Weekly Movie Review: The Dark Knight
 

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Here here.

I have a dissappering pencil trick, it led to me being unable to be within 500ft. of a school zone.

But seriously, excellent film all around. And I agree that Ledgers Joker has become the definitive version (Hamill's was my favorite up until Friday).

I'm convinced I just saw two of the most flexible, believeable actors to grace the screen at once; Ledger and Oldman.

I smell a Batgirl a-comin'.

Watched it last night and I agree with the voice comment....That voice was the perfect Batman voice..when he didn't talk much. When he has that much dialogue, it starts to sound funny and you stop listening and start trying to figure out why he sounds like that.
And here's what I came up with. 1)the mask prevents him from breathing through his nose so his pronounciation becomes a little nasal. 2) he keeps his teeth separated and rarely moves his jaw. The result is all the words are formed from heavy exhalation and lip movement alone so he drops letters all over the place like a ventrilequist. It becomes more obvious the more he talks.

I liked how they did not show Commisioner Gordon's daughters' face. Smart move on their part if they every want to introduce Batgirl. Just hopefully it will not turn into a huge pile of crap the way they did when they had Batman, Robin, and Batgirl all on the same team.

One of the big problems that they have for this is momentum. With the Dark Knight, they carried over elements from Batman Begins, but may not be able to do so with the next one. Besides Ledger being gone (and they better not put another guy in his role), the film ends perfectly and picking up from there may be tricky.

They may have problems that every superhero franchise goes thru and start making checklists of which villans/superheros have been used and which remain. There can also be issues with trying to put too many in a movie at once making it a clustered mess with no character development. Dark Knight was close to following that path, but handled it perfectly (considering that the movie was almost 3 hours long).

It makes you wonder if they are going to try to follow up the success of Dark Knight (which 99.9% chance that they are) and which storylines are going to come into play.

Right on Proto! I've been waiting for this movie for a long time, especially when the disappointing Batman forever and Batman and Robin movies.
I heard that The role of the Joker drove Ledger to his mental state, but that's just rumor... i just want to see his portrayal of the clown prince of crime.

as for Twoface... they touched on how Harvey became him in Batman and Robin, but they could have had him in his own movie.

anyways keep the kick ass reviews going

I loved this movie when I saw it opening day.


Also am I the only one who thought the joker looked really hot as a girl?

This is where the huge dilemma comes into play. This movie was incredible. They'll probably come out with another one in and of course it won't be as good because we set unattainable expectations. So is Morgan Freeman out now or was it just an ambiguous ending for him as well.

It wasn't an ambiguous end for him.

I went to see this movie with some friends on opening night, and let's just say we go there at the right time.
I've never seen the theatre so packed, and it actually added to the movie.

Anyways, the whole Bat-Voice thing actually annoyed the hell out of me. I just wanted him to shut up and disappear off to the Bat-Cave or something.
Oh, and the retarded teen working the projector had no idea what "focus" means, so the movie was extremely blurry 75% of the time.

And I really hope they leave the Joker out of any sequels, because Ledger's performance cannot be topped.
Unless they go ahead and have some other guy play a Joker impersonator. Which would still suck I guess.
But while the Joker's "magic" may have been gruesome, everyone in the audience got a good laugh out of some little thing he did in every scene. Having a homicidal psycopath who can make you laugh at the drop of a hat is a weird, but amazing mix.

And he's a pretty decent looking "hot nurse."

It was amazing. Completely stunning. Just one thing though- Jim Gordon doesn't have a son (or he was retconned out) in the comics, right? Why the addition?

I'll try to keep this short.

