The Dark Knight (Batman Begins Sequel)
 

http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/722/722015p1.html

Well, the title is set, and Heath Ledger is officially The Joker. It makes me hope that this picture is the real deal.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/09...erholyshit.jpg

I love the title. It's simple and perfect. I think Heath is going to do a fantastic job as the Joker. He's proved himself as an actor and I am completely pumped to see what he can do. I personally was hoping for Mark Hamill, but Heath should be good none the less!

I really like that picture too. It makes things look really dark. The Batman series should be morbid, and that's exactly what it seems like they're going for.

The picture there is a fake with Conrad Veidt who was the original inspiration for The Joker.

Heath Ledger is an interesting choice and I look forward to how he pulls it off and the look. The Dark Knight is a wicked title for the sequel too.

I love the title. I don't know if the choice of Heath for the Joker is going to be that great, but I won't judge before I see the film.

It's about time they make a batman movie called the "dark knight." It's home territory for s ome of the best batman comic books, like Frank Miller's "the dark knight returns."

I'm looking forward to this.

Did you know that Nolan wanted to make Batman Begins ressemble the dark gloomy world of Blade Runner? Really interesting choice of inspiration, but turned out so amazing!

Despite the picture being fake, I guarantee that will be the look Nolan goes for. I'm hoping for a dark, disturbed, psycho Joker, and I think Ledger can really nail something like that. Also, given Nolan's track record, I trust his casting choices ten-fold.

I was really hoping for Mark Hamill or even Jack Nicholson, but Heath Ledger is a pretty good actor, from what I've seen. He could be an interesting Joker.

Damn, I also wanted Mark Hamill, but only because of that laugh. As long as Ledger can make a laugh as good as Hamill's, then I will definately like the movie. However, Hamill perfected the joker laugh so we probably won't get the same.

Ugh, The Penguin?

At least it's not Mr. Freeze.

But unfortunately with Mark Hamill anything he does live people will be at the edge of their seat waiting for him to brandish a lightsabre. Has it been said anywhere that he was even considered for the role? If he could've gotten himself in "Joker shape" this would have been one of the few movies I'd pay to see at a theatre for, and be there on release day.

I just hope the music is going to be as good as batman begins. I really love that soundtrack :)

Mr. Freeze > Penguin. Sorry.

If done right the Penguin could be a fairly competant villian.

Think less Danny Devito and more boss Carmine Falcone from the first one. He's not a supervillian. He's a gangster.

And by second villian, I honestly doubt they mean anywhere near the screen time as Joker. He'll be there as a plot device, maybe have a few good scenes, but it's the Clown Prince of Crime's show.

As probably the biggest Joker fan on here, I'm actually pleased with Ledger's casting. While I was personally gunning for Adrien Brody or Paul Bettany, I think Heath can pull it off.

Well the rumour on Batman-On-Film has The Penguin being something of a British arms dealer/mob boss with designs on Gotham. Nolan and the studio are gunning for Phillip Seymour-Hoffman for the role which would be great if they managed to sign him up.

Hopefully they'll still include some of the original plan to introduce D.A Harvey Dent and eventually Two Face even if it's in the third movie.

That English-man twist for the Penguin sounds like a good idea, considering the overly eloquent/snobish style he's often been portrayed with.

I really know nothing about Ledger, except that he seems to be good enough an actor to star in an Ang Lee movie - that will have to do for now. Originally I was hoping for Steve Buscemi who sports both the looks and the talent for the Joker or maybe Josh Lucas, if they wanted someone younger. I believe Lucas is still in talks for the role of Harvey Dent?

I wants me some Catwoman in the near future.

Hey, just about any character can work in Batman, as long as you have the right actor! Pfff, we can have a movie about Killer Croc and it would still be good, but it all DEPENDS!

Killer Croc would be an interesting villain, come to think of it. Not as the main 'villain attraction' for the film, but cool nonetheless.

What's the deal with cramming multiple villains into one movie? They instantly launch into some lackeydom or some crap. I'd prefer one almighty bad guy. Having Scarecrow & Ra's Al Ghul in one movie kinda smudged the flick in my opinion.

That and the god damn horribly done shakey-camera thing they do in the fight scenes. The last movie left a bitter taste in my mouth for a number of reasons, and the Batman that Bale put out got on my nerves. It'll probably make a shitload of money just off of status alone. I remain skeptical of it being good (at least by my standards).

Double Post:
Looking over some stuff, Crispin Glover would do the role nice.

HELLOOO. MCFLY.

Aw man. :( I was hoping for Hamill as well, but yeah... Heath just seems too reserved to me - the polar opposite of The Joker. I don't know if he has the acting chops to pull this off. Bleh. I guess I'll just have to trust Nolan. And cue the "Brokebat Mountain" jokes. lol.

I totally agree.

What exactly is Joker shape? Jack Nicholson didn't seem to be in any kind of shape in the first Batman movie. He was short and actually somewhat pudgy, if I remember correctly. I don't know how Hamill looks these days, but I'm sure it wouldn't make much difference.

WHERE ARE THE DRUUUUUGGGSS?!?!

You do remember correctly, and that's not what I consider "Joker Shape". The Joker is tall and slender, boardering on lanky. This is one of the reasons why I didn't like Jack as the original Joker.

Wow, they didnt need to do much..
http://www.sunrisesilents.com/Images/TMWL.jpg

Yeah, you can see in the top left part of his head where the photoshopped hair awkwardly cuts off if you turn the brightness of your screen up.

Almost anyone could look like Joker given everything Hollywood has done in regards to make-up. It is nice, though, that Ledger has curly hair. In all honesty, Ledger really wouldn't have to say anything. They could just get Hamill to do a voice-over... {sigh}

Didn't they originally plan on having Bob Hoskins to play Penguin? Picking Hoffman seems like a small step backwards.

How is picking Hoffman a step backwards? He's one of the best actors around these days. Did you see Capote? Bob Hoskins is pretty awesome, but he's got nothing on Hoffman.

I'm saying that Hoskins looks more the part than Hoffman. And from what I've seen of Hoskins' acting, he seems to have the right demeanor for the part of Penguin.

I'm sure they'll do some cool make up on Hoffman to make him fit the role. Hoffman, IMO, is a much better actor than Hoskins. He's played some very diverse roles throughout his career. Just check out his stats on IMDb... and watch Capote.

Hoffman is probably a better actor, but if they're reworking the Penguins role into a British gangster type villain, I'd much rather see Hoskins in the role. Has anyone here seen The Long Good Friday or a few episodes of Thick as Thieves? He would be ideal for the role.

It's obvious Hoskins could play the role. All Capote shows is that Hoffman is excellent at being annoyingly effeminate. It needs an actor that fits the part, not an actor who is technically proficient.

Actually I was thinking of his role in Unleashed. It was a great performance and looking from that angle a gangster/mobster Penguin could be very effective in his hands, especially since we known from at least that role he can do the british accent (Needs improvement though).

I also wonder if they're going to play up
the penguin theme or if its going to be more of just a 'nickname', like
how Tony Montana was known as 'Scarface' to pick a well known example.

What was his role in Capote? I didn't see the movie nor care to anytime soon, but a brief description would be nice (And yes I know the basics of what the movie is supposed to be about, but it just does not interest me).

Moving on...In regards to the announcement of Heath Ledger as Joker, it felt like an unusual and 'left-field' choice for me. I don't see any real reason why he couldn't play the part, but I also don't see a reason why he Could either. Its like giving Jude Law the part of Tony Stark/Iron Man: there are reasons why he Could be Iron Man and reasons why he can't, and for both roles (Heath's and his) the obvious choices are not either actor.

Let me tell you something, I was _floored_ the day I leared that Mark Hamil voiced the joker in the Batman: TAS (Which was, sadly, around the time that the Batman Beyond Movie was coming out -_-) ...so seeing him AS the joker would be a great touch as others have said.
I'm thinking, Perhaps they could have him voice the Joker in one line or something when the joker gets pissed off or something. I don't know, except that Hamil's joker voice is Perfect.

I also wonder if they'd have a Cameo of Harley Quin, like as a Psychiatrist as Arkham (Remember before she joined Poison Ivy and Joker she WAS going to be a Psychiatrist/Therapist), that would be kinda cool.

It also shows his range. Going from Truman Capote to his role in Along Came Polly is quite a stretch. With his skills, he should have no problem bringing the Penguin to life.

Well let's hope he can do a British accent seeing how he is British :P. Honestly, I think Hoskins is an ideal choice for Penguin. Not to say Hoffman would be bad, but as previously stated, Hoskins has the right looks and presence to pull it off.

So far the cast is excellent. Wonder how high the budget will be this time.

Do you guys think Ledger will look either like these as Joker?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...DGER-JOKER.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5...kercopyfe7.jpg

The first one looks like an Elseworld joker, meaning a Street Punk version, while the second looks TOO photoshopped (I mean they both are to a degree, but at least the first pic hides it decently).

I do like the Yellow Shirt, Black jakcet and green tie, nice touch on that part.

Well see I thought he was American, but I suppose that makes it easier. I can see it now:

"Oswald Cobblepot, more well known in mobster circle as 'The Penguin' has a (single) Pet Pengiun that he often uses as a method of torture. Featuring an Umbrella on his business card as his personal logo, he is followed by a trail of beautiful women who make sure he is always at ease. His rival and sometimes Business Partner Carmine Falcone has recently disappered and Cobblepot has enlisted the help of 'Batman' to find it. When Batman refuses, Cobblepot threatens to let loose a homicidal maniac known only as 'The Man who Laughs: The Joker', into Gotham.

Batman resigns to feign an attempt at searching for the mobster, but as we soon find out, Jack Napier, better known as the Joker, the Man who Laughs, has already taken care of Falcone in his own twisted way."

Its just my own take on the possible story-line, but hey who knows?

Good take, though it doesn't necissarily coincide with the Begins ending. Batman already got the tip-off about Joker from Gordon on the rooftop in the last scene. Which also puts him as his own self-employed baddie.

I'm certainly looking forward to finding out how all these rumoured and confirmed plot points weave together in the final script.

In the comics, the Joker's real name has never been revealed. Jack Napier was a creation of the 89' Burton movie.

I'd put a whole whack of cash on the idea that Cobblepot is the gangster that hired the Joker (before he was Joker, try to keep up) to become the Red Hood.

Speaking of which, if we get some Red Hood action in this movie, I swear to god I'll geek-gasm all over the place.

You're right on that one:edgarrock:

See as how the criminal left a calling card of a joker in the previous movie, I seriously doubt The Red Hood will appear at all. It would be nice if they happen to throw that into some kind of backstory, but given the history of comic book movies, don't get your hopes up.

They could always pull a Batman (1989) and have him use his cards before he gets his acid-dip.

Or, you know, they could use a flashback. I mean they told Bruce's backstory in a flashback, why not Jokers.

Have you ever danced with the devil in pale moonlight? :) I'm bias for this but I can't help it, Jack Nickelson was a damn good joker. He's old as dirt now. The smile, it has to be the same as the first..if it's some normal human smile but with big teeth, I'm not going to like it. Big ass permanent grin prz. That's a good idea though, putting flashback scenes in there would maximize the dark feel surely.

Question:
Where in the comics was the origin of the Joker closer illuminated?
Was it ever? Did he - as in the movie - get a chemical treatment? How did he become what he is? What drove him mad in the first place...?

I could have sworn they used his name as such in one of the origin comics, but whatever. If someone could confirm/deny this that would help out... I'm think though, that 'Jack Napier' may have even been just an alias anyway (For Nickolson's role in the 89 version).

His 100% true origin has never been revelead. We know some things, but not all.

About all we know is that he fell into a vat of chemicals, and got his well known appearance. Everything else is pretty much speculation.

However the most commonly accepted origin for the character is the one written by Alan Moore for 1988's "Batman; The Killing Joke". It tells that the Joker was a man who quit his job to persue his dream of being a comedian, however unsucessfully. With a pregnant wife, and knowing he couldn't cut it as a comedian, he agreed the rob the chemical plant he used to work at. The night before the robbery, he was approached by a police officer and told his wife and unborn child had died in a fire at their apartment. Distraught, he tried to back out of the plan, but the gangsters wouldn't let him. Everytime the gangsters recruited someone new to help them rob a place they would force them to wear a red hood. They told the victims it was to hide their identity, but in actuality it was to pin the crime on the victim as the criminal mastermind. As they robbed the plant, the police and Batman showed up. Joker panicked at the sight of Batman and dove into a vat of chemicals. A few miles down river, he washed up on shore, and when he removed his mask he saw that the chemicals had bleached his skin white, deformed his smile, and turned his hair green. This, his fright at his encounter with Batman, the death of his family, and everything else going on in his life seemed to turn him insane. He became the Joker.

While that is the most accepted origin, Joker says himself in the story that he often remembers different versions, and "if I have to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!".

