The Dark Knight

[TSUCookieMonster]

I went and saw it last night... simply amazing. It'd be a real shame if Ledger and the movie don't get nominated for supporting actor and best film.

A very very quick 2.5 hours. I could not sleep after I watched it. So much went on, your mind will be racing after it's over. Suspenseful from beginning to end. Just plain awesome.

Begins and DK: Both are great, but quite different. DK is MUCH darker (not Tim Burtonish, just "scarier") and seemingly realer, thus more disturbing than Begins. Either way, it does not let down. It's just as good as Begins...

[SixDemonBag]

*insert comic book movies are god awful comment here*

Umm...did you watch Batman Begins?

I haven't watched a comic book movie in years and don't intend to start now.

Here's my list of recent "I don't give a shit what you say, because these are good comic book movies," movies. And if you haven't seen them, you're missing out.

(in no particular order)
- Ironman
- The Hulk (2008)
- Sin City (graphic novel, comic book...same damn thing)
- 300
- Batman Begins
- Spiderman 2
- X-Men 2
- A History of Violence (surprisingly good...I hadn't heard much about it...which usually allows for a better viewing experience, IMO)

Dude, how do Hellboy 1 & 2 not make that list? Come on man. Get with the program.

[STL JA]

Oh here we go... The hype machine is at full throttle. Where do I start? Hrmm... Nothing groundbreaking, nothing amazing, pretty much what I expected. I take that back. I did expect more product placement. Shocking! It's a comic book movie, people. How many of these movies are they going to make? It's one giant cluster(frank). Cheap summer thrills, and a convoluted story that never ends and isn't that interesting. People will piss themselves over it, as usual.

I went and saw it last night... simply amazing. It'd be a real shame if Ledger and the movie don't get nominated for supporting actor and best film.

Best picture my ass. Indeed, Ledger's performance was the best by far, BUT... Bat nerds will have you thinking he's the second coming of Christ. Not true.

A very very quick 2.5 hours. I could not sleep after I watched it. So much went on, your mind will be racing after it's over. Suspenseful from beginning to end. Just plain awesome.

A very long 2.5 hours. I slept like a baby about 45-30 minutes before the movie ended and I continued sleeping after the show.

Begins and DK: Both are great, but quite different. DK is MUCH darker (not Tim Burtonish, just "scarier") and seemingly realer, thus more disturbing than Begins. Either way, it does not let down. It's just as good as Begins...

I've seen much darker movies.

[STL JA]

Eagerly awaiting a response from Curt.

[STL JA]

Don't waste your time. Also, we have a 2 page thread about this over-hyped snore festival. IN!

[Kreegz2]

oh wow i didnt even see that other thread.

[Mellanby_equals_grit]

Eagerly awaiting a response from Curt.

Komic boox r teh awum d00d!!11!!!

[Chudman82]

I went and saw it last night... simply amazing. It'd be a real shame if Ledger and the movie don't get nominated for supporting actor and best film.

A very very quick 2.5 hours. I could not sleep after I watched it. So much went on, your mind will be racing after it's over. Suspenseful from beginning to end. Just plain awesome.

Begins and DK: Both are great, but quite different. DK is MUCH darker (not Tim Burtonish, just "scarier") and seemingly realer, thus more disturbing than Begins. Either way, it does not let down. It's just as good as Begins...

Agreed completely. If There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men are part of the creme de la creme of the 2008 movie season, then The Dark Knight is right up there with them. But it seems that because a movie is adapted from a comic book, it's a lower class of movie. Either way, c'est la vie. Ledger dominates the movie mercilessly, Christian Bale nails the Bruce Wayne/Batman dynamic dead on, and the film as a whole is excellent. I don't see what everyone saw in Iron Man, it was a good popcorn popping lighthearted summer action movie. The Dark Knight is much more. It's a crime epic, suspense, drama, dark comedy, with non-stop action and social/political commentary that rings very true to the world we live in today. Not to mention a riveting story that leaves you wanting more, especially the last 20 minutes or so. This is gonna be one of 4 movies I've ever seen more than once in the movie theater.

The only thing I had issues with was the Harvey Dent character, I don't wanna give away any spoilers so I won't say too much, but I think his character development left a lot to be desired.

