Chapter 626: Perfectly Flawless

Stepping out of the screening hall, Kyle met up with his older sister, Ella, and they left the IMAX Cinema. Since their hotel wasn't far, they decided not to catch a ride and walked instead.

Bright streetlamps illuminated the sidewalk, bringing light to a city that looked so much like Gotham. Kyle stepped on his own shadow with every stride. Hearing a cough beside him, he glanced at his sister.

He asked, a little surprised. "Aren't you a fan of Duke? Why did you walk out early?"

Ella curled her lip and replied without missing a beat, "I'm a fan of Duke because his movies are great! But The Dark Knight..."

She shook her head. "It's the worst movie he's ever made!"

"Why?" Kyle couldn't understand how his sister could have such an opinion about such a brilliant film. "I think missing out on this movie would be a real regret."

"I don't regret it at all."

Adjusting her backpack straps, Ella offered a casual explanation. "This movie is just suffocating. It's nothing like how fun and exciting his previous films were. I got halfway through and only felt miserable. I go to the movies to be entertained, and this kind of film doesn't make me happy at all!"

"Uh..."

Kyle opened his mouth, but found he couldn't come up with a single word to refute her. He picked up his pace and reminded her, "It's getting late. Let's hurry back."

No argument was stronger than a simple "I didn't like it."

Though he couldn't argue with Ella, once they returned to the hotel and Kyle turned on his computer, he found countless people who agreed with him.

On IMDB, in just the time it took him to walk back from the theater, nearly 10,000 people had already rated The Dark Knight. And the score was a staggering ten out of ten!

Looking at that number, Kyle let go of his mouse and scratched his head. As far as he could remember, no movie had ever secured a perfect score on IMDB right after release—not even Duke's past films.

Even if a film was only rated by people who loved it, the chances of getting a perfect ten were slim.

However, Kyle knew that as more people submitted their ratings, The Dark Knight wouldn't be able to maintain that perfect score.

Setting the ratings aside for a moment, he clicked into the review section. Just like the score, the praise was off the charts.

A user with the ID "Duke Loves Explosions" wrote: I will unquestionably consider The Dark Knight the greatest movie ever! Duke Rosenberg perfectly fuses commerce and art, achieving an ultimate balance between the profound and the accessible. With an epic score, gripping massive scenes, and penetrating performances, he completely rocks human emotions. So I want to tell anyone who hasn't seen it: missing this is absolutely a major regret in your life!

Another ID, "I Love the Explosion Maniac," wrote: Duke Rosenberg's greatest success lies in the psychological warfare between the Joker and Batman. It has thrilling, visceral action scenes alongside a mind-bending, twisting plot. He even takes a suppressed, dark hero and pushes him to the edge—the handling of the narrative between these elements is fantastic. Throwing a difficult moral dilemma at people to force a choice doesn't just reveal human nature; to a large extent, it highlights a profound truth, and elevating this through the story is truly admirable. This is the deepest superhero movie of them all.

After reading a few reviews, Kyle placed his hands on the keyboard and typed out his own thoughts.

"Batman is the least comic-book-like of all comic heroes, and precisely because of that, he is the most likely exception to cross the boundary between crime thrillers and superhero films. This time, Duke captured that perfectly, crafting a movie that is rich, rigorous, and undeniably cool. Whether it's satisfying the audiovisual senses or excavating the complexities of human nature, he achieved sheer perfection!"

After posting his review, he didn't hesitate to give the movie a ten-point rating.

The page refreshed automatically after his submission. By now, the number of users reviewing The Dark Knight had surpassed 12,000, and the score remained—ten!

"This is so weird."

Ella's voice came from behind him. She seemed baffled. "A movie like that can actually get a ten?"

Kyle turned around and asked her, "What score would you give it?"

"Maybe a six, just a passing grade."

It was obvious Ella disliked the movie. "A film like that is just painful to watch."

With that, she waved her hand and headed toward her bedroom in the suite, saying as she walked, "Forget it. Since it's Duke's movie, I won't give it a low score."

Making a face at Ella's back, Kyle turned around and went back to following the online chatter about The Dark Knight.

When he opened the Instant Sharing website and did a quick search, a strange expression crossed his face. A well-known film critic was actually praising Duke's movie.

Kyle knew a bit about the ongoing feud between Duke and professional critics. Even though Kenneth Turan, a contributor for the Los Angeles Times, had rarely attacked Duke or his movies, he had never sung their praises either.

Fueled by intense curiosity, Kyle opened the short review that Kenneth Turan had clearly typed up in a hurry.

