As the credits began to roll for "The Dark Knight," the new Batman movie, for the midnight showing at North Pointe Cinemas this morning, the audiences in both auditoriums cheered and clapped.
"Awesome!" said Derek Freds of the movie after it ended. "It's very good. You asked me earlier if I would see it again. I will."
"It was great. I liked it. I'll probably see it again," said Marshall Plumlee.
Some audience members came out in costume as Batman or Robin, like Terry Frank and his grandson Maksym Monnier in matching Batman costumes. Siblings Reece and Elyza Anweiler donned the Joker makeup for the movie premiere.
"I'm really excited. I've been waiting quite awhile to watch it," said Reece.
Freds and his friend, Eric Blanton, arrived for the midnight showing at 9:45 p.m. Thursday.
Blanton said they got there early to "get a good seat, one of the best seats possible."
"The Dark Knight" was only the second midnight showing Blanton said he's ever been to, the other was "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest." But he was dragged to that midnight showing, he said.
Having loved the previous Batman film, "Batman Begins," Blanton said his expectations for the movie were "very high. I expect it to be great. Anything less than that, I'll be disappointed."
Blanton said he wanted to see the Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger, more than Batman, played by Christian Bale. "He's just a classic villain. The kind of Joker I haven't seen before," Blanton said.Freds said he wanted to see the film since the first week the trailer for the movie came out. "I knew this was one I wanted to come out and see," said Freds.
"I usually see a movie once, but if it's as good as I hope, I'll probably see it again," said Freds before the showing.
Dylan Ettinger, 20, went to see "The Dark Knight" with his sister. He said he's been a Batman fan even before he could talk. His parents took him to the Tim Burton "Batman" in the late 1980s.
Jodi Leek and about five of her girl friends attended the midnight show.
"My friends were going," Leek said of why she went. "I've seen the other Batmans and they were all good."
Anushri Gokhale said, "It's going to kick a**! I'm a superhero fan. I like the action and the gripping suspense."
Mallory Deardorff said Batman is not like the other superhero movies.
"I think it's different with Batman. He's the best superhero ever. Spider-Man is a wimp and Iron Man is not believable," Deardorff said.
The last two tickets for the midnight showing sold out at 11:27 p.m. Thursday. Grant Hoffman, 15, scored the tickets for himself and his friend Charlie Balentine. Hoffman said they got there late because, "We were finishing watching the first one."
While waiting for his three friends to arrive, Plumlee said the reason he wanted to see the midnight showing was because, "I'm always big on getting there, seeing it first-hand." The trailer for the film looked good, he said, and it looked like Ledger did a good job as the Joker.
He picked their tickets up at 9 p.m. "just to play it safe. I had to have them," he said.
"I was always into Batman," Plumlee said. "I watched the ones with Arnold Schwarzenegger and all those, but this one looks good."
Plumlee said he liked Batman because of how he comes across. "He's pretty intimidating. I really like that. The whole justice thing, too," he said. "And it's realistic."
His expectations were high for the second installment of the Chris Nolan-directed Batman series. "I'm sure it's going to be an awesome movie."
For showtimes of "The Dark Knight" at North Pointe Cinemas, visit online at www.northpointecinemas.com or call 574-267-1985.