The Dark Knight is near-perfect as far as movies go, and definitely the best comic adaptation ever made. Although Ledger's performance overshadows all others, the film is beautifully acted by some of Hollywood's best. It doesn't at all feel like big-name actors ego tripping at the chance to play these iconic characters, as was the case with Schumacher's films. Each character is portrayed with such depth that it's easy to justify some of the annoying aspects (the bat voice comes to mind.) I agree that Eckhart nailed it, Bale's interpretation is the best Batman we've seen yet, Oldman does a great job of fleshing out Gordon, Caine is brilliant as always, and Morgan Freeman is just playing Morgan Freeman but it works. A friend of mine complained that Maggie Gyllenhaal transformed Rachel Dawes from the strong female lead portrayed by Katie Holmes in Batman Begins into a teenage girl who can't decide which boy she likes in Dark Knight. But Gyllenhaal's performance didn't really bother me, perhaps because it was buried by so many others, or perhaps because Dawes has no roots in the comic so the fanboy aspect is out the window. Besides, such is to be expected when the same roll is played by a different actress in a sequel. The only sort of complaint I can come up with is the movie felt unfinished. There is no doubt in my mind that the passing of Ledger lead to some script rewrites, as the back end of the film definitely shifts focus from Joker to Dent. And without giving too much away, there is a great deal of ambiguity about what happens to the Joker. I can't help but feel Nolan originally had a different plan. But that doesn't subtract from the unbelievable level of performance of Heath Ledger. It completely crushed my expectations, and I expected a lot. With all due respect to Mr. Nicholson, Ledger's Joker has never and will never be topped in our lifetime, period. It's incredibly sad that he can't reprise his roll for the third film, and he never completed his roll in the second (in my opinion.) I don't think they would ask another actor to fill his shoes, and I don't think any actor in their right mind would want to, anyways.

Am I the only person who liked Batman Forever? I mean, that was the movie that actually was my first big experience with the Batman franchise in general. Yeah, Jim Carey, while effectively a comical Riddler with hints of true madness, was effective overall for my impression of what the Riddler is kinda like based on my impressions of the character (I didn't read too many comics as a kid).

P.S. There was only one Return, and it wasn't the King it was the Jedi.

Oh, wow, I did not proofread that "impression" sentence at all.

I liked Batman Forever, but at the same time I don't think it's particularly good.

I loved it. Nicholson played a very convicing, sinister Joker, but Ledger was-IS The Joker. My only problems with the movie were that most of the fight scenes were in the dark and therefore hard to see, and the Batcycle. (because nothing is more "Batman" than giant guns, right?) Nice reference,porkboy. Are you "down" with the trilogy?

Also, did anyone come to the theater early to see the Watchmen Trailer? My God, It's beautiful.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=E4blSrZvPhU

Excellent review (if a somewhat expected score, not that it's a bad thing. And finally someone else who doesn't blame solely Jones for his Two-Face). This was a fantastic movie and I loved it, which is saying something since I usually don't care much at all for superhero movies. Everything that's been said about the Joker is spot-on; hyped-up roles tend to be less than desired after a while (I wasn't exactly wowed by Daniel Plainview), but not Ledger; he acted in a legendary fashion, and it's a damn shame he's gone (but what a curtain call!).

Great as it was, though, the movie still had flaws. The over-long running time (being the result of a few too many unnecessary scenes; Hong Kong, I'm looking at you), the fact that Bale just sounded corny sometimes with that voice (glad you caught that), and some of the sub-plots didn't really go anywhere (like that underling who knew Batman's identity. He just kinda disappeared). Luckily, the general pacing of the movie covered these up, so it's still a great movie (it's just not the greatest film ever made, as many have already declared). So while I still think Sin City is the best comic book movie (what can I say, it had everything I wanted and Tarentino. It's win-win), this is definitely one of the greats, and easily one of the best movies this year.

Gave me goosebumps.

When Joker was in the nurse's outfit he reminded me of Genesis P-Orridge. Somebody here must know who that is, right? Right??

I just saw it and it may actually be my new favorite movie ever. 2.5 hours long and I still wanted more. Between this masterpiece, the awesome Iron Man, and the vastly improved Hulk, 2008 is the year of the Comic Book Film.

Now if only next year's Watchmen can be persuaded to not suck, all my childhood fantasies (except the one about G.I. Joe's Baroness and the cool-whip) will be fulfilled.

To be fair, there have been multiple Jokers.

good, anything other than 5 pickles would hav been heresy you know.

Good review, I agree with just about everything.

I'd only add that the editing threw me a little bit. Some of the cuts were slightly jarring as a "scene" would only last about four seconds; kinda felt like I was watching a trailer at times. It didn't really hurt the movie, though. On that note, I imagine they had to do a lot of cutting just to get it within sight of two hours runtime; the director's cut on the DVD will probably add at least half an hour.

pac-man, I know you meant "Hear, hear."

A near perfect movie. The only problem I had with it was the Batman voice and that is such a minor problem. Me and my wife saw a 9:30 AM show on Friday because I find its the best time to go see opening weekend movies. Its usually pretty dead, but this was the first time that I was in a packed theater. Heath Ledgers performance was amazing, makes his loss even more tragic.