[Chudman82]

Oh here we go... The hype machine is at full throttle. Where do I start? Hrmm... Nothing groundbreaking, nothing amazing, pretty much what I expected. I take that back. I did expect more product placement. Shocking! It's a comic book movie, people. How many of these movies are they going to make? It's one giant cluster(frank). Cheap summer thrills, and a convoluted story that never ends and isn't that interesting. People will piss themselves over it, as usual.

I went and saw it last night... simply amazing. It'd be a real shame if Ledger and the movie don't get nominated for supporting actor and best film.

Best picture my ass. Indeed, Ledger's performance was the best by far, BUT... Bat nerds will have you thinking he's the second coming of Christ. Not true.

A very very quick 2.5 hours. I could not sleep after I watched it. So much went on, your mind will be racing after it's over. Suspenseful from beginning to end. Just plain awesome.

A very long 2.5 hours. I slept like a baby about 45-30 minutes before the movie ended and I continued sleeping after the show.

Begins and DK: Both are great, but quite different. DK is MUCH darker (not Tim Burtonish, just "scarier") and seemingly realer, thus more disturbing than Begins. Either way, it does not let down. It's just as good as Begins...

I've seen much darker movies.

So which movies from this year's crop would you say are well made or amazing? I'm just trying to get a feel for your taste in films.

[STL JA]

Oh here we go... The hype machine is at full throttle. Where do I start? Hrmm... Nothing groundbreaking, nothing amazing, pretty much what I expected. I take that back. I did expect more product placement. Shocking! It's a comic book movie, people. How many of these movies are they going to make? It's one giant cluster(frank). Cheap summer thrills, and a convoluted story that never ends and isn't that interesting. People will piss themselves over it, as usual.

I went and saw it last night... simply amazing. It'd be a real shame if Ledger and the movie don't get nominated for supporting actor and best film.

Best picture my ass. Indeed, Ledger's performance was the best by far, BUT... Bat nerds will have you thinking he's the second coming of Christ. Not true.

A very very quick 2.5 hours. I could not sleep after I watched it. So much went on, your mind will be racing after it's over. Suspenseful from beginning to end. Just plain awesome.

A very long 2.5 hours. I slept like a baby about 45-30 minutes before the movie ended and I continued sleeping after the show.

Begins and DK: Both are great, but quite different. DK is MUCH darker (not Tim Burtonish, just "scarier") and seemingly realer, thus more disturbing than Begins. Either way, it does not let down. It's just as good as Begins...

I've seen much darker movies.

So which movies from this year's crop would you say are well made or amazing? I'm just trying to get a feel for your taste in films.

Honestly, this year I haven't seen too many. And none of the ones I've seen have been amazing. I didn't think Dark Knight was a terrible movie. It was well made for what it was, but I have issues with it. And before I spell out some of the issues I had with the movie, let me just say that it was the best comic book movie I've seen since Sin City. The direction of the last two Batman movies have been vastly different from the previous installments. These two movies have obviously been darker and grittier. Why not slap a R-rating on it and bring it? If that's the direction they want to go with the series/franchise, then do it. If this movie had a harder tongue, more violence, it would be taken more seriously by people such as myself. On to some other issues...

They should of just named this movie: The Joker. He over-shadowed everyone else so much here that I didn't give a crap about Batman, the hero/vigilante/whatever, or Two-Face. Another annoying message they were trying to drive into everyone's skull the whole movie was that the Joker loved to cause chaos for the sake of chaos. Duh. There are crazy people out there who thoroughly enjoy bloodshed and aren't always in it for the money. Also, this movie was extremely long. The middle dragged on forever it seemed. No comic book movie should ever be more than 90 minutes. I don't understand how anyone can say this was one of the best crime films ever made. That's ludicrous. This is Gotham City we're talking about here. Come on.

A poster on another board I frequent claimed that The Dark Knight was the best crime film since The Godfather.

[WindyCityBluesFan]

Just got back from the 6:00 am show. Very good. I'd give it a 9/10. Ledger was great, I don't know if he deserves an Oscar nomination for the role, but he did a wonderful job. The IMAX experience was great. The opening shot, along with the shot of Batman jumping off the building really blew me away. It was worth the $15 plus $23 parking fee...damn Navy Pier.

[WaukeeBlues]

STL JA:

Didn't feel like quoting your whole text but I read it all and wanted to respond.

