Wordsmith Extraordinaire  Posts: 10318 Joined: 28 Nov 2007     | |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1566 Joined: 5 Dec 2007    | I cannot help to think that the movie is being vastly overrated. Ledgers Joker deserves every bit of praise he gets, but nobody else is spectacular. Batman in particular just seems boring, dull compared to the madness of everybody's favorite villan. The ending was also...anti-climatic |
Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 594 Joined: 26 May 2008    | Why is your post so short? It's not long enough to be a review, and doesn't have enough information to be a report on its earnings. But yes, Dark Knight was the best film-based on a comic book-of the summer (at least in my opinion). Iron Man and Hulk were both good, but until I see Watchmen, it's my #1. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 493 Joined: 4 Feb 2008    | I'm confused, how does this thread contain spoilers? By you saying it's a good film? Anywho, I agree, it's awesome. |
Wordsmith Extraordinaire Posts: 10318 Joined: 28 Nov 2007 | Sorry, I accidentally posted early. I'm adding in the main review via edit. |
Copy Clerk  Posts: 51 Joined: 14 Feb 2008    | The ending was a cliffhanger, I agree. But it did end well, on a high emotionally-charged note. I am just anxious to see how its sequel will work with Batman now being a marked man. And I swear to God, if there is a Catwoman in the next flick I am fucking giving up. I have voiced my opinion about this movie before, and I still stand by what I think: That Joker should have used his gags; Two-Face should have been burned by acid. I am a big Batman comic fan, and not seeing these things making the transition to film was a big let-down. Iron Man was way better. The best first superhero movie I have ever seen. And it's sequels are only going to get better (knock on wood). |
Press Junketeer Posts: 493 Joined: 4 Feb 2008 |
Ah I see. Enjoy! |
BANNED  Posts: 829 Joined: 9 Aug 2008    |
Aaron Eckhart was excellent as well, give him some credit. User was banned for: Half-wits to the left of me, Wankers to the right. (Permanent) |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 4297 Joined: 20 Dec 2007   |
Yeah it's being over rated but that doesn't make it bad, I still love this movie and really, there's a lot of stuff wrong with it but it's overshadowed by all the good, I can't call it anything else except "awesome". There's worse movies to spend your money on in theaters right now. Like Clone Wars, it'll make you wonder why George Lucas hasn't been murdered yet. |
Wordsmith Extraordinaire Posts: 10318 Joined: 28 Nov 2007 | Because my money for a gun went to video games. I mean, uh...just disregard that last sentence. |
Pulitzer Laureate  Posts: 889 Joined: 14 May 2008   |
Why so serious? |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 3966 Joined: 7 Nov 2007  | What's that joker, you'll be back? Somehow I don't think you will be... |
Wordsmith Extraordinaire Posts: 10318 Joined: 28 Nov 2007 |
Am I alone in cringing during that scene? |
Pulitzer Laureate Posts: 889 Joined: 14 May 2008 |
Because it was embarassingly poor, or because it was unpleasant? I'm going to assume you meant the former. I don't know, it seemed alright, but was more of a set up for various internet jokes (such as mine) rather than a crtical plot twist. The actual scene is much less important than you'd expect, given how much people quote the line. |
Wordsmith Extraordinaire Posts: 10318 Joined: 28 Nov 2007 | The latter, actually. Just because it wasn't important, doesn't mean it wasn't powerful. Just the opposite, because of how senseless it was. |
Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 683 Joined: 29 Apr 2008   | I enjoyed the movie and found your review to be accurate. You did miss a few thing like the length of the movie. It overstayed its welcome by one or two plot twists and made me long for the days of intermission where I could stretch and go pee. The plot twists were interesting but the movie could have been just as good by omitting one or two. What I really liked about the movie was the Batman/Bruce Wane dynamic. Most other Batman movies focus mostly on Batman. Bruce Wane is just another character that happens to never be around when Batman is. In this and the previous movie Bruce Wane is the central character. Batman is the supporting character, not talking much (and sounding funny when he does). The decisions that the character makes are Bruce Wane's decisions. [spoilers] The non-Christian Bale movies focused more on batman and weather he should jump off a building to save a girl or how to defuse the villain's dooms day device. These are important distinctions to me, but maybe I should make my own review. |
Infamous Scribbler  Posts: 591 Joined: 24 Jul 2008    | (MAYBE SPOILER)I heard a rumour that the swat team shoot the joker when he's hanging upside down, at the end of the credits. |
Press Junketeer Posts: 469 Joined: 15 Dec 2007    | i just want to say that they exagerated with the two-face scars a bit too much if you ask to me. |
Gone Gonzo  Posts: 1664 Joined: 9 Aug 2008   | I agree with you 100%. The whole time I watched the movie, I was completely drawed in. I loved it, and The Joker is probably the coolest bad guy ever. I believed the insanity, not to down play other actors in the film, but Joker stole the show. Regardless of Ledger dying, that does not factor into my opinion. I'm not gonna say he was awesome in The Patriot because I don't even remember him being in it (and I've seen this movie three times), but you'll never forget his name after seeing this movie. His willingness to die, complete and brutal insanity, and his unstable, conniving personality really just... mesmerized me. My favorite parts where in the hospital, the pencil thing, the "try-outs", and basically every time he was on screen. Just awesome. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1566 Joined: 5 Dec 2007 |