How'd you guess?

har har

I've heard some critics talk about how the film breathlessly goes so quick, but that's irrelavent. This film is jaw-dropping. Fucking SPOT-ON review, Proto.

And it beat My Chemical Spider-Fag in the box office, which is a nice addition.

Ledgers Joker was terrifying in his simplicity. That's the kind of real madman that could terrorize the world. No need for overly elaborate powers or fancy gadgets, just pretty much focused insanity with the intelligence to bring his mad whims to life.

I mean, when you see villains from other superhero movies they just don't scare you the way he does. He could've easily been in one of those 'Serial Killer' movies that were popular a few years back... but I'd say he's even more real and frightening than most of those hacks were.

He's the Hanibal Lector of Supervillains

I work at a movie theatre (BigMac500, I'm watching you for that 'retarded teen' comment lol) and so I've seen The Dark Knight about 5 times already. I'm still not sick of it. Every time I watch it feels like the first time. It's that good.

Also, for all the praise of Ledger's Joker, I think one line alone defines him as the best in my book. I'm paraphrasing here, but it's something like: "I believe we're destined to do this forever. You won't kill me out of some misguided self-righteous mission, and I won't kill you because you're just too much fun!"

It perfectly defines the Joker, becuase he's the one villain who was ever a match for Batman. I love Nicholson's take, but he's too frail, in more ways than one. Ledger makes it clear that the Joker could easily kill Batman, but he's so crazy he'd rather keep him alive for his own enjoyment.

This movie was fantastic... I'm pretty critical when it comes to movies, but there were really only two things in the entire movie I found even questionable- one is the Bat-voice, which made not only me but everyone I was with giggle. He sounds like Solid Snake, only even more over-the-top. Maybe the mask does something to his throat, since he talks in that voice even when he's alone with people who know he's Bruce Wayne, so it seems less likely the voice is to protect his identity. Or maybe he's just so crazy that he has a dual personality that comes out when he's wearing the costume.

Anyway, the only other flaw I could see was the dialog in the truck chase scene. The rest of the movie seems very well-written, but in this sequence we get generic action-movie lines like "That's not good!" and even the Joker is reduced to saying things like "There's a Batman!". I know they're concentrating on driving and all, so grunting out obvious, absent-minded comments might be realistic, but it seemed really out of place compared to the elegance of the rest of the movie.

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm kinda annoyed with how it seems the Joker is portrayed, mostly it's his look. He looks like he "just doesn't care" or something, but I've always thought of the joker of a guy who takes pride in his overwhelming style, which is to say that he keeps his suit, hair, and everything else of his in near perfect condition...
Also he seems to act more like a complete psychopath in the trailers, which isn't really what he is. The joker is more of a sociopath. He feels no remorse or whatever, not that he's some batshit mother fucker who wants to see everyone die.

But whatever. Batman is the best "super"hero ever (who doesn't have a nuclear powered pogo) and Nolan did a damn fine job of Begins, despite the weird ass not-batmobile, so I'm sure it's a great movie.

i haven't gotten to see the movie, and probably won't be able too until the DVD comes out, which makes me sad. My mom went to see it, though, but that thought just makes me even sadder. :(

Valhelm13- I wouldn't be too worried about the Joker being a psychopath in the movie... he does kill quite a few people, but they don't portray him as being a mass-murdering lunatic out of a slasher film. He really is more of a sociopath, especially as the movie progresses. Can't argue about the style, though... he starts off looking kind of like a dirty hobo in really messy clown paint, and gets more and more disheveled from there.

He's possibly less true to the comics than the Jack Nicholson portrayal of the Joker, but in my opinion it's a very interesting take on the character, and I really see them as two very different but equally valid Jokers. You might still be annoyed with how he looks, but I doubt you'll be disappointed in the actual character when you see the movie.

Saw this movie Sunday. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Well one of the thing they got right with the joker if you ask me is how when he does his little trick it basicly make you laugh and then make you realize how wrong it was really, basicly they understood that the joker basicly try to apply slapstick physic in our world, therefore making it quite deadly

I just think the Joker wasn't insane enough.

He just looks like a really smart, driven anarchist type instead of a real fucking wackjob psycho.

His pranks weren't all that funny :o
He felt a lot more like a run-of-the-mill terrorist than a supervilain.