I think when others are saying that the movie was darker, and grittier, they aren't saying it's on the same level of gore movies or the Punisher/etc... just that it is MORE dark, and MORE gritty than 9 out of 10 other comic-adapted movies. This movie was CLEARLY not aimed at kids in the low teens. It was meant for an older crowd and I think that it was extremely successful in that regard.

On the Joker being the focal point of the whole movie: Well, he WAS the main villain in the story and most of the times we see our heroes (Batman, Wayne, Harvey before he became two-face) its mostly about what they're doing in RESPONSE to the villian. But how is that really all that different from other movies of the same type?

Ledger blew it out of the water- near-perfect performance. I don't know that if he'd lived he could have done much better than what he did in Dark Knight.

Favorite parts of the move:

"I'm going to make this pencil.... disappear!!!"

Joker's stroll outside the hospital.

[Winning Unlimited]

*insert comic book movies are god awful comment here*

Umm...did you watch Batman Begins?

I haven't watched a comic book movie in years and don't intend to start now.

Here's my list of recent "I don't give a shit what you say, because these are good comic book movies," movies. And if you haven't seen them, you're missing out.

(in no particular order)
- Ironman
- The Hulk (2008)
- Sin City (graphic novel, comic book...same damn thing)
- 300
- Batman Begins
- Spiderman 2
- X-Men 2
- A History of Violence (surprisingly good...I hadn't heard much about it...which usually allows for a better viewing experience, IMO)

Dude, how do Hellboy 1 & 2 not make that list? Come on man. Get with the program.

Ahem..

TRANSFORMERS?!?!

[Nyghtewynd]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't see all the hype in this one. It was about a half-hour too long, the fight scenes were seizure-invoking, most of the characters were poorly-developed and one-dimensional at best, and the only truly outstanding character in the movie (Ledger, now the archetype of who the Joker should be) is dead. Don't get me wrong--I wasn't miserable while watching it, but it isn't all that. I hope they don't make a sequel, but they'll probably make five of them with Carrot Top as the Joker.

[cprice12]

Just got back from seeing it.
I enjoyed it. I thought it was a bit long, but that didn't bother me that much.
Ledger was great.
I didn't care for the whole Two-Face thing. It seemed forced.

All in all, I thought it was pretty good. Probably a bit over-hyped, which makes the movie hard to live up to when you actually see it.

[cprice12]

*insert comic book movies are god awful comment here*

Umm...did you watch Batman Begins?

I haven't watched a comic book movie in years and don't intend to start now.

Here's my list of recent "I don't give a shit what you say, because these are good comic book movies," movies. And if you haven't seen them, you're missing out.

(in no particular order)
- Ironman
- The Hulk (2008)
- Sin City (graphic novel, comic book...same damn thing)
- 300
- Batman Begins
- Spiderman 2
- X-Men 2
- A History of Violence (surprisingly good...I hadn't heard much about it...which usually allows for a better viewing experience, IMO)

Dude, how do Hellboy 1 & 2 not make that list? Come on man. Get with the program.

I thought Hellboy 1 was ok. Nothing great though. I know a lot of people disagree. JMO.
The previews for Hellboy 2 look pretty good. But I probably won't be going to see it in the theater because I wasn't overly impressed with the first one.

[Krigloch the Furious]

Best comic book movie ever.
Best movie of 2008.
Ledger was awesome, spot on for what the Joker should be.
Batman starting the detective work was excellent.

Everything with the Joker was just hilarious, loved it!
Him licking his lips, the pencil, the grenades, laughing, when batman was kicking his ass. everything was so well done.

[Philo]

say it last night,thought it did a good job of showing the human psyche with the choices we have to make.joker was great,but, they could have done better then Maggie Gyllenhaal the womans ugly and i can't see Bruce and Havey fighting over her.also the damn thing was twenty minutes to long.

[SIU LAW]

I think this movie lived up to the hype IMO. It was hyped to such a ridiculous level I didn’t think it could deliver (see Revenge of the Sith), but it did.

I think this incarnation of the Joker was one of the best movie villains since Hannibal Lecter (circa Silence of the Lambs) or “John Doe” from Se7en. Both the actor and the writer(s)/director deserve major praise for the imaging of this villain. Simply outstanding.

I thought Two-Face was done right. For that particular character, I don’t think there was much to improve upon. They nailed the character and his storyline without dragging it into another movie.

[Mellanby_equals_grit]

I can't take the word of anyone who thinks the previews for Hellboy 2 look anything over god awful.