Genres

Visitors Review

Doc_Gibbons84 2012-05-25 03:59:29

Wonderful, flawed masterpiece

I loved this movie, probably for most of the same reasons that so manyother people loved it. It's exciting, unpredictable, and features oneof the greatest acting performances in recent memory from a nearlyunrecognizable Heath Ledger. I saw this film three times in theatersand ordered it as soon as I saw it become available for pre-order onAmazon. "The Dark Knight" is in many ways the consummate theater-goers'movie; it is because of films like this that people go to the movies.But despite my love for this film, I have to admit that it's not theimmaculate piece of art that most everyone seems to think it is. I amby no means disparaging the movie, but to call it cinematic perfectionwould be a lie.I'll start with the good points. There are many things to like aboutthis film, but if you had to name one great thing the movie had tooffer, most fans would definitely agree: Heath Ledger as The Joker. Ithink I can say without hyperbole that Ledger's chilling performancehas given us the most memorable movie villain since Darth Vader. WhenTim Burton's "Batman" was released twenty years ago, Nicholson'sportrayal of the iconic comic book villain was entertaining, but therewas no mistaking that it was Jack Nicholson under that make-up, playingthe same crazed character he'd been playing for years. Ledger, on theother hand, completely disappears into the role. He also plays thecharacter in such a stark contrast to his normal on-screen persona thatyou soon forget you're watching an actor perform and begin to see onlythe vicious, unpredictable and unstoppable juggernaut of evil that isThe Joker.But The Joker is a given. The film is packed with other greatperformances, which are unfortunately overshadowed by Heath Ledger, whonaturally steals the show. One of my favorite performances in this filmwas actually from Eric Roberts, who plays the slimy mob boss SalvatoreMaroni. I think one way to tell a really good actor is by an inabilityto recognize him right away as he plays his role. This was the case forme when I first watched this movie. Roberts does such a subtle piece ofacting that I couldn't pinpoint him right away. Gary Oldman is also atreat to watch - he seems to have been born to play the part of JimGordon.The music was also phenomenal. Hans Zimmer has crafted an especiallyexcellent them for The Joker, which seems to characterize his reign ofanarchy perfectly. The cinematography by DP Wally Pfister was also thesort of exceptional filming that has become synonymous with the filmsof Christopher Nolan.However, as I said earlier, this movie is not without its problems --mostly involving the plot. First, the wholeHarvey-Dent-as-the-savior-of-Gotham angle was extremely overplayed. Theidea that a district attorney with a harsh stance on crime is some sortof God-sent messiah that will save the city is ludicrous. Crime is muchmore complicated than these filmmakers seem to think it is, and onegood prosecutor is not going to single-handedly save any city from thecriminals. Granted, this may seem nitpicky when you consider that thisis a movie about a guy who dresses up like a bat and beats upcriminals, but since this was such an important part of the plot, Ifeel it deserves mention. I wanted to laugh during the scene whereBatman tells Harvey in his gravelly voice that, "You're the symbol ofhope that I can never be." Give me a break, he's just a lawyer who'spretty good at prosecuting.In the same vein, Dent transforms into the villainous Two-Face far tooquickly. It was another case of Anakin Skywalker syndrome. A decent manwith a great deal of strength and character gets half his face burnedoff, then allows a murderous clown to talk him into killing everyoneeven remotely involved in his disfigurement -- except, of course, thelunatic who was actually responsible. This is one of the problems withcomic book movies -- in most cases, the filmmakers cannot resist givingthe villains an origin story. This is never handled well, because itusually involves taking a sympathetic character and turning him into amaniacal bad guy in about twenty minutes. One of the best decisionsChristopher Nolan made was to NOT supply an origin story for The Joker.And as great as The Joker was, towards the second act it becameapparent that he was all-knowing and all-powerful. His plans were sodetailed and so reliant on unpredictable actions that only someone whohad written the script could have concocted them. By the film's end Iwas convinced that he would escape by disappearing into a cloud ofsmoke.Another thing was this. I don't claim to be an expert on criminalfinances, but I find it pretty hard to believe that all the mobsters inGotham City keep all their money in one big pile in a bank vault.Haven't these guys ever heard of off-shore accounts? They could safelyinvest their ill-gotten gains in a Cayman Islands account and there'dbe no way to trace it. Also (especially during the last half-hour), the plot became far toobusy. The filmmakers tried to cram a million different plots into thelast act, and resolve them all immediately. Then characters startshowing up places that they couldn't have known to go to, and it seemslike Nolan expects his audience to forget what information thecharacters are all privy to.These points aside, this film deserves its reputation as a truly greatmovie. All the problems mentioned above can be forgiven by HeathLedger's performance alone, and all the other things that are rightabout this movie.

