The Dark Knight The Non-Spoiler Critic Review Thread

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Iron Man was good. However, I honestly believe it was just because it was a breath of fresh air for Marvel (movies) which put it on this (potentially undeserving) higher level. Although the same could be said about Begins, right?

Let's review Marvel's recent track record and how mixed the reactions were for them:

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Spiderman 3
Ghost Rider
X-Men: The Last Stand (although, I liked this)
Elektra
Fantastic Four
The Punisher
Blade: Trinity
Spiderman 2
X2
Daredevil
Hulk
Spiderman
Blade 2
X-Men
Blade

So then Iron Man comes along after a few summers of mixed-reaction-movies and is actually pretty good and so by comparison it's "AMAZING". Sounds like the Batman pattern too, except the latter films were very poorly received versus mixed.
 
My prediction about TDK vs Iron Man is that Iron Man may get a higher number of positive reviews than TDK, thus getting a higher rating at RT. The reason being IM is lighter, safer and designed as a crowd-pleaser. TDK is darker, longer, takes more chances.

However the positive reviews that TDK does receive will be much more enthusiastic overall. Lots of comparisons to great crime dramas of the past. Lots of "best picture of the year" quotes (let's not forget, many critics said the same about Batman Begins...and it made a lot of top 10 lists), "best comic book film ever", etc. We're already seeing early reviews like that.

My hope is TDK ends up with a similar rating as IM, but I can tell already that TDK has captured the imagination of many critics more so than IM has. Just read both reviews from Peter Travers at Rolling Stone. Yes, he gives them both the same rating...yet look at how enthusiastic he is when writing about TDK!
 
Man, I think Warners has a monster on their hands. Not only to plug so much money into the basic budget and advertising, but... just the confidence behind all the marketing and everything. This thing's going to be great.
 
I'm doing my best not to watch those new clips. There's so much out there already!
 
AH! I'm so glad this thread was made! I would read the other 'Critic Review' thread in the Spoilers forum because I didn't know this one was here. I ruined some of the movie I think by doing that.
 
Nick at CHUD posted this 8.5/10 review earlier today:

http://chud.com/articles/articles/15382/1/REVIEW-THE-DARK-KNIGHT-NICK039S-TAKE/Page1.html

Heaps a lot of praise on the film, but says that its main detraction is too much length by adding the Hong Kong sequence. Other than that its an almost entirely glowing review.

He does subtly hint at a few spoilers, but I wasn't able to discern anything from what he was saying.

For those not wanting to risk it though, I'll post what I feel are the main points of the review.

It is being touted as a masterpiece and one of the rare sequels that not only surpasses the original but one of the great movies of its kind of all time.

It isn't. But it's still quite good. Very good in fact. A tweak in the editing room and the culling of fifteen or so minutes and The Dark Knight could very well be the benchmark for how to transcend the medium.
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Make no mistake, Batman is beginning to show some of the cracks in his sanity but in a universe populated with very colorful characters you need a Christian Bale keeping everybody honest.
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Even if Heath Ledger had survived, the inclusion of the Joker and how he compared to Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, and Mark Hamill would be the number one draw to the film and I'm glad to say that Ledger has created the definitive version of the character. I personally am not a fan of the Joker and find him often grating and overused foil for Batman but there's no denying his place in history and to many people the first film's Achilles Heel was the lack of the signature Batman villain. Ledger has some moments where he gets to ham it up but his [and Nolan's] incarnation of the character is much more obtuse and fiendish and truly in love with his chaotic impulses than Jack Nicholson's famous, distracting take. He truly makes you believe that for him the thrill of the game isn't the outcome but the ride there
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The Dark Knight is at its best when it slows down the action and dwells on the character moments and there's a lot to choose from. These actors are first class and run with some very good writing, primarily supplied by Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan.
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Though Heath Ledger gets the most showy role and does great work with it, Aaron Eckhart does just as good with a character who is given no help when it comes to film. Harvey Dent is a bland character who could have easily been a device but Eckhart invests so much sincerity in him that you could see why Batman would consider giving up his night job with a man like Dent on the streets. Additionally, Two-Face is a generic villain who could have easily clouded the mixture but somehow his arrival allows the film to go into its later moments with a head of steam that wouldn't have worked with just the Joker and his cronies. Eckhart may have the most exposition and dialogue to deliver in the film and he pulls it off superbly and without a lot of the tools the other major characters have.
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Sadly, the film spends too much time with a subplot involving a Hong Kong organization being involved both with the mob and Wayne Enterprises, a decision which leads to a wholly pointless jaunt to the East for Batman to wrangle an escaped criminal and there's a little too much time spent with the criminal underworld element. A little trimming could have sped the proceedings up and nothing would have been sacrificed. Though there are a few nice moments, the idea to modify the Batman model in a foreign country with too many unknown factors betrays the logic of the character. Especially when this film does a good job establishing how the rigors of the job and preparation are becoming more of a routine. The Hong Kong stuff would have worked just as easily and possibly more effectively had we seen Bruce Wayne stretch some of his other muscles to extradite the villain. The logitstics of Batman overseas just doesn't work this early in the saga. Plus, there's enough onscreen Batman in the film without it.
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It's easy to just dismiss the film's flaws for all it gets right but where some compromises worked with the maiden effort by Nolan and crew, this film has too much working for it to give it a total pass. The pacing, a few of the character moments I'll choose not to spoil, and the fact that aside from the excellent street confrontation with the flipping semi the majority of the action isn't as stunning as it could be takes what is nearly a great film a notch down.

