I watched it a second time. They did a great job making it as it is in the comic book. The Joker's and Dent's characters were great. And batman's conflict with his mistakes was a nice touch also added from the comics. But I can't say this movie was overall great or horrible. It seemed like a mix of great parts and simply disappointing moments.
This movie was brilliant. The Joker was perfect and Harvey Two Face looked better than ever.
Every scene with the joker in it was great. This felt a bit slow at times commpared to batman begins though but maybe I am imagining things. Overall a very watchable movie. The only one bad part of this movie for me was how stupid the cops were about the fat guy and the bomb, I thought it was pretty obvious once they lifted up his shirt.
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I'm seeing it tonight!
I didn't even like the first movie, but apparently this one is the best movie of all time so I will rewatch the first movie and hope I like it before I go.
"Leaving hell is not the same as entering it." - Tierce Japhrimel
I wouldn't say it's the best movie of all time, because it isn't.
However, you can probably argue that it's the best superhero movie of all time.
I saw the movie yesterday as part of a double feature with friends of mine (Dark Knight followed by Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D). I've got to say that while I thought it was good, I did not think that it lived up to the hype.
Now before you go tearing my head off, hear me out. I'm not saying that the movie was bad, it was in fact good, it just didn't fully deliver. I tend to visit a bunch of gaming sites, web comic sites, and fansub sites, and all I keep seeing is "Go see The Dark Knight, it's the greatest super hero movie, EVER." That'd be all well and good, except for the fact that it really didn't feel like a super hero movie to me. It seemed more like a crime drama/action movie to me, that just happened to include Batman. Yes, I know that Batman doesn't have super powers, but that doesn't mean he can't be portrayed as a super hero, rather than just a martial artist fighting crime. To me, a super hero movie is something like the first Superman, where you actually see someone being heroic, and taking action, rather than just being reactionary.
The other reason that I didn't think the movie lived up to all the hype was the fact that focused too much on the surrounding cast, and not enough on Batman. Yes, Heath Ledger was a very dark and sinister Joker (leaving aside the fact that I preferred Jack's version, it just wouldn't fit in this reimaging of Batman), and wonderful performances were delivered by Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, and Maggie Gyllenhaal (aside from the fact that Gyllenhaal is not attractive enough to play Batman's love interest), but this movie wasn't called "Joker, Two-Face, and the Surrounding Cast (Oh, and The Dark Knight)." I went into the movie expecting to see a lot more Batman, a lot more Bruce Wayne, and actually seeing the Bat Cave (after that scene at the end of Batman Begins). Instead, Bruce is set up in a penthouse as the Manor is still being rebuilt, everything he does is a reaction to the plans of other people, and the Bat Cave is reimaged into a temporary hideout beneath a shipping yard.
In conclusion, if you want to see a good performance by Heath Ledger, or are looking for an crime movie, go see The Dark Knight. If you want to see Batman kick a lot of ass, go watch Batman Begins again.
This is the difference between this new series and all the previous Batman movies. This new series focuses on Batman's early years and portrays him as a very realistic character. It emphasizes the fact that Batman is indeed just another human like the rest of us, and that he has no superpowers to pwn bad guys with. The Joker was merely a tool to show just how human Batman is.
Another major difference is how real Gotham City is. All of the old movies portrayed Gotham City as almost a fairy tale place. You got the Bat Cave. You got the Riddler's tower. You got Penguin's amusement park. In this new series though, it's just a regular city.
I like the new series much more because it's realistic. It doesn't have as many "superhero" elements as all the old ones, but that's also the appeal for many people. It feels like a much more mature movie with actual themes and good acting. In the old ones, Batman was just a guy who goes out at night and kicks ass.
PS. I like Maggie Gyllenhaal. A lot of people say she's unattractive, but I just think there's something about her that I like. She's not a total babe; she's more like that decent looking woman down the street that you see every once in a while.
BoC definitely hit the point. This film, even more so than the last one, attempts to strike at the realistic approach to Batman. Batman is a normal guy among superheroes, just like most of his nemeses.
The Joker was a far more human character as well, despite how incredibly inhuman he was written here and the way Ledger plays him. I loved the line about how guns, knives, and gasoline were his weapons of choice because they were cheap. You don't need some ridiculous high-tech water vaporizer to bring Gotham to its knees. You can just use the city against itself. He's not going to kill everyone, he might kill just your wife, just your children, just your parents. No need for elaborate plans and gadgets, just terrorize.
But definitely spot on again about the city. I saw it in IMAX today, and Gotham and Hong Kong felt so damn real. Through the Joker's actions, you got to feel the pulse of the city, the lives of the people that live there, their fears, their happiness, the bright side, the dark side, and everything in between.
The first four Batman movies were pure camp. The ones Tim Burton didn't do are even more exaggerated, like watching the 60s TV show.