Still he was cool

i thought it dragged a little in the middle.

there was (i think? i'm not sure) a comment from pac-man referencing the maxx

i cannot and do not want to imagine a maxx movie :(


ever :(

:lol

I have to disagree with alot of this praise. Mainly two points. The "Batman voice" was just silly and took me out of the movie every time. This movie was too long, it should have been two movies. The right place to end this movie was when the Joker escaped the police station.

But people don't like movies that end on down-notes.

Empire Strikes Back is proof of that.

Waaait. I meant the exact opposite of everything I said there. I hate it when I do that!

Anway, The Dark Knight left me feeling dead inside.

...

Man. DID. IT. AGAIN.

This movie gave me faith in mankind.

have you seen the animated series

I referenced The Maxx comic in another thread a while back, but other than that I haven't talked about it. The TV show was great. I'm sure they could do a movie version that wouldn't be a complete mess.

This movie is a bit fucking different I'd say, you dull twit.

Well I have to say that The Dark Knight was pretty impressive. It was a lot better than I thought it would be and it was much better than Batman Begins ( Batman Begins was good but a little overrated). Batman's voice is kind of silly though just like in the previous movie. I really don't know why he has to sound like that. It sounds like he forces it out. It's like...he's trying too hard to sound dark and menacing. He should sound more like Michael Keaton's Batman. Even though The Dark Knight was pretty damn good, I still think it was slightly overrated. And the hype was insane. Still, I enjoyed it a lot. The Joker was well handled here. Better than I expected. Although he didn't laugh as much I thought he would. But when he DID laugh, it sent chills down to my spine. Also I didn't know Two-Face was gonna show up here. I knew Harvey Dent was going to be there, but Two-Face showed up much earlier than I thought he would. (I didn't really read too much on The Dark Knight since I didn't wanna ruin any surprises that would be in store for me). And of course, this Two-Face beats the shit out of Tommy Lee Jone's Two-Face. As for comparing Joker's, I think it's dumb. All of the Joker's are good in their own way. I thought this Joker would be average, but Heath really surprised me.

Overall, the movie is pretty good. I'm not sure if it blew me away, but it was really close to doing that.

I think my MINOR distaste for Joker's performance stems from A: quality of douchebags who overly praise his performance <he's dead, say only nice things. aaawww.> and B: Not enough Joker. It'll never be enough even R rated. Heath's got the most Adult realistic version goin for him- but he still feels restricted, inhibited. I did enjoy Joker's uncomfortable ways when not in action. He seemed more natural doing business in a nurse's outfit, then pitching to the board of hoods. he did perk up for his "magic trick" though.

why was I the only one laughing at it's prestige though?


never enough Joker.


Also- Jim Gordon Has a son named Tony Gordon.<I think in dark knight mom calls him tony, but it's brief> he's a little older than Robin, so hopefully movie boy wonder dosn't show up ever. Tony might not be Barbara's brother <comics> so Jim's probally a dirty dog.



Title for 3:

"HUNT THE DARK KNIGHT"

Yeah, isn't it GREAT when you have high hopes for a film and they AREN'T crushed? I honestly think this is one of my top five all-time favorite films. I do agree with you about the Batman voice, too. Bale just doesn't have the voice for it. It's not enough to destroy the film, but it's a little... off. One thing I really love about these new Batman films is that his few one-liners feel perfectly natural; they don't come off as just snarky or "ha-ha, aren't I clever". They actually feel like something a real person might say.

I loved the part where the mobster asks Joker if he thinks he can just walk in and take his money, and the Joker responds with that completely offhand "Yeah."

Definitely the best film I've seen all year, possibly one of the best films I've ever seen. Alright, the Batman voice got deeper and sillier as the film went on, but that was only a minor flaw. The rest was sheer class.

Just a great movie that completely redefined the genre. It really is the Citizen Kane of "comic book" films. I just can't remember the last time I paid my sheckles for a flick and actually got exactly what I wanted. Ledger was brilliant, evil, maniacal and completely twisted. He is now THE Joker. The I Support Harvey Dent badge when he visits Two-Face in the hospital was a nice touch

I demand more Two-face.

