The Dark Knight - [spoilers ahead, ye be warned]

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

But I feel it's a terrible shortcoming if the story of a film is not clear by its end (or after some reflection, but NOT requiring a second viewing). To me, that's a FAIL.

If it's not clear by the end I agree. But what if it's perfectly clear by the end and just contains more depth upon further viewing? By the end of DK, I certainly knew what happened in the story, I didn't feel like I was lost. I just felt like there were large chunks that didn't add anything to the story. If a second pass proves those to actually be bestowing previously missed meaning, I've got no problem with that.