freakfire-1 2012-05-24 10:58:02

One of the best I have seen

I am not much for giving perfect scores in movies, but this onedeserved it. Nevermind the hype around Heath Ledger before this moviewas released. His role was top notch and Christian Bale was none toobad either. And seeing it on opening weekend certainly made everythingfeel right.This is a 'return of the Joker', so to speak, because the Joker hasbeen done before in 1989 "Batman" movie with Jack Nicholson. And whilehe did a good job, Ledger's version was much more sinister andbelievable. And I liked that 'wicked' side of the Joker.The weapons for Batman seem to keep getting better. Armed with atank-like car and sonar tech, just for beginners, he can do or see justabout anything. The only downside to Batman was his constant growling.It will be interesting if they decide to do the Joker in the nearfuture or even Harley Quinn. But I think for certain they will bringout Two-Face again.Overall, best Batman movie I have ever seen and certainly is up therewith the Spider-Man movies. "A+"

2012-05-24 11:10:19

the Joker

Heath Ledger had me amazed with his role as the joker from his first appearance on screen. He made me feel as if I was in the film myself and he was talking directly to me. It was a strong his performance.

rapknight 2012-05-23 18:15:09

Finally bringing the legend

It was with great reluctance that I watch batman begins seeing as Nolandirects his movie in a clear attempt to out stage Tim Burton's versionby portraits similar scenes to the ones that catch in the Burton movielike the ¨I'm batman¨scene; and like the introduction of the batmovil.The previous statements and comments on this recreation of batman tomake it less like the previous version and more like the action comics;elevated much of fan expectations. Seeing as Nolan fails to focus theproduction on this goal the results showed on the box office as themovie produced shy of $50million less than the 16 year old remark.It istrue to say that the attempt succeeds to restore batman's image afterthe horrifying spectacle Schumacher put us fans through with hissequels. It is with a refreshing attitude that i came out to see thelatest of Nolan's batman seeing how he goes to the original idea ofbringing the Dark Knight back to his essential basics. Not killing thevillains, focusing on the antihero status that batman stands for, thewhole creation an make up of the villains not diminishing therecharacters to improve the plot was great and commendable. Though thecompetition with the Burton version remain but fortunately it didn'tbreak the movie's directed effect to the audience. I loved it and anyother batman fan should think the same and hope for a third part. Shamethe joker's interpreter died cause he did manage to convey the sicoticdark humor that was so much need to contrast batman.I really love themovie's structure and I will follow it for the time that the Francaisecontinues to serve me such a wonderful show.

Michael_Elliott 2012-05-20 03:19:21

Great Film

Dark Knight, The (2008) **** (out of 4) I'll be honest and admit that I'm not much of a fan of the so called"comic book" movies out there. I'll also be honest and admit that Ididn't care for the previous series of Batman movies from Burton andSchumacher. Batman Begins on the other hand was a different story as itfound it to be incredibly good but a rare occasion as occurred as thissequel is even better. I've always felt that comic book movies didn'tcontain enough elements of a dark nature nor did they contain very muchadult-themed stuff but that's certainly not the case here as this moviecontains enough character development and moral questions for threemovies. The epic nature of this movie makes it a one of a kind eventhough I think the 151-minute running time is the only fault in thefilm. It's rather amazing at how dark this movie is yet movie crowdsate it up but perhaps they ate so much of it up simply because of howdark it is. This film works on so many levels but I think the biggestare its screenplay and actors. The darkness of the story is perfectlybrought to the screen by Nolan with his masterful direction, whichpaints the perfect picture of corruption, greed and moralresponsibility. All of the characters from The Joker to Harvey Dent toeven Batman must face various moral issues and this type of stuff notonly makes for great drama but it brings a lot of depth to this "comicbook" movie. The performances are all quite remarkable and thatincludes the late Heath Ledger as The Joker. Before seeing the film Ikept asking myself if his performance could top that of Jack Nicholsonbut I think that question shouldn't even be asked as both performancesare so completely different that you can't compare them. Ledgercertainly steals the show and leaves the viewer with goose bumps eachtime he's on the screen. It really seems as if he just floats througheach scene as if he were a ghost roaming around. The walk that Ledgerbrings to the character is so refreshing and original that I couldn'ttake my eyes off of him. That wonderful talk and the brilliant linegiving just adds to the fun and was it ever great to see such a darkvillain. Christian Bale is also once again very good in the role ofBruce Wayne and Batman. Again, the screenplay benefits Bale greatly byhaving him just as dark as the villains. Aaron Eckhart is gettingovershadowed by Ledger but he too really deserves a lot of credit as heprobably gives the best performance of anyone dealing with the moralissues. His stint as Dent is perfect for a hero and his turn asTwo-Face is perfect for a villain. Maggie Gyllenhaal also does a goodjob in the love interests role as does Michael Caine, Eric Roberts andMorgan Freeman. Gary Oldman also shines in his role of Gordon. Whatmakes the special effects so great is that the movie isn't in theirhand as far as entertainment goes. Yes, the effects and chase sequenceslook great but they work even better because the screenplay gives uscharacters to care about. I won't go as far as to call this one of thegreatest films ever made but I do think it has to change the way comicbook movies are made.

lowellmontgomery 2012-05-19 07:41:10

Why so much hype?