When I first heard that Heath Ledger was going to be the Joker I groaned...
"Oh No... Not that dude from "10 things I hate about you" and that horrible gay cowboy movie (I have nothing against gay men or cowboy's or gay cowboys for that matter I just thought that movie was boring as shit). But still felt really bad when the news broke that Heath Ledger had died. I remember the day it happened I was watching the news break in a Las Vegas Police Station as I was filing a battery report on my crazy neighbor who got drunk, pissed her pants and assaulted my wife and I (long story). But still, I highly anticipated the new Batman film as Bale and Oldman are truly (along with Steve Martin... I know, I know make fun ya assholes... but remember Martin before his lame ass kid flicks was pure comic genius) my all time favorite actors. And after seeing the trailer with Ledger as the Joker I was sold. I have seen the film 5 times with varying family and friends and never does this film become tired and old. What an amazing film. I was so truly wrong about Ledger and I kept thinking that this was the second time an actor who passed away kicked my ass with their performance, Brandon Lee as the Crow the first time, also a beautiful performance in a comic book related film (and I also had no hope for Lee's performance either and I was wrong then too). I loved the film and it is a tragedy that Ledger is gone after showing his chops as an amazing actor in a difficult role to capture. That's my 2 cents.


R.I.P. Amigo

Finally saw it last night.

A good movie, but to me, not a good as "Begins", and heres why. Chigago. Plain and simple. They expanded the scope of Gotham to such a degree that I find it hard to belive that one man (however driven, motivated, or equipped) can be more than a piss in the ocean.

In Batman begins, Gotham was tighter, more claustrophobic, and ultimatly better represented than it was portrayed in Dark Knight. If you expect me to buy into the technology presented in the movie, what makes you think I wont buy into the stylized representation of Gotham used before? Realism in a super hero movie can be overdone as well.

I did enjoy the reversal of the dynamic from "begins". Bats and Rah's al Ghul took dramatically different paths for what each thought was the greater good in that one. In Dark Knight, Bats and the Joker went down the same chaotic path but for different ends.

I also appreciated that Bats didnt have a new, totally restylled batmobile just for the bleeding hell of it. True that the left it open for a new one in the next movie, but at least we have an explanation why, same with the suit.

Finally, to the acting. Ledger was fine, but I think he missed the mark by a bit. To me, the joker historically does what he does purely for laughs, not to make any kind of point, just because its fun to hurt people. In the novel, "no man's land" Joker pushes his shinks head through the bars in his cell at arkham, and strips off his ears. He thought it would be a hoot to be sitting there, wearing his doctors ears, when the guards came for him. THAT'S the joker I wanted to see. Ledger came close, but I think his joker was motivated by the wrong thing.

Two-face was handled deftly as well, and the makeup was gruesome and stunning, but more importanlty, ultimatly beliveable.

Overall, this movie was fantastic, but at the end, I thought they could have trimmed a tight 20 minutes out of it, and made it better for the effort.

Tim

soooooo, how did it explain 2face pronouncing his M's, B's, P's, etc......?

minor quibble, the movie was shot on film made from 100% win!!!

The Magic Of Cinema Spleek... The Magic of Cinema.
(And after 2 plus hours your tired ass will believe anything thrown at you)

Got to see it at a single screen drive-in in the middle of the woods drinking lots o beer. Good fucking movie, mainly because every character, no matter how small, is important to the story.

But we're here to talk about the Joker? Sure! I thought he was fucking amazing! However he seemed so far removed from what I thought the Joker was all about that he could have went by another name and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The Joker is about jokes! Kills with funny gadgets. Other than his pencil trick at the opening, a few brilliant lines near the first middle of the action and sliding down a mountain of money the character is a brilliant almost god-like terrorist/sociopath who doesn't do much funny stuff, I was hoping for more gadgets and jokes and bizarre shit mixed it.

The ending didn't cut it for me, Two Face barely got his trademark suit together before being offed, and just what happened to the Joker? Is he still hanging from a fucking building? Am I to believe he's locked in jail when its obvious he has no trouble escaping?

Its a fucking tragedy such a great performance will only happen once, but they could have atleast killed his character off.

Well said, testtube, but I'll tell you why the ending cut it for me.

There's going to be a sequel. So, they recast The Joker, we find out Harvey Dent is alive, and Nolan does it all through clever flashbacks a la The Prestige. I don't mind the thought of somebody else playing this Joker, and I actually have a modicum of trust in this cast and crew because they've made two awesome movies. Great points all around, though, testtube.

must learn to act like the joker.....
live on ledger!!

Damn good movie.. holy crap this like re-established my faith in the Comic-Movie genre.

i know who he is aries, now that i think about it i can kind of see where you're coming from