Other origins have had him; being a sociopath as a child, torturing and murdering animals and enjoying listening to his father beat his mother. Being abused and eventually killing his father. Being the son of one of Batman's friends Dr. Leslie Thomas. And being an already well established criminal.

Like I said, the Alan Moore story is the most accepted and usually the one to go by. That being said though, his exact origin is still up in the air.

I for one hope we never really find out.

He has been referred as Jack or Mr.Napier (which was created for the movie) as sort of a tongue in cheek nod to the movie, but it's doubtful that is infact his real name.

In the original origin, The Red Hood attempted to rob a chemical plant. At one point, he becomes surrounded by Batman and Robin on a catwalk (kind of like in the movie... with the addition of Robin). With no way out, he jumps into a chemical basin and swims away, able to breath because of the design of The Red Hood helmet.

A later story (published a few years before The Killing Joke) claims that Batman found the Red Hood costume washed ashore, ditched by Joker after his chemical bath.

Given the continuity shifts in DC, believe whatever you want to believe.

I remain wonderously skeptical with the casting. Yes, I wanted Hamill too - not only because he is the Joker but because there now seems to be an age casting problem with this movie. Throwing Ryan Phillippe in just makes it sound like we're shooting from the hip to the 90210 crowd for pretty boys. This isn't saying Ryan isn't a good actor - but the aged involved is stupid. The Joker should be older - considering that he's suppose to be the utter opposite of Batman, why not do the same with their age.

Despite the strength of Batman Begins, lets see where this goes. Not everything is as fortunate as Spider Man 2.

I don't want another old Joker like the first Batman, I say in the 30's is fine.

Unless your name is Alex Ross

Who the fuck is Ryan Philippe playing? Heath Ledger is the Joker. Damn teen stars all looking the same.

Edit - It appears I can't fucking read. Disregard what was here.

Edit 2 - The Joker should be older based on what exactly? His age has never been mentioned or referenced. There is nothing suggesting that he has to be older than Batman. Hell, I'd even go to say they suggest he's about the same age. If you go by the Killing Joke, and accept he has a relatively young wife with a baby on the way, and his appearance pre-chemical dip, it suggests he's probably in his late 20's/early 30s. As told in Batman: Year One (which is in continuity), Bruce is 25 when he first starts out as Bats. Joker' origin story in TKJ, takes place not long after this happens, making them about the same age.

=/

Is it wrong of me to want Terrence Howard as Dent? I think he'd be a good choice.

I would like Terrence Howard but then a bunch of people would complain about making the character black like everyone flipped out when the new Catwoman came out.

Harvey Dent was played by Billy Dee Williams in the 89 Batman, but maybe I was too young to remember comic dorks complaining about him being black.

It really doesn't matter if the actor is black so long as it fits the character. I think Michael Clark Duncan is a great actor, but I thought he was poorly cast as the Kingpin in Daredevil. The character of the Kingpin is the stereotypical menacing whitest white crime boss.

Billy Dee Williams was in the first two movies because he was also contracted to later play Two Face. They had to buy his contract out when Schumacher wanted someone more bankable as a villian - namely Tommy Lee Jones.

Ryan Phillipe as Two-Face? What?

I thought Two-Face was supposed to be older than Batman. I mean, at least I thought... but why put a teenie bopper as TWO FACE

At least they didn't use Orlando Bloom, I guess.

I don't really think of him as that ANYMORE after Crash. I think as long as he does the role with respect maybe he can pull it off. Although in the cartoons he had a side where he lost his temper and acted crazy which I have never seen Ryan do yet. I still think Josh Lucas would be a good Dent/Two-Face

Ryan Philippe is only 8 months younger than Christian Bale.

But it's all about looks and style.

With the morbid direction the movie is aiming for, I don't think that Ryan Phillipe is suitable. Then again, I could be completely wrong. I HOPE this is the case.

I'm betting that you are. Ryan Phillipe is a twisted fuck who oozed his way into Reece Witherspoon's panties. He devours that pink every night. Ryan Phillipe and I share a birthday. There's somthing to be said about the deviant fuckers born on Sept. 10. I'm so fucking high.

Looks like WB has launched a pretty interesting internet campaign, with the final "prize" being the first glimpse of Heath Ledger as The Joker. Here's more information on the campaign:

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=5711

... And what seems to be the final image.

Lame. He looks like an albino who put on too much lipstick. I really hope they make it better by the time it comes out.

He looks like a creepy-ass dude who's had a horrible chemical accident. I like it.

Also, Aaron Eckhart is cast as Harvey Dent, which I think is goddamn brilliant.

ibelieveinharveydent.warnerbros.com if you haven't seen it already.

http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/

This is where the image of Joker was first revealed, but it's been taken down now.

Early rumors have him not gaining the mysterious "perma-smile" as a result of the acid bath.



Frankly I think it's a fucking awesome look.

I think Joker's look is absolutely perfect, especially given the extremely dark nature of the film. Just that picture alone has scared me shitless. I can't wait to see him in the film.

Maybe if I see a couple more pictures of him in different angles, rather than that in-your-face mugshot look. His face is just so damn close to the camera, it just looks bad to me. I'll keep an open mind though. When I first saw Davy Jones on Pirates 2, I thought he looked goofy as hell, but he grew on me once I saw him in action. Maybe seeing this new Joker in action will change my mind the same way.

Holy crap, that second picture (with the blurry reflection in the mirror) is awesome. I was wondering if the purple suit/green hair look would work in Nolan's more "realistic" Batman universe... I guess the suit is a really muted shade of purple, though, or even dark gray. Either way, I'm really excited. I just hope Heath Ledger can pull it off.

lookin good.

If anyone haven't noticed.. if you go to http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com/
and do Ctrl +A for the Easter Egg

You can get a secret message..


I wonder what that could mean ;)

Kind of surprised this hasn't been posted yet but EW has the exclusive for the new Batsuit:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y24...batmansuit.jpg

Digging the new design and I like the texture of the material underneath the armour.

Interesting. They seem to be moving even farther away from the original, comic design of the suite and give it an even more "modern personal armour" look, rather than the "oh look, a latex mold of hist pants worn on the outside" thing of the non-nolan batsyflicks. More substance and functionality over style. Me likes it.

Batsy is standing on top of the police car.

Here's a nice Hi-Res version of the shot of the suit:
http://img105.imagevenue.com/loc896/..._122_896lo.jpg

Also they revealed the Batpod today:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...i/30587677.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...i/30587348.jpg

Pretty fawking awesome IMO. Looks like it's made out of pieces of the Tumbler and kinda reminds me of the Bat-Missile from Batman Returns for some reason.

For some reason, the suit reminds me of Batman Beyond's.

Really looking forward to the movie. Their take on the Joker sure seems interesting.

I'm not sure wether I like the Batpod or not.
Looks a bit too... Gimmicky for my taste.

The changes to the suit I like very much, the bat pod, not so much.

Maybe I'll get used to it soon, but right now I don't like it very much.

Batpod looks too toyish for the new Nolan Batman IMO.
Which was what I liked a lot about Begins, that all the stuff looked neither like a work of conceptual art (Burton) or like a damn toy (Schumacher).

Ok, two things

Jack Nicholson was a goddamned terrible campy bullshit Joker

This one does not look MUCH better but it cannot possibly be worse. I hope the hair is not really as poofy as it appears in the mirror shot — it's not meant to be literally a clown wig

(also on a nerd note the Joker's first name is probably Jack, there is some storyline with some cousin of his or something which I won't bother looking up)

The new Joker reminds me of Kakihara from Ichi the Killer. Tadanobu Asano should be in every movie. :D

Except the ones that require, y'know, acting.

The Batpod looks interesting without being too campy. Hopefully, the ability of Bale to move his noggin around won't mess with Batman's ambiance. The Dark Knight has never been known to stand around looking here & there - part of his shtick is that he swoops in, beats up the bad guys, and swoops out again before you can hardly catch a glimpse of him.

I'm looking forward to this film.

Oh, and about the whole Billy Dee Williams/Two-Face and Halle Berry being cast as Catwoman: whoever complains about Halle Berry trolloping around in a tattered leather catsuit is insane.

I don't think anyone complained about Halle Berry walking around in a leather catsuit, I think everyone complained about how she can't act.

That's just me though.

I complained about it, so I must be insane. I can't stand Halle Berry, she's ugly. I really wish she up and just die. I didn't like her as storm I wanted her to die. I didn't like her in any movies she even starred in. I liked Michelle as Catwoman, but thats just me. I dunno if Billy Dee Williams could play two-face well though, I don't think it suits him that well, but he'd be better then Tommy Lee Jones as two face though. I'm sure people will like the movie when it comes out. I did see Batman Begins not to long ago, but I didn't like it really. Mark as the joker would be interesting to see though.

I wonder how it all will come together in the end. I know this much I'll just wait for to hit TV or something. I'm no rush to see something I know I will probably not like.

Some on set footage of Joker here and here.
He looks like The Crow, hehe

Also here's your chance to be casted as an extra on the movie, http://www.rfkcasting.com/

source

both video clips dont work for me =/

For Stage6, you need to download the latest Divx Codec to play their videos.

Here's a youtube clip of Joker.

And another set on a Chicago news website.

YouTube Video

TEASER HAS BEEN LEAKED. BOW DOWN TO HEATH LEDGER'S VOICE!

Teaser has been SHUT DOWN, BITCH

People need to start posting videos on daily motion, or just upload it on a freaking upload site. Posting it on youtube is asking for a quick removal...

To any who saw it before it went off, how was Heath?

I'm searching the torrents and willing to host what I find on my website: I'm totally up for applying as an extra.

It was taken down because Heath Ledger sounded like a moron.

I think he sounded really good and scary, like he's supposed to.

Are these it?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=RbBjndT9e_E

http://www.movieweb.com/video/V07G046bgwyzRX


BTW, any clue what this site is for?
http://www.whysoserious.com/

Yep, those are them... And I think the countdown is for the teaser's official unveiling at ComicCon.

2008 is shaping up to be a year full of movies I'm dying to see -- which is highly unusual for me. This is probably the best turnaround of a franchise I've ever seen, considering before they made Batman Begins, I figured they would never make another Batman movie.

As for the Joker...I always think of him with a thin face and a pronounced long chin (a la Jay Leno, almost), but neither Nicholson nor Ledger have that. They're pretty square-jawed. I just don't really get it, but perhaps it's because I don't read a lot of Batman comics and therefore don't know how he's normally portrayed. Also, I would love Harley Quinn to come up at some point in these movies.

He does look an awful lot like the Crow. I can't decide if that's a good thing or a bad thing though. I like the Crow, but I never pictured the Joker looking that way. =/ Guess we'll just have to wait for the first actual trailer.

The countdown was a timer for the start of the tryouts to be an extra in the movie. If you scroll down it shows a Google Earth picture of where you need to be, with coordinates above, when the timer hits zero.

Teaser in HD: http://video.whysoserious.com/TDK_Te...st_L98hufT.mov

Coolest picture yet:

http://photos-619.ll.facebook.com/ph...93112_3072.jpg

Wow, they stuck surprisingly close to the comics regarding Mistah J's look.

Did you have any doubt with Chris Nolan at the helm? :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boIhrBtsj-Y

teaser that doesn't take a year to download.

I'm sold on the new Joker look. I'd also be willing to be dollars to batarangs that that look isn't his "complete" one. Like he has yet to be bleached and right now he's just batshit (har har) insane and painting his face. Since it's obviously make-up and Nolan said he's be more albino that Nicholson's pure white.

Oh god I just came.

It actually looks like Joker had cut slits in the sides of his mouth and stitched the skin back together, a psychotic way to create a permanent grin.

Was that Heath's joker laugh right at the end? Cause it sounded just like the one in the animated series to me. And that's a good thing.

http://photos-619.ll.facebook.com/ph...93112_3072.jpg

And that's a kick ass image of Mr.J. Thanks!

wow I can't wait for this movie to be released. The teaser was great, and I think the Joker's laugh was great and on the spot. I also love the Joker's look, and I can only hope Nolan also adds a few more Batman characters to the movie such as Harley Quinn.

I doubt Nolan would go with the quirky sidekicks and such. Trying to distance himself and his movies from the god-awful shit that was given to us in the past.

So far I've been impressed with the way he's done these movies so far...but if he adds Robin into the picture, it can only go downhill from there.


Seriously, no matter who plays Robin in any Batman, the shit just turns into one Gay-man infested Homo-hut.

No offense to the proud gays out there, just telling it like it is.

Unless they take the Dark Knight Returns angle and make Robin a girl...

Plus, I'm certain Nolan could pull it off without crossing the line into gay-land.

As much as I'd like to see The Dark Knight Returns made into a movie, I'd love to see how hard it would be to get an old ass Bruce Wayne past WB executives, no matter HOW cool the story is.

The teaser has certainly piqued my interest. The Joker bit at the end was <3

Nolan has stated in interviews that he will never put Robin in any of his Batman films. So, no need to worry about that!