Okay, so they built a good villain in the Joker, but the plot was justa bit too unbelievable to hold together. I'm not going to add anyspoilers here, but if you want a big-budget, action- adventure escapethat totally relies on the rendering farms that had to handle all thespecial effects... and don't mind plot-holes the Hindenburg could flythrough, this film is for you. IMHO, this film doesn't deserve all the hype. Look at reviews frompeople who "hated it" and see why. Once the hype has died down andpeople get over their brainwash to overrate this over-producedHollywood crap, we should see ratings more in line with the film's truevalue. I didn't walk out, but that was because I had such highexpectations. I'd hope to see this rated a '4', maybe even as high as a'6' by the average public. I'm rating this a '1' to try to offset theobvious shills and excessive hype. This is, by no means, "the best filmof the summer"... but in its favor, it does give better balance to thedarkness of Batman. If it weren't for the growing trend in bucking theold "feel-good Hollywood ending" routine... if it weren't becomingcliché to kill off "good guys" and create characters with seeminghearts of gold, who turn half-evil, I'd say this film had somethingunique; but that whole scenario is now a formula for making a filmarmchair critics will say has "depth"... pffff... Save your time and money and rent an old classic favorite that yousomehow never managed to see. Or go have a picnic with your loved ones.The alternative is two-and-a-half hours you won't get back; don't wasteit to further enrich Warner Bros.

Kaliopau 2012-05-14 23:18:30

The dark Night

After years of disappointments from corny superhero movies i have tosay that Dark Night has to be the best to date. I was blown away buythe superb directing and the brilliant acting from all the actors, DarkNight different from Batman Begins in a way that it's hard to explain.There were lots of smart twists that left you thinking WOW... i willnot ruin the film for you but just a note don't be so surprised ifHeath Ledger get's nominated for an Oscar for his role as the Joker.The movie may be 3 hours long but i entertained viewers the whole timethrough and some moments it left you laughing and freaked out at thesame time i have never felt this way after watching a movie. Truly thebest action flick of 2008. 9/10

seawalker 2012-05-14 09:58:03

Not perfect, but a really good, high octane action film

"The Dark Knight" has been the cinema sensation of 2008. It has been,very nearly, universally acclaimed by the critics. It is the biggestfilm of the year so far, by far, and is unlikely to be overtaken byanything else released during 2008. For weeks "The Dark Knight" was the#1 film on IMDb's top 250 films list (which surprised me a little bit,as it was a very new film), although it is down to #3 this week. It hasendured unprecedented levels of hype and has come through unhindered asa big, solid hit movie. A perfect Summer blockbuster.I don't think that "The Dark Knight" is a perfect film, but it is areally good film, if not a great film. Certainly it is the best highoctane, high weaponry action film released in many a year (for highoctane, high weaponry, I think "Heat" or "Die Hard") and would stillhave worked even if it had not been a Batman movie. It has great setpieces, a huge scale (I saw it on an IMAX screen - Good Lord! - highlyrecommended) and had good performances by the whole cast, butespecially by Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart. ParticularlyAaron Eckhart. He had the most difficult character arc to follow duringthe course of the film.I said that "The Dark Knight" is not a perfect film. It isn't. Let meelaborate.1. It is too long. Sorry, but it is. Sometimes you can have too much ofa good thing. The first half of the film could have definitely beentrimmed.2. Bale's Batman voice sometimes verged on the ridiculous. I keptthinking of The Kurgan from "Highlander".3. Michael Caine's screen time as Alfred was little more than anextended cameo. I seem to remember he had more screen time in "BatmanBegins".4. Ditto Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.5. Maggie Gylenhaal's Rachel Dawes really had nothing to do. True, Iwill admit that her final scenes were crucial to the motivation ofHarvey Dent in the latter part of the movie.6. Unlike in "Batman Begins", this time around Batman/Bruce Wayne wasnot nearly as interesting as the villains. The typical curse of anyBatman film.I am being picky. Sure I am. Minor issues.I really enjoyed "The Dark Knight". I definitely recommend it, even ifyou cannot stand superhero movies.

