpoint, in which a notable character is dead, and another one scarred and lying in a hospital bed, was there any further development that occured in any of the characters story arcs?
Nope. And even worse, the characters after that point devolved from well developed deep three dimensional characters to cardboard cutouts of their former selves.
Seriously, it's two movies. The first one is one of the best movies I've ever seen, but the second one mostly sucks with a few good moments in it.
That doesn't strike me as particularly good writing or direction. Sorry.
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7-21-2008 @ 10:24PM
Jonathan Kuhn said...
I'm more than happy that it has the number one box office record, but I think it's easy to see why it doesn't deserve the #1 spot on IMDb:
http://slowclapchildren.blogspot.com/2008/07/dark-knight-always-triumphs.html
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7-22-2008 @ 3:42AM
J said...
The IMDb Top 250 isn't a list of the BEST movies ever made as voted by a few selected film critics, it's a list of the TOP movies ever made as voted by internet users.
So yes, it's a popularity contest but really that's a much better way of judging a film then on artistic merit which difers from person to person.
Dark Kinght's number 1 spot simply means that it appeals to a wide diverse range of people, both fans and critics.
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9-03-2008 @ 8:25AM
mctoom said...
i guess it's not number 1 now is it? :)
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