When a full trailer is release I will probably fap for about a week straight.

Harley Quinn is wildly unlikely to see any time in these films, unless it's a cameo as a staff psychiatrist at Arkham. (Was Arkham even mentioned at all in Begins?) Her nature is just too goddamn goofy for the tone of the films, and Harley Quinn as a grim and merciless killer kind of defeats the whole point.

(Besides which, to have a Harley you need to have a Joker which is at least a little bit charismatic)

Pang --
Isn't Arkham where Dr. Crane worked out of in Begins?

I'm on the fence. Ledger sounds like he's doing a bad impression of Jack in the teaser - but a teaser is something terrible to judge anything by. I also don't think he has the acting chops for the role (nor do I think that the Joker should be so young, but hey thats just me).

I remain a healthy skeptic. Lightning doesn't always strike twice.

Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but The Dark Knight is going to have a new Batman theme. I really liked the BB theme, so I wonder how different the new will be. BTW, does anyone know if James Newton Howard is collaborating with Zimmer again for TDK?

http://www.superherohype.com/news/topnews.php?id=6114

Batman had a motif in the last movie - a two note ascending "horn call" - and it sounds like Hans is just playing around with that again.

Some new images:
http://i11.tinypic.com/5zqxwkl.jpg
http://i18.tinypic.com/4lokhh4.jpg
http://i19.tinypic.com/6gx9c9v.jpg


Apparently leaked by some geezer over at SHH! who wishes to remain anonymous.

Uuuhhh...

Is the new Bat Cave a basement with overhead lighting.

No thats the "top secret" basement of wayne enterprises.

Either way those are some awesome leaked images.

That's not the Batcave.

Oh god. I just came. everywhere.

EDIT:

Both AICN and SHH! have gotten cease-and-desist letters from WB, so save em while you can.

Wow, those images are FANTASTIC. I love the multiple batmen... Very intriguing.

I am still confused as to what the new Batman theme is. Is it the song that plays right after Ducard says "Legend, Mr. Wayne" in this trailer:

http://movies.apple.com/movies/wb/ba...tlr4a_m480.mov

Cause it's obviously the best theme in the movie, aside from the training music.

Nice! The one with Batman on the porch railing made me laugh, though. Even so, pretty interesting stuff...

Quick question -

Bootleg version of the teaser trailer that's made of awesome and win apparently attached with I Am Legend on IMAX, so there may not be a HQ version available for awhile...
Videos Star! - The Dark Knight trailer

International Posters:


http://a69.g.akamai.net/n/69/10688/v...9/18876223.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...121307_002.jpg

Wrong, the IMAX version of I Am Shit is going to get the first 5 minutes of the movie. I'm going to see it tonight with a shitload of friends, so I'll report back with it's inevitable greatness.

Additional Spam:
LEAKED TRAILER -

Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem!

The two Joker posters are just beyond amazing. Will definitely buy them if I ever find them.

Good lookin out on the trailer , Sprout. Fuckin love it. After this trailer, I believe Heath Ledger earns my respect.

Heheh, I like the way he's provoking batsy to hit him. Though I'd prefer it be with the batwing. Oh well.

Nice! Aw I can't wait to see this now! Also sounds like Bale toned down (well up I guess) his Batman voice this time around, it doesn't sound as deep. This is the trailer that's shown during previews for I Am Legend on the normal screens right?

I saw the 5 minutes of joker gang robbing a bank before IMAX of I am Legend.
Where did the trailer that sprouticus posted come from? The regular showings of I am Legend?

Anyone have the prologue shown during I am Legend on IMAX?

Oh, and the poster of Joker above, taken with a cam, at the bottom it's suppose to decrypt to "A taste for the theatrical"
Meaning it's another viral marketing website to show the 2nd trailer in high quality.
A Taste For The Theatrical
Looks like a trailer is coming this Sunday. (I think it's the same leaked trailer linked above by sprouticus)

I'd give one of my nuts to get that trailer in 1080p.

The lighting is absolutely epic. Everything looks glamorized, but the film manages to retain a sense of grittiness.

I bought the American teaser posters on eBay already. Get em while they're hot!

Also, the prologue is fucking great. You can really tell the difference between a movie shot in IMAX over a movie shot in 35 and then projected in IMAX. The visuals were simply stunning, and the scene itself was incredibly badass.

This is gonna be the film to beat in 2008.

And yes, that trailer came from the regular prints of I Am Fuck.

Additional Spam:
DARK KNIGHT IMAX PROLOGUE-

Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem!

Earlier than expected.

http://media.whysoserious.com/TDK_TRL2_best.mov

Sorry, but Heath Ledger is the best Joker I've ever seen. Look at his acting when he fires that rocket launcher.

It's too bad that the batsuit looks incredibly cheap and made in China during that wide city shot. And Maggie what's her name looks horrendous.

Hot damn the deeper joker voice is pretty unexpected yet exciting to see a darker madman like joker to come to the big screen.

Currently downloading that Imax clip, but I can already tell from the trailer that this version of the Clown Prince of Crime is done very well. Ledger shows him as the insane fucking madman that he's supposed to be. I enjoyed Jack Nicholson's Joker as well as Mark Hamill's from TAS, but they were both really cartoonish. (Being that Hamill's Joker actually is a cartoon, that makes sense, but I'm sure you get my point.)

This is the number one movie I'm looking forward to for next year.

LOVE the trailer. Lots of explosions (LOL) but it looks great. Most of all, I'm excited about Ledger's Joker... Personally, I hated Jack Nicholson in the role, and it's AWESOME that we're finally getting a decent movie version of the character.

Here's another page with the trailer:
whysoserious

I think Hamill's TAS Joker is my favorite version of the character thus far. I'll admit The Joker had a few cheesy episodes, but IMO he actually developed as a pretty dark character as the series progressed (ie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker). Mark Hamill's performance was brilliant - in fact, whenever I read Batman comics, I always imagine his voice and laugh.

theres a bootleg version of a 6 minute clip out.
I didn't really like the joker but he is a lot more darker and badass as shown in the clip
Gametrailers.com - 6 Minutes of The Dark Knight by keldohead

I'm hoping that on the 28th, they release a new encode of the trailer, since the current one actually stinks. There's a horizontal line going across the bottom of the frame, and the audio is compressed to hell.

most accurate portrayal of the joker yet. heath's acting is erratic, twisted, and unpredictable. this is exactly how the joker is meant to be.

makeup is also fantastic. keeping the dark circles around the eyes -- as seen in the animated series -- is what most fans requested.

out of all the villains throughout history, joker remains my favorite.

I'm glad they didn't take the Matrix - Animatrix road by trying to play with words. They could of called it Batmanimation or some dumb shit like that.

awesome I can't wait to see it.
the animated series and the new animated series were one of the few kids show to actually go heavy on the violence so I have high hopes for this six episode series. Even the image is awesome, you can slightly see the crazy pupil through the batman mask.

more like hell-fucking-no. an anime-inspired batman is a terrible idea, and what i'm seeing in that capture is already horrible.

batman could never be portrayed by anime. he is beyond it.

what really? I think, if anything, Batman will be portrayed a lot better in an anime than the american animated series since they can go heavy on the story and violence and make it much more darker like batman should be. But if you mean translating the movies into an anime is a bad idea, I still have to say that it would be a good side story between batman 1 and 2.
From what I see in the screen It looks like some cross between hellsing animation and afro samurai so it shouldn't be "horrible"

I don't see what the problem is. Studio 4C and Production IG are both wonderful animation studios. As long as someone competent is working on the story and dialog (if any) it should still be entertaining visually, especially whatever Studio 4C pumps out.

Batman as an anime? Interesting.

You people are attempting to converse with Zeal like he is some sort of human being instead of a catch-phrase spewing robot. A fatal mistake.

An anime Batman OVA can in no way be any less lame than The Batman. The Joker is a Rastafarian now? Really?

As I recall, I remember plenty of doubters about Ledger being the Joker. They all laughs. And now they're eating crow. ;) Give something a chance before taking a shit on it.

So apparently, Jack Nicholson is "furious" because they didn't go to him for advice on how to play the Joker.

"They never asked me about a sequel with the Joker. I know how to do that! Nobody ever asked me," Nicholson said. "It's like, in any area, you can't believe the reasons things do or don't happen. Not asking me how to do the sequel is that kind of thing. Maybe it's not a mistake. Maybe it was the right thing, but to be candid, I'm furious."

IGN: Holy Hong Kong Phooey!

Didn't think he was that egotistical, as if he invented the Joker.

I heard the new cartoon "The Batman" does improve in later seasons, but Joker is still pretty lame... Bring back Mark Hamill! And get rid of those damn dreadlocks!

Regarding the anime, hey, if the 90's animated series eventually became more and more darker, (Batman Beyond Return of the Joker uncut edition.)imagine the possiblities now that Kids WB isn't breathing on Bruce Timm's back, AND you add in Satoshi Kon to the mix! Plus three great animation studios to make it look good. I don't see why its a bad idea, unless people hate anime in general... It would take a major writing/direction screw up to make this into garbage, and so far Timm hasn't seem to falter at all, along with Satoshi Kon.

As for ol' Jackie, Sour grapes anyone? Yeesh, he's acting like he's a thespian in the role or some shit. My respect for the man has plummet to a bottomless pit.

It's hard to know if Nicholson is being serious with that quote... he is known for being pretty dry. If he was serious, I guess he didn't bother watching Batman Begins and doesn't understand it was a reboot of the franchise. It's not like Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer or even Adam West (LOL) are angry that Christian Bale didn't ask them for advice.

Additional Spam:
Totally agree. I'm actually looking forward to it, especially if Bruce Timm is involved. I just wish they could bring Kevin Conroy back in to do Batman's voice... however, it probably won't happen since the anime is completely separate from the DC animated universe.

Edit: Changed the text on the poster to make fun of Jack Nicholson's recent statement.

http://www.upload-images.net/imagen/1d431f91af.jpg

This poster is hanging up in my bedroom right now :)

Awesome. It's a great poster.

I changed the text, though.

Ah, didn't catch that before. Either way, yes, disgustingly good poster!

Indeed. I'm using it as my wallpaper right now. =)

Did you guys know that Two-Face is in this movie? Look at the casting list, Harvey Dent. He was played by Tommy Lee-Jones in Batman Forever.

Maybe Two-Face is the next villain in the sequel?

I read an article somewhere (trying to find source) saying to watch him throughout the movie, because this is the only chance we'll have to see him as a person, and Nolan put a lot of time into developing the character.

It's likely he'll be the next villain, and I'm glad he's being developed in advance! Viral marketing FTW here!

I heard rumours about the next sequel will be Batman vs Superman. Any thoughts about it? It was also an advertisment in the movie "I AM LEGEND" with Will Smith.

Maybe if Christopher Nolan was a dickless fag with no pride, love, or respect for the series. Luckily he's not, so there's nothing to worry about.

The concept of a Batman/Superman film has been kicked out a lot in the past few years, but I don't think any of them have ever gotten past the drawing board stages.

Justice League, however...

So a JL movie is in early production, and will probably have little to do with Batman Begins or Superman Returns aside from the characters involved. Warner Bros. says it'll take precedence over a Superman Returns sequel, which was also rumored to be considered. Nothing too concrete yet, but it seems to be going along on schedule.

YouTube - Batman: Gotham Knight - First Look

Preview of Dark Knight's version of the Animatrix, coming out before the film on DVD, with animators like Bruce Timm and Satoshi Kon on board. This 9 mins preview is from the new Justice League New Frontier DVD animated movie from the creators of DC animated universe.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5...htr1artdq4.jpg

Gotham Knight is coming out on July 8.
source

Also..

Batman Begins coming to Blu-ray on July 8 !!

source


Awesome! I was wondering when they were going to release Batman Begins on Blu-ray. ( Was this planned before the downfall of HD-DVD? )
I wish they'd release all this a lot sooner than a little over a week before The Dark Knight comes out.

there new trailer:

FullSrceen
480p
720p
1080p

Leaked Two-Face pic!



Man this is gonna be one effed up PG-13 film.

That looks fake to me. Partly because of the graininess, but mostly because that looks like CGI and not makeup, and they're not going to just CGI half the man's face.

The pics's originally from CRB.com, a pretty respected and in the know site (they have some decent inside sources, though most of their best breaks have been about Batman comics, ie the skinny on Bruce Wayne's departure from the roll of Batman months before the Batman R.I.P. arc was announced).

Obviously, we'll see what happens. It could be a concept design, it could be a fan manip.

Hmm, I'm voting "fake" as well. Seems too gruesome to me... Of course, I am used to the Animated Series version with the blue face, white hair & yellow eye. LOL. And the original picture of Eckhart would have turn to up in order to debunk it (like the fake Joker picture that was circulating around, everyone thought it was the real thing).

Well that might be it considering as in a recent article Eckhart was saying how gruesome and disgusting the Two-Face look will be and how shocked people will be when they see it.