mbowles64 2012-05-09 18:02:35

Brilliant Film- Understatement

The dark knight was the second of the modern batman movie franchise.After the slight disappointment of Batman Begins i was not expectinganything special. Maybe a few sweet action scenes that would dazzle butnothing really spectacular. But promise raised as i read the previewrevealing the surprising casting of Heath Ledger as The Joker.With that being the only thing looking forward to seeing in this moviei ventured onwards and watched the film. From start to finish thismovie was absolutely brilliant, flawless in every way. Plot wasbrilliant unfolding mystery, action and even romance. Every good moviehas to have a bit of romance. Action sequences were spectacular notdrawing over the top and the characters were by far the best part ofthe film. Batman himself played by an impressive Cristain Bale and ONeof my old favorites Gary Oldman and his role as Detective Gordon.But my expectation on Heath were not in vein. Stealing the show withone of the greatest pieces of acting i have seen since Jack Nicolson in"The Shining" as the Joker. It is an extremely dark character, muchdarker than again Jack Nicolson's Joker in "Batman". The Joker in thismovie however portrayed his insanity through dark humor killing andcausing anarchy through the streets of Gotham. Heath Ledger fittedeverything that needed to be fitted right down to the little knots onhis cheap purple suit. But of course whats the Joker without a fewlaughs on the way occasionally giving us chuckles with his cruel senseof humor.He deservedly won Best Actor and it is a damn shame to suchtalent go to waste.The Dark Knight is undoubtedly the best movie i have seen in my short15 years on this earth captivating me in its non stop action andwondrous characters. Its gonna be hard to beat... I give it a 20 out of10

directorman-1 2012-05-09 08:28:02

"I'm gonna tell them it was your idea."

This film is simply jaw dropping-ly amazing. When I first saw BatmanBegins, I was expecting something decent, something that wouldhopefully be better than Batman and Robin, and I came out of thetheatre amazed. Batman Begins was the best comic book movie ever made.Was being the key element. It no longer is, The Dark Knight, without adoubt is the best comic book movie ever made, and in my opinion, one ofthe best movies ever made. Christopher Nolan never disappoints, and hisfollow up to Begins was The Prestige, also a favorite of mine. The DarkKnight destroys all his others, though. It is truly amazing, nothinglacking in it at all. Mr. Nolan seems incapable of doing a bad jobwriting or directing. Actually that's a horrid way of saying it. Heseems incapable of writing or directing anything that isn't phenomenal,this being no exception. He wrote with his brother, Jonathon Nolan, andthe pair seem a fantastic writing team, for the screenplay isOscar-worthy. The acting. . .Of course when you have such amazingactors as Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman,Maggie Gyllenhaal, and the late Heath Ledger, you can't really get yourmovie's acting compared to the acting of a Sci-Fi Channel originalmovie. All the actors are perfect for the roles, especially thereplacement of Katie Holmes. I know I will probably get killed forsaying so, but, I wouldn't exactly say it would be a crime not tonominate Ledger for an Oscar, I mean, yes, he WAS the Joker. No doubtabout it, he was that man, and did a great job with it, but it hiswhole role wasn't really so jaw dropping that he needs to get the awardor the Academy is just evil. All the music, cinematography, specialeffects, stunts, makeup, all were perfect. This is very near a perfectmovie. I really don't have any problems with it at all. I fear thateven with Nolan & company back, part three in the series will never beable to live up to The Dark Knight. With Nolan, of course, we won't begetting another X-Men: The Last Stand, but I don't know if they can topThe Dark Knight. I loved this movie, and I loved everything about thismovie. As with Batman Begins, but even more-so, when I walked out ofthe theatre, I couldn't stop smiling.

