10 Reasons The Dark Knight Is Still The Best Comic-Book Movie Ever
8. It Doesn't Contain Any Needless Spectacle
If there's one thing you can usually expect when you take your seat to watch a comic-book movie, it's spectacle. They're choc-full of explosions, fisticuffs and vehicle chases, but often, it's derivative - action for the sake of action. The end of The Avengers, for instance, was fun, but it didn't need to have as many faceless Chitauri minions - for our heroes to use as punching bags - as it did.
But sometimes, this spectacle is treated with the respect it deserves. Take the opening Batman scene from The Dark Knight - the Caped Crusader fights his way through a car park of goons, but it's only about four of them, as it would be in reality. Christopher Nolan didn't add in an army of thugs so Batman could demonstrate all his awesome gadgets. The action made sense.
Toward the end of the third act, The Dark Knight even actively avoids blowing up two boats so we can have a great character moment, something a lesser movie may not have opted to do. This way, rather than having the audience sit through a brainless explosion, the scene carries weight, and when the action does happen, it happens for a reason - making it all the more satisfying to watch.