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It’s been nearly 5 months since The Dark Knight hit theaters and the success it has achieved is impossible to overlook. TDK hit $530 million domestically and almost $1 billion worldwide, there are talks that TDK may snatch a few Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor,) and Heath Ledger just won the Australia Film Institute’s Best Actor award.

This viewing marks the 4th time I’ve seen the film and I must say it was still amazing to watch. To be honest, the first time I watched TDK I was a little underwhelmed. By the time the midnight showing had ended, I was exhausted. The next day I saw the film again with my parents. Despite already knowing how the movie would play out, I found myself enjoying the movie much more the 2nd time around. Perhaps it was because I was watching it earlier in the day or seeing the look of excitement on my parents’ faces made me enjoy it more, but I left the theater with my jaw down. The 3rd viewing occurred near Columbus, OH at an IMAX theater, where I was able to experience the ridiculous scenes shot specifically for the IMAX theaters. By the end of the 3rd viewing, I was done watching TDK for a while. Despite the ridiculous IMAX scenes, I think i had had enough of the movie. There was also a screening in October at Emory, but I decided to hold out for the Blu-ray release in order to enjoy it more. Luckily, it all paid off. Here’s the order in which I enjoyed the movie the most…

Rank:
2nd Viewing (with Parents)
4th Viewing (Blu-Ray)
1st Viewing (Midnight)
3rd Viewing (IMAX)

The video quality of this bluray has to be one of my favorites out of my collection. I watched the film on my new 46″ 1080p Samsung LCD. The 3D “pop” effect is consistent throughout the entire movie, the picture is sharp, and the colors are very accurate (except in scenes where it’s meant to be a bit darker, e.g. the scene where Batman finds Harvey’s coin in the rubble.) The film includes all the scenes shot in IMAX, such as the opening bank scene and the batpod scene. At these points in the movie, the picture switches from black bars on the top and bottom to a picture that fills the entire screen. The IMAX scenes look sharper than the “regular” scenes and are really the visually breathtaking parts of the movie. In fact, the IMAX scenes looked better on my 1080p Samsung compared to the IMAX theater I went to in July.

You also can’t get much better than the Dolby TrueHD track offered on the Blu-ray. It really immerses you in the film and makes you believe your in the middle of all of the punches, explosions, and cheesy growls.

In addition to the feature film disc and special feature disc, this edition also includes a digital copy of the movie to put on your iPhone/iPod. Nice touch.

Given that I got the Blu-ray at midnight and don’t have much time left before I pass out, I haven’t checked out all of the special features yet. I’ll update the review as soon as I get around to it.

Overall, I’d have to give this Blu-ray an A. There’s really no reason not to. The video looks gorgeous, the sound blew my socks off, and the movie itself is the best comic book movie ever made. Easy decision. TDK now shares the top spot with Ratatouille as my favorite Blu-ray disc (I still need to watch Wall-E on the Blu-ray though!)

Overall Rating: A