2012-05-04 22:38:40

Way to go Batman

Having been convinced to see this megextravaganza in IMAX, my comments maynot be popular.In "A Face in the Crowd", the main character depends upon a slow-witted accomplice to inform him when a political candidate was boring. In my case, my buttocks provided the same information, squirming in the seat. My senses being captivated by the IMAX Vista, the technology and expectedly decent performances by Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman, I was admittedly overwhelmed by Heath Ledger's Joker. Why then, was my anatomy signaling that something was wrong?I found the answer in searching my memory to the most recent Indiana Jones. The same fidgeting occurred, breaking into my bonding with the film and intruding into my experience. In Indiana Jones, quite unlike myself, I found myself mentally screaming during some of the action sequences (paraphrasing Elaine's character in Seinfeld watching "The English Patient") "End already! End already!"There is a balance between action and storyline. Where Nolan was sensitive to this in his first Batman outing, he seems to have fallen prey to "if five minutes of action is good, it stands to reason that ten would be twice as good." Unfortunately, this line of reasoning is false. If I want action with no or a weak storyline, I'll watch Stallone. My expectations were far higher in this case.Although it was to be expected that this would be a dark and brooding film, even though I viewed it on an enormous screen I could not see the action clearly as it faded into shadowy blurs. IMAX was clearly unnecessary unless you enjoy a few seconds of vertigo in overhead helicopter shots.Where was Christian Bales? The Joker was more the lead in this film. This was yet another imbalance. In his statements, the Joker speaks of his love of chaos. Oddly, his chaos was so systematic and well planned that its very nature contradicts itself. Setting that faux pas aside, the Joker and Batman represent two poles of human nature: Chaos versus control. The Joker is more consistent with the chaos but Batman, to give him greater depth, should lose some of the compulsive rigidity he shows. The closest to this he demonstrates was when he permitted a criminal (Eric Roberts)to drop to the ground, obviously injuring his legs. At that moment, there was a sense of wanting to clap my hands as Batman finally showed some of his dark side.The film was worth seeing--not in IMAX, but as DVD. I have concerns about the director, who seems to be moving more in the direction of Hollywood glitz and away from the more symmetrical action/storyline shown in his first Batman.One final note: As a viewer I applaud Ledger's performance; as a psychologist I cannot help but wonder what the impact of his role had upon his psyche in such close proximity to the filming. If my suspicions are correct and his performance wins an Oscar, the cost will have been far greater than the limelight or salary he earned.Christian Bales, despite what some others believe, has shown himself to be an actor capable of extraordinary depth. The conflict between Batman and Bruce Wayne is often lost in quick transitions from one to the other or moments of silent reflection when one can only wonder what conflicts/thoughts are being processed at that moment.

pdiaz-5 2012-05-04 13:33:49

Best Movie I Have Seen In Years

I was fairly apprehensive about The Darks Knight going in. Most sequelsdo not hold up to their predecessors. Batman Begins was a well-done,fresh start to a series that had become campy at best. Let's face it,the last few Batman movies before Batman Begins were plain horrible.Typically, when you have the media jump on a movie for what could be asentimental or popular angle such as Heath Ledger's death, the movieends up as a disappointment. This one does not. The plot and underlyingthemes of this movie are extremely deep. This is one of those raremovies that you can sit for hours analyzing with friends as if you hadjust read a classic novel full of symbolism and meaning for the time itwas written. This movie speaks to the human condition in ways that youwould never expect from a movie based on a comic book. It does not takelong to completely forget that you are watching a comic book movie, andjust find yourself immersed in the moral and emotional conflicts of thecharacters. I do not want to give much away - so will not go muchfurther except to say, this movie is by far the best, deepest, and mostentertaining film of the year - and possibly in many years.One last note - for those who think that the press on Ledger'sperformance is over the top, guess again. He gives one of the great alltime movie villain performances. This performance makes the "NoCountry" villain look like a Teddy Bear. You go in wondering how youwill feel watching a deceased actor on the screen, but immediatelyforget about the actor and see only the character. This is not any kindof a disrespectful notion - this was the performance of a lifetime.

2012-05-02 17:57:37

How can you instill fear in a person WHO LAUGHS AT IT?

WOW WOW WOW WOW!!! This is the way a Batman movie should be and should look like. This is how the JOKER should act, show his personality, and show the wackiness within. All the elements of the batman comics came to life and went beyond the comics themselves with such strong emotion. Heath Ledger turned the wacky veiw we had of the Joker and re-invented it with such strong acting that he set the bar for any future actors as to how to play the Joker. First Off lets start with the Heath Ledgers contribution to this character. Whatever this man did to prepare for his part worked. Im pretty sure Nolan wanted the Joker in a more serious, insane, yet funny manner for this movie. Nolan's push for a darker batman worked and Ledger gave Nolan what he was looking for. A Joker with eyes that show NO empathy, show Schizophrenia, Show Psychopath, and with a smile to show aggravation and laughter at the same time. Ledgers laughters, stares, anger, and Looney bin looks gave a chill down my spine at times. This Joker is no prankster, this a murderous prankster who is willing to kill in a slow, painful, and sadistic way....just to test the limits of human beings. The Joker wanted to prove that he wasnt a common criminal, that Batsy was not invincible, that Human Beings and their Fantasy with Control can be thrown into Chaos, and that when it comes down to it you could bring any human being to kill. As you progress through the movie you see Joker's facination with Batmans serious demeanor, he pushes his buttons just like the comics to see if Batman can crack and kill him....to see if he can crack a smile. He proves to theatre goers that he can put a city into chaos by breaking down the rules we create. He Proves that Batman is just human and that no fear can be gained out of Batman. I think Nolan wanted to take the whole FEAR thing that Batman represented and say, "Here is this Clown with No Fear for you, He wants to challenge the preconcieved notion that gothams underworld had for you!" The Lack of Fear for Batman and the ongoing battle these 2 will face for the rest of their lives is evident in the "interrogation scene". No Matter How many times Batsy pummeled his face, the joker could have cared less and continued to push his buttons......and continued to maintain emotional control of those around him. The Script is incredible but its Ledgers facial expressions, shrill voice, maniacal laughter and bottomless stare that enhances this movie so much.Batman, the total opposite of the maniac....Composed, thinking, morality as his number 1, a symbol of fear for all of gothams underworld. Christian Bale has all but become a supporting actor along with everyone else. Batman has grown weary and battle scars are flaring all over his body. Nolan's point was to show that Batman is not invincible...that his hardwork of protecting gotham is evident in his scaring, his performance at work is lacking, and most of all his psyche is taking a toll. In comes Joker and he pushes batman to his limits, he causes batman to be on his toes at all times during this movie, Bale does so well in conveying the frustration in his character because a monster is in front of him that knows no bounds, and shows no fear. Bale's acting is top notch for this movie but one little gripe is evident, he forces his voice to be raspy as if his suit is squeezing his nuts to oblivion....In general this was the best Batman Movie to be ever released....This sets the tone for Batman's Future Theatrical Releases, sets the tone for the Villains to be portrayed in a dark and twisted manner...and sets the bar very high for the next person to step into the Joker's Suit, if ever, and act with a maniacal mindsetRIP...to Heath Ledger and his brilliant acting

