The Dark Knight (2008)

[Mike Sullivan]

The Dark Knight (2008)
Dir. Christopher Nolan
Rating: * * * * *

I'm speachless. This is popular art at it's best; the mature, intelligent, masterfully made blockbuster that reminds us all that big budget films don't have to be lost in explosions and special effects. What they need to do is attract us into a story with rich characters and ideals that are not always simpleminded.

Script, acting, direction, editing, etc; top notch. Don't believe me? Go fucking watch it. I'm going for the imax showing sometime this week.

[Jenson71]

I saw it last night and very much enjoyed it. Although it doesn't entirely rely on the flashy special effects as Mike points out above, I don't think I've ever been so impressed before by explosions, collisions, chases, etc. The scenes where the hospital blows up and when the Joker's semi is "tripped" were great. People even clapped in the theater after those.

I loved the way it ended (and started, especially - that opening scene was really fun to watch). Without giving any spoilers, the message cemented at the end was The Dark Knight is the guardian of all. He's not going to sacrifice doing the right or responsible thing for popularity or the easy way out. Put it on his shoulders. "He can handle it."

And part of this angle comes a lot from the character of Harvey Dent. Dent is like the White Knight of Gotham City. "A hero with a face." This contrast was so interesting to see play out! All the talk about Joker and Heath Ledger's performance is well deserved, but I loved the Dent story. Two-Face wasn't that interesting though, and though his story seemed somewhat rushed, I'm glad he was only in there for the last bit of the movie.

It would have been nice to see the Joker's past, like in Batman Begins with Wayne, although maybe that would have ruined part of the mystery. We're given two stories about the Joker by himself. Roger Ebert makes it clear that what he does is because of what happened to him as a child by his father. But he didn't tell this to Rachel Dawes; to her, it was a different reason, or at least, the reasons for his scars. Was he making that one up? Why not the first one? We're not given any answers about that. But maybe that would spoil something for us. After all, not even Wayne could figure out his past.

[DA]

Saw it last night, will go back to see it tonight.

I simply can't but into words how sublime and satisfying those two and a half hours were. I've loved Batman all my life, and I used to worship Jack's Joker and watch the Burton films non-stop...The Dark Knight obliterated any nostalgia I had towards the earlier films because it's EASILY the best Batman film ever, and it's not even close. Begins was definitely a stepping stone towards greatness but this film executed on every level imaginable. Not once while Heath Ledger was becoming immortal on that screen did I even remember that he was dead or that it was even him on the screen...he BECAME this role and any dream or expectation I had of my favorite character perhaps ever being brought to life again was surpassed and electrified. Ledger gave one of the greatest performances I've ever seen, period.

[ronnierocketago]

Wow, the hype from you all (and Pizzaboy's 4 star review at BB.Net) is pissing me off, cause I cant see TDK till Monday.

[pizzaboy]

[Review deleted due to plagiarism.]

[DA]

---------------------------SPOILER-------------------------------------

Harvey Two-Face - alive? I'm not sure. I mean, with Gordon and Batman (I think) being the only ones that know that he didn't die in the explosion at Gotham General and that (what appeared to be) body-less memorial service... Not to mention preserving the Harvey that the public knew as a "white knight" and placing the blame on Batman, is it possible Gordon might have Two Face stashed away somewhere like Arkham in a fake-death type of thing, since "Harvey" is dead, but Two-Face is alive (possibly)? Also, if Two-Face was alive, I don't know where else they could go with his character either.

Also, on Joker...he'll always be at least a minor player in some happenings in Gotham City, but I almost don't want a third to happen cause I don't know how they could top this or even hope to replicate Ledger's Joker (Depp could be servicable), but I do think Joker would have to have some kind of role in the possible third.

Anyone know how many films Eckhart signed on for?

[Mike Sullivan]

Seen it twice. It's as close to perfection as it can get. I am stunned.

[DA]

Also....

--------------------------SPOILER----------------------------------

Plus: thinking about it more...that fall was really ambiguous, we never see any impact (only on Batman's part) and it doesn't seem to be definitive ala Jack's fall in Bats '89. In fact, Maroni's fall does not look that much worse than Harvey's fall.


Mike, I'm seeing it again tonight. I seriously CANNOT wait, I am incredibly excited. I'm not sure a film has ever done this to me.

[Mike Sullivan]

I did the midnight showing. The audience was so focused, so invested; it's something you can't imagine.

It's what going to the movies is about. Are you still in Miami?

