The Dark Knight

[PitaPockets]

Batman, Lt. Gordon and DA Harvey Dent wage a war on organized crime but soon find Gotham City threatened by a chaotic terrorist called the Joker.

Dark Knight
152 min
Rated PG-13
Stars: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart

Obviously like most people, I was very excited for this movie, so when my cousin asked if I wanted to see it last night, I said hell yes.
But I was kinda dissapointed with it, and I ultimately blame the media for the over-hype and leading me on.

The Joker is by far the best character of the movie, and the quirks that Ledger gave to him made him both disturbing and in an odd way, likable.
Even though every review told me not to expect the Jack Nicholson-esque cornyness, I still felt there were some overdone moments.
Thankfully, there was some dill-weed behind me that made sure i didn't miss them by guffawing and clapping at each one.

Two-Face, well, he was an inportant part of the story but his part started out strong and ended flat.
Most, not all of the mob stuff interwoven into it was necessary, but lost my attention and really was there for other storyline set ups.

Overall there were good parts, great parts and ok parts. Some people did great acting, some people did mediocre acfing. As always, Bale's grizzly Batman voice made me giggle.

Like I said, this movie was alot of media and unfortunately, posthumous hype. There's no reason for an Oscar nod or anything IMO.
I liked it but I don't think I would go to see it again, but thats just me.

[edkedkedk]

Did Harvey Dent/Two-Face get his face burned or something? I'll like to see that handsome dude get disfigured, mwahaha!

[newt007]

I thought the movie was amazing. The only problem I have with it is that it went on way too long.

[tarzapam]

i saw it last night,i definitely thought it was a notch(or several) above batman begins

I'll just start by saying i've always been a fan of heath ledger but in reviewing this movie i'm trying to not be bias.

He is easily the best thing in this movie,his version of the joker is really quite enjoyable and when i first heard he was being cast as the joker,i thought he'd be suitable.Something about his mouth(to me anyway) was a little jokerish.He pulls it off quite well and like morgs said,he is equally creepy yet likeable.

I too felt the movie went a little long and was surprised to see harvey dent become two face(figured that would of been kept for the next movie)
They obviously had plans to have the joker return...i don't really want them to recast this role though and just leave the character be.

And finally...all this oscar talk,already.I just don't think because he died that he should recieve the nom.When has a comic book movie gotten a nom for anything other then effects???
I think a possible golden globe nom will happen and i think that is worthy,because it is a great performance.

[NemesisDesign]

I may see this soon, because I've let the hype get to me and all the shitty summer movies have kept me out of the theaters longer than I'd like. I've heard Bale is corny as batman like he was in the last one (this is my deep gritty voice grrrr) and that Ledger blows him away. I'll go in with low expectations, and who knows, I may be surprised

[edkedkedk]

All things considered, The Dark Knight could be one of the best comic book movies ever. Heath Ledger was superb as The Joker, the maniacal and evil version, not Jack Nicolson's clowny version. Though Christian Bale's voice is really corny (suddenly he changes his voice to a deep gruff voice, what a surprise), his synergy with Heath is amazing.

On the Oscar talk though, they might give him a special award or something. Or it might be a first, for a comic book movie to win a 'Best Actor' Oscar, eh?

[tarzapam]

also,i thought heath changed his voice really well for this role,it didn't sound anything like him at all

[edkedkedk]

Heck, compare this with Brokeback Mountain and you won't even believe how much he changed himself for this role.

[edkedkedk]

I finally caught the movie today, and I must say Heath did a far more amazing job than I heard. At some moments during the film I found myself thinking, 'This was the dude that was in Brokeback Mountain?' RIP, Heath.

On another note, the script doesn't stay that close to the book. Harvey Dent's face was destroyed by acid, not fire, people! I know it's minor, but I'm a comic fanboy so...

DAMN IT!

[Dartanian]

Seeing it on Saturday, CANNOT WAIT. Batman is my superhero man-crush.

[Scorpiogrrl4405]

I had an opportunity to see this today, but 1) I've never liked the Batman movies and 2) I'm not going to let the "Heath Ledger" hype influence me into seeing this, so I didn't go see it.

[NemesisDesign]

I went out and saw The Dark Knight today. Here's how I break down the film:

The Good
Heath's character honestly was not overhyped. He was quite phenomenal at just being a creepy, sickening villain. That also caused a bit of a problem with the movie. When I look at his part in the movie, I'm almost inclined to think that a completely separate team of writers/director developed the Joker character, or perhaps Heath Ledger did it all on his own. I refuse to believe that the Joker and the deliberately-deep-voiced Batman came from the same group of people.

The Bad
It's WAY too long. There were several points in the movie where I thought it was over but then was disappointed to find out that there was even more left.

Bale really sucked. I'm pained to say that because I like Christian Bale. I absolutely couldn't help but laugh every time I heard his SRS BUSINESS voice, which got progressively cheesier as the movie went on (and on and on and on).

Morgan Freeman played the same character he's played in every movie he's been in in the last 15 years, I estimate.

