The Dark Knight

Non-Phish General
#61

i’m with GR. i need to see it again because i feel slightly ambivilant about it and i don’t want to. i want to love it as much as Begins.

ledger was awesome, hands down. a whole new (and IMO superior) take on the Joker. very “down to earth” as in, gritty and nasty and disturbing. which i love. but that seems to be all i really, REALLY liked about the movie. Batman himself was…kinda…the worst…character. ???

nerd gripes: Batman is supposed to be a frightening, mysterious ninja badass that slips from the shadows and incapacitates criminals using fear and brains and prowess and wicked fighting skillz. it really bothers me that they give him SO MUCH technology now. i understand you gotta have some if yer Batman, and that in real life you would need everything you could possibly get your hands on, but this is after all a movie. fantasy. i don’t want every little gadget explained to me; it takes the mystique out of it. Batman is almost robotic at this point. i say keep him as basic as possible. enough w/ the black rubber/armor suits. obviously you know he’s gonna have some tech shit, but keep him an organic character instead of a cyborg. and though i think the Batman voice is a good one, too much dialogue using it. Bruce can talk as much as he wants to, but the Batman voice i think should be used sparingly, otherwise it loses it’s intimidating effect.

Dent/Two Face was almost right on. just a little over the top w/ the CGI on his face, tooo much detail. again, nothing left to imagination. that’s just me though. he really did look sweet and it was very realistic…just a little too much.

so, i think Begins still stands as the best Batman film so far, but DK has the best Joker ever. i want to watch the Burton films again though.

#62

^Actually, its interesting you should mention Batman’s gadgets. I was watching a part of a show on the History channel last night that was basically testing or explaining the realism of Batman’s gadgets. It started back with the old gadgets in the comic books and ran through each movie up to the latest. Some of them are just exaggerations of stuff that really exists for military uses, and others are just down right real.

The conclusion of the show was that if someone had a never-ending supply of money that they could use for research and development (like Bruce), then all of Batman’s gadgets are at least plausible. Pretty interesting stuff, I’d like to get one of those capes he glides with.

#63

Saw Dark Knight for the second time yesterday. I highly recommend this. They throw so much at you that you miss some things. I gotta say I agree with some of your guys points. I actually like Christian Bale when he’s Bruce Wayne, but yeah not so much when he’s Batman. It is weird how he talks when he’s Batman.

Also gotta disagree with anyone that still defends Nicholson as the better Joker than Ledger. I honestly think that anyone that believes this, thought this before they went into the movie and are sticking to their guns. Ledger far and away owns the role. Yeah and I for sure laughed at him multiple times. It’s a demented type of deal, but he has humor in there. What about when he crashes the party. Funny scenes there. Funny scenes dealing with the mob. Hilarious when he uses the alcohol wipes exiting Dent’s hospital room.

I’m sold on this being the best move of the entire Batman series. I even watched Batman Begins again last night and Dark Knight is better. Begins probably has a cooler story, but it is a slower pace as it has to explain the whole story. Dark Knight is just nonstop action from beginning to end.

#64

i may go see it again today. or i may go see Hellboy. or i may not.

#65

go see hellboy

#66

^I’m looking forward to seeing Hellboy. I thought the first was excellent. Same with Begins, thought it was excellent. I enjoyed the very first Batman but its been so long I barely remember the films. The ones that followed were altogether forgettable… I know I didn’t even see some of them.

The first Keaton film was much less… what realistic? then these present incarnations… much more comic book. Plays into Burton’s whimsy. I really like that first Batman but I like the realism of the city scape and surroundings in these present films along with, what I consider, a better Batman in Bale even more. I like Bale’s gritty performance. I can see where yall criticize his Batman voice but I feel it adds to the mystique of the character. The strain of being “The Dark Knight”. He is otherworldly and played with such conviction that it makes him utterly believable. I think to criticize his voice is to miss the point. Batman is a channel for Wayne’s anger… no, wrath… and his wrath is so great, his commitment to put down evil so strong, that it weighs on him and changes his fundamental character which only has a chance to express itself when he puts on the suit. It he played Batman as Bruce Wayne in a suit he wouldn’t be doing the character justice. But if yall want to see it as a flaw thats your choice.

Ledger’s performance, whether he was dead or alive, trumps the Jack. He takes the role to another level entirely and makes it his own. Really sinks his teeth into the psychopathic mind of such an evil villain. His laugh was eerie and spot on, gave me a thrill up my leg. Not only that but the placement of those laughs were precise… some at moments when “normal” people would be crying in agony or when his evil workings were bearing fruit… I think it added perfectly to the disturbed nature of the character. His rambling speech with psychotic ticks and the tongue lashing and lip smacking was flawless. His “jokes” downright disturbing. Every scene he was in was riveting. Thats what wins oscars, not whether you’re dead or alive. Some of yall are skeptic to the bone.

