Why So Long?

Saw The Dark Knight yesterday.

* Too long by at least one set piece. The sheer number of them adds to the drag I experienced around the halfway/two-thirds mark. Maybe it could have lost the Mister Reyes(Reece?) subplot and the ensuing set piece. However, my third problem might be more of the cause of its moments of drag than the number of set pieces.
* BATVOICE.
* Doesn’t trust the audience to suspend their disbelief, and so eats up it’s running time rationalising stuff, particularly in the Bat-Bond sequences.
* BATVOICE.
* Action direction still seems to be ashamed of the BATCOSTUME, possibly with good reason. It certainly looked like it didn’t fit properly in the interrogation scene.
* BATVOICE. If anything, it was worse than Batman Begins. And it sounded different from the trailer. Did they watch the trailer and think, the BATVOICE doesn’t sound dreadful enough, let’s go and add some more dreadfulness in post production?

Despite all that, it’s a good film. In fact when it’s at its best, it makes those points seem worse than they would in a lesser film.