The Dark Knight The Dark Knight Fan Review Thread

[Zero_Vault]

Memories of a Murder.

Save the Green Planet.

Old Boy.

 

[p.marlowe]

Memories of a Murder.

Save the Green Planet.

Old Boy.

Ah! Art house fare! Very good choices! I apologize for calling you a troll, your opinion is as valid as mine.

The fight scenes in Batman Begins were shot from the criminals point of view; that's why you had trouble seeing them. In The Dark Knight... well, based on what you said I gather you just don't like the Keysi Fighting Method that Batman employs. That's fine. I personally prefer it over the overly CGI'd wire work that prevails so much now.

 

[Boom]

I feel like an idiot. I just noticed something during my fourth viewing.

When The Joker escapes from the interrogation room, I was wondering where he was able to hide the knife he had to the cop's throat. But upon closer inspection, it was actually a piece of glass from when Batman slammed The Joker's head into the window.

Awesome.

 

[batman11]

THE DARK KNIGHT

The Dark Knight,is the second film in the revitalised Batman franchise, based upon one of the most famous comic book characters of all time. Having been one of the most aggressively marketed films of the decade, this movie is near impossible to avoid. And with the death of one it’s stars, Heath Ledger, just recently, his performance is inevitably going to be overrated. After a string of disappointing movies so far this year, The Dark Knight promised to be the exception, but never managed to deliver.

Christian Bale is Bruce Wayne, billionaire by day, caped crusader Batman by night. Having been clearing up the streets for a while, District Attorney Harvey Dent(Aaron Eckhart) has begun to prosecute the mobs, but the appearance of a new villain, the bizarrely strange and psychotic Joker(Heath Ledger), leads to anarchy and destruction on a large scale.

First off, Christian Bale gives an all time worst performance, constantly vague as Bruce Wayne, leaving no impact, and hinging his entire performance as Batman on making his voice overly gruff and nothing more, the result is the main protagonist being possibly the worst part of the entire movie. Heath Ledger’s performance on the other hand is the highlight, whilst not as fantastic as the hype would have you believe, his body language an expression gives an edge to the character, whilst the script completely fails to give life to him.

From a perspective of writing, The Dark Knight is a poor specimen indeed. Batman Begins was notorious for it’s lack of dialogue in favour of speeches and quips, and the recursion of the same few lines a ridiculous number of times, however the Nolan Brothers seem to have learnt nothing since, and we are left with the exact same sloppy writing again. Every line is either a quick smart remark like joke, or a monologue pointed in another characters general direction, leaving no real interaction between protagonists. Instead, we are left with lots of quotable lines, but a lack of substance, the typical third rate Hollywood script, drenched in cliché.

Christopher Nolan direction is marginally more interesting that Batman Begins, as he decides to use a bit more camera movement instead of relying entirely on filters to create atmosphere. Whilst it doesn’t add anything to the meaning of any sequences of frames, the movement does make scenes that would otherwise be boring, due to the terrible screenplay, a little more interesting. However this is not enough at all, and several times we find ourselves tracking around the subject of a scene in circles for far too long without good cause. Sloppy directing, offering little if anything, highly indistinct and pretty much your basic action film which could have been directed by one of hundreds of third rate directors.

The feel of this movie is very empty, substance and rich content has been replaced by references and cheap laughs, rather than the actual building and construction of the characters and environments, being far too eager to move on to the next action sequence, leaves the movie completely hollow and void of any real emotion as we never get a chance to engage with any of the characters. Rather than a dark brooding comic book film, the whole movie feels more like a poor ‘Bond’ film, with the focus on gadgets and action, without any integrity, with Batman even travelling to the far East in pure Bond like fashion. The main character could easily be replaced by any generic action hero, and the result would be pretty much the same.

As for the key selling point of the film, the Joker, his handling is the cause of the vague nature of the film. The Joker’s ‘random craziness’ and lack of playing by the rules makes the whole movie fail to have a point, whilst I suspect this was intended, the choice to make it such was a big mistake, as you never can get into the film or any of the characters, the first fifteen minutes being the best. The Dark Knight happens in front of you, with lots of events, but there never seems to be a point or substance, making the experience dull at best.