""I can tell you that, basically, when you look at Two-Face, you should get sick to your stomach. Being the guy under all that, well, that was a lot of fun for me. It's like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. I can't talk about it beyond that because I don't want to give away too much of the plans by Chris."

Source: Eckhart on Dark Knight's Two-Face - Superhero Hype!

Interesting quote... If it is indeed the real deal, it's going to scare the crap out of all the really young kids that see the movie. LOL. Anyway, my general opinion is that anything's better than the pink Tommy Lee Jones makeup.

Awesome pic. I vote real, but early concept. This movie is going to be pushing the PG-13 rating to the fucking limit, and I love it.

Oh ye gods... What I wouldn't give for an R-rated Batman film...

I could understand why that guy went crazy after that.
God this movie looks promising.

I originaly was not looking forward to seeing another joker.. If any one remembers the batman movies of the 1990s they might remember the first two were pretty serious with out going overboard, once Michael keton was gone they became campy..

Batman begins was great so hey I'm sure the late mr heath leger can pull this off. The reviews are good!!

From all of the things I've read so far, what I've probably greeted with most... enthusiasm was the mention, that they give Bale white contact lenses for when he is Batman.
That was something I've really asked myself why they've not done that yet. It's relatively easy to do, plus it's something that would get the whole look & feel closer to that of the comics.
That Two-Face? Looks good enough for me. Why not just CG his face? Wouldn't be the first time they pulled such a thing off, remember Terminator 3. Then Harvey Dent would just have to wear a green mask over the Two-Face part. Yeah, maybe real makeup would be better, more plastic, etc. but still it's doable with CG.

Speaking of which... I've always wondered why a dude can put on a regular plastic mask, and suddenly his eyes becomes white. What's up with that?
That's something I liked in the movies:(

Maybe he DOES put on contact lenses... ;)
You know... Off screen / panel...

great news batman fans/geeks, Gotham Knights is out in the magical world of the interwebs.
So go hit your favorite torrent site and get it. It's around 700mb just in case some of you need to make sure it's the right file. I've glimpsed through it and the animation looks superb so I can't wait to watch it later.

It was bloody awesome. Each one captured the essence and almost supernatural stigma about him. I wonder though if these are part of Nolan's world of batman...

Thanks for the heads up. I liked it a lot.

I just saw it and I have to say that I was quite surprised that they used the same voice actor as the old batman cartoons. It was like watching the old tv shows all over again except it was more darker and anime-ish.

The first part of the movie reminded me a lot of the old cartoon

Holy smokes Batman! Gotham Knight is out?! I gotta go download it! I'll post some comments after I seen it.

Ok saw the whole thing. Wow, the writing, animation and music is superb. Voice acting is top notch and I am glad to see alot of DCAU people and Teen Titans Voice actors back for this. Excellant character development on Bruce and the action is well directed.

Karasu, your theory is interesting, and I do not doubt that the mafia or Russian Gang will have a huge effect on the Dark Knight.

While I'm itching for to go ahead and get this leak, I'm gonna have to hold off for the HD experience. Pre-ordered this with Batman Begins for an epic DK marathon ("Dark Knight"... "DK" to intentionally confuse as "Donkey Kong" :p) right before THE Dark Knight. Good to hear it's awesome; I can't wait.

I'm pretty sure he's shown using a rocket launcher in one of the trailers. >.>

My theory was right apparently. IGN reviewed the DVD, and while they didn't give it like a 9.0 or anything...they pretty much confirmed what I thought was the big point behind the movie sequences.

The score has been leaked, and I posted it both in my journal and in the Film Score sharing thread. Also, here:

>>DOWNLOAD<<


I've resisted listening to anything but the first two tracks, which both sound incredible. Enjoy!


EDIT:

Just a warning, the last track is messed up, with some gross-sounding skipping sprinkled throughout, and it apparently cuts off before it should.

lol i love you hahahaha excellent find. Hopefully we can find a proper replacement for the final track though.

Saying you enjoy something is one thing.

Saying its something you enjoy and give out for others when its not yours to give is something else.

Saying its something you enjoy, give to others when its not yours and when you're trying to work in the industry, is monumentally stupid.

Lehah is a crusader for the little guy.

Yeah the last track has some weird clipping in and out, especially around the 6 minute mark.

Harlan Ellison sent over 200 bricks, postage due to a publishing house for similar reasons.

I will, one day, mail someone the rest of that same brick shithouse.

Send big files the easy way. Files too large for email attachments? No problem!

Try that leaked version of the OST.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT BATMAN!?@#!@#!@@#! THE SCORE> THANK YOU MF'ers!!!#!@#!@#!

The last song on Para's link still has some errors.
Just an information.

Yeah you're right.

Honestly the score IMO is good, but I thought it would be better. There are some good tracks but so far I've listened to the whole thing twice and it is not better than the 1st IMO.

Yeah it does.. I realized it too.. Don't know why.

I love the I am not a hero track. I love how the batman theme has evolved.

Additional Spam:
If anyone checked the main site today, it got defaced by the Joker.

I love too how the batman theme evolved. I just want MORE. lol. The song, Like a Dog Chasing Cars, is the best for me.

I agree with you Andrew. I love that song! The violine is awesome!
Best soundtrack so far.

I agree but lets hope they keep the same guy pl;aying batman. I've always thought the first two Batman movies were great with Micheal Keaton
but got really campy after he left..

Additional Spam:


That just goes to show that if Batman had only a gun and knife he would be no match for the joker!!

Looks like paying attention to the viral marketing paid off: I get an early viewing!

Link regarding the promotion: Dark Knight Viral Awards Hardcore Fans With Free Screening | /Film

Movie Exec #1: Hey, how do we make our movie more successful?

Movie Exec #2: How about we have people use word of mouth to promote it, to get the public interested and expecting it long before the movie is finished!

Movie Exec #1: Thats a great idea - but its not enough...

Movie Exec #3: How about we show the movie free to a bunch of fans, thereby cutting our income and help hurt the movie!

Movie Exec #2: Genius!

Movie Exec #1: No wonder we get the big bucks!

Movie Exec #2: Yeah!

Movie Exec #3: I did the same thing with Serenity and look how much money THAT movie made!

This would be funny and relevant if TDK was a niche film as opposed to a summer blockbuster poised to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars. Alas, it's just another useless troll.

I don't think it's been posted yet, but another poster dropped a couple of days ago, and like every other poster in this ad campaign, it's brilliant:

http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/3...htver15hp3.jpg


Also, if you head over to the main page of the movie, all of the posters have been "vandalized" by the Joker. Awesome.

The Dark Knight

The logic stands - why would you undercut yourself by letting the fans see the movie for free? You wouldn't.

Doctors didn't remove Temari's gallbladder for free. Lawyers don't go to trial for free. Why would you let people see a movie for free? Its stupid.

Its all well and good you know words like TROLL but you obviously don't know WHY they *don't* work here. I *explained* the problem and why it doesn't work and you happened to not like it. I assume because you're one of the people that dressed up as the Joker and ran around like a goober?

Oh, so you're *biased* against the facts. Clever for you, I suppose.

Viral Marketing doesn't work for one simple reason - when you take marketing away from its context, no one knows what you're selling.

Free promotion. Same reason why viral marketing works, but I'll get to that shortly. The few thousand they will lose in these free tickets pales in comparison to the money they will save with the free promotion they will be getting from the people who will get to see the movie for free. All of whom have probably raved about how pumped they are to their friends, and then their friends have told their friends, and the cycle continues.

So no, the logic actually doesn't stand. Especially not for a movie like The Dark Knight. For Serenity, maybe, because it was a niche film with a small fanbase as it was, but even then, the free promotion it probably got from the viewers who got free tickets probably gave it a little extra push it wouldn't have otherwise had.

You didn't *explain* anything, you simply fagged up yet another perfectly good thread.

http://photos-f.ak.facebook.com/phot...99445_3768.jpg

LeHah dealing in absolutes? What a shock!

How does it flat-out not work? This is just one example, but Cloverfield wouldn't have been nearly as successful as it was if it wasn't for the viral marketing campaign that it had. In the narrow-minded context you put it in, you'd be correct, but then you're missing whole point of viral marketing - To raise awareness and brew curiosity and interest, and then spread it to others. Allow me to fix your quote for you:

Free promotion is when you hand out free samples of a product, so they know if they want to buy it.

When you jump in front of cars dressed as a clown, people don't know if you're some douche in make-up or Ronald McDonald or Cesar Romero come back from the dead.

I don't see how losing "a few thousand" is reasonable. The movie is going to do well - so why would you want to give up MORE money?

Totally different subject - but how is this any different than word of mouth? Warner Bros depended upon that for countless movies - so why invest in a loss in ticket sales?

A loss of money is a loss of money is a loss of money.

To tell who? The fans?

Wait, they already saw it.

Oh, so you decide that calling me a troll after explaining my point - and then acting it yourself is somehow defensible? I see that Keene education went far.

And what was that? Monsters smashing buildings? I must have missed that.

Since you're not in the mix since I don't talk to you since you're an internet genius - I live with lesbians now, thank you.

And yes, one of them is attractive.

They weren't lesbians until you moved in though, right?

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Lehah are you just upset that you didn't jump in front of any cars dressed as a clown?

To coin a good cartoon based off of a terrible movie - "They became lesbians because they got the best man anyone could ever have."

No, I'm upset I couldn't dress you like a clown and push you out into highway traffic. :(

a great poster (except for the ugly 'The Dark Knight' title plastered on there)

speaking of that, anyone know where you could buy this poster? i've been searching everywhere for the longest time (including ebay) :tpg:

It looks like a Bus Terminal poster. Wait a week after the movie is out - if thats what it is, they flood Ebay for a month and then are never seen again.

VERY NICE.

I was wondering anyone got in on the Joker's loot.

Probably been stated already, but the 3rd trailer very clearly shows a barrel of liquid being tipped over and Harvey Dent lying left-side-down on a floor that appears to be covered in the same (most likely flammable) liquid. So odds are definitely good that we'll see the creation of Two-Face during this movie.

Harvey Dent's quote at the end of the trailer is pretty blatant foreshadowing too. "You either die a Hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." Gee Harv, I wonder which of those you'll do.

Edit: Derp. Went back a couple pages and read the article I missed where they interviewed Eckhart. I had no idea that Two-Face was actually featured in this movie. I thought maybe they'd just burn Dent and set him up as a villain in the next one.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...untitled-3.jpg

Something I noticed watching the trailer. Can't see it that well, but you can see some of the burns. Also, that side of his suit is messed up.

I guess someone managed to take a few cell phone pictures of the film, and

Some of you guys might want to know this:

I also hear is in this movie.

Keep it under your hats.

I don't see him in the trailer.

LOL. Yeah, don't want to spoil that for anybody... But seriously, I didn't mean to start a spoiler tag-athon. ;)

I just saw this movie last night and it was insane!

I won't put any spoilers in here, but it's going to be overly annoying when people come back from seeing this saying HEATH dominated the role as the joker. Yes, he did a great job, but I can pretty much see any big name who likes comic books wrap themselves in a role and do just as good.

Beyond that, this movie is a crazy ride. There are so many tense scenes in this movie that it brings you to the edge of your seat in 'awe' because of what you're seeing in front of you.

It's crazy how you can see something very violent happen, know it's fucked up, and because of a delivered line, you'll laugh about it and thinks it's cool.

Batman had some voice problems, character wise it made sense on why he had his voice so deep, but while watching him, I was just thinking of Solid Snake talking to any given character in Metal Gear Solid 4.

I can't wait to see this movie again tonight.

Yeah. Any big name actor who likes comic books could have done this just as well.

So, uh, Vin Diesel would have torn up the role of the Joker? Oh yeah, spot on comment there.

No, not anyone could have played this role so well. Heath was fantastic at it, and stop trying to be internet cool by stepping aside and saying anyone could have done it. It just isn't true. There are a handful of people who could have played the role as well, but you know what? There were a handful of people who could have played Henry in Lion in Winter as well as Peter O'Toole. That doesn't mean he didn't completely own the role and put on one of the best performances in film history. It doesn't diminish what he did. All you can put up against it is "maybe someone else could have done a decent job of it." But that doesn't fucking -matter-. The point is he's the guy in the role and he stomped it. Get a grip. That's pretty much the most inane argument I've ever heard about an actor. "Sure he was brilliant, but I mean, someone else might have been brilliant too. So I don't want to hear about it." Please.

Also, did you see Batman Begins? Just curious. Because he uses that voice through there as well. It's not the movie's fault you played a shitty game and now have a problem with relating it to things that don't suck.

I'm all for criticism of this movie, there's plenty you could level against it, but could you try actually finding problems with the movie, instead of just rambling like a retard and expecting people to give a shit about your baseless opinions?

Wow a little harsh there. I think he's just saying that people are overrating heath's performance. I'm not sure. That's not my opinion. I haven't seen the film yet.

umm...didn't you just kinda give a shit ~_~

For the guy who quoted me above.

