> pretentious wankers like Mark Kermode can’t handle that it dared to be much more than the usual comic book movie fare.

To be fair, as a one-time pretentious film academic myself, Kermode’s not at all bad. Indeed, his radio review was at pains to point out that some critics are calling The Dark Knight a ‘crime drama’ simply to avoid dealing with the idea that a comic-book superhero movie might be ‘good’ and ‘worthy’.

As soon as a good film appears in a ‘less-than-reputable’ genre, many of the more stuck-up critics feel the need to act like it’s not REALLY from that genre. “Good horror movie? Oh, no, it’s a psychological thriller.” That he was arguing for the film to be proud as a shining example of its critically-ghettoised genre is a refusal of some measure of pretension. Good for him.