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The Dark Knight (Spoilers)

Just watched it in IMAX this morning (local theater has a 8:30am showing, makes avoiding crowds very easy)

First, amazing movie (and IMAX well worth it ... nice to get a real theater experience again) I think one strength on it, that was mentioned before, is that it isn't about Batman, it isn't about someone running around being a superhero, it is about the people around him. Being more of a journey of how he affects other characters, normal people. And just loved how it showed one more aspect of the Batman legend, how he became hunted by the people he was protecting ... just great!

HL as the joker, wow ... I have a friend whom doesn't want to see the movie because she doesn't want her last memory of HL as a actor being the joker. After seeing it, I told her you have to work at it to see him. He did such a great role of the Joker, he is the Joker, he isn't HL acting as the Joker. For me, that is how I gauge an actor, and he did a great job.

With future movies and villains ... well, Batman is the villain now, from the point of view of the city. So I think that can lead to a very interesting next movie. Especially with the power vacuum that is being created without organized crime families keeping in check the casual criminals ...

Either way, the first movie was great, but I was initially timid on the second because the trailers looked to flashy for my like (the bat cycle, looked gimmicky ... but in the movie, great), now, wow, faith is back into what Batman done right can be.

S.
 
I like how they didn't use a "theme" in the score for the Joker. They just used an out of place whine when he was about to make an appearance or whenever one of his machinations (the crashed and gutted fire truck for example), came on-screen.

It cleverly set you on edge and when combined with Ledger's awesome portrayal, you just completely bought the idea that this guy could and would do anything without reproach or remorse.

I was genuinely unnerved and uncomfortable about what he might potentially do.

Simply awesome performance.
 
It was great in IMAX. After thinking over the speculation about who the next villain will be, I think they dug up Two-Face during the credits, and he will be back next time. That will let Gordon expose the lie that Batman killed the good guys. Of course, I'm sure they intended to bring the Joker back, but with HL dead, I'm sure they won't recast him any time soon.
 
I sat through the credits and there was no digging up of Two Face.

However there is a simpler explanation if they want to bring Two Face back... knowing that Harvey's public image has become irredeemable, they legally killed off Harvey... and the character known as Two Face is now being treated under law, as a different person.

But as it stands... dead as a dodo.
 
Galahad said:
I sat through the credits and there was no digging up of Two Face.
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I always sit through the very end of the credits. I meant that figuratively. I agree Two-Faced looks dead as a dodo, but in this sort of fiction, one can never tell.

But, Harvey's public image was hardly "irredeemable," Batman took the blame to preserve that public image.
 
Jade Jaguar said:
But, Harvey's public image was hardly "irredeemable," Batman took the blame to preserve that public image.
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Sorry, I meant if he had survived and been allowed to continue his life as Harvey Dent.

People would be all too aware of the circumstances surrounding his injuries and his crimes.

By publicly "killing him off", they can get him fixed up and stick him in Arkham... until he's needed for a future film.
 
God that was good, as Ranger 1 said, very powerful. Like the previous one, every scene moved the film onwards, and with no origin backstory to drag it down it just got stuck into a great film. I benefited from not having the Internet spoil one thing about it, so all the surprises were real surprises.

The theme that Batman shapes his villains has only really been touched on in the other movies. This one just completely let rip. Semi-realistic criminals also helped.

Easily the best comic book movie ever made, and really really just great. Felt more like Heat than a DC film.
 
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I'm not sure I can add anyhting to this disussion really. It truly was an awesome movie. Heath Ledger was fantastic, but I think Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart were just as good,.
 
darth_librarian said:
IIRC Aaron Eckhart was in Thank you for smoking ? He was great in that as well...
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Yes, he was. That movie is what probably put him on the map. It wasn't big, but enough to get him noticed. He was also in some romantic comedy crap with Catherine Zeta-Jones where they're chefs or something.
 
Unfortunately, I still find it hard to forgive Eckhart for the pseudoscientific mess that was The Core.

Dark Knight, on the other hand, is a fantastic movie, and his Harvey Dent was superb.
 
Saw this yesterday. A totally awesome movie, and the Joker really did steal the show. I'm hoping for another Bale/Nolan effort, but I'm at a loss to figure out who they'll use as the villain. I really hope it's not Catwoman.
 
Finally saw this last night, and while a good film, it was nowhere near a great film. I actually thought the story flowed rather nicely, but there were lots of little problems that brought the story down considerably. Rachel's character was completely useless and was only there to be the sacrificial lamb. The twist of Dent announcing he was Batman was obvious and really easy to pick up on before it happened. As was the fact that Ramirez was the crooked cop, don't linger on her for an extended camera shot when she escorts Dent to his car if you actually want people to be surprised that she is in fact crooked.

The cinematography was gorgeous all around, as was the majority of the CGI/prosthetics work. I did however have a problem with the way Two-Face ended up looking, he looked far too Army Of Darkness campy and that makes it hard to take him seriously. I honestly believe the effects/make-up people did the best they could, but I didn't like how he looked.

