A Dissenting Voice Among 'The Dark Knight' Hype?

Has it go to the point that “The Dark Knight” is so huge, so massive in the cultural zeitgeist at the moment, its gotten to the point when someone actually says something negative about the film that people have to take notice and write about it (including us)?

Pretty much. There’s been nothing but a chorus of quiveringly breathless praise for the film, but David Edelstein of New York magazine had the honor of publishing the first known negative review of Batman sequel and even though most of his review left us anticipating this flick more than ever, he had a few solid points throughout the thing, including the fact that Christopher Nolan can’t direct action sequences for shit (he can’t; see the one major flaw of “Batman Begins,” the car chase in particular being one of the most dull moments in the film that shouldn’t be).

Edelstein started out his dissenting attack with “Even if the death of Heath Ledger hadn’t already draped it in a funeral shroud, “The Dark Knight” would be a morbid affair. It could only be darker if Batman died. (He does die a little, on the inside.) ” Wow, sounds a lot like the viral marketing campaign in a nutshell. As aforementioned, the critic also went on to point out that the artsy fartsy European Nolan lacks the American gravitas to pull off realistic, or even comprehensible fight scenes. Is Edelstein onto something and hedging his bets on this one while hoping his review will be the only thing people can cling to once they realize they were duped into seeing some depressing philosophical bullshit instead of a feel-good summer blockbuster? And is the mere fact that this one slightly negative review deserves an entire post a sign that this movie has a little to much hype for its own good?

PS Jeffrey Wells, who’s apparently keeping score, is clockin four negative, to semi-negative ‘Dark Knight;’ reviews (including the Edelstein), but to be fair, poor Anne Thompson’s review appears to have been negative only because her coke-bottle spectacles couldn’t handle the pixel-overkill of IMAX and she’s hoping to see it again in a kinescope.