I knew there was a good chance I'd see The Dark Knight at least one more time while it was still in theaters, but I didn't think it likely that I'd be standing in line for an hour for another late night screening on another work night. But such is the siren call of IMAX. I went with my brother and his friend to the closest IMAX theater, in Dublin, about a half-hour drive away.

While Hollywood films being projected on IMAX screens is nothing new (the result of standard film stock being blown up to IMAX proportions), The Dark Knight broke new ground by being the first Hollywood production to shoot scenes with IMAX cameras. The result can be disconcerting if you're not prepared for it. While the majority of the film appears in the 2.40:1 aspect ratio of its standard theatrical exhibition and thus is shown "letterboxed" on the 4:3 IMAX screen, the IMAX-shot scenes fill up the entire frame. Rumor has it this presentation will be somewhat preserved for the Blu-ray release, with the IMAX-shot scenes expanding to fill the entire 16:9 frame of HDTV. What surprised me was that often the film would cut to IMAX footage for just a single shot before reverting back, usually for pretty establishing shots flying over Gotham. Thus, IMAX footage is sprinkled in small doses throughout, with only three sequences (the opening robbery, the middle truck/cycle chase, and the final Joker confrontation) done (nearly) entirely in the larger format.

The IMAX footage injected new life into this 150+ minute movie I'd just seen days before. Super crisp and clean, you could hear the audience get excited every time the image got big again. And the film's still awesome too. Though the visceral experience is not the same when you know where everything's heading, I picked up more plot details this time and even felt more forgiving of the plot's scatterbrained nature. If you have the chance, definitely check out The Dark Knight in IMAX.