Leonard Maltin’s Rating : 
Should be :
IMDB Rating : 8.9
Rotten Tomatoes Rating : 94%
Rotten Tomatoes Consensus : Dark, complex and unforgettable, The Dark Knight succeeds not just as an entertaining comic book film, but as a richly thrilling crime saga.
Leonard says in his online review : “I guess I take movies too seriously; I always have. I cry easily and wince at any explosive action. As for violence and horror, my wife’s arm is still black and blue from my grabbing her repeatedly during the last scary movie we saw. This is why I have no taste for the current run of slasher/torture movies. While young people treat them as a kind of joke, I can’t remain aloof enough to enjoy them. Yes, I know the difference between cartoonish or outlandish violence—as practiced by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill, for instance—and the kind that’s supposed to hurt. But when a movie asks me to become emotionally involved and then plays with my feelings, I have problems. That’s why I didn’t enjoy The Dark Knight. I was especially disappointed because I thought Christopher Nolan did such a fine job with Batman Begins, which recreated the caped crusader’s origins with a deft mixture of drama, fantasy, and humor. The Dark Knight is unrelentingly dark; the only moments of lightness are provided—all too briefly—by Michael Caine as Alfred the butler. The centerpiece of the film is Heath Ledger’s extraordinary performance as The Joker. While I appreciated his work as an actor, the character he portrays is so thoroughly sick and twisted that I could derive no pleasure from watching him. (I’m sure the awareness of his untimely death hovered in my consciousness, as well.) When this famous character’s antics cease to be portrayed in comic-book terms and become tangibly, frighteningly real, the playing field has clearly changed. It’s all a matter of tone, the single most crucial element in a film that tries to straddle the juvenile world of superhero storytelling and a more challenging, adult brand of drama. It seems that Nolan and his writing collaborators (David S. Goyer and his brother Jonathan Nolan) want to make a statement about the post-9/11 world. The script drives home the belief that one should never negotiate with terrorists, a fateful reminder of contemporary geopolitics…but how does one reconcile that somber worldview with the goal of creating entertainment? Nolan pulled it off in his previous Batman film, as Sam Raimi did in Spider-man 2, but it’s a mighty challenge. All I know is that I didn’t have any fun at all watching the most anticipated film of the summer.
Your ratings should take in to account the audience’s views too.
An exciting, well written, well acted super hero movie that I really enjoyed seeing.
Leonard Maltin's Worst Reviews 
Yes, I agree he got this very wrong. Let his personal feelings overly overshadow quality film making aspects.
Sure, I can see his reasons and I probably wouldn’t give it above ***1/2. But truly great performances (Oldman and Ledger), slick editing, originality, good script and the score all warrant at least ***.
I kind of love the idea of this site. A lot of film critics’ reviews, including Maltin’s, seem just baffling and hard to explain.
However, I can’t agree that just because “some people like their movies dark” means that Maltin is required to play to that particular taste. Also, everything that he says in the section that you quoted is actually very thoughtful and balanced.
What I think *is* the problem with Maltin’s review is that, by his own admission, he likes hyper-violent films like “Kill Bill” (a slickly made film with almost no redeeming themes) but not TDK, which balances its violence with a thoughtful message.
Anyway, thanks for posting this! If it gets discussion going, it’s a good and fun thing. 🙂
I have to partially agree with Maltin here on the problem of Ledger’s character being so “sick”. To me, though, it just seems like directors like Nolan and Tim Burton aren’t going for what the comic book character personified (well, in the case of Nolan, that would refer more to the “classic” comics character, for this new version is a lot like the graphic novel version of the past twenty some years, actually). I, myself, do like the “idea” of Ledger’s character (not liking Jack Nicholson’s earlier version much at all), as well as the brilliant performance. The “supporting” characters, like Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal don’t offer much, though. Due to all of this, I would probably offer three stars. However, I must admit, as much as I “like” a few of the movies on your “worst” list here … I still agree with all of the Maltin reviews on this list … except this one. They all include the problematic issues which he noted. This doesn’t mean they have to be disliked. Where do you think the term “guilty pleasures” derives?
even though I admire and respect leonard maltin, his opinion on the dark knight is so hypocritical. He panned this movie because heath ledger’s joker was to “frightening and intense” but he gave 3.5 stars to Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. And the main character Alex in that movie makes Ledger’s Joker look like a walk in the park.