The one set back was not bringing Holmes back as Rachel. As guess shes busy enough with Tom and the kids. The actress she had in her place was… much less desirable. I would have rather seen a Jessica Biel or Jessica Alba or some other sexy Jessica playing that role.

The story was relentless and fast paced. I found myself on the edge of my seat wishing it would keep going. Afraid they would abruptly end the story before it found its resolution. That didn’t happen. It ended with just the right mix of resolution and anticipation. I felt it was an excellent film deserving of whatever praise and $$ it receives.

I also enjoyed the editing when one of the joker’s “jokes” were taking shape. The fast-paced story telling and musical score added to the suspense. In short it was excellently done.

btw too bad this country is in such a devastating “recession” that people just don’t have the money to do anything anymore… maybe Batman would have made $200 mill that weekend.
/teh sarcasm.

#67

Maybe it’s me but the first Hellboy was like an episode of Hercules or Xena or maybe the Power Rangers. Musclebound folks in goofy costumes jumping around and fight. Didn’t do it for me but, oh well…

Maybe it’s me but what’s so unrealistic about the first Batman? I’ll agree the ones after that started to get more cartoony but I thought the first Batman was certainly realistic and almost all of that stuff could have happened. Having the whole city go nuts from some gas having a train fly off the rails like in Batman Begins seemed a lot less realistic to me.

On the Batman-voice thing, I always figured that he just changes his voice so he doesn’t sound like his normal self. Being a fairly famous businessman, it’s not a stretch to think that he may run into the same people as Batman that he does as Bruce…I always thought he purposely talked in the gruff voice to sound different.

I think it may be hard to compare Ledger since he does a DIFFERENT Joker. Just like how different comic book writers will draw a story with a darker or goofier Joker, so do these two movies. Jack’s character is more of a goofier, slightly-more-sane Joker while Ledger’s is a more sick and twisted one. I haven’t seen Ledger yet but that’s how I see it.

Ug…no way. Watching Katie Holmes is like watching a piece of cardboard try to act. I don’t think I’ve liked her in any movie and I think it’s showing since she hasn’t been working much. Maggie Gyllenhall has always been solid in the movies she’s in…and how is she not hot? What the heck? Of course, maybe they uglied her up for this movie…I don’t know.

Stevo

#68

i like the bat-voice. i just think he had too much dialogue using it and it takes away the menacing affect. but whaddaya gonna do ya know?

#69

Just saw it.

Greatness.

#70

glad there is yet one more to enjoy the awesomeness of this movie.

going to see again soon :slight_smile:

#71

saw it again on friday. still awesome.

#72

i love seeing different interpretations of things.

this guy does a really great Ledger-style Joker impersonation and goes a little further with it. very frightening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIaLXE06Mp0&feature=related

and here’s a fan made short film/trailer based on the graphic novel Arkham Asylum. really surreal and dark. i would LOVE to see something like this turned into a feature length film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-7W3be8XtQ

interrogation room scene spoof. you will lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8aT0UFc

#73

Well I borrowed the Batman Begins on Friday and watched it and it kind of

#74

This is the first movie I want to see again the theaters… so good.

And did anybody notice Dent breathing after he fell?

May have been poor acting/didn’t notice in editing… but I swear he was breathing. Maybe he will come back after-all.

#75

I didn’t really notice the breathing. Plus they showed a clip of Gordon talking at what appears to be a memorial service. I’d doubt they buried him while he was still alive.

I read somewhere that they had originally planned to have him become Two-Face at the start of the third movie where Joker would throw the acid on his face during his trial but it was changed. Obviously we have the story of Batman being hunted down but I wonder what villain they could do.

Stevo

#76

I wouldn’t be surprised to see The Riddler.

Mr. Reese = Mysteries???

Chew on that one a while…

#77

^ i think they ARE going to bring him back. i dont see how you can have villain like two face live for only a few hours as 2 face without ever anyone even knowing he has become a major villain. some way or another, i think hes coming back.

#78

the next movie is gonna have some crazy flashback to some insane scenario where Dent was never buried… it was just some cadaver… and BOOM next (awesome?) movie

#79

I think they were planning on bringing the Joker back. I mean, how could you not?

But I didn’t notice that Dent was breathing, maybe I should look harder. Apparently there is a bad spot in editing where Joker is hanging upside down and they cut back to Batman right-side up and then back to Joker upside down. Or something like that.

#80

there will always be continuity and spoofs… but most of them are harmless and unnoticeable unless you’re looking for them or really focused and in touch with how EVERYTHING should be