Tyy Tad 2012-05-02 02:33:31

"You complete me."

Christopher Nolan has effectively changed everything we know aboutBatman and The Joker. With past incarnations, Batman is looked at as aclichéd superhero and the role of The Joker is one of comic relief,which is ironic considering all the sadistic things he accomplisheswith a smile on his face. With The Dark Knight, Nolan casts a darkcloud over these characters and in my opinion does a great justice tomake such cartoon like characters become ever so realistic. Batman isno more of a hero to the eyes of the citizens of Gotham as he is abeloved vigilante. And The Joker isn't so funny now as much as he isjust a monster.This is the basic plot of the film, with a few additions. The districtattorney of Gotham, Harvey Dent, is looked at with such high esteem inthe community. To many, including Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne, he isthe glimmering hope the city has to offset the crimes committed by TheJoker and all of the mobs run by money. Dent is accompanied by hisgirlfriend Rachel Dawes, whom Bruce Wayne has feelings for and isn'tshy about telling. Also hanging around is James Gordon, the Sargentbrave enough to lend his hand to Batman and Dent to clean up the mess.(Side note: I have to wonder, considering how active Gotham City iswhen it comes to all the crimes, what the rate of people coming intothe city is? You have to wonder if anybody is stupid enough to movethere, yet I have to expect there to be a small percentage of stupidpeople who move to Gotham for the thrill of living in such an activetown.) So we have a love triangle, a battle of good and evil and a goodcop. Is that all? Not at all. In addition, The Joker is threateningBatman because he wants the caped crusader to finally reveal his alterego. If Batman doesn't comply, The Joker will go about killing peopleclose to the main characters.But wait, there's more. So much more, yet I can't reveal what happensin the second half because that would be spoiling. All I can say withmy mouth tightly shut is that there is more than enough material tocover the two and a half hour running time. Trust me whenever I saythere is never a dull moment and that the hours fly by.The rivalry of Batman and The Joker is timeless. How long have theybeen fighting for our entertainment? I think wikipedia states that TheJoker was introduced in the comics in 1940, so this storied rivalrybetween the two opposite forces have been inhabiting comic books,cartoons and film for almost 70 years. You would expect this to get oldafter awhile. Batman chases after The Joker, the bad guy's evil plan isthwarted and yet somehow the damned Joker always gets away to fightagain another day. In The Dark Knight, much is made with the ongoingfeud. In one scene, The Joker addresses everything he and Batman havegone through. "I don't want to kill you. What would I do without you?You complete me." The acting is brilliant, probably the best I haveseen in a superhero movie. All the actors bring their best acting faceand dive right into their respective parts. Christian Bale is a strangechoice for Batman (he reprises his role from the 2005 film BatmanBegins), but he is more than up to the task at handling the ladies manof Bruce Wayne and the high action superhero in conflict witheverybody.Then of course, there's the much talked about performance of the lateHeath Ledger as The Joker. For those wanting to see this film for onlyhis role, you certainly won't walk away disappointed. (But hey, stayaround also for the brilliant musical score, the great visual effectsand the acting of the other people.) His performance is so great thatI'm struggling with appropriate words. Brilliant is an understatement.Here is a man that jumped in a role. There is never a moment of forcedacting. There is never a moment of him being distracted from thematerial. Look in his eyes and you don't see Heath Ledger, you see TheJoker. And from the many mannerisms from the constant licking of thelips to the way he walks, this is the infinitive version of the classicbad guy. If ever there is a performance to give a posthumous AcademyAward for acting, here it is.The Dark Knight is a sequel to Batman Begins, but in many ways this isa stand alone film. Though it is highly unlikely that you have neverseen a Batman film, there isn't a need to have to catch up onbackstories. The screenplay, crafted by director Christopher Nolan andhis brother Jonathon, gives the backstory of Harvey Dent, The Joker andBatman so that all the viewer needs to know before watching the movieis that The Joker is a bad guy and Batman is the good guy. And evenwith the latter character, all isn't what it seems to be. One of themany themes the film offers can be summed up by a single quote: "Youeither die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become thevillain." Rating: **** out of ****

Jonnyboyy 2012-05-01 20:28:37

Meh...