It's very good. The fans are going to eat it up. It's got some really meaty drama and fantastic performances. It's just not a masterpiece and the be all, end all many assume it will be.

But then again, who the hell are we to expect a masterpiece from a comic book movie anyhow?
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That last line grates me a little.
 
We just got these over at the spoiler forum review thread:

Variety (Justin Chang)
An ambitious, full-bodied crime epic of gratifying scope and moral complexity, this is seriously brainy pop entertainment that satisfies every expectation raised by its hit predecessor and then some.
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http://www.variety.com/VE1117937619.html

----------------------------------

Hollywood Reporter
Nolan is one of our smarter directors. He builds movies around ideas and characters, and "Dark Knight" is no exception. The ideas here are not new to the movie world of cops and criminal, but in the context of a comic book movie, they ring out with startling clarity. In other words, you expect moralistic underpinnings in a Martin Scorsese movie; in a Batman movie, they hit home with renewed vigor.
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http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=11376
 
FlawlessVictory said:
Nice! A couple of heavy hitters. I wish they would assign some star rating or scale to the movie though.
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Yeah, I was looking for a score and then I was like, "Crap, I have to read through the whole thing and find a good blurb!" :funny:
 
The Mighty Wind said:
Nick at CHUD posted this 8.5/10 review earlier today:

http://chud.com/articles/articles/15382/1/REVIEW-THE-DARK-KNIGHT-NICK039S-TAKE/Page1.html

Heaps a lot of praise on the film, but says that its main detraction is too much length by adding the Hong Kong sequence. Other than that its an almost entirely glowing review.

He does subtly hint at a few spoilers, but I wasn't able to discern anything from what he was saying.

For those not wanting to risk it though, I'll post what I feel are the main points of the review.

That last line grates me a little.
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Uhh I'd say quite a bit of those are spoilers. I faintly knew about all of it but didn't need it to be confirmed or brought back to my focus, thank you very much. [blackout]Honk Kong and Dent in the later half, specifically.[/blackout]

A main gripe I have with his review is he justifies taking 1.5 points off for a mere 15 minutes, is that really fair? In addition, he wants cuts here and there, but also says he likes the shots of Batman on buildings, etc.

Still though, Heath and Eckhart have won him over which is extremely comforting, he even admits he's not a fan of the Joker. If this is the worst "main" review, I couldn't be happier. His small nitpicks are so miniscule only a fanboy could make such a review about them.
 
The Mighty Wind said:
That last line grates me a little.
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Me as well. It seems all those guys over at CHUD are in the same mindset; a superhero or comic movie should not be considered anything more than a superhero or comic movie, and that it shouldn't try to be.

Could not disagree anymore. :o
 
The Hollywood Reporter nor the Variety review contain the word "masterpiece" or four paragraph raves about Heath's performance.

Simply unacceptable; I'm adjusting my expectations accordingly. This movie will probably suck.
 
ThreeOfAKind said:
The Hollywood Reporter nor the Variety review contain the word "masterpiece" or plentiful raves about Heath's performance.

Simply unacceptable; I'm adjusting my expectations accordingly. This movie will probably suck.
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I concur. I think I may just wait for this one on DVD. :o


:oldrazz:
 
Anita18 said:
Variety (Justin Chang)

http://www.variety.com/VE1117937619.html
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*Beavis and Butthead* laugh ...he said "*****ure."


One more thing from that review he described the Joker as "He's a pitiless psychopath who revels in chaos and fears neither pain nor death, a demonic prankster for whom all the world's a punchline."

Assuming this guy hasn't been reading Batman comics his whole life and just got that from watching TDK...WOW!
 
Great reviews...it's too bad THR didn't like Eckhart as much as other critics did, but such is life.
 
Voyeur said:
Great reviews...it's too bad THR didn't like Eckhart as much as other critics did, but such is life.
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I gathered that his biggest issue with Eckhart was that Harvey's darkside and fate was pretty obvious from the get go. And I get the impression that the critic already had some familiarity with Batman. I think anyone who knows Harvey's fate is going to pick up on those things though.
 
Keyser Soze said:
To sum it up, Devin Faradi is a self-loathing geek. Because of this, he continually singles out fans of superheroes as being far bigger losers than him, jabbing at them with his comments about them being "homo-repressed teen fantasists." He famously stated that the whole superhero genre should have been killed off with "Watchmen" and "Dark Knight Returns", because when those stories presented the genre as adult and psychologically complex, it was essentially the genre's death-knell, as superhero comics should NEVER be taken seriously as credible adult storytelling. This agenda has extended out to his view on superhero MOVIES, and in particular he has singled out Batman - the most serious and "adult" of mainstream superheroes - as an object of his hate.

Back at the time of the release of "Batman Begins", he controversially claimed that "Fantastic Four" was much better. Why? Because it didn't "get any ideas above its station". Namely, he thinks superhero movies should not aspire to be anything other than mindless, colorful kiddie fluff. Any film that does so is being "pretentious" and appealing to us loser comic fanboys.
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Eventually were going to see some negative reviews. Ive noticed this backlash against believable style action films and those will be eating at TDKs chance of a 90 perhaps at RT. Overall they wont damage the reviews too badly though. The haters probably wont win out. People that love serious fiction arent just comic book fans, in fact ive noticed many fans of the books are annoyed with the seriousness.

Im so proud that serious fiction is getting respect, with V for Vendetta as well. Its a good time for these type of fiction films.
 
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