The relative quality of cinema this summer doesn't make it better, besides it is nowhere as good as Mamma Mia (serious face!) and upon reflection I don't think it is alot better then Iron Man. I might have been a bit on the grumpy side when I wrote that. The movie was still immensly enjoyable and I definately would see it again. |
Press Junketeer  Posts: 454 Joined: 4 Jul 2008    | I saw Mama Mia. It was a generic musical they oversaturated with music. The plot ended horribly and it seemed like any time the plot DID go anywhere, it seemed to move for roughly one fourth the length of the song they would sing next. If I wanted to see an overrated musical with catchy tunes but without the real substance to back it up, I would have hit it up on Broadway when I was there. |
Gone Gonzo Posts: 1566 Joined: 5 Dec 2007 |
But dude, that is exactly what Mamma Mia wanted to be. It wasen't supposed to be deep or inteligent, it was supposed to capture the spirit of ABBA, to make people in their 50ies to remember how awesome their childhood was and in that sense it is a raging succes. |
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In 2005, after the abysmal Batman&Robin, Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) worked with Warner Bros. (The Matrix trilogy) to reboot the franchise. Naturally, he started from the beginning. After that was a huge success, they made a sequel titled "The Dark Knight." It broke the record for midnight opening gross, making $18.5 million worldwide, broke the record for opening day and weekend grosses, making $67.2 million on the first day and $158.4 million over the first weekend. Thus far, it has made $454.7 million in domestic box offices, and adding in the foreign grosses, is second only to Titanic for all-time gross. But does it deserve all this popularity? Is it really just that good? Well...yes. Yes, it is that good.
The basic plot of the movie follows Batman (Christian Bale of American Psycho and Equilibrium) chasing after The Joker (Heath Ledger of Brokeback Mountain and The Patriot), assisted by Lt./Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman of Die Hard and Harry Potter) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckheart of Erin Brokovich and Paycheck). The plot is a lot more complicated than that, but that is the bare basics. The interesting thing in the plot development is that there is not really a good guy. Sure, you're rooting for Batman, but he is far from being morally righteous. As for the Joker...he's insane. That's all there is to it.
However, the plot would not work without strong actors. Luckily, we have them in spades. Christian Bale has played this role before, but now he can let loose with the character, refining it rather than developing it. He is the best Batman in film history, in my opinion, just because he is the closest to the comic book Batman as we have gotten yet. As for Heath Ledger...he is the Joker. He doesn't play the Joker, he is the Joker. He plays insanity very well, and manages to make the Joker terrifying, something that Jack Nicholson did not do. One is more entertaining, the other one is scary and badass. Whichever you prefer is purely personal, but they both do what they are trying to do very well. Me? I prefer the new Joker. Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent well, managing to be somewhat sympathetic even as he is extremely smug about his position. When his girlfriend dies in an incident identical to the one causing his face to be burned, though...he shows that very cold, calculated insanity is well within his acting range. There is not a single bad actor in the movie, in my opinion.
The script, also written by Chris Nolan, is top notch. The lines spouted by the Joker, while sounding insane, are also highly effective. Anyone who has seen the movie will understand this line: "I will make this pencil disappear." On paper, it sounds idiotic and insane. But in the movie, it is incredible and makes your mouth drop within seconds. That is the script: all right on paper, incredible on film. Not many movies can claim that, but this movie can.
The direction is incredible. Chris Nolan has done Batman films before, and he topped himself with how tight the direction is. No matter what is going on, he makes it feel intense and epic. Even just two people talking. You really cannot ask for more.
The effects are very well done. With the exception of the scene where Harvey Dent gets burned, if there was CGI, I couldn't tell. And even in that scene, the CGI is well done, and really, how else are you effectively going to show someone with half of his face completely burned? There are no bad effects in the movie. Not a single one.
IS it true to the comics? Not really. They change how the Joker got his face (scarred with makeup in the movie, chemicals in the comics), they change how Two Face got HIS face (acid in the comics, burned in the movie), they kill Rachel Dawes (who is not in the comics), they change what makes Two Face insane (grief in the movie, hatred of Batman in the comics)...and that is the bare basics. But it feels like a Batman film. Any Batman fan should see it. Just leave the kids at home. This is a very mean-spirited film, to say the least.