I saw The Dark Knight Tuesday evening. It was good. The conflict between Batman and the Joker lived up to what most of the critics have been telling us. The special effects were both realistic and dazzling, but not overblown (no pun intended). Ledger, of course, was terrific.
At the same time, I have to question its PG-13 rating. That designation means lots of kids will be in the theatre, despite The Dark Knight?s graphic violence and intense storyline. More on this in today?s American Spectator.
I?m not the only one saying this. Consider this letter to the editor in The Vancouver Sun from a moviegoer:
Hollywood techno-wizards have gone over the top in their attempts to outdo one another in the explosion department. My eardrums hurt and my stomach churned at the graphic violence. Taking up four seats in front of us was a dad and his three little boys, aged perhaps 4 to 8.
The dad was thoroughly engrossed in the film, judging by how far forward he sat and the fistfuls of popcorn he shoved into his mouth, his eyes glued to the screen.
The littlest boy started sliding down in his seat within the first 20 minutes and then began looking away from the screen.
He crawled into his dad’s lap around the time The Joker started describing how his father liked to threaten him and his mother with knife violence. The child buried his head in his father’s neck and stayed that way until he fell asleep. From then on, I couldn’t watch the film without being distracted by this little foursome.
There were lots of kids ? some under the age of five ? at the showing I attended. You could feel the tension in the theatre from all those kiddos during the more violent scenes. My one thought: Given the movie is about a psychopathic clown, what were these parents thinking?
And for those of you who think four-year-old kids can process knife and shotgun violence as well as a 30-year-old, save your breath (and bandwidth). I?m not buying what you?re selling.