I think you've got a real problem that the villain in a movie is so well done and the rest of it is mediocre at best, annoying at worst, that you actually become angry when an evil plot gets thwarted. Nothing else in this movie was compelling to me other than Ledger. I would have left the theater a happy camper if they just trimmed it down to about 30-45 minutes of the Joker doing his thing.

The Ugly
Maggie Gyllenhaal. They replaced Katie Homles with her? Bad move. The poor girl looks like she's about 60. She's the oldest young woman I've ever seen. Also contributed nothing, so I really don't feel bad picking her apart like this. I can't figure out what was supposed to be so compelling about her that she was so important to Batman as well as the DA. Sometimes I think filmmakers just grab the most famous woman available for the leading role and then figure that her notoriety implies that she would be sought after, so there's no need to develop an interesting character.

Also the character that gets introduced (I will not spoil it) is a consequence of a really really feeble transformation that I could not find believable, given the circumstances, no matter how hard I tried.

[princesspeach]

I just got back from seeing it, and I actually thought it was pretty great! It played in 4 theatres tonight and every night since it started and has been completely sold out each time! Now maybe that's just a lot of people who want to go see Heath Ledger's last film, I don't know.

Ledger of course did a fantastic job, but although cheezy at times, I'd give Chrisitian Bale more credit then he's getting! I've always liked him (plus he's ripped haha) I don't know, overall it definitely kept me entertained and wondering what was going to happen next. And sure, it was a bit long, but that doesn't really matter to me in terms of how good the story was and such..

And I know this will likely change soon when more people start voting, but it's currently #1 on IMDb's top 250!

[NemesisDesign]

Top 250 huh? Sure, who needs The Godfather or Citizen Kane, we've got Batman now

[edkedkedk]

They screwed up *wink wink*'s origin! It was so blah, and as a important villain he failed miserably. It's not the actor's fault; it was more of the scripting I think.

[princesspeach]

Top 250 huh? Sure, who needs The Godfather or Citizen Kane, we've got Batman now

Now, now, nobody likes a smartass! I wasn't saying it's better then the classics, I was just saying overall it seems to be getting pretty good reviews!

[Dartanian]

lmao... you go PrincessPeach!

[edkedkedk]

Woah! PrincessPeach totally owned. Heh.

[Dartanian]

Fucking incredible is all I have to say. Never been a fan of Heath Ledger, hated him in Brokeback Mountain, 10 Things I Hate About You, and never really bothered to watch anything else he has starred in, but he was amazing here. Truly, an epic portrayal. Gotta agree with Nemesis on the Batman voice though - pure corny and made the Batman scenes alot less enjoyable. However, this?

Maggie Gyllenhaal. They replaced Katie Homles with her? Bad move.

How so? With or without Katie Holmes, this is still one of the greatest box office successes of all time, so I'd hardly call it a bad move. The didn't need that hack in the first movie, and the second was infinitely better without her presence. Hard to believe I'm saying this considering the major fanboy crush I had on her back in the late 90's/early 00's. Maggie Gyllenhaal was actually believeable as a WOMAN, whereas Katie Holmes seemed like nothing more than a child trying desperately to fit in with the adults in Batman Begins. Maggie may not be as beautiful as Katie - but so fucking what? Her acting skills are far superior, she actually fit the role she was playing, and she did a great job. They didn't explain the connection between Dent and Dawes, but I believed it anyway because of the abilities of both actors involved. I believed Harvey's rage after he lost Rachel, I was shocked by her death and I was disappointed we won't get to see her in the next installment, if there is one.

[NemesisDesign]

Originally Posted by Dartanian

How so? With or without Katie Holmes, this is still one of the greatest box office successes of all time, so I'd hardly call it a bad move. The didn't need that hack in the first movie, and the second was infinitely better without her presence. Hard to believe I'm saying this considering the major fanboy crush I had on her back in the late 90's/early 00's. Maggie Gyllenhaal was actually believeable as a WOMAN, whereas Katie Holmes seemed like nothing more than a child trying desperately to fit in with the adults in Batman Begins. Maggie may not be as beautiful as Katie - but so fucking what? Her acting skills are far superior, she actually fit the role she was playing, and she did a great job. They didn't explain the connection between Dent and Dawes, but I believed it anyway because of the abilities of both actors involved. I believed Harvey's rage after he lost Rachel, I was shocked by her death and I was disappointed we won't get to see her in the next installment, if there is one.

I can never understand how some people use the box office sales of a movie as if its analogous to quality. Hell, all the Shrek movies are way up there on the list of highest-grossing films, but that doesn't make them good.

I was not saying that Katie Holmes can act better than Maggie Gyllenhaal, she can't. I'm saying that either lack of attention to the character on the screenwriters' parts or a simple lack of effort on Gyllenhaal's part created an extremely wooden and unmemorable character that also happened to be central to the plot.

My point was that if you aren't going to make acting skills necessary in the character you create, you may as well go completely off in the shallow direction and pick the better looking actress.

I just thought Harvey's transformation was a huge stretch and I didn't quite go for it. Maybe it was because they put him on such a pedestal earlier on in the movie (darkest before the dawn, yadda yadda yadda) that the transformation just didn't make sense, to me anyways.