I'll have to admit, I was not keen on seeing this movie, just because Ididn't really enjoy Batman Begins, but I had some hope this movie wouldbe an improvement. And it was... slightly.I did like Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker, besides having noback story or anything like that. Does it deserve an Oscar nod? Notreally. I think that's mainly out of the fact that he bit the big oneearlier this year. That and he was supposedly going insane while(orbecause) he was taking on the role, so I guess the acting wasn't muchof stretch, then, was it? I have to admit, the direction wasn't veryoriginal or spectacular. But besides that, the movie was chalked fullof big BANG BOOM action scenes. The scenes that dealt with dialogueseemed to be trying to make up for the lack of action with cheap humorthat wasn't all that funny.Rachael Dawes, the most pointless character in the new series... Whatcan I say about her? Other than no one really seemed to care about heror her death. The only reason I feel like she returned for this filmwas to give Harvey Dent a reason to go nuts and start whacking people.Which brings me to Two-Face... Was it necessary to shove that villaininto the last part of the movie like a bad subplot? I think it would'vebeen more appropriate for him to have his own sequel, but I guess thewriters really didn't think he deserved that.I also feel like everything in the movie was so forced together. Imean, 3 villains in one movie and none of them hardly interact. I mean,you got Scarecrow briefly cameo-ing his way into the first little bitof the movie. I don't mean to compare the movie to Burton's worksbecause that's biased(and screw you, because I am) but Batman Returnshad all 3 of it's bad guys smoothly fit together in the film... was itreally that hard? The last thing I really did not like in the movie wasChristian Bale's "I-Must-Sound- Like-I'm-an-80-year-old-woman-who-has-cancer- and-still-smokes-after-60- something-years"voice.Other than those things, the movie was okay. Does it deserve a 9.7? Tobe above the likes of Pulp Fiction, Alien, Aliens, Psycho, Grindhouse,etc? Not really. I think the movie has lost itself in the hype and mostof the people who gave it a 10 did so because they didn't understandhalf the movie, but thought it looked cool. I think the movie would sitnice with a 6 or 7.something rating, but that's my opinion.Anyway, I will be not be seeing any more films in this version of theseries, so you won't hear from me about it again.

Phaneendra Kumar 2012-05-01 04:27:39

Why so serious??

Enter "The Joker" in Gotham City to entertain us all, in the form ofHeath Ledger and the chaos sets in. He is ruthless,messy,merciless andacts on instinct. Joker unleashes fury in Gotham city by robbing banksand killing his own aides to attract the attention of Batman. HeathLedger was praised before the release of this movie very much for hispsychotic performance as the Joker. Truly, his performance is soinspiring. He made sure he will live forever in our hearts in the formof JOKER after his unexpected death in January'08.Batman, with the help of the new district attorney, Harvey Dent, cleansup the city streets off crime. Harvey Dent becomes the hero of the citywith a human face and Batman has his mask still on. People of the citystarts trusting Dent more day by day. Aaron Eckhart also fitted thebill perfectly as Havey Dent/Two Face. Batman arrests Joker with thehelp of Dent and James Gordon. As the story should go, Joker manages toescape from the prison and corrupts Harvey Dent and changes him to TwoFace.The dialogues of Joker are fun and intriguing at the same time. The wayLedger utters "You complete me" and "I don't want to kill you. Whatwould I do without you?" to Batman is astounding.Compared to Heath Ledger, Christian Bale has a little thing to offer inthe store in this movie. Ledger out does every other actor in this darkmasterpiece.Christopher Nolan has written a beautiful movie here. His charactersBatman and Joker are so believable that you completely forget that youare watching a semi-superhero thriller. Batman is all human andvulnerable to the chaos created by The Joker in this epic. Somesequences like the introduction of the Batmobile and the picking up ofLau from his HongKong office are surely adrenalin pumpers for those whoseek thrills in action flicks.Watch The Dark Knight without missing at least for late Heath Ledger asyou will not look him again on the silver screen and this movie isworth every penny you are going to spend.

