The Dark Knight Joker Intro Description...no Bs

[deasnuts]

"What doesn't kill you, makes you...stranger."

 

[turtlefocker]

Spoiler

If the opening frames of "The Dark Knight" are any indication, Batman will have his hands full come June. The Joker is on the loose, and MTV News has seen just how devilishly maniacal and dangerous he can be.

On Sunday night, a small crowd in New York gathered to watch the first six minutes of director Christopher Nolan's eagerly awaited sequel to "Batman Begins" and, holy extended trailer, the footage did not disappoint. Introduced by the beaming director and displayed on an 80-foot-tall IMAX screen, the opening of the film welcomed Heath Ledger's Joker to the Nolan/Batman universe.

And it was clear from the start, much as you might have loved Jack Nicholson's villain, the purple-clad bad man won't have the time or inclination to dance to Prince this time around. Nolan spoke at length with MTV News immediately prior to and following the special event, clearly proud of his new villain. "I think what Heath is doing is very adventurous," he said. "What he's doing is very radical. It's very much what I wanted. I knew I needed someone really fearless."

The opening sequence — specially filmed in the IMAX format, and set to debut December 14 with prints of "I Am Legend" in theaters — fulfilled a dream for Nolan, who said he had been wanting to shoot in the format for 15 years. "In the finished film, there will be four or five IMAX sequences," Nolan explained. He continued excitedly before the screening: "Everything about doing this in the IMAX format is trying to get that feeling back when I was a little kid when I'd sit in a movie theater and see images that were larger than life. That's what I'm trying to get back to with this material. I felt like introducing the Joker in this way because he's such a huge character [and it] would be a very fun thing to do."

But Nolan also revealed that not all the IMAX scenes will be action-filled. "Some of them are actually quiet scenes which pictorially we thought would be interesting. It's not all the slam-bam scenes," he said.

As the lights dimmed, the first images were revealed, of a gleaming and bright Gotham City. The camera moves in close on a building when suddenly the calm is shattered, quite literally, by a broken window. A group of clown-mask-clad robbers are about to seize a bank. They bicker about the mysterious man who has employed them. "Why do they call him the Joker?" one asks another. It's a refrain almost identical to those rooftop thugs who wonder about the mysterious "bat" in the opening frames of Tim Burton's "Batman."

Soon we are inside the bank as a tense standoff is under way. None of the employees resist, save one played by character-actor extraordinaire William Fichtner. This is a mob bank, we learn, and the wrong place to mess with, even for a group of seasoned criminals.

The controlled heist degenerates into a mess quickly enough, with each of the robbers mysteriously getting taken out. But it's not Batman knocking them off — rather, it's one of the robbers themselves. Just as the final two robbers are set to leave, one pulls a gun on the other. "I bet the Joker told you to kill me as soon as we loaded the cash," he says, clearly with the upper hand.

The eerily calm but playful response comes. "No, no, no. He killed the bus driver."

Before the gun-toting clown can finish asking, "What bus driver?," he is taken out by a school bus crashing into the bank. "School's out. Time to go!" screams the sole survivor of the gang.

All that remains for him is the bank employee (Fichtner) lying at his feet. By now we're pretty sure these are going to be his last words: "The criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. What do you believe in?" He screams it again, louder, "What do you believe in?"

And the mask comes off. The grinning, scarred face of the Joker is revealed at last. His face filled the 8-story-high screen as the clip played. "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you ...," he said. He pauses on the last word: " ... stranger."

As the Joker made his getaway, the sequence ended, but before the lights returned, the audience was treated to quick tantalizing flashes of the rest of the film. The Joker firing what looks to be an automatic weapon in a city street. Police Commissioner Gordon raising an ax dramatically. Batman whizzing by in his batpod. And finally, Gordon lowering the ax, destroying what we see now was the bat signal. Troubled times clearly await in Gotham. And it's clear who's to blame.

Nolan explained to MTV News that the Joker we meet in "The Dark Knight" is fully formed. Don't look for an origin story here. "To me, the Joker is an absolute," he said. "There are no shades of gray to him — maybe shades of purple. He's unbelievably dark. He bursts in just as he did in the comics."

Though there was no sign of much of the supporting cast in this extended preview, Nolan stressed there's much more to the story. Asked about Aaron Eckhart's Harvey "Two-Face" Dent, the director said "his story is in some ways the backbone of the film. [Bruce Wayne and Harvey] have an interesting relationship. They're friends and rivals."

And what about the caped crusader we left at the end of "Batman Begins"? Nolan explained that "he's a little more sure of himself" in the new film. "We didn't want him sitting around wrestling with the same angst. It's all-new angst," he laughed.

