Official "The Dark Knight" Thread

[M Skjellyfetti]

It was a good movie.

 

It was not the amazing achievement in film some would have you believe.

 

Heath Ledger was good as the Joker. But the "Oscar buzz" is based mostly on his untimely death.

 

Harvey Dent was great for the first half of the movie. The second half was forced and a pretty ridiculous.

 

I think I agree almost completely with the above comments. I do think Heath Ledger's role was hyped partially because of his death, but I also think he did a fantastic job of acting. We'll never know if his acting would have stood alone without his death or not.

 

I couldn't stand Harvey Dent for a lot of the movie either. He didn't seem like a very good actor, particularly when we got to the 2nd half. "Forced" is the perfect word to describe it.

 

Other than that, though....I thought the movie was pretty solid. I was thoroughly entertained.

[zzzmanwitz]

First off let me say I enjoyed the film quite a bit, but their were plenty of errors that bothered me. The editing was suprisingly poor, not only in the obvious fight sequences but with oddly cut dialogue sequences, chase sequences, and a ton of continuity errors. If the editing wasn't so horrible I would have enjoyed the film quite a bit more. I also didn't like the 4 Act structure of the film, as the first act was almost totally worthless and the 4th is badly rushed. I admire Nolan for attempting such an experiment, but it simply doesn't work.

 

That being said the acting from the entire cast is excellent and the film looks great and I liked the story, but the film really needed to be edited better. It is a very good movie, but far too flawed to be a great movie.

Why so serious? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[valpocrewsader]

...their were plenty of errors that bothered me. The editing was suprisingly poor, not only in the obvious fight sequences but with oddly cut dialogue sequences, chase sequences, and a ton of continuity errors. If the editing wasn't so horrible I would have enjoyed the film quite a bit more. I also didn't like the 4 Act structure of the film, as the first act was almost totally worthless and the 4th is badly rushed. I admire Nolan for attempting such an experiment, but it simply doesn't work.

I'm pretty sure this will be almost my exact review when/if I finally see this movie 3 or 4 years from now. (I'll probably harp a little more on the sure-to-be cheesey dialogue.) I was starting to get a little worried that a Hollywood action/superhero movie could really be some kind of amazing masterwork .... thanks to twobrewers and Katuluu for restoring my faith in my own intuition.

[igor67]

I could care less about Heath Ledger, but his Joker was at least an order of magnitude better than Nicholson's. The phrase pyshcopathic clown has often been used but other performances have often suffered from too much clown and not enough pyschopath. I can finally believe in the Joker being Batman's archenemy now.

[Oldcity]

Heath Ledger was good as the Joker. But the "Oscar buzz" is based mostly on his untimely death.

I disagree. I thought he was totally outstanding and the hype was totally warranted.

Christian Bale was better in Newsies. His over the top gruffness while playing Batman gets annoying. I was really sick of listening to him talk.

I was saying this after the first one too. My friends and I regularly bust out the "Someone like you! Someone who rattled the cages!" thing.

Tiny, minute, itty bitty spoiler to follow:

















Two words: Pencil Scene. Outstanding!

[molitor fan]

I saw it as a matinee today and am firmly on the the Health Ledger Oscar bandwagon - it was a transcendant performance. Morgan Freeman is such a tremendous actor and does a great job in his role again. I agree with Kat's synopsis of the movie in terms of its flaws, and I am not as huge a fan of Bale as most. I would like Twobrewers to explain how Ledger's performance was overhyped, because I disagree completely.

[Invader3K]

If you guys don't get Maggie Gyllenhaal (sp?), go rent "Secretary" some time...

[SenatorShriv]

Count me in the "really liked it" camp. I saw it during the midnight showing on opening night. I had some complaints about the movie as a whole, but I think Ledger is deserving of the praise he is getting. I would get into my complaints a bit more, but I don't want to spoil anything for those who haven't seen it yet.

[twobrewers]

I would like Twobrewers to explain how Ledger's performance was overhyped, because I disagree completely.

He had some scenes where he stole the entire scene. But he just wasn't that dominant figure the entire time for me. His scene towards the end - when he is caught I found unimpressive.

 

In addition, part of the problem goes back to Forrest Gump. Honestly, playing a mentally challenged person in a movie isn't that hard of a role because it is so removed from any realistic basis with which to judge it against. For awhile the Academy seemed like they would throw Oscars at the characters instead of the actors.

The Joker was a great character. But was the acting great?

 

I just don't think playing a psychotic killer is that difficult of a role to play. (Of course, you could argue that Bale apparently has a really hard time playing the counter role!)