I am barely on this site at all, it's great to come and read topics with interesting and well thought out opinions. I think you're to wrapped up in a message board if you get so angry over something so small.

What I am saying is fair, I am not trying to find anything 'wrong' with the movie. I loved every minute of it and I am going to watch it again tonight. The little things I pointed out weren't 'bad' at all, just little things that I took notice of, such as batman's voice.

You're the one trying to pull negativity out of my comments for some reason.

No, I'm saying that if you're going to be critical, be critical in an intelligent or at least informed way. The any number of people could have done it argument? What the hell? Useless.

I'm not angry with you, I just think you have an incredibly idiotic approach to what you're doing. Just because it's the internet doesn't mean you have to be completely without intellect in what you do. Just think about your argument concerning how people shouldn't praise Heath Ledger because MAYBE someone else could have done as good a job. If you really think that holds water, maybe you should spend even less time here than you already do.

Consider coming back never if you can't see what's wrong with the logic there.

On the topic of Batman's voice, I think it's perfect. Voice is the one thing that superheroes in movies don't disguise, but Bale nailed it by doing so. Do you honestly believe that people who don't know Peter Parker wouldn't recognize his voice if they ran into Spider Man on the street? Bale goes the extra mile to fully disguise himself, AND hammers the point of Batman home - To instill fear in his enemies.

Perhaps an unfair comparison but as damn good an actor as Bale is, its still not Kevin Conroy. Two entirely different mediums and approaches but a number of Bale's lines in Batman Begins (especially "WHEAR HAR THA DRUGS?!") didn't come off as ... cleanly as Conroy does it.

Then again, Conroy has been at it for ten years and actually has gone so far to literally dissect Bruce Wayne into Hamlet.

I think you nailed the biggest reason right there. This guy has had a lot of practice with this, and a lot of time to immerse himself in the role.

Though even early in TAS, he was ridiculously good. So he might just be some sort of voice acting freak.

I think the other reason is that Conroy is a theater actor. Aside from doing some small bit parts and a TV show, everything else is Shakespeare and the like.

Similarly, this is why we like Ewan McGreggor and Hugh Jackman and Bob Peck. Theres something to be said about that particular kind of training.

Agreed. Entirely. They bring a certain depth to it.

I'm not saying people shouldn't praise Heath Ledger, I am saying he did a good job. I think because of his death, he's going to overshadow how well the other actors were.

Whatever else I said is strictly opinion, yes he was badass and cool, but not something I fell in 'awe' of. I'm not even trying to argue, you picked apart what I said and told me 'it's wrong'.

Not trying to be an asshole, but you need to lighten up a little bit.

No, that's not what you said. Or at least you didn't do a very good job conveying that meaning. If you'd said that, I wouldn't have argued. Of course his death is going to be a major point of interest for people. And of course it's going to overshadow aspects of his performance and that of others.

What you said was that a lot of other people could have done as good a job, and insinuated that his abilities were somehow overestimated here. So either you're not doing a very good job of getting your point across or you're backpeddling because you clearly didn't know what you were talking about.

Not trying to be an asshole, but just because you have an opinion doesn't mean people won't dissect it when it's clearly flawed.

Just saw the movie 30 mins ago. And I am still in a daze from how good it was. The acting from the entire cast (thank god Rachael is now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) was excellant, visual effects and stunts were mind blowing and the tension keeps escalating as the story goes on. The soundtrack also was fantastic and I was glad I refrained from downloading the leaked version before I see it, it was very effective in the movie. And the ending leaves open for a sequel like Batman Begins did.

And I hope a 3rd one does get filmed.

The only qualms I had was that the movie was a little long, which I think they could have cut some some mins from a car chase sequence in the middle.

And I swear to God, Joker's theme is like something out of Silent Hill. Creepiest character theme I have heard so far.

You realize what you just said is "I'm not an asshole but I'm going to act like it anyway."

I wasn't trying to attack the person, I just don't think the responses should have been carried out the way they were.

Since the movie is being shown in theaters today, it's going to be great hearing what many people have to say about it. I can't imagine much negativity, but if people don't like it, it's going to be interesting to hear their views.

A nickle's worth of free advice - stop talking for a while.

I just got back. I thought this was great all around. Seriously perfect acting. Heath WILL win that Oscar.

However, honestly I was disappointed a bit. I was just expecting more I guess and waiting for a climatic point, and IMO it didn't happen for me.

This is coming from a huge Batman fan. I've probably watched Begins more than anyone on this site. I WENT ALONE tonight to go see the film so I could have no distractions. I even listened to the score ALL week.

All that, it was a great movie.

Keep dreaming, kids.

I always thought we would end up with a brokeback / bareback joker but after seeing all the TV ad's and watching X ammount of minutes into the movie I can clearly see I was wrong.


The whole Heath drug overdose /death may or may not over shadow every one elses acting, lets hope not because they all were good!!

I still think Jack Nicholson was a better joker but Heath did fit the role of a more sinister joker...

Yeah, what was the last Oscar given to a dead actor? Peter Finch for Network? Trying to compare Finch's broken-down newsanchor with what I saw last night isn't fair to Finch.

I am thinking this movie will be close to one of the highest-grossing films in Australian history after all the coverage this is getting here. It's all about Heath, how it's unfair that he'll won't be alive for his Oscar win and other such nonsense. It's pretty pathetic, but I did enjoy the film. Not as much Batman character development this time around, probably done deliberately as that was the main focus of the first movie, but it still would have been nice.

Just saw the movie, I seriously didn't know what to say. Fantastic? I felt Christian Bale did a good job, and Heath Ledger was pretty creepy as Joker. I felt the dude that played Harvey Dent was good too. I'm impressed, and very entertained.

I'll probably going for a second round soon.

$18.5 million for midnight showings ALONE

Yeah, this is gonna whip Spidey 3's ass.

Also, I loved it... Full review coming eventually.

It was a fantastic movie. It exceeded my expectations, and it topped Batman Begins by miles. Ledger was great too, he definitely got into the role of The Joker, and didnt make it comic booky at all, and the same goes with everyone and everything about this film. To me, that's what makes it great..it has this realism factor, so you feel like this could happen.


Plus

Me. Saw that gimick before in Batman Forever.

They did that in Forever? I must be suppressing the traumatic memories of watching it.

The part where he destroys the Riddler's stupid TV gizmo at the end of the movie.

Ugh. I just remember everything being neon green and purple, Tommy Lee Jones chewing scenery, and the inclusion of Robin. Just remembering that much hurts my brain. Man I am glad I never saw Batman and Robin.

I'm super looking forward to watching this movie soon. And not just for the Heath Ledger hype, but I just love these sort of dark, brooding films!

I just saw the Dark Knight(well technically I saw it yesterday) and it managed to exceed my already high expectations. As with most people, I felt that Ledger was absolutely amazing as the Joker. He was everything the Joker should be, funny, menacing, and creepy as well. There were several times during the movie where he made me squirm in my seat. Seriously everyone should go and see this movie.

Any one want to take a guess if we will see Two face in future Movies?

On a side note I've come to realize there is no real comparing the different versions. The original Series started out goofy in the 60's and became more serious in the 90's despite being somewhat campy after Michael Keaton left.

That was great for the 90's.. The here and now 2000's demand a more sinister and serious version, I must say so far both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight have delivered...


I don't think Jack Nicolson could have pulled it off in this version nor Heath leger pulled it off in the 90's version..

i just catch the movie and hour ago, in imax, it was marvelous, never felt so inside in a movie like this time. ill catch it on a normal theather on next week.
now for the movie, i like it a lot, and it set the standart bar really, really high for comic book movies, my god the joker was so convencing, scary and maniopulator, quite impressive.
im pleased with the movie. enjoy it alot, the 2 hours waiting time in line was really worth it.

Anyone notice Batgirl? Or at least the lack of. Like Gordon's daughter is never really shown. She doesn't have a speaking role either. I guess it's a nod towards Batgirl? Well very implicitly.

I didn't even think about that!! It could be possible...

I'd rather the Batfamily never be involved if they aren't willing to work the idea of Robin into these films.

I wouldn't have complained if they introduced Robin in this one, only to be killed by the Joker halfway through.

Why would you have someone other than Bale take over now that he's identified with the character?

Also, Bale has offically stated that if they introduce Robin, he's not doing future movies.

Not to take the mantle forever [remember Knightquest?], but to show the 'limits' of Bruce, the very thing Alfred warned him about in this new film. Plus, I wouldn't want a Robin either, so I think they could adapt without one.

Making a feature-length Batman film where the major plot thread is "Batman is hurt and can't do a goddamn thing" isn't exactly compelling. Bane is probably one of the easier villains to bring to the screen, but the rest of the Knightfall arc is just an endless series of awkward winces.

The only member of the extended bat-family that really fits into the films thematically is possibly the Cassandra Cain Batgirl. Anything else would just drive the films into the same painfully-campy ground as the last series.

This is true. Nueva-Batman ended up just being a lot of stupid thought-boxes and him talking about "The System" over and over like Gollum.

I think a Batgirl story could be done if its handled correctly. It would be very hard to do, but the cartoon series did it very well (mostly because it was sparingly done until the WB season)

Hmm you think so? I dont know man...I think it would be interesting to see how far Nolan can take his Batman against a villain such as Bane. As you said, it would be easy to bring him to the screen, and I think Nolan could definitely do it And I agree to NOT bring an entire arc in, but obviously the screenwriters of these films were inspired by the arcs of the past...why not get inspired with that arc.

Saw the movie and thought it was awesome, honestly way too much hype over it, but I still liked it. Obviously Joker stole the show since it was the rise of a new villain in which Gotham has never seen before but didn't care so much for batman. Usually in a super hero flick the main character is out of costume for most of the film but for this one, since they weren't using cgi they thought "Lets milk the batman as much as we can" which is good because it shows the good/harm that batman does but I would have liked to have seen more other than "Oh damn I'm fucking things up now"

I agree with some of the things that lehah said


Anyways, the joker's scenes are the best. I could have probably been satisfied with the movie by just watching his scenes alone. Not that the other scenes were bad, I'm just a fan of the joker.

Saw it for the second time today, and man, it's absolutely amazing. It's not often that I like a movie so much that I go right back and see it again, and what's crazy is that I feel like I could see it again tomorrow and still enjoy it a lot.

As for Heath Ledger, he is The Joker. He did a marvelous job. He's a shoo-in for a Best Actor nom, if not the award itself.

I loved Iron Man, but I have to say The Dark Knight tops that. Awesome that we got two fantastic superhero movies already this year.

EDIT: Hopefully no one listens to LeHah.

Translation: "I know nothing about films, or how they work, but I'll make sweeping comments anyway."

Please explain to me what's so wrong with that statement.

You like things too much. That makes you uncool.

No, the problem is that the statement *is* a sweeping one by design.

The year isn't over yet and we're already saying who should be nominated for what? Have you or I or anyone else here seen every movie to come out for 2008? Of course not - we're half-way done, lets see what else there is before everyone agrees to blow each other over a fucking sympathy vote because the fucker is dead.

Yeah, that's it. It's certainly not that there is no way in hell Heath will get an Oscar for playing a fake-crazy (read: not even remotely realistic) person in a comic book movie. It won't happen. The academy never comes close to this kind of choice.

Was he good? Yes. Very. Will he win an Oscar? No chance in hell. Will he get a nomination? Almost assuredly no.

Liking things to the point of having no logic at all? That's a problem, yes.

And Cat, you keep thinking intelligent is just a way for people to think they're better than you. Good hustle, internet nobody #10383.

You're wrong. That makes you unsmart.

Also, does anyone else see the complete fallacy in declaring an actor in a comic book movie the winner of an award based on, among other things, 5 months of movies that haven't come out yet?

God damnit, apparently Deni does. Beaten to it.

Yeah dont post your opinions about the movie or actor anymore, that is, unless you are a film school grad or know the ins and outs of hollywood.

What a bunch of a-holes.

Obviously I haven't seen every movie that's come out, and like you said, there are plenty more to come this year. I'm just saying that based on this performance, I would think he would get a nom for best actor. The majority of the people voting are actors, correct? Maybe I'm just cynical, but I have to believe his death will bring him votes.

Not realistic as far as crazy Joker-like people go? Judging him based on that seems kind of silly to me.

I'm not very familiar with the academy's voting history. I was just assuming that based on his amazing performance + his death, he would get the nod. But if they don't go for stuff like this, then forget it.

EDIT: Should have said Best Supporting Actor.

No, just don't go declaring something the winner of an award before you see all the options. How are you to know that there won't be 5 performances even more brilliant than Heath Ledger's?

The bolded part is opinion, the rest of it is attempting to predict the future. Difference.

I can't seem to load page 12. I'm sorry if this is an interrupt, or if my opinion doesn't agree with you folks.