In conclusion, The Dark Knight fails to be anything special whatsoever, consigning itself to being a cliché Hollywood action film, without any edge. Of course, the film will make money, as with most marketing campaigns, and of course, there will be many people who claim this film is of a high quality, of course, if you’re into stereotype, pointless action and cliché, then sure, this film is for you, but if you expect something with depth and purpose, that fulfils you as a viewer, look elsewhere. Another hugely disappointing movie, one to miss.

Can you say cliché one more time, I didn't quite get the message?

 

[Spade]

The only thing cliché is how people who didn't like it give these 2 and a half page notes on the movie and why inconsistency #21143 ruins the movie, when they could've saved themselves some time and wrote down "I didn't like it."

 

[Va3H]

Nolan doesn't know how to edit nor does he know how to direct martial arts action sequences.

Only Memento was his best work--a fluke, like M. Night Shaymalan. All his other movies gets worse with each passing.

This film was on par with The Happening.

I will not even dignify that with an answer.

P.S. Philip Seymour Hoffman is gonna kill you!!!

 

[The Joker]

My god, did someone say this movie is on par with The Crappening? How can you even compare TDK to a movie about plants making people committ suicide?

 

[Conebone69]

Did anyone else have a problem with the movie kind of drifting away from bruce and focusing more on other things?

 

[-Arya-]

Did anyone else have a problem with the movie kind of drifting away from bruce and focusing more on other things?

Well you can only fit so much into one movie but there were plenty of great Bruce Wayne moments, for me at least t:

 

[Va3H]

Indeed, I thought it focused less on Batman directly, but indirectly delt with the choices and ramifications he must endure.

 

[souvlaki]

Did anyone else have a problem with the movie kind of drifting away from bruce and focusing more on other things?

Not in the least. We got a whole film pretty much devoted to Bruce with Batman Begins. Meanwhile, one of the most interesting things about Batman, and one of the things that made me fall in love with the character is his rich history, and his strong supporting cast. I felt Gordon was underused in the first film, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him play such an important part in this film. Harvey Dent has one of the most interesting origin tales in comics, and to truly do justice to him they needed to use every second they did in the film developing his character. And the Joker is, well, the Joker.

I understand the complaints made against the previous franchise in regards to them ignoring Batman, but one of the big differences between those films and this one was with those films the villains pretty much controlled the storyline, and Batman was simply there to react to them. He didn't really have any impact on the plot whatsoever. With this film even when Bruce and Batman are not on screen their presence is still felt. I mean, the main plot of the film is the Joker is killing off people in hopes of getting Batman to reveal his identity. And the truth is, Batman and Bruce still get tons of screentime (and Bruce gets an unprecedented amount of screentime compared to the previous franchise). I haven't done a minute by minute analysis of the film, but I'd still wager Batman and Bruce combined have more screentime than any other character.

 

[magus]

Did anyone else have a problem with the movie kind of drifting away from bruce and focusing more on other things?

Not really. I am much more interested in the repercussions of Batman's existence than his personal struggle. I suspect that a third film would return the focus on Wayne, but oddly enough I don't need that much Batman in my Batman films.

 

[Spade]

My god, did someone say this movie is on par with The Crappening? How can you even compare TDK to a movie about plants making people committ suicide?

Smoke a bud with me. It'll help us understand their logic. Or just get us high, but that's not a bad thing.

 

[p.marlowe]

My god, did someone say this movie is on par with The Crappening? How can you even compare TDK to a movie about plants making people committ suicide?

Takes all kinds...

 

[The Squirrel]

Nolan doesn't know how to edit nor does he know how to direct martial arts action sequences.

Only Memento was his best work--a fluke, like M. Night Shaymalan. All his other movies gets worse with each passing.

This film was on par with The Happening.

You've got to be kidding.

 

[Finlandman]

It finally came in Finland. Here's my opinion:

CAST:
Cast is amazing. Now that Holmes is gone, there is no weak link. Everybody does excellent job, especially Ledger. He makes you laugh and scared at the same time.

PLOT:
Story of this movie is outstanding. Making Harvey Dent main character is brilliant. His story is so tragic and excellent that it is Two-Face, who lifts this movie to A-class. Nolans also understand other characters completely. Batman's characteration is the best so far in live-movie.

