Just got done watching the movie. 85% packed theatre at a Friday 3:00 pm show. Rumors are that it is going to break Spiderman 3 for highest grossing weekend in history. I am too lazy to look this up at this time, so I will just ask-

Has a "summer blockbuster" film ever won Best Picture? I believe it was either Jaws or Star Wars that started this whole trend of the "summer blockbuster", and I do not recall if either of those or any other candidate has. If not, then I would not be surprised if Dark Knight becomes the first.

This movie had more substance than any film I have seen in a long long time. 2 1/2 hours felt like maybe 45 minutes top, that is how engrossing it is. I could go on, but I don't really have to.

BTW was not sure if the Batman clip was the unofficial Dark Knight thread, which is why I started this. If the other one is, then feel free to move this post there, thanks!

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neato, I need to convince the husband to go see it now!

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"Creating Havoc and Pie Since 2001!"
My Website: http://www.anthonyhays.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cakvala

I saw this movie this afternoon, and loved it! Great stuff. The end felt a little weak to me, but I can't really say why-- I don't have a good reason. That said, it was great, and I sure hope there will be more Batman movies made.

I'm not a Heath Ledger fan or anything but he did an amazing job, I really liked the movie.

It's a great movie, but for some reason I found Batman's forced McGruff the Crime Dog voice a little annoying toward the end. It came out a couple times in the first movie, but he seemed to do it every other line in this one.

Sarissa Candyangel

I agree, especially when he was making the cheesy moral lines at the very end. It was too much.

I think I actually liked this one more than Batman Begins. Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker.

The Joker was amazing in this movie, going to be sad if they make another batman and hes not the joker.

I want to see a new batman movie with robin in it.

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Part of what has made the past two movies good is the absence of Robin.

Sarissa Candyangel

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This thread brought to you by a tremendous dickhead!

Do you think perhaps Robin could arise from the guy that tried to blackmail Batman in this movie?

no robin plz

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"Creating Havoc and Pie Since 2001!"
My Website: http://www.anthonyhays.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cakvala

It's pretty sad Heath won't get to see the fan reception to his character. He did an amazing job, that was a very sick and twisted Joker.

As for the movie? I LOVED it. Best Batman movie made, big kudos to Christopher Nolan. I have to agree with Bale's forced voice, it started to bug me at some point.

Saw it over the weekend, I thought it was great. Joker was a sick twisted bastard.

The theatre I went to Sunday was full. I got there about 20 min before posted showtime and my wife and I had to sit in the 2nd row (yech!) I'd like to see it again to see what I missed.

Who could they get to be Joker now? Joker is such a huge part of the whole Batman story. I would be disapointed if they let it end with just that movie.

Awesome movie, gonna see it again. Joker excellent. Glad Pedo-Robin wasn't in it. If we can stay gritty gothic and away from the cakvala pastel I'll be happy.

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evidently nested spoilers don't work?

I am happy that my favorite version(s) of the Joker made it to screen. Very, very happy.

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Loved the movie, only gripes are the same as above:

- Forced Bale Voice
- Ledger not being around for the next one

I looked at my watch when the movie got 2 hrs in and was hoping for another hour, was totally immersed in this one!

Although he already played the riddler (but we can pull a hulk 1.0 and pretend that didn't happen), I bet Jim Carey could do a good job on the Joker, he's got the demented humor for sure. His acting is far more than the Ace Ventura we got used to watching, if you've seen any of his more serious roles. just my 2 cents!

Couldn't see Jim Carey as the Joker. He's too goofy and silly in my mind, even with some of the darker movies he has done. He's not...evil enough, if that makes any sense.

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oh dear god...NO.

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Jim Carey was awesome in his more serious roles. Eternal Sunshine was great, and so was Man in the Moon. I also liked him in the one where he's in a fake world and put on TV as a reality show (the name escapes me at the moment).

All this comes from me, someone who *hated* him in the Mask, and the retarded Ace Ventura movies.

The Truman Show

Jim Carrey's best performance is obviously The Cable Guy

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COME BACK SO I MAY BRAIN THEE!

I actually enjoy Jim Carrey, but he would be a horrible Joker. Problem is, though, that no one is going to be able to follow Ledger's performance. He was SO great that anyone else playing "that" Joker will just be trying to live up to what he was. I think you'd need a whole new Batman story with a whole new Joker to realistically give another actor a chance to do it right again.

Dos thus have thou a mug of ale for me and me mate, for he hath been pitched in battle for a fortnight and has the king's thirst for the frosty brew dos thou might have for thus!

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The Dark Knight was great. I just had a few minor criticisms but nothing major.

Heath just bottom line knew the balance. The Joker is a funny sadistic guy but at the same time he's extremely bitter and serious. The voice and laugh is spot on. Anything done differently would be horribly noticeable. Rumor is that they cut enough out of the Dark Knight to splice in the Joker much like they did the Scarecrow.