elpaz79903 2012-04-29 21:18:40

The Dark Knight Brought Batman Back

So We Have Here THE DARK KNIGHT, The Recent Installment To The NewBatman Franchise and This Movie Got It Right. I Liked The How The JokerWas Portrayed as a Cruel-Non Remorse Killer Out To Shake Things Up InGotham. However, Heath Ledger Didn't Do A 100% Job As The MenacingJoker. The Tagline "WHY SO SERIOUS!!!?" Really Did Send Chills AsLedger Would Say It, But The Different Stories He Would Say ToAccompany His Scars Were Totally Pointless. The Performance From MorganFreeman As Bruce Wayne's Friend Did Put Interest In This Movie With AllThe New Devices and Means To His Acting. Christian Bale As The DarkKnight Himself Proves To Be Supreme Actor and Makes This Role His Own.Overall, Supreme To All Batman Movies With All Respect, But The HypeFor Heath Ledger Not Too Hyped Up Here.9/10

DisgorgedMenstrualSludge 2012-04-29 15:34:45

Just wasn't feeling it...

A hefty amount of procrastination took place and delayed me of mypersonal desire to see this record breaking, box-office hit; and by"personal desire", I simply mean: "seeing what all the fuss was about".This follow-up to the 2005 prequel is an obvious signal for many moreof these (until this new millennium's hunger for this super hero thingfinally dies) due to it's fanatical hype. Honestly, this is the mostover-rated movie of the year. I am literally stunned at how this gainedsuch notoriety and ticket/DVD sales with such a tedious storyline andover-played subplots. Really, in no way, did this feel like it hadanything to do with Batman, who has such minimal screen time, and whenwe do see him he is doing nothing of any great importance or interest.Aaron Eckhart plays a district attorney turned villain who is set tomarry Maggie Gyllenhall's character. That was another questionableaspect. Am I supposed to believe she is the center of a love trianglewhen she is really the most miscast actor in this movie? The main focalpoint of the movie, of course, is Heath Ledger as The Joker who is ahighly elusive bad guy who likes to blow stuff up. I admit, The Jokeris the moderately redeeming quality of this movie, yet he is very onedimensional and far too intentionally humorous. "The Dark Knight" isjust one favored film I probably will never appreciate as much as most.It's about an hour too long with an extensive amount of cliché suit n'tie conversation and greasy thugs hatching ill-fated plans with a highoctane chase scene and a few unmemorable explosions thrown in. It justsucks.

XAPxSCORPx 2012-04-27 11:01:12

Cluttered script and directing, but acting is great.

With all the high praise this movie was getting from both moviereviewers and movie goers, I was expecting a film that was better thanthe previous film, "Batman Begins". Instead, we have a cluttered messof a script and directing (At least in the first hour). Too many storylines and too little focus on the more important parts of the story.For example, a subplot of Bruce Wayne going to Hong Kong is a totalwaste and not needed if written right. There is also a wastedopportunity in the scenes with the Scarecrow. The movie does pick upand get better after the half-way mark.Much was made about Heath Ledger's acting in this movie, that he shouldbe nominated for an Oscar, but that too was overblown. Although Ledgerdid a great job as the Joker, it's not an Oscar worthy performance. Ithink it's the emotion of his unfortunate death that is makingreviewers over-hype his performance. Do not overlook Aaron Eckhart'sperformance as Harvey Dent (especially in the second half of the film).It would had been nice to have Katie Holmes back as Rachel Dawes forcontinuity, but Maggie Gyllenhaal gives the character a more realisticand emotional performance.Finally getting to Batman. The writers seem to make Batman unlikable byall of the other characters in the film. Maybe it's because there lessfocus on the Batman/Bruce Wayne character in this film. Not even thetwo people he's closest to (Lucius Fox and Alfred) seem to like him.The relationships between those characters in the first film is whatgave the movie its soul.Is it worth seeing? This is the type of movie to see on the big screen.Will you be bored? There are some slow moments to this film. It is adarker film than the first which can be good and bad. All in all, themovie didn't live up to my expectations, but this is just an opinionfrom a 41 year old movie-goer

nick_freeman 2012-04-26 22:59:25

Great Summer Movie for the family!!!

There will be no spoilers here... this is definitely a theater-worthymovie that everyone needs to see. The violence was very minimal and theaction was non-stop. The characters were all dynamic and you will beentertained for 2.5 hours. I know some will disagree but Jack Nicholsonis still the BEST Joker. I will give the late Heath Ledger credit, hewas amazing but the tongue thing got old and the autobiographicalrepetitive story he tells of how he got to where he is was a bit much.I was disappointed with the new Rachael Dawes character played byMaggie Gyllenhaal. She looked tired and very unattractive as theleading female role in this movie. I guess I miss Katie Holmes. :( I'lldefinitely buy this movie, but the first Batman Begins was better.