I went to see the film on Friday night, which was PROBABLY a bad idea. I've never EVER seen lines and SOLD OUT signs for one movie like this before. I almost walked out because I couldn't fathom a Batman movie being THAT great.

I wanted to think about the movie for a couple of days before I said anything.

But that movie was NOT that great. The only thing that I found made it watchable was Ledger's role (hate scream yell at me). I don't know much about the mythology of Batman, but I did enjoy Batman Begins. I don't know exactly WHAT persona the Joker is supposed to have except for the things Pang has told me, and of course, my childhood run-in with Jack Nicholson. I tried my very best to erase all of it for Ledger. And he amazed me. I loved, loved, loved the character.

But the movie itself was the same repetitive shit and it dragged on. Again, I'm ignorant when it comes to Batman and the stories that go along with him, but it was pretty... dull except for some very exciting bits.

Was I the only one completely underwhelmed by Eckhart's performance?

I'm sure I'll catch a lot of flack for my opinion on the film, but if I were to watch it again, it would only be for The Joker. The mannerisms had me laughing.

Or have some basic knowledge about the film industry, yeah. Please don't talk unless you know what you're talking about.

Man, what a bunch of elitist pricks.

Also, no, the majority of the SAG awards are voted on by actors, not the Oscars.

EDIT:

Sass, I'm not sure how you were underwhelmed by Eckhart, he did very well given how much he had to work with. Also, the reason it dragged on was some screenplay issues (Dead, now not dead. Oh but SHE'S totally dead. For reals. Could have cut out a step there.) as well as a few issues with the writing getting very over the top from time to time (immovable object speech was rubbish. As was the whole Joker is an agent of chaos and hates plans-but-uses-plans-all-the-time bullshit, not to mention the whole fifteen minute opening was plagued with troubles.) but overall, I'd say the biggest reason you didn't like it was exactly what you said: You're not a Batman fan. It's like going to Field of Dreams with no concept of the Black Sox. It's just not going to be the same experience.

FUUUCK YEAR, Batman. I enjoyed it.

I was however, disappointed by the lack of Audi and Burger King in the movie. Am i rite, Deni?

ur so rong.

Eh, I'm a huge Batman fan. Hell, I know who Ducard was from the comics before they used the name and not the character in Batman Begins - and I was disappointed in this movie.

I didn't say anyone who liked Batman would love this movie. I said it would be hard for someone who didn't like Batman to care and get involved.

Well, tell that to the movie writers who kept shoving expository remarks about HOW CA-RAZY the Joker is.

For people that didn't need to know anything about Batman before walking into the movie, they sure did treat everyone like a fucking idiot.

Wait, you mean those guys at the beginning were working for the joker? The guys in the clown faces worked for a crazy guy called the Joker? Man, I really wish there'd been some audio clues to make it more salient for me that the Joker was the boss of that clown gang. Because man, they sure didn't let me know the JOKER JOKER JOKER JOKER JOKER JOKER etc.

It seems silly to me that you two get hung up on something like that. It's very believable that they would be talking about him using his moniker. That doesn't make me think, "Oh, Nolan is doing this to make sure the crowd knows these guys are working for the Joker." I just think, "OK, these guys were just brought on to do this job by the Joker and they're curious about him and naturally talking to the other guys about him."

Either way, I fail to see how that's an issue big enough to dwell on. If that somehow dampened your enjoyment of the movie, that's unfortunate.

Because I'm an intellectual in my everyday life, I don't like being talked to like an idiot. You may not mind having things explained to you in strained exposition in a pointless scene - but I do because my brain works.

Its not my fault you're stupid - but its because of people like you that the movie pandered the dialouge to such an extent.

I liked the Dark Knight alot, and I actually think it was better than the first movie. This one had so much going on all the time between dark humor and right back to action that I found I was always focused on it and not the packed theater. (people were standing) Not to mention the music was excellent and the strings played up the tension in some spots till it was almost unbearable. S

Not to mention Heath probably is the best joker I've ever seen, it was flawless to the point that I could believe the joker walks the streets today.

Yeah I did notice batmans voice was kind of a goofy hardass thing, but it had been awhile since I saw Batman begins so I realized that was normal.

so, I would definately recommend this to anyone, even if you're not into action films, this movie has something for everyone.

Sure. I mean, I will WATCH the movies, and I will enjoy the movies (usually), but I don't go out of my way to read the comics or the mythology of the characters. I'm sure they're great, but they're not my schtick - I just like some intense action movies.

I went to the movie because I heard all the hype. Yes, I shouldn't have listened, but it's kind of hard when everyone is talking about how FANTASTIC it is, and you want to see what they're talking about.

As a movie, though? Underwhelmed in general. Remove the Batman aspect and what have you got? Just another action movie with some force-fed pseudo-intellectual message.

:lol:

Please refrain from making assumptions about my intelligence. I totally understand where you're coming from when you say you don't want everything explained to you as if you're stupid. I appreciate movies that don't do that, and when they do, it's definitely annoying. I just didn't get any sense of that from their repeated mentions of The Joker. Again, it seems perfectly reasonable that guys in that situation would talk about The Joker by name (and use his name multiple times). I don't think that's necessarily Nolan doing that for the sake of the presumably slow audience.

The Joker was apparently making moves well after the incident in Batman Begins, he's a known presence to the Gotham PD, anyone who watched Batman Begins would be able to associate "Joker Playing Card" with "Joker." It's not "perfectly reasonable" to have a whole bunch of guys basically tip off who their boss is when they're wearing clown masks and blowing each other away. The scene would have had much more impact had they not been going off at the mouth about "SO HE HIRED YOU TOO?"

I took that as legitimate bullshit by the Joker; the point of the speech was to convince Harvey that he should kill people besides the Joker.

Which is why he totally let Harvey put a loaded gun up to his head and left it entirely to chance.

Interesting theory... Joker did like to lie alot. One thing he did, which for some reason Roger Ebert COMPLETELY missed, was that he tells multiple stories in regards to what happened to his face. It wouldn't be out of the realm of impossibility that he was just completely fucking with everybody.

I'm not sure how what I said excludes potentially killing the Joker.

You might have pegged it. It's the whole nemesis setup that drives the film, so if you don't enjoy the back and forth between them, then....well, that doesn't leave a lot. =/

Well, he doesn't really do it for chance. If Harvey had killed him, the end result would have been the same as if he had corrupted Batman. Joker would have brought down the white knight. Joker was fully ready to die earlier if it would mean Batman breaks his One Rule. So it comes back to the word choice and the fact that it's not really chaos but enough direct subversion that it might as well be chaos.

See how you just outlined the plan of a psychopath who apparently doesn't like plans but talks about an immovable object and an unstoppable force?

I haven't seen the film, but

it seems like this "Joker" character might be somehow inconsistent in his motivations or behaviors

am I understanding this right

Crazy is a great motivation for a villain and should always have concrete explanations made to explain the depths of its waters

ROTORBLADE YOU CANNOT PUT CONCRETE IN DEEP WATER

IT WILL SINK

YOUR IDEAS VIOLATE ALL LAWS OF PHYSICK

This is probably the briefest and most intelligent description I've seen of the movie yet.

I'm not sure I agree. We never know the story behind Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet - but not only is he completely fucking insane and scary as hell - but his performance isn't some crappy insanity pastiche usually reserved for the worst episodes of Law And Order: Special Victims Unit. You know, like the one where that kid played that Dungeons And Dragons videogame and tried to save his dead stepsister?

MAYBE THAT WAS THE PLAN ALL ALONG

THOU CUNNING DEVIL

I was being sarcastic there, in all seriousness. I hate "crazy" as a discussion point in most villains, especially in the Joker's case. Because it's rarely going to hit a note beyond "Psuedo-Intellectual." And if that's usually the case, there's always someone who wants to fucking discuss the motivations of a guy who has no background and is just. Fucking. Crazy.

With pang, this is all ending up like that time where it was somehow made out that I'm arguing about a the continuity of a guy in a blue suit of underwear fighting for everlasting peace instead of just saying a guy is full of shit and giving the reason for it

these things happen, though

Work with me here. Try replacing every instance of the word "crazy" in the film with "antisocial."

Does this make you feel better (Y/N)?

Is there a third answer where I say that's a dumb line of discussion in trying to get me to admit I'd rather him be a different character rather than have the same character with less "explain someone's psychosis with no foundation or background?"

I think its a fantastic discussion point. The problem is that almost no one is properly equipt to discuss the topic.

And then you have the other half who are these third year pysch majors who think its clever to attempt to profile a comic book character. Yeah, okay, keep that up and you'll be a short-order cook for truckers in three years time.

This is exactly a problem with TDK - the "lets sit around and discuss our motivations!" like a goddamned summer camp sing-along. You know why Mask Of The Phantasm is the best Batman movie made? They don't discuss the reasons, they just tell a story; everything you can ask for is there if you decide to break it down, instead of the writer throwing it in your face.

I agree with you there, more or less, LeHah. It's just, again, when I saw "That's a great theory" or something on the last page, I just rolled my eyes. Yes, that is SUCH a great point about nothing.

I'm not throwing the DSM-IV at you, I'm just using some basic stuff.
I do not think it is a stretch to call someone who murders for fun antisocial.

Could be wrong though. It'd be nice if I could ask a genuine question without someone trying to take me to task for some imagined butthurt.

Internets. :rolleyes:

In "The Dark Knight" Joker's case, I think the vagueness of his insanity in this film blankets him under a variety of mental disorders. Part of me wants to say "It goes without saying that he's anti-social" and another doesn't want to know what your point is behind it. I mean, if that comes off as aggressively "butthurt" and whatever, sorry for being backhanded. Nothing else to call it.

Several Batman villains have sociopathic/psychotic tendancies. It's also worth noting that they happen to have actual backgrounds which makes discussing them in context to their source material (the comic they're in, the movie they're in, the television show they're in) a lot more gratifying. Do I feel it's worth trying to pinpoint this Joker's motivations in this movie? No. He plays his role of "Crazy" fine, even if I'm annoyed with a few of his lines. Fun to watch, not exactly meaningful or enjoyable to discuss.

I'm not sure how you jumped from my interpretation of one piece of dialogue to pseudo-intellectualism, but okay.


So, Batman. Everybody likes Batman, right?

YouTube Video

Considering we were talking about motivations and dialogue, your comment was a decent springboard.

Well, I don't really care about his motivations and such. What I've been wondering is what are they gonna do with the Joker now that they have obviously set him up as a continuing arch-rival for Batman, but the actor playing him went and killed himself.

Perhaps dunk him in the vat of chemicals at the beginning of the next film he is featured in so there is a decent excuse for him looking, acting, and sounding different?

All right, let's get one thing straight right from the beginning: This movie isn't perfect. It's far from it. All those reviews you see stating how near perfect the movie is? They're lying. There are some really blatant flaws in it.

But it is salvaged quite nicely by other aspects, thankfully. So before I lean into this, I'm stating quite plainly: I think you should see this movie.

Now, I went into this movie fairly hyped. I'm a Batman fan going back a long way, and I'd seen some early footage of Heath Ledger playing the Joker and I was intrigued. I liked a lot of things about the hype going in, though I was understandably skeptical about the Oscar buzz surrounding Ledger (and still am) and screams about this being the best movie in years.

Twenty minutes in, I thought the movie was going to be rubbish. The bank heist scene was one of the worst written bits of script I've ever seen. How many times do we need to drop the Joker's name? I'm an intelligent guy, I could draw the connection between clown masks and the later appearance of the Joker. Nevermind the playing card at the end of Begins, the visual clues in the bank heist alone were more than enough. I felt talked down to and it was irritating. Also, you're telling me NO ONE would notice one of that line of school buses covered in mortar, or, I don't know, PULLING OUT OF THE WALL OF A BANK? Come on.

That scene could have been so much better if they'd just had the guys offing each other one after the other, with the eventual reveal of the Joker at the end. We'd have gotten it. We're all readers, here. We don't need our hands held. Less is more, Chris Nolan and Chris Nolan's brother. Less is more.

This movie also suffers from an unfortunate bout of Return of the King-ism. The gazillion endings really hamper the pacing, which had just begun to recover from the Jim-Gordon-Is-Dead-No-He-Isn't-But-Rachel-Really-IS-dead-LOL abortion at the midpoint. Want me to care about someone being dead? A) don't make them Maggie Gyllenhaal delivering a painfully flat performance, B) don't kill off someone and make them come back to life ten minutes before you kill off someone else. It dampened the effect, quite noticably. Structure is an important thing, and it just got undercut by that bit of wandering story.

Also, and this is largely nerdery so don't count this as film criticism, how are you going to have Batman use guns on the batpod? Really? REALLY?

Okay, onto the really important bits that everyone cares about.

How was the Joker as a character? Well, he was entertaining, and certainly fun to watch. A few people have gone off on his being contradictory, but that doesn't bother me. I think the agent of chaos rubbish was largely a story invented for Dent's benefit and can be chalked up to the multitude of stories concerning how he got his facial scars; dude just likes fucking with people. HOWEVER, there was entirely too much time spent with Joker explaining his motivations. Especially with that godawful soliloquy he delivered once he was captured by The Batman.