Right now I’m looking at Catwoman being the love interest with a 3rd string villain role (very minor). Joker cameo with Two-Face, Scarecrow, and the Riddler. Remember the suite will do well vs. cats Lucious states in the movie. I think the only thing that could follow up the Joker's performance would be to hear "Riddle me this...." Pretty creepy potential if done correctly.

I was thinking that Catwoman should be the next major villan. Bruce lost the woman he loved and introducing Catwoman to the story would fit right now.

Particularly because...

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History Channel had two Batman specials over the weekend- one on the psychology of Batman and his villains... and another on Batman technology. Really interesting watch IMHO. Did not watch the tech one, but watched the psychology one and was fascinated as to how the creators mirror human emotion and psychology in all the villains, and how society relates to Batman more than any other super hero due to his emotional and internal desires and flaws...

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The tech one was cool as well. Showed that a lot of the Batman gadgets are actually possible in many ways

Rugen's spoiler not working for me

I never really read the comics. I've seen some of the older cartoons (kiddo has one season on dvd - I love Harley Quinn).

I wouldn't want Catwoman - she's always kind of bored me. There have also been two movies with her in them (I never bothered watching the Catwoman movie, though.)

So in trying to decide who I would like to see as a new villain, I had to look up Batman villains. IGN published a nice little rundown of their top 10 best and top 5 worst Dark Knight villains.
http://comics.ign.com/articles/622/622304p1.html

After looking at it, I'd have to say I'd like to see either Black Mask, or Ra's Al Ghul and his daughter. (Another article somewhere else that I read said Talia always wavered back and forth between loyalty to her father and Bruce Wayne - I think it'd be an interesting plot in a movie.)

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Catwoman was one of the worst movies ever made so I think they may have learned their lesson with that line of character.

I'd love to see David Tennant as the Riddler.

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I would love to see a movie do Harley Quinn. By far the best of the female villains, and could be played really well in this uber-dark batman universe that has sprung up out of these newer movies. The only problem with that is she is SO dependent on the Joker for her own character development that it would be tough to do now that the Joker has been ruled out of any other Batman movies.

I completely agree, but with Ledger dead, I wouldn't want to see someone else take on the Joker role, and Harley Quinn couldn't be done without him.

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Harley Quinn is very fuckable, but they would screw it up by casting Jessica Simpson or some other bullshit.

Justice League please. Kevin Spacey leading the Legion of Doom makes me moist as a brownie down there. I'd eat my own poopie to see a modern day Solomon Grundy too.

As much as I love Tennant (<3!!!), I wouldn't stop thinking of him as the Doctor.

Though, he would make a kick ass Riddler.

I actually would like to see Catwoman. She's an iconic Batman villain, she's just been done really badly in previous movies. I see the current series as a much better vehicle for how I'd like to see Catwoman than the older, more PG style.

Done right, I think she could be awesome. Better than Harley Quinn, who I always thought of as a glorified sidekick.

I think if you make the "catwoman" persona minor in comparison to the love interest, I think it would be done very well. I keep thinking of Torbin Bell or Anthony Hopkins as the Riddler. However, the Riddler would be more like the Joker but, who else would be that creepy? To me the Riddler would provide the character depth you would need to pull off the next Batman. You don't want to plateau quite yet. There is still a great story to tell.

There's just so much to do. I'm still debating if Robin would be wise or not. It's just so hard to think about anything that has been done in the previous Batman movies.

I think you need to get Mr. Freeze involved at some point. I would like to see Bane break Batman for the last movie with the ending of him handing it over to the other kid. Let it rest awhile and kill off the kid with Bruce Wayne coming back as Batman. I think that's how the story went anyway...

But if they had the kid, they'd have to do the whole Sword of Azrael thing...

Speaking of Catwoman :
http://celebedge.sympatico.msn.ca/Catwo ... date=False


Onto Dark Knight itself, my only complaint is similar to those above - the forced "crime dog" Batman voice. It was ridiculous to listen to.

Otherwise, everything you've heard about this movie correct. Yes, Heath Ledger *IS* that good.
In a film where the main characters are supported by actors such as Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman, you really need to go above and beyond so as not to be overshadowed by them.
Ledger, in my opinion, was right up there with the best.
Bale, on the other hand, wasn't.

Everyone hates the voice... lol. I didn't love it really, but I didn't mind. I always wondered why no one who meets Batman AND Bruce Wayne ever wondered why they sound strangely alike. A forced crime dog voice would be one way to disguise that.


That was my rationalization anyway. /nod

Just as an aside, in case anyone is curious about the acting choices involving Heath's constant lip smacking and strange blinking as he played the Joker...a doctor friend of mine pointed this out in his review:

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EDIT (lost my comments somewhere) :

This movie was incredible. It didn't do any of the things I hate about comic book movies (punching someone 90 feet through the air, flying, shooting fire from bunghole).