I like Maggie Gyllenhaal too. It's not that she's unattractive, I think it's because people are too used to the model-like actresses. Maggie Gyllenhaal is more normal, but I will say she's definitely more of a retro look, just like all the characters in Mad Men.
Maybe most of the theatrical elements were too deep for you.Originally Posted by Carnage
The Joker was the only part of this movie that I liked.
I was quite disappointed.
And jesus they really went out of their way for propaganda.
At least the professional critics caught on.
There are so many intricacies....foreshadowing, symbolism....I loved, for example, how Harvey's luck came from a two-headed coin, showing that he controlled his own luck. Then, after the explosion, half the coin blackened, and, likewise, he became a man of chaos.
The Joker, despite being a crazed lunatic, actually had a method to his madness, and saw beauty in peoples' true colors. This made for an even nicer twist when his expectations weren't met with the ferries he set up.
The movie really felt that the tighter the good guys tried to grip gotham, the more out-of-control things became, which added an overwhelming sense of helplessness and panic. And here I didn't expect the Joker to be anyone special...
Last edited by Assertn; Wed, 07-23-2008 at 01:29 PM.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07
Maybe most of the theatrical elements were too deep for you.
At least the professional critics caught on.
There are so many intricacies....foreshadowing, symbolism....I loved, for example, how Harvey's luck came from a two-headed coin, showing that he controlled his own luck. Then, after the explosion, half the coin blackened, and, likewise, he became a man of chaos.
The Joker, despite being a crazed lunatic, actually had a method to his madness, and saw beauty in peoples' true colors. This made for an even nicer twist when his expectations weren't met with the ferries he set up.
The movie really felt that the tighter the good guys tried to grip gotham, the more out-of-control things became, which added an overwhelming sense of helplessness and panic. And here I didn't expect the Joker to be anyone special...
The symbolism wasn't anything complicated. At all. I did admit they did a good job in several areas. They captured the internal conflict that Batman had to be perfect justice but human at the same time, just as it was in the Long Halloween. And I said that they did a great job with the Joker's and Dent's characters. Especially with the Joker seeing himself as the only "sane" one.
But there were several scenes that were just fucking stupid. The first court case, the infiltration in china, the conflict with the spying on people through cell-phones (a parallel to the war), and the ferry scene was just ridiculous.
Like I said before, this movie was more a mix of great parts and simply disappointing moments.
If critics weren't so full of shit maybe I'd care.
Edit: I have to admit though, what they did with the whole mad dog theme in the movie was pretty good. Having the Joker act on whim the entire time, hang his head outside the cop car, use the dogs on batman, etc, the writers did a good job on the villains.
Last edited by Carnage; Wed, 07-23-2008 at 07:35 PM.
I really think that the Joker is the star of this movie. They should've called it The Joker instead of The Dark Knight.
If Heath Ledger wins the Best Supporting Actor, it'll be a joke. That award should go to Aaron Eckhart.
Ledger gets my vote for Best Actor.
Perhaps you would like to expand here? Maybe in fact you are missing the symbolism. That or you have some bias for something that happened (it seems anything that might be perceived to be about the war is a nerve for you?)
A fair number of people seem to hate this movie because everyone else liked it. That is my guess at their reasoning anyways.
Why hasn't Sam Raimi thrown himself on a sword yet?
Christopher Nolan just made every director in Hollywood his bitch.
With the sole exception of Paul Thomas Anderson, of course.
I don't like how they incorporated the war somehow ever 20 minutes. It was annoying as fuck.
But you're probably right about everyone else who hated it. Although I don't hate it, I just am dissatisfied that it could have been perfect, but wasn't.
The ferry scene wasn't ridiculous at all.
It was a turning point in the series.
10/4/04 - 8/20/07
It was clearly a metaphor for the cold war which is indicative of how the war with terror is going to end up, damn political overtones.
Edit: Sorry, that just came out.
Not really, since the Joker ended up defeating Batman and Gordon by corrupting Harvey Dent. And yes it was ridiculous, the writer's could have done better than having a stereotypical convict show an actual "heart" and a bunch of rowdy citizens on the other ferry freak out. It should have been more grand.
I liked it. It made me question what I would have done.
"Leaving hell is not the same as entering it." - Tierce Japhrimel
Joker's best line was, "this city deserves a better class of criminal. I'm gonna give it to them."
I don't know how they're ever going to top Heath Ledger's Joker.
Jack Nicholson got owned.
I liked:
Batman: "Let her go." (near windows)
Joker: "Wrong choice of words!"
"Our hearts are full of memories but not all of them reflect the truth. The heart isn't a recording device. Even important memories change with time. They warp or fade, leaving us with but a shadow of what we hoped to remember." 天の道を行き、全てを司る。これは僕の世界。
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