[GAME05]

I could care less about Heath Ledger, but his Joker was at least an order of magnitude better than Nicholson's. The phrase pyshcopathic clown has often been used but other performances have often suffered from too much clown and not enough pyschopath. I can finally believe in the Joker being Batman's archenemy now.

it's hard for me to compare Nicholson's and Ledger's take on the character just because the movies were going for a totally different feel. The first version tried to be so much more comic-bookey, like the old tv show vs. this more-serious action movie. but i liked Nolan's take a lot better, that the Joker was just your everyday psychopath who just happens to wear clown makeup.

 

i thought Ledger was really good in the role, though i wouldn't call it any sort of transcendent performance. Some of you have said the same thing I did when I first saw Batman Begins, that Christian Bale is annoying when he's the Batman, the way he always tries to talk in that tough whisper. I don't really get it. Is he trying to sound tough? scary?

[Gobias Industries]

twobrewers wrote:

It was not the amazing achievement in film some would have you believe.

 

Heath Ledger was good as the Joker. But the "Oscar buzz" is based mostly on his untimely death.

 

Harvey Dent was great for the first half of the movie. The second half was forced and a pretty ridiculous.

 

I missed Katie Holmes. I never got any chemistry between Maggie Gyllenhaal and the other actors.

Agreed on the first statement. It is a very good "superhero" movie. But seeing it as #1 on IMDB's top 250 is pretty nuts. My main beef with the movie was how rushed the ending felt. A 2.5 hour movie should never feel rushed at any point, imo.

 

I think if Bardem can win for NCFOM, Ledger can and should win this year. I think he'd be the favorite if he were still alive. Just a jaw-dropping performance.

 

Eckhart was excellent. His character was rushed at the end, but with what he was given, I thought he was great.

 

While Maggie G isn't the best-looking woman, I think she did well in the role, and was a huge improvement. I watched Batman Begins for the first time on Saturday, and then saw The Dark Knight Sunday. Watching them that close together made it that much more apparent. Katie Holmes was embarrassingly bad given the great cast.

[Team Canada]

Some of you have said the same thing I did when I first saw Batman Begins, that Christian Bale is annoying when he's the Batman, the way he always tries to talk in that tough whisper. I don't really get it. Is he trying to sound tough? scary?

 

I assumed it was to disguise his voice, since everyone knows what Bruce Wayne sounds like.

[molitor fan]

Christian Bale was arrested today in London for assaulting his mother and sister. Very weird.

 

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/sns-ap-people-christian-bale,0,7802765.story

[homer]

I think I read somewhere that he defaulted on his mortgage not long ago. I think he's a strange dude.

[samwise]

I guess I agree with twobrewers in that Heath Ledger was good but not transcending. I think it may be a case where the character made the actor and not the other way around. Case in point, ( I will try to be as non-descript as possible to avoid spoilers) the scene where Joker is making a video. That scene shoots a tingle up the spine and makes you realize how crazy the Joker is. But I think that scence along with some other scences (like the "Not so Serious" scence, that was good writing not necessarily transcendant acting) could have been done just as well by other actors.

 

Great superhero movie, and a good movie overall.

[tristarscoop]

Was anyone weirded out by the Joker character being so dark in combination with the Ledger suicide? This is totally keeping me from seeing this movie right now because it just creeps me out. I'm not sure I could watch it without thinking about that and I think it would ruin the movie for me. Maybe it's a girl thing. Anyone who took their SO that could address this?

[lcbj68c]

My wife did not have a problem with it. Then again, at the end of the day, you walk out in the sunlight and realize, it's all fiction! But then again, here in the office, I still can't look at a pencil the same way.

[Oldcity]

I saw the movie at noon on Sunday, and as we were leaving the theater a young kid asked his dad if it was "still daytime." I thought that was pretty funny and appropriate.

[Fatter than Joey]

Was anyone weirded out by the Joker character being so dark in combination with the Ledger suicide?

 

His death was ruled accidental --

[tristarscoop]

Scemantics to my point of being creeped out by such a dark character being played by someone who died tragically during the shooting of the film.

[Fatter than Joey]

He died after the shooting of the film

[BrewCrewForever]

But then again, here in the office, I still can't look at a pencil the same way.

 

Uh yeah me to. That scene along with the interrigation scene at the police station stand out in my mind big time.

[tristarscoop]

Sorry, I thought I remembered hearing that they were just finishing shooting when he died and had to finish up without him.

[Fatter than Joey]

that would be "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" you are referring to

[bjkrautk]

If memory serves, they were doing some re-shoots for TDK at the time of Ledger's passing, but his re-shoots had been finished / weren't necessary.

 

(Tried to find a source to back that up, but the film's box-office take makes it a bit tougher to find what I'm looking for on Google...more effort than I'm willing to take.)