You know when the Joker was truly effective? When he was silently staring through prison bars, or performing magic tricks, or riding in the backseat of a police car with his face hanging out the window like the family dog. The less he explained himself, the better he worked. Whenever they started delving into the nature of Joker's madness, it cheapened him. Joker summed up his motivation properly twice: "You're just too much fun" and "this city deserves a better class of criminal." That's it. That's all you need. None of this terribly written immovable object rubbish. Why does he do it? Because he's good at it, and he likes it. The thing that let me enjoy Joker in this flick was thinking of him as Machiavellian rather than an agent of chaos.

So how about Harvey Dent? How did Dent work? Surprisingly well, given he's basically a narrative device. Eckhart is an actor I've really liked ever since I saw him in Thank You For Smoking, and though I wasn't as dazzled by him here, it was reminiscent of Benicio Del Toro in Usual Suspects, taking what could have been a throwaway character and making him memorable. The little teasings of his being a less than savoury guy, threatening the mobster, railing against Batman, the fact he's an ex-IA weasel, it was all nicely set-up for his eventual turn towards Two Face. Of course, if you know Batman at all, you saw it coming a mile off, but if I hadn't known anything about the comics at all, I'd have appreciated the "live long enough to see yourself become the villain" bit more. As it stood, I liked the fall of Dent, and the way he was manipulated into not-evil, but just frustration. He did everything right, he played by the rules, he was a good guy, and all it got him was a dead fiancee (he should thank Joker for that bit) and a burned up face. I appreciated they never made him overtly evil, just a guy with a strong sense of justice getting pushed a little too far and losing his grip on what makes him tick.

Now. As for THE BATMAN. Great Bruce Wayne. Great, fantastic, brilliant. Loved him basically playing his character from American Psycho. He came off as egotistical, arrogant and a complete prick. Great. That's Bruce Wayne. I loved it. The massive control freak nature was there, it worked. Now, the batvoice. Yes, it's irritating, but we all knew that. For some reason it didn't bother me as much this time out, probably because I was used to it. The one thing I was truly glad I did before seeing this was watch the Gotham Knight, as it worked as a very nice tonal accompaniment to the film, especially as it concerned Batman's increasing frustration with what he had to be. I could have used a bit more mortality from Batman, see him a little more battle damaged and beat up, as they did with Gotham Knight, a little of that internal conflict externalised. He's getting sloppy as his focus becomes less. He's never meant to be a hero, he makes a lousy hero, and he knows it. And this time, can we not have Jim Gordon narrate HOW he's going to be the whipping boy for the city when they've just explained it to us, please?

Now, on the upside, the score was wonderfully matched to the movie. And it was shot exceptionally well from a cinematography perspective. Depth of focus, colour contrasts, transitions and framing were exquisite. I was especially impressed with the muted sounds as Joker hung his head out the window after escaping Police custody. That moment of sheer elation worked so well without doing anything overt to highlight it. It was what the entire movie should have been.

Also, Chris Nolan has learned how to shoot an action sequence. Good on him. Much better than the atrocity that was Batman Begins fight sequences. The whole movie had a fantastic tone, and that's what tilts me from not liking it to enjoying it. Despite some major flaws with the screenplay, it still managed to feel dark and brooding while keeping my attention with decent pacing (with certain exceptions, as I've pointed out) and it's this overall tone that keeps me from calling this movie overhyped rubbish. I think it was Sass who pointed out that if you strip away all the Batman stuff, it's just an action film with delusions of grandeur. Well no kidding, that's what it is even -with- the Batman aspects of it. But it's a pointless revelation. Action films are a genre to themselves, and at least this movie attempts to do something beyond the basics, although I think it overshoots and hurts itself at times. Comparing this movie to things like Blue Velvet is like comparing Indiana Jones to Bridge on the River Kwai. It's apples and oranges.

No, it's not as smart as people make it out to be, but in terms of action movies, it's smarter than most. The problem is simply when it tries too hard and makes itself look like a kid in political palace arguing about how Islam is fine because no one gets raped in Iran. Sometimes it's best just to be concise and not make yourself look like the complete git you really are.

I'll take Dark Knight, and even really pandering pseudo-intellectual schlock like Equilibrium any day. Because do you know what action movies are when they lose the delusions of grandeur?



Yeah. I'm siding with delusions of grandeur here. Even pseudo-intellectualism beats that shit any day of the week. It's a comic book movie that is actually a decent ride. I personally hope it rubs off on the rest of the genre, and we see less Iron Man and more Batman. Definitely watchable and enjoyable if you ignore some fatal flaws, but the hype is just that.

You son of a bitch, Deni. What did Iron Man ever do to you!? You try to sell some goddamned cars and look what you have to go off at the mouth about. We all know what this is about. This is what happens when an advertisable force hits a guy who's father never bought him a goddamned Whopper.

You got me. I hate Iron Man because I'm a Wendy's guy.

Now you know my secret (delicious baconator-laden) shame.

I disagree and adamantly - and I'll tell you why if you give me enough elbow room.

Pseudo-intellectualisms got us crap like V For Vendetta (which is basically backhanded support of fascism) and Pan's Labyrinth (Liberal apologist bullshit for the Franco regime) while actual genuine criticisms of fascism or liberal stupidity like Starship Troopers are shoe-horned as nihilistic garbage. (People who like TDK cannot like Starship Troopers - because one force-feeds the audience while the other makes absolutely no qualms with its moral uncertainty.)

Protip: Starship Troopers is one of the most important movies you will ever watch because it breaks the single most sacred convention of war movies - and ends up making a much more important point on the topic of war than Platoon or Saving Private Ryan ever could attempt in their best wet dreams.

The Dark Knight is similar. The movie is handing a gun loaded with half-assed bullshit to a crowd of comic book fans in an roughshod attempt to be intelligent. Now, I'm all for intellectual comic book movies that fail in-so-far as they're earnest in the attempt (see - Hulk) but TDK is nothing more than a series of community college midterm essays on some half-understood Jungian imagery and maybe some super-basic concepts of duology thrown in.

This is dangerous in the ways that Kevin Smith is dangerous - its not intellectual, its fucking Philosophy For Dummies. So now you've armed every Joe Queer and Betsy Buttfuck with some stupid egotistical chin-stroke where they all can argue about topics that go straight over their fucking IQs.

"Yes," they agree together, "Joker does complete Batman!"

No no no. Thats something which has been discussed and taken apart and insinuated at for 60 years; if you're a screenwriter and you can't say such a thing in subtle terms, you shouldn't be writing this kind of shit. This is like letting Maxim into Joseph Campbell's private study.

I know you get this Deni, and thats why its frustrating to me. With more time, perhaps you'll notice that the cracks in the movie are in fact faults which the whole thing comes apart under. Its pop culture intellectualism for the people who need to be smashed over the head with Jim Beam bottles to see the obvious. You are not so stupid and neither am I - and liking a movie for those reasons is to lower yourself to the ignorances of the average American idiot.

But, see, that's not why I like it. Everything I dislike about this movie is precisely what you outlined. I hate the kids who walk out of that theatre pontificating about how Joker is a perfect foil for Batman, a mirror reflection blah blah blah. Absolute fucking twats. No argument from me. But you're approaching this from the perspective of it perpetuates idiocy and will encourage it. I'm approaching it from the perspective that idiocy is so firmly rooted in the culture that nothing is ever going to change it, and as such, I just assume I'll write reviews for people able to differentiate between faux-philosophy and actual intelligent conversation.

You're absolutely right, this is the sort of movie that leads to people running around in a coffee shop late at night, sipping a no-whip, extra hot, caramel latte and talking about Nietzsche while understanding nothing of the context. Won't argue that.

Maybe I'm just more pessimistic than you, but I think those people would do that about the Muppet Show or Finding Nemo if they didn't have another outlet. I just don't talk to them. I ignore these people. I live in a drivel free Universe where no one tries to explain to me how Joker is some sort of a biblical reference to Abel. So I ignore it.

My enjoyment of this film is purely based on the perspective of a guy who spends a lot of time behind a camera, and they crafted a nice bit of cinematic art. The story is rubbish, I agree with that. It's poorly written and it's painful, but I like the brush strokes on the canvas.

Idiots will proliferate not because there are movies for stupid people, but because stupid people lack the drive to read anything beyond school textbooks or graphic novels. It's not an intelligent flick, it's not even a step in the right direction, but it is a departure from something like Spider Man. And I'll take that for what it is. Not a victory, but at least a draw.

P.S.

I fucking love Starship Troopers.

Hogwash. Your defense is that people will kill people no matter what, so we shouldn't have gun laws.

Any type of bolstering the ignorant to remain ignorant and perpetuate ignorance is a bad thing and this movie is exactly this type of coddling.

I don't think I'd've found the exposition or the cliche crime set-ups or the average acting so insulting if the fucking thing didn't TELL YOU exactly what to think. Theres no fucking excuse for pulling the teeth out of the viper, except that everyone is afraid to be bitten and this movie simply attempts to gum everyone to death.

A draw is not good enough. It should never be good enough. Why the fuck would you ever want to be placated?

Agreed, which is largely why I lit into it. Far too much explanation, to the point I didn't have to think about a damn thing in it. And I violently disliked that. You're focusing on the bit where I said I preferred it to Live Free or Die Hard and said I think people should go watch it. You're ignoring the stuff in the middle where I rip into it for being incredibly flawed.

I think this is a Summer useless flick, and that it's better than Brendan Fraiser Goes to the Center Of the Planet 3D. So if you're going to go see a movie in the IMAX, this would be the one. I'm not saying I'm happy it's going to break Box Office records everywhere. I'm not saying it should be taught in film classes. Obviously it shouldn't be. It's simplistic and insulting in how its brought across. I just think it's the best bit of drivel out there.

Maybe the disconnect here is that I didn't preface this by saying I haven't been impressed with the movie industry in a very, very, very long time.

Though I am curious, LeHah. What's your take on the Prestige?

Edit:

And I don't -want- a draw. I -want- a great film and a renewal of intelligent film making. I'm saying -this- was a draw. You really think I enjoy this more than I do.

Interrupting in a clash of titans just to post this tidbit. The Bat Pod is a bitch to ride.

I saw one turn-of-the-century magician movie in 2006 and it was The Illusionist.

I dug the Illusionist, quite a bit.

Also, we're completely agreed on what this movie represents. We just disagree on the hope for the future of our culture. That's a bloated topic you and I can get into on AIM sometime. But it's certainly fair to say that if you and I got a movie made the way we like them, it would do hideously at the box office.

Guys. Has it ever occurred to you that, while your gripes and complaints about how a certain movie is made may or may not be warranted, you guys just happen to over-analyze every single thing to the point where you no longer enjoy a simple popcorn movie?

You'd have a point - if this were Iron Man. But its not, so you're in the wrong conversation.

Yeah, I hear this a lot. And for me it comes down to the fact that I demand a little more out of a popcorn movie than a lot of people do. People say I over intellectualize the movie going experience, and I say people are too willing to shut their brains off for the sake of hollow entertainment. It's a trade off I'm not willing to make.

See, I agree with this too but I actually have a threshold of lobotomy I'm willing to endure for the sake of entertainment. I don't expect perfection out of every film that I watch/endure/survive (Circle one please) but I do expect a somewhat decent level of production value without resorting to cheap shots, camera tricks, CG, so-called "star power" and hamfisted marketing campaigns. After all, we don't live in the perfect world after all and not every single movie is directed by Pierre-Jeunet.

tl;dr version: Are we better off watching Transformers or a Nolan-esque Batman?

NO DUMBASS because liberal college fags will talk about this movie nonstop at the local starbucks, those stupid ASSHOLES, I wish they'd stop pushing their farcical "intelligence" into my face!!! If you don't expect every fucking movie EVER to feature the best damn writing you have ever seen then you are simply letting ignorance grab society and choke it by the throat http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/im...ons/icon13.gif

In other news, I found a screenshot of the next Batman villain, I'm kind of excited.

Well, not before I ram my massive meathammer down society's throat, you puckered-tight conservative asshole.

This conversation is going the right way, right?

hell yes baby ;)

EDIT: to make this not a worthless post, I thought it was a good movie. Certainly should please Batman fans who have just been fucked in the ass by previous films.

LZ, I don't think every movie will be the best movie ever made. I don't think every movie will have a perfect script. I just wish it would. If you're cool with things sucking, that's your problem.

And Beaner, the fact you put Transformers up as the opposing force shows that you missed the point. It's not that one isn't better than the other, it's that they could be SO MUCH BETTER.

No, I got that too... But at what point are we willing to sacrifice what little redeeming qualities they have in order to bitch and moan about all the shit that went wrong?

It's not bitching and moaning, it's being critical. And it's not exactly a character trait to be shameful of.