"Rather than calling The Dark Knight a superhero movie adapted from a comic, it is more fitting to call it a dark, highly complex drama. No matter how you look at it, Tim Burton's playful, gothic Batman simply cannot compare to The Dark Knight."

"This is no exaggeration. In conceptualization, creation, performance, and direction, it transcends the entire Batman franchise, and even surpasses all superhero movies. With this film, Duke Rosenberg utilizes wider perspectives and more dynamic camera angles amidst tightly paced action sequences. The near-perfect visuals will leave audiences in awe. If you are lucky enough to see the IMAX version, you will be even more amazed, cheering with sheer excitement."

"Duke has elevated the supposedly lowbrow genre of comic book adaptations to tremendous heights, rendering the debate between art-house films and commercial blockbusters completely pointless. Not only does The Dark Knight capture the essence of classical tragedy, but it also delves into contemporary hot-button issues like terrorism and unchecked power. Most importantly, the movie is flawlessly perfect in its entertainment value!"

Yes, perfectly flawless. Kyle wholeheartedly agreed with Kenneth Turan's perspective.

Perhaps Turan's review gave Kyle a bit of goodwill, so he scrolled through and opened the account of another professional critic he followed. To his surprise, this critic had also posted a review.

Kyle took a look. It was an Instant Sharing post by Richard Chris, a columnist and film critic for Time magazine.

"In The Dark Knight, Duke Rosenberg's camera cuts are rapid, never lingering too long and never wasting a shot. He avoids excessive dramatization of action details, focusing instead on concise narrative progression. The editing and dialogue are expertly coordinated. Without deliberately showing off visual effects, the plot development merges near-perfectly with his signature visual mastery, resulting in a film with a crisp pace and clear narrative threads."

"One last note: although I generally dislike Duke Rosenberg's style, his The Dark Knight is the very first comic book adaptation to achieve truly massive artistic success!"

Closing out of Instant Sharing, Kyle returned to IMDB. Nearly an hour and a half had passed, yet the IMDB score was somehow still a ten!

More and more people were posting reviews. It seemed the entire IMDB community had fallen for this movie, which temporarily occupied the number one spot on the TOP250 list.

"With Duke taking the helm, Batman is on a completely different level from other comic hero movies."

"So good that not a single second is wasted!"

"For a movie this phenomenal, any amount of praise feels redundant."

"Duke Rosenberg is incredible! To think a Hollywood comic book movie could reach such heights and depths!"

"An absolute masterpiece. Rather than struggling to make art-house films, directors should elevate the standard of commercial cinema like Duke has!"

Afterward, Kyle visited a few other movie sites and noticed many people rallying others to go see the midnight screening. He was very tempted, but remembering he had an early flight out of Chicago the next morning, he forced himself to drop the idea.

One could only say the pre-release hype for The Dark Knight had been overwhelmingly effective. As midnight approached, the crowds at theaters screening The Dark Knight across the US suddenly surged, far exceeding the numbers from the previous weekend. In front of the ticket checkpoints at many popular theaters, hundreds of people formed long lines that often spilled out the doors.

With the expansion of North America's theater circuits over time, such a spectacular sight hadn't been seen in ages.

Moreover, even before the midnight screenings for The Dark Knight began, it had already set a new North American box office record. With a scale of 3,160 midnight theaters, it shattered the record of 2,915 theaters previously held by 2005's Star Wars Prequel 3: Revenge of the Sith.

"No one doubts that The Dark Knight will set a new North American midnight screening box office record!"

Sitting in the living room of her hotel suite, Tina Fey said to Scarlett, who was keeping her company as they waited for the data, "Even if we don't know whether the final North American box office can surpass Titanic or Duke's The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King, from the way I see it, The Dark Knight is guaranteed to smash a string of box office records in its first two weeks."

"It's just a shame..." Scarlett pouted. "So many people are giving all the credit to Heath Ledger, as if he's the biggest reason the movie is successful."

Hearing Scarlett's words, Duke, who was sipping coffee on a single sofa, put down his cup and said, "Darling, who gets the credit doesn't matter. You have to understand that we and Warner are the ones actually profiting."

"Of course I know that, it's just..." Scarlett shook her head and dropped the subject.

Just as the midnight bell chimed, the fax machine in the corner of the living room suddenly rang. Tina Fey stood up immediately. "That should be the preliminary data for the advance screenings."

Saying that, she walked over quickly, picked it up to take a look, and her eyes instantly lit up.