Nice Try, but The Incredibles Was Better

Yesterday I finished watching The Dark Knight.  If you haven't seen it yet, stop reading now, because I'm going to give away the ending.

The movie made me very sad.  I was sad that Rachel and Harvey died.

I think that part of the reason it made me so sad is that the plot was sloppy.  The death of a fictional character can be poignant, moving, even cathartic, if the character is killed by a good, solid plot, like Leonard Bast in Howards End.  When characters I like are killed by a sloppy plot it just gets me down.  As if Rachel and Harvey died in vain, if you know what I mean.

I was also really sad that Heath Ledger died.  His performance as the Joker almost lived up to the hype.  But the movie as a whole did not.  Sure, a lot of things were very well done, but based on the hype, I was expecting The Great American Superhero Movie.