Continuing with what Encephalon said - Is it possible that filmmakers sometimes simply create a fantasy in which the characters and events are to be taken at face value and not over-analyzed? I'm not saying that's the case with TDK, I just wonder if you critique every movie as if it has messages that the writer/director was trying to subtly communicate when it's quite possible that he/she did not mean to "say" anything but instead just wanted to make an entertaining flick.

It's not a matter of over-analyzing, it's a matter of analyzing. Critical thought is not pretentious, it's just underused.

And I'm sure there's people who set out to just make a flick for the sake of making a flick. But setting out to create something purely entertaining still requires you to have a plot, or a message. Something. Or else the movie just collapses into itself like so much boneless Orson Welles.

IT'S A VERY NICE MOVIE
 

Right, and that draws this conversation to a close.

Considering that the last movie to hold most of those records was fucking Spider-Man 3, I'd say lesser of two evils should come into play.

Touche.

So wait.

Enceph steps in to tell people to stop discussing the movie.

Then LZ comes in and fails at what the internet construes as farce or humor or something.

And this is the community we all signed up for? Yuck.

You know what? If this is about the most complicated thought you can process from this, we'll just go ahead and go with that. http://www.gamingforce.org/forums/im...ons/icon14.gif

I will seriously never understand why you subliminally hate this place so much and still remain here.

Oh, so you only respond to the parts of a post you choose to. How clever.

I cannot fathom why a staff member wants to kill a thread topic for absolutely no reason. You basically come off as someone's snot-nosed kid brother trying to butt in on a conversation between adults. If you're not going to fucking add anything to the pre-exisiting conversation, its okay to sit one out, rope-a-dope.

The Dark Knight (2008)

9.6 lol

Rated higher than the Godfather. And a solid 1.0 above Dr. Strangelove.

Welcome to the bizarro world that is imdb ratings.

The whole idea of rating movies in relation to other movies is so logically bankrupt that I can't imagine why anyone would expect the results to be anything other than stupid. Is "Rear Window" better than "Psycho"? What does that even mean

It means people really like funny exit lines.

Oh wow, just wow. I think you've just pushed your character over the line from comedy into farce with those two statements mate.

Well, honestly, I wouldn't care about the rating so much if it wasn't for the fact that there were already 70,000 votes (which is quite a lot). I mean, you often see new movies with a 9.x rating based on a couple of thousands of votes, and a few weeks later, the rating has dropped to 7 or 8. I don't see it happen to this movie.

Popular opinion; the eternal enemy of pompous Film Studies students.

The Hulk, while it didn't get where it was going, was basically nothing more than a child neglect story.

V For Vendetta is literally "If you don't agree with us, you're not only wrong, you're also Hitler".

Ha ha ha, I see what you mean. I was a big fan of the V graphic novel before I saw the film so I guess knowing all the rest of the story that gets left out makes it slighty less in-your-face preachy. Also, living under our current government makes it seem a bit more relevant possibly. Also it's got Stephen Fry playing himself (For a change) which is always a good thing.

The Hulk, I always felt was punching rather above it's weight in terms of message delivery. The ending particulatly destroyed any credibility it might have had up to that point, they should have killed him and had a poignant, introspective end instead of that jungle bullshit.

It's certainly a movie that is darned sure it has a message but can't even begin to figure out what it's supposed to be. It's one of those movies that idiots think is clever, like The Matrix. (As opposed to, say, Fight Club. Fight Club is a fairly smart movie ruined entirely by people, V is a fairly stupid movie treated the same way. I'd say there's still something to Fight Club; It's not the amazing meaning of life that every disaffected myspace user has been insisting for the past several years, but it does say something.)

V, though, is pretty far from subversive. Just the opposite, even -- it removes things from the comic to make it more appealing to general people... and all the stuff it adds are really really generic obvious modern jabs. The overwhelming sense you get from the comic is that it's just a 1984 pasthche - the overwhelming sense you get from the movie is that it's artistic cannibalism to remove points from the original plot to substitute whats popular to fight against in 2006.

"V.." was written as commentary against anti-gay politics in 1980s England. The movie still has all the stuff about the British government putting gays in concentration camps and the obvious message there -- but at the same time, V himself isn't gay in the movie, when he is a homosexual in the book.

If you want to be more exacting - why are you taking material that is rallying against the British Government by using a character in a Guy Fawkes mask, and then making it a movie about rallying against the Bush administration ... using a character in a Guy Fawkes mask? Shouldn't he be wearing a George Washington mask or something?

I think the movie is dated a lot more than the comic is, though, because lots of it comes off as clear attempts to glob modern commentary to a story where it doesn't belong and makes no sense. The comic has a taken-from-Orwell radio voice of authority who reports all the news - but the movie turns that into a Bill O'Reilly angry news commentator character. And they're part of the evil British fascist government and responsible for the concentration camps and such.

Way to be slick, Hollywood.

Just got back from it. It was a Ledgerfest, but all the better for it. Easy standout performance. Oldman as head copper was fantastic.

Hackneyed score; lazily photographed (especially considering the genre). But they're minor.

Oh No Weeeeeeeeeeeee
Batman star Christian Bale arrested in London - Yahoo! News
You guys broke the batman more than the joker ever could =p

OH NO A PERSON NONE OF US WILL NEVER MEET HAS BEEN ARRESTED

WHATEVER WILL WE DO

TURN ON THE SIRENS RELEASE THE DOGS NOTIFY THE THUNDERBIRDS

thats the spirit

He's covering for Eckhart, that's all.

When I first saw it, for whatever reason it didn't register with me that it was made by Americans so the Bush analogy completely passed me by. The R.S.C. oldboys cast didn't help either. As such, I saw it as an obvious dumbing down of the message of the comic but leaving in enough of the anti-oppression stuff to not be forcing the message down people's throats and I felt that they were to an extent taking the "Don't hate gays and blacks" message as read and focussing more on how easy it is for a complacent populace to be led into a tyrannical, authoritarian state. Given that our current government have been chipping away at our civil liberties for years and Britain is now the surveilance capital of the world, I figured this was a deliberate focus choice, forgetting that the film was made by Septics. The heavy Guy Fawkes imagery also helps as I live in about the only town in the world to still properly celebrate Bonfire Night so I think I'm overly forgiving of the film's faultsbecause of external influences.

To be fair though, my taste in films, as you well know, tends towards explosions and car chases so I'm not really the right person to be having esoteric discussions about the various messages present or lacking in more cerebral pieces of cinema. :)

The best scene in the film is the shot of Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong, with a panning shot that follows Fox across the helipad.

::Eptesicus::

Am I wrong.

Well you've never been right in your entire life, so one assumes yes. You are.

Zeal-impression more.

Impression?

Wait, so they're not both the same guy? I always figured there was some dupe-account goofery going on that was being overlooked for comedy reasons.

Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you.

But it turns out Megalith started ripping off Zeal's schtick years ago, and basically wanders around pretending to be his friend because... well, who knows why. But Zeal called him out on it and Megalith got all cowed and ran away.

Just when you think a thread about a crappy movie can't get anymore craptastic

I'm really like movie specially Heath Ledger as Joker

And then

which leads to

I'll copypasta some stuff from the journals.

So, the peek-a-premiere was tonight. The Dark Knight was more about the villains and the city again, the lack of which I wholly disliked in the previous film.

Action sucked, was too music video-y and quite unbalanced, and not to mention very unexciting. And completely unnecessary when looking at the big picture (the story). I could have lived without the million cars -chase stolen from Matrix 2 and the random mob guys popping out about in the end.

Ledger was what he could do as an actor in a very tightly written script. He did his part just great. Bale on the other hand was his own lispy self which I've always disliked. I kept thinking maybe someone else did the voiceovers for Batman, since they were actually unintentionally hilarious, even if they were obligatory. The other characters were just collateral. It was all about Batman and his flipside, The Joker. As implied by the presence of Two-Face and the flippage of million coins (got a bit annoying about halfway through).

Entropy and Chaos 101 was okay, if not a bit unnecessary until Harvey became what we know him for. They were the main driver of the plot and it worked out alright.

The thing I liked the very most about the movie was that during the stuff in Hong Kong, the kidnapping of the plotwise completely random asian guy, in the offices there was a huge aquarium and it didn't get smashed. How awesome is that!

Anyway, liked the flick as a whole. It's not an excellent movie in any way, but many small things make it an enjoyable watch.

Am I aloud to say me and my friend enjoyed the movie?

Anyway, who was the guy who started killing the bank robbers at the start, who said 'don't you know who you're stealing from etc'

Just some mob guy watching over his mob bank. Apparently pissing off the mob was Joker's hobby before he decided to kill the Batman instead.

As far as I see it, Mask of the Phantasm is also the movie with the best Joker. The whole 'agent of chaos' thing was kind of cliched and I left Dark Knight wondering why the Joker didn't tell any good jokes or drop any good plays on words like the kooky-yet-intimidatingly-evil animated Joker. I also wished that at least one of his props would include the hand buzzer, the laughing gas flower, anything.

I can't help but feel that this movie went a bit overboard in trying to appeal to every movie-goers' basest interests and desires, and the end result was too wanna-be-hardcore to actually inspire the feelings of fascination and excitement I had so hoped to gain from a movie about a guy who dresses up as a fucking bat and fights criminals. "Why so serious?", ehh. Maybe Chris Nolan should have taken that idea a bit more seriously. The Prestige, despite its thick air of darkness and tragedy, managed to keep me at the edge of my seat until the very end, introducing more and more mysterious and exciting elements until it reaches a fever pitch and smashes you with an awesome ending. I really wish that the same could have happened with TDK, and Batman Begins for that matter. TDK was too long and the plot ended up spider-webbing in too many disparate directions, leading to an extremely clumsy and anticlimactic conclusion.

I won't say that it's a crappy movie. I think all of the hot air holding it up needs to be let out of it a little. The IMDB thing is a downright hilarious display of pure asshole-mania. We may as well look at it retroactively and put movies like Total Recall and Spiderman in the top ten also. Those were exciting in the first few weeks they were out too, no?

I don't know if this has been brought up before, but I can't stop cracking up when I watch this YouTube - The Dark Knight 1966 Style

The shark attack is great, and when he say's 'the right choice' and he walks in on a couple. I havn't seen the 1966 film (i'm really not a batman film, I just really liked The Dark Knight)

Additional Spam:
Just got back from seeing it the second time. I love it when that note/bass whatever it's called 'builds up' when the Joker 'plans'. It's the perfect tension builder!

So, saw the movie earlier today.

My thoughts:



I'm probably being harder on the film here then I would in normal conversation, but I DID enjoy the film. Aaron Eckhart's portrayal as Harvey was great, Heath as the joker was riveting, and the other smaller roles were put through with no complaints.

So yeah, I'd probably get this on DVD when it comes out.

I both strongly disagree and strongly agree with this critic on the movie. While I think Mr White puts far too much emphasis on Burton as a filmmaker (since, lets face it, Burton at his best is simply tasteful pastiche) and an overemphasis on Nicholson's Joker (which is nothing more than Jack Nicholson... in make-up), the points of society being too obsessed with pesudo-babble pro-facist pop-psych bullshit IS running the whole comic book movie system into the ground.

Anyone else agree or disagree with the above quote?

(For the record: I hated The Black Dahlia)

So I actually saw this last night and I thought it was pretty good. I certainly think some people are looking for things to complain about for the sake of complaining (They over used the Joker's name at the beginning? What? They said it twice) but I equally don't think it's the greatest film ever made as some are claiming and I think Batman Begins was better. The whole copycat vigilante thing was an interesting angle they completely ignored after the initial scene, all the bits with Bruce Wayne doing heroic things were completely at odds with his image as a slightly useless socialite and although Ledger was ok as the Joker, he was nothing spectacular and whilst it was a decent enough performace as a criminal, it wasn't anything special as a portrayal of a proper psychopath.

I mean yeah, it was a good film but fuck off should anyone get an oscar for it or anything like that.

SHOOPITY DOOP DOOP DOO.

Ain't that the truth. I like the fact the guy tries to say the role ala Nicholson is some kind of sarcastic remark about insanity - but JESUS thats a load of BS.

ITT: nostalgia faggots.

I didn't get that out of the review. Rather, what I read was an old man whining about how society is getting progressively dark and immoral and using The Dark Knight as a vehicle to bitch about it. With a dash of masturbating over the Burton films.

How this movie got over $314M in 10 days is beyond me. But if this is the movie that could supplant Titanic, so be it.

Please learn to read.

The point isn't that he thinks society is getting dark and immoral, it's that society has taken to mistaking cynical for intelligent. You're pretty much underlining his point, actually. "Whatever, man. You're just old and don't get our hip jive."

No, dipshit. He doesn't care about it. He's just saying don't falsely crown blase as brilliant.

You need to post a link brotha man.

Batman telling people everyone off since 7/18/2008. Don't be jealous.