Acting wise I thought Eckhart was fantastic all the way through, as was Gary Oldman. Gyllenhall was superfluous like I said and really didn't bring much to the table. Freeman was very good in his subtle and nuanced role, and Ledger was very good as the Joker, although not great like everyone else seems to think. Still, easily the best work I've ever seen from an actor that delivered nothing but tripe in all his previous roles. I thought Bale took a step back in TDK and seemed to be along for the ride. I hate, hate, hate his idiotic Batman voice. It was so annoying that every time he talked it took me out of the movie. Outside of that he didn't really appear to be going for anything and was merely there, not bad, but not good either.

Story wise I was a fan of the interweaving of the various elements and how they managed to pull off the Joker really well, they made him a genius and that was nice. However I also thought they took various shortcuts that really hampered the flow. Cutting away right as Joker was about to slice Gambles face and then cutting away from the Joker somehow escaping the interrogation room so that they never had to deal with getting themselves out of that corner they had written themselves into. That leads to the biggest flaw of the movie, the sonar. Not only was it an unnecessary effect that ended up doing nothing for me, but it seemed very tacked on and forced, and a bad plot device. I could have done without it and I think it helped to distract from the climatic battle involving Batman against the Police and the Joker and made it into a techno fest as opposed to common men squaring off against each other where what separates Joker and Batman is their inner drive.

All the negatives aside, this was a good movie. It's nowhere near Wall.E as far as movie of the year goes, nor is it the best comic book movie this year, let alone of all time. However it is a very good movie, it was fun, it had a story that I enjoyed, and I was able to look past most of the nitpicky things for a good experience. It was far better than the dreck that was Batman Begins, and easily the best work ever delivered by either Nolan or Ledger. So, while I am sure all the various TDK fans will rip part every little thing I said was wrong with the movie, that doesn't change stop TDK from being a good, but flawed movie.
 
Cell said:
Rachel's character was completely useless and was only there to be the sacrificial lamb.
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Much of the plot revolved around that "sacrificial lamb." She was integral to the film. It would have been an entirely different film without her character. Without her, many of the motivations of Dent and Batman would not exist.


As was the fact that Ramirez was the crooked cop, don't linger on her for an extended camera shot when she escorts Dent to his car if you actually want people to be surprised that she is in fact crooked.
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Obvious foreshadowing it was. I doubt they expected anyone with an average IQ to be surprised when it was definitively revealed she was the rat. I suspected her almost from the start, as they had more subtle foreshadowing earlier.


I did however have a problem with the way Two-Face ended up looking, he looked far too Army Of Darkness campy and that makes it hard to take him seriously. I honestly believe the effects/make-up people did the best they could, but I didn't like how he looked.
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My problem with the way he looked, and I consider it to be the major plot screw-up of the film, is that no hospital in the USA would for a moment leave someone in that physical condition, without beginning reconstruction immediately, no matter what they said, because leaving them in that condition would practically assure their death in the not-to-distant future, due to massive infection.


...easily the best work ever delivered by either Nolan...
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Not by a long shot. Nolan will probably go his whole life without making another film that comes close to being as good as Memento. But, I'm sure he will make more fine films. :D
 
Finally saw it. God, it kicked butt. I think what I enjoyed the most about it was that it wasn't gimmicky and "just for laughs" like Burton's versions. I mean, Burton opened the door, I'll give him that. But, Nicholson's Joker paled in comparison to Ledger's. The Burton films (and those following) seemed just campy versions. Oh, look, the Joker dances around and acts silly. Oh, Two-Face, he's such a ham. The Joker, yeah, funny guy. Penguin, how cute! Catwoman, blah blah blah.

The Dark Knight versions? You're really freaked out by these guys. They aren't just monologues full of make-up and goofy antics. The Joker scares the holy frack out of you. You laugh . . . nervously . . . yes. There are amusing moments, but not at the expense of the integrity of the story and its characters.

Read a rumor that Johnny Depp was approached to take on the role of The Riddler. Not sure how much water that holds, though.

Dent was awesome--not just a typical throw-away character that has no impact. You felt for this guy.

Can't wait to see the next installment.
 
Jade Jaguar said:
Much of the plot revolved around that "sacrificial lamb." She was integral to the film. It would have been an entirely different film without her character. Without her, many of the motivations of Dent and Batman would not exist.
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The fact that the plot revolved around a character with little or no substance and whose only purpose was to stand next to Harvey and look pretty is not a good thing.

Jade Jaguar said:
Obvious foreshadowing it was. I doubt they expected anyone with an average IQ to be surprised when it was definitively revealed she was the rat. I suspected her almost from the start, as they had more subtle foreshadowing earlier.
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If it was anyone but Nolan I would buy the foreshadowing, but that's not how Nolan operates. He goes for the "OMG, I didn't see that coming surprise" as opposed to the "I saw that coming, but it was really all about the journey." That's how it played out in TDK as well, there wasn't any journey to the surprises, they were just supposed to be surprises.

Jade Jaguar said:
Not by a long shot. Nolan will probably go his whole life without making another film that comes close to being as good as Memento. But, I'm sure he will make more fine films. :D
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Memento is a decent movie, but at the end of the day it is a mes of innovative ideas that never gel together into one cohesive story.
 
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