Im not saying I can lay an egg this good but I know what its worth ... 

Camila Batmanghelidjh on the Dark Knight from 2008

The knife is shoved inside the victim's mouth and pulled from one side of the face to the other, the blade ripping a smile across the cheeks. The victim is petrified, frozen in terror, paralysed into powerlessness

These are serious issues, and one would hope that the more profound messages of this film would register with its young viewers; that the polarities of evil and good, and the shades in between, would feature prominently in what they take away from it. My worry is that the extent of the violence may obscure the subtleties. It may have a 12 certificate, but the underground film economy and its eventual release into shops will make it available even to the youngest viewers.

I saw the film with a number of young people who happen to have had abusive home backgrounds, and I fear my concerns are well grounded, but not because they were carried away by the violence. Quite the opposite. They, like many critics, thought it was too violent. They also thought it shallow in its characterisation and lack of sophistication. Once you've seen a few people get blown up or shot, the rest becomes a boring variation. Lack of depth and emotion makes this film lazy and forgettable. Even the technical artistry is diminished in the service of violence. Young people yearn for more than the showing off of weapons of destruction. The mind using the weapon is infinitely more interesting than the weapon itself.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-not-in-my-name-these-batman-ethics-are-repellent-889634.html

2.08am 19.07.12.