Nolan, who wrapped filming just two weeks ago, said he's shooting for a running time comparable to the first film's 140 minutes. Congratulated on the ambitious slam-bang start to his sequel, MTV News asked if the next six minutes could help but live up to the first. The director smiled and sighed nearly in unison. "That's what I'm working on now."

The line about Harvey being the backbone of the film made me happiest of all.

 

[Luchastyle]

haha. pretty crazy.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

READ THE MTV REVIEW!!!!

Dialogue saved from the Wizard guy's butchering!

It's: Whatever doesn't kill you (pause) makes you STRANGER!"

Thank you Nolans ...WE HAVE A JOKER!!!

We have THE Joker.

 

[mattyt81]

"makes you stranger". i have a feeling that because the bomb doesn't kill him, the gas inside it is the good ol' Joker gas. the wizard review says a "harmless" gas. mmm i dont think so

 

[Hole Shot]

New Joker line to add to your sigs!

 

[Wolverine_05]

New Joker line to add to your sigs!

Say what? t:

 

[Hole Shot]

Say what?

Nice!

I don't normally put that stuff in my sig, but I was so bleh from the Wizard review and that little single word correction in the MTV review just got me SO FIRED UP FOR THIS MOVIE!

 

[jimmy]

Didn't Nolan say that he hoped that theaters played it until TDK opened?

I think it's probably a separate scene.

 

[ChrisB]

So we're saying MTV was right and its STRANGER not STRONGER (Wizard) ???

 

[turtlefocker]

Nice!

I don't normally put that stuff in my sig, but I was so bleh from the Wizard review and that little single word correction in the MTV review just got me SO FIRED UP FOR THIS MOVIE!

It would suck if wizard was right and MTV wrong.

 

[Luchastyle]

wow. that article was great. if my imax theatre doesn't play this footage, i'll cry.

 

[Luchastyle]

Didn't Nolan say that he hoped that theaters played it until TDK opened?

I think it's probably a separate scene.

i think what he means is that any movie that comes out in imax from now til TDK may have this before it.

 

[Hole Shot]

It would suck if wizard was right and MTV wrong.

I'll cry.

 

[jimmy]

i think what he means is that any movie that comes out in imax from now til TDK may have this before it.

Perhaps. I just get the feeling that it's something separate.

 

[phantasma186]

Please God let my theatre have this. I'm paying for IaL just to see this...

 

[Luchastyle]

Perhaps. I just get the feeling that it's something separate.

maybe. but i don't think so. either way. it don't matter. this is the sh-t.

 

[Lead_Tester]

The Joker will wear the make up at the end of the movie, and all before that will be the story of how he was a happy guy with a beautiful wife and a good job, aperfect citizen untill one day he accidentally cuts himself while shaving, he goes mad and kills everyone because he was a narcisist...
After that I'd wake up sweating all scared, realizing that all was just a nightmare.

 

[Luchastyle]

The Joker will put the make up at the end of the movie, and all before that will be the story of how he was a happy guy with a beautiful wife and a good job, aperfect citizen untill one day he accidentally cuts himself while shaving, he goes mad and kills everyone because he was a narcisist...
After that I'd wake up sweating all scared, realizing that all was just a nightmare.

and patrick duffy is in the shower.

 

[Aidan2209]

This thread got too long, but incase people think the Wizard pic is the Joker in the opening scene in the bank, that is definately wrong. We already saw him clearly in the spy pics wearing grey and in the IMAX announcement pics where he's behind the screen, he's got the same outfit on and that is the bank scene.

I think people think he's not wearing the makeup because they saw him without it on when he's running in the bank, but obviously they just didn't go through the trouble of having him fully made up for these shots until they needed to shoot him with the mask off.

I agree.

And this intro sounds awesome. I have access to an IMAX theatre, but I Am Legend doesn't come out here until January. I really hope this winds up on the Internet.

 

[OSM]

This movie has me so excited. I haven't been this hyped for a film in ages. 7 months to go, I can't wait.

 

[Hole Shot]

Wondering.... (and I'll hide this for those who want to wait to see it)

Spoiler

This means that Fitchner has more than just a cameo in the movie during the bank scene.

Since we hear how this is so much like Batman #1, do you think it's possible that the harmless gas was actually the time release poison?

 

[rashad]

The dialogue was great! MTV's article is MUCH better than the Wizard one.

 

[Luchastyle]

The dialogue was great! MTV's article is MUCH better than the Wizard one.

u got that right rashad.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

The dialogue was great! MTV's article is MUCH better than the Wizard one.

If I remember correctly, MTV has had a couple of really good articles on TDK.