Heath Ledger was incredible. Maybe I bought into the hype ahead of time, but at times I found myself amazed that it actually was heath ledger under all that makeup. The fact that they used real environs more than sound stages really, REALLY helped. Second to the Joker was the cinematography. Very much unlike normal comic book movies.

It was a bit long, and could have ended a few times. My least favorite elements were the Dent's character once he switched to two-face (I didn' like the makeup or the acting), the fact that no one checked the ferries beforehand to see if they had a hold chock full of exploding gas containers and the bizarre cell-phone God tech. Bale's performance was average, especially compared to Dent and the Joker.

I want to see it again.. great movie.

Who's to say it's not possible. The major limit is the amount of post-processing required, so it wouldn't be in real time.

Sarissa Candyangel

Since I posted this a friend of mine and I were chatting about it. The concepts talked about in the movie certainly seem plausible... but the visualization of it is a bit corny, especially the ping sonar 3d rendering and Batman's glowing eyes visualizing it in real time.

A quote from an entertainment article I was reading:

"Though much of the voice effect is Bale's own doing, under the guidance of director Christopher Nolan and supervising sound editor Richard King, the frequency of his Batman voice was modulated to exaggerate the effect."

So don't blame Bale for that. Though some people thought his voice was too deep in Batman Begins as well. After watching it I thought it was fine compared to DK. Apparently Nolan was influenced by the Batman animated series voice actor.

I dunno about Bale being mediocre. Its not like Batman has much depth to his character beyond his beginnings.

They should have left it alone then, it was much better in the first movie.

The face he had to make for the voice (upper lip out like a platypus), and the fact he had to breathe every third word was even more annoying the second time I saw it.

Sarissa Candyangel

Just watched it. My wife and I both thought the movie was flat and very average.

I grew up watching the Adam West version, the Batman Cartoon and have watched almost all of the movies (I think I must have missed one, cause half the shit in this one didn't make any sense to either of us).

It was a real departure from Gotham and the Batman franchise that I grew up loving.

This shit was just your average action movie and the joker could have been any messed up lunatic.

Ledger as the Joker was fine. His acting was fine - but everybody else? Flat. The characters seemed... bad? Why was Bruce Wayne a douchebag in this movie?

I dunno, lot of fanboys and hype, but for us, this was a slightly above average action movie that went on about an hour too long.

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This series (that started with Batman Begins) is not based on the Adam West campy Batman of the 60's (thank God!) I too watched those as a kid and want them to remain the memory. These are based off the graphic novels The Dark Night returns and are trying to convey a darker image that is much more intense.

I really like the direction that these movies have gone.

The movie was ok, I like the dark direction of the series. But all the hype raised my expectations too high, and I ended up disappointed.

I think I was like most people when I watched this going from "What will Batman do next?" to "Where the fuck is the Joker now and what will Harvey Dent do?" I honestly could give two shits about Batman about halfway through because all the supporting characters overshadowed him by leaps and bounds.

But it was 110 times more enjoyable that way.

Adam West's TV series of Batman is as close to the comics as Santa is to Dolly Parton! WAY different, and only share the char names. The 60's show is crap compared to the real Batman stories from the comics!

I really enjoyed the Dark Knight, but I feel it is one of the more over-rated movies in a while. People are talking like it is the greatest movie ever. Ya - it's definitely a big cut above standard super hero movies, but I didn't leave thinking "omg greatest movie ever."

Anyway - just my 2 cents.

I think it's more comparative...

If you hold Dark Knight up to any other movie, with the exception of Ironman, the movie is just better than anything else.

If you hold Dark Knight up to the previous Batman movies... well that's enough said.

If you hold Dark Knight up to any other Batman show, comic, etc. it's probably the best.

This was just the best "Batman" and one of the best movies of the year. We are not getting Lord of the Rings and we haven't seen Harry Potter yet this year so, it made the movie really stand out.

It was a good movie, the hype hurt it some for those who didn't get to see it in theatres but, I think you really missed the whole atmosphere, etc. when people didn't take it upon themselves to see it without researching the movies or readying an internets worth of reviews. The movie is great on it's own two feet and was a great mix or action and supporting stories. The only complaint I had was Batman's voice. I hope they took the dog growl off the audio layer when they made the Blu-Ray. Other than that, Ironman is still #1 for me this year with Batman a tight second.

The disappointment of the year for me was Indiana Jones. I have seen Scooby Doo cartoons better than the story, clues, etc. What a joke...

Would you rather eat dog shit or cow shit? It's mostly comparative...

Nah, it wasn't that bad.. it wasn't "bad" at all. It was just... not great. Very average... slightly above average would be a better grade I think.

It is the B+ 88% of movies.

As rabid as people were about this movie, I was expecting to be jacked off in my pants by it, but, all it did was blow me a kiss from across the room.

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