The Dark Knight review thread

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Woohoo, I finally saw this. Overall I really enjoyed it and rate it higher than Batman Begins (which gets slightly worse each time I watch it) but don't quite understand the immense reaction it's generated. It's very good, but not great. Where I do rate it highest is how it didn't feel like a comic book / superhero film in it's structure and execution. For managing to transcend it's genre it deserves praise. I've heard many comparisons to Heat and I think they stand, not least in the opening heist and the 'two sides of the same coin' presentation of Batman and The Joker.

Speaking of The Joker, I honestly think that unlike the film as a whole, Heath Ledger deserves every plaudit that's been bestowed upon him. Practically unrecognisable, he truly inhabits the character, as well as completely reinventing the cinematic persona of the character. Although I feel the film had a near constant forward momentum across the generous runtime, I couldn't help but miss him when he wasn't onscreen. Even when his image is merely flicking on a monitor in the background, my eyes were drawn towards him away from everything else.

As for the rest, well Gary Oldman was given a better role to work with and did so admirably. Aaron Eckhart impressed but I preffered him as Dent than Two-Face. Morgan Freeman didn't do much but earned a laugh when that snot nosed punk tried to blackmail him. Michael Caine, as dependable and wry as always. Maggie Gyllenhaal is so much better than Mrs Cruise (like, d'uh) and elicits some real emotion in her final scenes with Alfred and Harvey. As for Christian Bale, he was perfectly adequate. The Bat-voice near the start (i.e. the "hockey pads" line) was so bad though. Luckily it seemed to fluctuate throughout the film.

Gripes? The final action scene in the Joker's building was poorly filmed and not very exciting, unlike the terrific car chase and opening heist. Bat-sonar was laughable. I didn't like how (and I think Lance mentioned something like this) numerous plot threads were introduced and then dropped without explanation. After the Scarecrow scene I thought that we might be getting a "Son's of Batman" story like in The Dark Knight Returns, but no. They just smash one into a window. Two-Face was wasted. Yes, I can see how it caps off the character arc for Dent and it didn't really harm or confuse the story, but it boiled him down to little more than a revenge plot to highlight a couple of themes.

But there was a lot more good. Loads of cool little moments that will be fun to watch again on DVD, especially to pause on what I swore was Joker minus his facepaint during the Mayor assassination scene. Great set up for the next film too with loads of possibilities they can choose from.

As for Two-Face being dead, I think it's very ambiguous. I thought I saw him twitching on the ground after the fall but he looked dead when Batman turned his head over. But it had been established earlier that a two storey drop won't kill a man and the Gotham police department don't have a problem with faking deaths. We'll see, but I can't think what good it will do to bring him back after the story he was given here.
 
I'm not sure I've ever seen a review here that so closely mirrors my own thoughts on a new film. ^^^
 
I aim to please.

Found a shot of The Joker minus makeup:

heath-ledger-joker-02.jpg


How the Hell did no one in charge spot those scars?
 
Michelle Pfeiffer certainly made the part more appealing. :drool:

I'm neither here nor there on Batman Returns. The Penguin is one of the weaker Batman villains, and the film just doesn't feel right to me.

I've said this before, Returns is like a Burton film that happens to have Batman in it, not the other way around. It's still a hell of a lot of fun to watch though. Christopher Walken cracks me up every time I see him in anything, pushing Michelle Pfeiffer out of a window really kills me... one of the reasons why I'm hesitant to watch The Deer Hunter.
 
My coworker who bought our IMAX tickets for tomorrow night says he can't find his confirmation thingy that he printed out last Friday.

If this means that just showing ID and credit card he purchased them with at the Pacific Science Center, I will be crying big, Batman-shaped tears.

:grumpy: x 1,000,000
 
Christopher Walken cracks me up every time I see him in anything, pushing Michelle Pfeiffer out of a window really kills me... one of the reasons why I'm hesitant to watch The Deer Hunter.

Walken in Deer Hunter...funny in the beginning, then not so funny.

You kinda need to see that movie. Political commentary aside, the performances were amazing.
 
Walken in Deer Hunter...funny in the beginning, then not so funny.

You kinda need to see that movie. Political commentary aside, the performances were amazing.

I will definitely watch it, hopefully sooner rather than later.

His monologue in Annie Hall is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
 
My coworker who bought our IMAX tickets for tomorrow night says he can't find his confirmation thingy that he printed out last Friday.

If this means that just showing ID and credit card he purchased them with at the Pacific Science Center, I will be crying big, Batman-shaped tears.

:grumpy: x 1,000,000

Did he get an email confirmation? Can he log in online to check the status? Perhaps he can call... There must be a way....
luck.gif
 
No, it wasn't Fandango, it was through the Pacific Science Theater website, and it allows you to buy tickets as a guest, so he can't sign back in. Hopefully just showing his credit card will be fine.
 
Saw it again today. On one hand, I wasn't really viewing it through a critical lens this time, so the flaws didn't jump out at me as much (though I've come to despise the soundtrack to untold levels), but a lot of the magic from the first viewing was gone. It was just kind of 'meh' this time around, and felt a hell of a lot longer.
 
Whoo hoo hoo, TDK is so fun on the IMAX screen! I really enjoyed seeing it again, more than I did the second time I saw it - I think waiting longer to see it helped. The second time I saw it, it was just a few days after opening night, but that was over a week ago.

Still sold out at our IMAX theater, and this audience seemed more into it than last time I saw it there. And my friend really dug it - this was the first time he'd seen it.
 
You know what's stuck in my head?

The scene where the videotape of the kidnapped wannabe Batman with the Joker. Specifically when he yells "Look at me!!!". Freaks me out.
 
Fake Batman hitting the window made me jump each of the three times I've seen it. You'd think I'd learn eventually.

The "look at me" was awesome - menacing, much?
 
Fake Batman hitting the window made me jump each of the three times I've seen it. You'd think I'd learn eventually.

The "look at me" was awesome - menacing, much?

He does that with Rachel in the penthouse, too, briefly.

My favorite Joker moments were in the kitchen scene:

Guy says: "Are you gonna just take half of our money"
Joker says: "...yeah"

Guy says: "You're crazy."
Joker says: "I'm not crazy... I'm not-uh."

I fucking love all of the little character choices Ledger made... it made the entire experience more of a pleasure to watch.
 
So let's say that hypothetically, I might want to maybe possibly check out some of the Batman graphic novels. Like the darker stuff - I have heard tell of Frank Millers "The Dark Knight" series (?) and then the whole "Year One" thing.

Would I start with The Dark Knight and THEN Year One? Or vice versa? And is there anything else I need to check out?

From what I understand it's pretty much the "comic book" stuff of ages past and then the more recent "darker" graphic novel stuff.

Help, plz.
 
I would start with Year One, just because it's...the beginning. Then I would check out Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which sounds like a sequel but isn't. It's just about a retired Batman, and it's one of the best comics ever (I would avoid Miller's actual sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, as it's not really on the same level of quality). Then I would say Alan Moore's The Killing Joke, which is a fantastic one focusing on Batman's relationship with The Joker. And written by the guy who wrote WATCHMEN, which I'll recommend for the 1,000th time.
 
Thanks, buddy, pal, ol' friend. :up:

I will admit to being curious about Watchmen as well.

The coworker I went to see TDK with the other night said he has first edition copies of The Dark Knight graphic novels and thinks they might be worth something.

I told him not to worry, I wouldn't ask to borrow them, lest I need to handle them with kitchen tongs and rubber gloves. ;)

Edit: Wow, they're pretty inexpensive. I would have thought they would be those graphic novels that go for like $24.95 a pop or something. Sweet.
 
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