ATMOSPHERE:
Music is great. It fits into the movie perfectly. Nolan has created so real Gotham City that you really don't know what's going to happen next. In the climax, normally I would have known that Gordon's son is going to be okay, but in this movie, his chances were really 50-50.

SPECIAL EFFECTS:
Finally a summer movie where effects don't dominate the film. Little effects that were used in Two-Face, were amazing.

OVERALL:
Example of how a great comicbook movie is made. No, Example of how an excellent movie is made. Only complaint that I have is that ending has too many climaxes, but this is wery small complaint. *****/*****

 

[The Battousai]

Nolan doesn't know how to edit nor does he know how to direct martial arts action sequences.

Only Memento was his best work--a fluke, like M. Night Shaymalan. All his other movies gets worse with each passing.

This film was on par with The Happening.

 

[Chris Wallace]

Let me guess, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk? LOL

Let's not attack the Marvel films here, okay? It is possible to like them & still enjoy TDK. I did.

 

[Episode29]

I love how Zero keeps ranting on and on about Dark Knight being typical Hollywood cliches, when it is actually far outside of the studio norm. Hulk and Iron Man definately fit into the cookie-cutter moulds (Though they were still good examples of formula flicks), but Dark Knight almost self-consciously goes out of its way to avoid the norm. For gods sake, there isn't a single action scene, or scene of violence that doesn't have negative reprucussions. It asks moralistic questions, and expects a certain level of interpretation and intelligence from its audience. It avoids the easy wrap-up ending and cathartic climax. Even the acting is so far beyond what typically resides in a typical summer flick. Plus, his frequent statements regarding bad writing only prove that he has absolutely no idea how to structure a narrative, or to understand the intricacies of one.

Not liking it is fine. It's his prerogative. He paid the money and is entitled opinion. But his ham-fisted backhand review reeks of snobby faux-intellectualism.

 

[shigsy2003]

Memories of a Murder.

Save the Green Planet.

Old Boy.

While I disagree with your opinion of The Dark Knight, you have excellent taste in films. As for other Korean delights (if you haven't already) you may want to check the works of Kim Ki-Duk and Song Il-Gun.

Back on topis I noticed a member ask about the attention shifting off Bruce and for that works well. In all the se types of films we know the hero better than any other characte. We know how they will react in any given situation so it is of far more interest to focus on the villains (The Joker) and/or another main hero (Harvey Dent).

 

[Zero_Vault]

Have you seen The Chaser? That **** is ****ing insane. That film goes beyond Old Boy. No American film comes even close to the brutality of Korean filmmaking--not even Saw or Hostel.

Koreans trumps the Americans in every way in the crime/thriller genre.

You will give TDK an F, when you compare it with The Chaser.

http://thedarkknightsucks.com/

 

[The Battousai]

^ Hahaha - you're trying so hard

 

[SatEL]

^ Hahaha - you're trying so hard

Slightly of topic here but whats up manslayer?t:

 

[The Battousai]

Slightly? Hehe...

Nothing, really.

 

[Easter Lily]

Did anyone else have a problem with the movie kind of drifting away from bruce and focusing more on other things?

This was something that bothered me initially but more and more I can't help but come to the conclusion that a lot of that has to do with the Joker being the villain here. I was reminded, while revisiting the animated series in the last couple of days, that the Joker is the most ostentatious villain in Batman lore (or at least features prominently in the list). He is flamboyant and he seems to hog a fair bit of attention wherever he goes. It's his character to try to grab the limelight and force everyone to dance to his tune. Not to mention he's rather fond of blowing things up -- a sure way to get attention.
Batman, on the other hand, would prefer to stay out of the limelight and in the shadows. And if this film is to be believed, he would rather leave the cleaning up to someone else and get on with his life.

However, what bothered me from my first viewing and still bothers me is a lack of grief over Rachel's death. I wasn't surprised that she died but I was surprised at how subdued Bruce/Batman was over the entire incident.

(Incidentally, Mark Hamill is a terrific Joker too... different but loads of fun... and what is more, he's not loathe to belt out a tune or two! t