[DA]

Yeah. I went and saw it last night. Pretty good crowd, Heath pretty much stole the show -- it was a spectacle essentially from the Joker's "pencil trick."

[Mike Sullivan]

What theater did you see it at? I was down in Miami Lakes with the Cuban crowd.

These loud, obnoxious motherfuckers were silent. It was so impressive. You'd never believe it.

[DA]

Jul 19, 2008 21:00:01 GMT Mike Sullivan said:

What theater did you see it at? I was down in Miami Lakes with the Cuban crowd.

These loud, obnoxious motherfuckers were silent. It was so impressive. You'd never believe it.

Holy shit...now that would be a site to behold. I caught it yesterday at Lincoln Road and today at Sunset Place. Lots of energy at both places I gotta say.

[Mike Sullivan]

I love Sunset. Goddamn it, I wish the IMAX theater was still there!!

I'll need to drive to Ft. Lauderdale for the IMAX theater.

Want to carpool?

[RNL]

I'm seeing this at a preview on Wednesday.

According to IMDb, it's the best film ever made.

Excuse me if I'm slightly skeptical.

[Mike Sullivan]

You don't have to worry. I'm skeptical about it being the best film ever made. But goddamn it, it is fucking brilliant and the fact that the audience has reacted so well to it makes me smile just a little bit.

[seyfried]

(I'm trying to get a Nolan retrospective for Film-Philosophy's next issue, but that's more of flipping against a double-sided coin)

This wasn't flawless, yet it was, indeed, the best superhero film I've seen. With Iron Man, this film has set the genre in an entirely fresh direction, towards a form of appreciable performativism and on sail towards cultural, business commentary that only Michael Mann seemed to be dreaming of. But more importantly, the film's redefined the spectrum of the comic universe. With Nolan's Batman it's the continual friction between text, villain, heroes, nihilism, and altruism. It's a film that's inherently better than the first one because of its lack of origins; already propelled into a palpable space Nolan feels comfortable with fully engaging in his assault against comic campiness. I wrote this on IMDB:

"What's incredible about the Joker - and especially Nolan and his writers construction of the film's narrative - is that he's a void or a ghost, and this is a perfect contrast to the epic, benevolent origins of Dent and Bruce Wayne. While we're left with much to rationalize his wreckage, there's always the prevailing thought that he's simply trying to stir up the pot even more - that he's simply evoking the only thing left for a person without any sense of a history (past or future): nihilism. In this way he's the perfect villain to perforate the fabric of Nolan's comic book universe; devoid of any of the real-world hinges (the one invoked by Nolan in transferring something "cartoon" to something "realistic") he's simply propelled residue of a dangerous universe which knows little of morality, laws, and, especially, altruism. He's a painful antithesis to Gotham's apparent stride towards globalist superiority because he's unfettered and un-tempted by capital. There's a deliberate sense that his role in this film is only to disrupt its very fabric: in other words, he's simply a textual terrorist only looking to liberate."

[svsg]

I haven't watched any of the earlier batman movies, I have not read the comics and in general didn't know anything about batman, other than just having seen his image. I was also physically tired going in to the theater*. With disclaimers in place, I can safely say that I was quite underwhelmed by this movie. Good acting from Ledger. I also liked his character.

It was fully packed and had to stand in line to get in.

[Mike Sullivan]

I wish you'd try to see it again, preferably after watching "Batman Begins". Without Wayne's character being defined, you'll find him underwhelming in the film. This is a film that needs the prior film to set up many character's and their nature.

Batman Begins is a great film itself, mind you. It's truly a saga though where one film really can't, IMHO, stand alone. But, this is truly a greater film. Wayne's origin and conflict was set up in the last film along with all of the cast that was in the prior film. without it, I'm afraid you'll be lost on this film.

People call it Ledger's film, yet it's Wayne's saga. It's HIS trip into a darker night and the challenges that befall him, that makes this film work. Not to badmouth Ledger. He was amazing. But this is the second chapter of what I imagine to be a trilogy.

So watch the first installment before you go in a second time.

[svsg]

I went to blockbuster yesterday with the intention of seeing that movie first. But, as I expected, all the copies were checked out. With all the spoiler threads here, I couldn't wait

[svsg]

Jul 20, 2008 3:44:43 GMT RNL said:

According to IMDb, it's the best film ever made.

IMDB rating system is completely broken. All the new movies routinely creep up their way into top-250. Most new movies have tens of thousands of votes, whatever the ranking be. I guess that has got something to do with the demographics. Teenagers (which includes most of the board members here ) run IMDB.