I SAW and HEARD this movie last night at a theater that was not an Imax one, but the next best thing to one a
Rave Motion Picture Theater. It was a spur of the moment thing, since 2 friends called to invite me to see it with them and a friend and I were already at the mall anyhow. I had never been to Rave theater before, and I was completely unprepared for what was about to unfold before me. And I couldn't have picked a better movie for it to happen at.
First, the movie was utterly amazing, and to anyone who did not like it, I really don't know what to say other than it's only as good as what you might get out of it. Maybe you saw it at a cheapo crappy theater with uncomfortable seats, a small stained screen, a dark out of focus projector with a fuzzy picture and blown speakers with distorted sound. If any or all of these negative factors influenced a bad experience with this movie, you unfortunately missed much more than you know.
And a few Google searches later, I was able to confirm my surround sound suspicions 100%.
Universal Cinema Services Keeps Rave Motion Pictures On The Cutting Edge With Harman Pro Cinema Group Companies JBL Professional And Crown
Sneak Preview of RAVE Motion Pictures (check out the state of the art digital projection system photos)
I just knew there was something giddily familar about the powerful and amazing surround sound system they used. Since I use Harman products myself, including Infinity Interlude speakers on both of my HT systems, I was all too familiar with the accurate, clean and distortion free sound. Of course, what I use is not nearly as powerful as arrayed Crown amps can provide. But my main system can produce similar sound levels in my much smaller home, especially using 3 12 inch Infinity 500 watt max BASH subs. Needless to say, I was in complete audio bliss listening to and watching The Dark Knight!
The many explosion sounds were controlled, precise and earth shattering all without being completely distorted into unrecognizable acoustic blobs of low frequency noise. The surround system was phenomenal as well creating a completely immersive experience since I was sitting in the exact center of the theater but slightly to the front. The dialog was clear and never sounded strained or shallow but had occasional times where the music or sound effects seemed to muddy it a bit, but that was more of a sound mixing problem than a system one, I feel sure. Over all the sound was clear and transparent and I heard virtually no artificial coloration or distortion at the loud sound levels the system was set at.
Frequently I found myself staring around the theater just marveling at the good acoustics. In fact just above the screen where the center channels were placed a piece of ceiling tile fell out revealing a huge mass of acoustic insulation hanging down that was at least a 2 feet thick. It will be interesting to see how well they plan on servicing this surround system down the road a year from now as these speakers wear out from this extreme continuous use. But for now, this Harman Pro system sounded stellar. The wife of the friends we met kept covering her ears up during the louder passages, lol.
Now the picture was also very good, but I have to say, it was not as good as I would think it could be, given the advanced projection equipment they are using. Perhaps it was just a bit out of focus, or the screen was so large it was simply showing a lot of defects like the grain of the film. If this is the case, IMAX may be a bit better but I'm not so sure it will necessarily be much of an improvement. In some scenes where the camera shifts to Batman then back to the Joker over and over, you see Batman remains clearly in focus not moving while the Joker moving around goes noticeably in and out of focus a lot. This is a cinematography problem, not a projector one, and in many movies they might reshoot noticeable scenes like this but they obviously could not reshoot the Jokers scenes, unfortunately. A lot of the fight and action scenes also suffered from this in and out of focus problem. On a smaller HD screen at home, this might not be so obvious, but on a giant screen, it really is.
But other than that, I really thought it was very tight visually. And the pacing and editing were great. And of course, the script, casting and actors were just amazing, with Heath Ledger's acting simply phenomenal. He supposedly shut himself alone in a hotel room for over a month just working on the Joker characters mannerisms and vocalizations. And it shows. What a terrible and tragic loss at a peak in his acting craft.
So I give the movie my highest possible recommendation. Just make sure you see it at a theater that really does it proper justice. The Dark Knight is well worth the drive to a quality theater if all you have is crappy movie theaters with small screens and blown sound systems nearby.
Don't miss this at the theater and wait for it to be on video, go see it now!
Do it for Heath!
:thumbsup:
