The Dark Knight What did kids think of The Dark Knight?

[Jay#1]

i just put on spiderman for my nephew and he was asking where the batman movie was.

 

[Daredevil_2003]

I do not think they will really care about the message the film is trying to send.

Kids mostly watch these things for the "coolness factor", the problem is batman for the most part is fairly lacking in in the "coolness factor".

Kids can't apreciate villains who don't need brute strength to be serious threats, and while I can to some degree understand that position, I don't think they should let it detract from the impressive action sequences in this franchise...

I do not think they will find the Joker and the Two-Face scary, but they will find them a bit boring. I mean Batman did'nt even have a real "fight" with the Two-Face, kids do not appreciate villains like that.

Kids do not appreciate the concept of phsychological threat, while TDK was still in production someone came out and asked "Can any of the Batman villains FIGHT?"

The reason Batman suffers frequent declines in poularity is because people find it... Boring.

And while mature audiances may dominate the film ordiance now, eventually no one will care what we think and the kids and teenagers will decide whats worth while, they cannot relate to a vigalantee billionair, they can relate to middle-class teens putting on sugestive costumes though, that is why Warner Bros made Batman Beyond, to cash in on Spiderman's growing popularity. (Back when I was school this was the only interprataion my otherwise Bat-hating school mates seemed to enjoy.)

Unless Nolan has made it so that the action sequences are enough to make kids forget that Bruce Wayne cannot be related too by most people anothert Bat-Decline is on the horison.

At least for now we can rest assured that anyone who sings "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" next Christmas will look like a bit of an idiot.

Uhh, que? Every person I know (ranging from 14 to 82) though TDK was fantastic and all are psyched for another, yet you think there's gonna be a decline soon because some dumb (and I say dumb because most I see love Batman and when I was that age I loved this kind of stuff) 10 year olds might find it boring?

...Seriously?


The box office this film has made and the buzz it has created just shows how few people find it boring.


Everything has a decline in the media when it's not the new "thing", certainly later this year and 2010 will be fairly quiet in the mainstream on the Bat-front, but as soon as the first trailers pop up for B3, it will be hype city all over again.

 

[Figs]

Uhh, que? Every person I know (ranging from 14 to 82) though TDK was fantastic and all are psyched for another, yet you think there's gonna be a decline soon because some dumb (and I say dumb because most I see love Batman and when I was that age I loved this kind of stuff) 10 year olds might find it boring?

...Seriously?


The box office this film has made and the buzz it has created just shows how few people find it boring.


Everything has a decline in the media when it's not the new "thing", certainly later this year and 2010 will be fairly quiet in the mainstream on the Bat-front, but as soon as the first trailers pop up for B3, it will be hype city all over again.

As much as I hate to admit it, a huge percentage of what this made at the BO was due to the hype behind Ledger's last full performance. I guarantee it wouldn't have done as well(still damn good I'm sure) if he hadn't died.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Hmmmm the only influence I think Heaths death had was on the opening weekend to be honest Figs. After that, with all the stellar reviews, word of mouth and that, I think it just carried on steaming along on it's own merits.

 

[Doctor Jones]

Saw some little kids going in. One in particular, but they didn't make a sound. On my first viewing though, some little kid said something in the top row, people laughed, that got on my nerves. I was never a kid that talked in the theater when I was little. It's kinda strange at that age but I just sat there not talking at all. Probably because I was just in awe of my early experiences there. My first time seing SW, remember where I sat and everything.

 

[Daredevil_2003]

As much as I hate to admit it, a huge percentage of what this made at the BO was due to the hype behind Ledger's last full performance. I guarantee it wouldn't have done as well(still damn good I'm sure) if he hadn't died.

Dude, the hype for this movie was through the God damned roof long before Ledger's death. I'm a little tired of people bringing this up. People went to go see it because it's Batman, it looked awesome, it was hyped through the wazzoo, and/or they liked the last one when they saw it in the theater or on video/tv/whatever. HL's death had little to do with it. Folks I know (not geeks like us) were ready to plant their ass in a seat on opening night as soon as they got a look at the trailer released in December.

Saying people just went to see it or it wouldn't have been as big of a hit because of Heath's death is not only an insult to the movie, but makes no sense given the hype that existed beforehand.

Ok, semi-rant over. t:

 

[nickyg641]

Uhh, que? Every person I know (ranging from 14 to 82) though TDK was fantastic and all are psyched for another, yet you think there's gonna be a decline soon because some dumb (and I say dumb because most I see love Batman and when I was that age I loved this kind of stuff) 10 year olds might find it boring?

...Seriously?


The box office this film has made and the buzz it has created just shows how few people find it boring.


Everything has a decline in the media when it's not the new "thing", certainly later this year and 2010 will be fairly quiet in the mainstream on the Bat-front, but as soon as the first trailers pop up for B3, it will be hype city all over again.

I think it's something typical of some Batman fanboys. Believing that "their" superhero is the one that isn't for the kiddies, the one that only the mature can enjoy ("I don't want to see another Batman movie the kiddies will watch. That's why I'm sure The Dark Knight is going to be dark as hell and probably rated R! Oh yeah!"-Oodles of fanboys after TDK was announced way back when). It's a sot of pretentiousness that I think developed as a response to the people who refuse to believe that comics are anything but lighthearted children's fair.

What they fail to remember is that they didn't turn twenty-one and all of a sudden understand the dark superhero they had always thought was boring; most of us were Batman fans from a very young age.

 

[Daredevil_2003]

I think it's something typical of the Batman fanboy. Believing that "their" superhero is the one that isn't for the kiddies, the one that only the mature can enjoy ("I don't want to see another Batman movie the kiddies will watch. That's why I'm sure The Dark Knight is going to be dark as hell and probably rated R! Oh yeah!"-Oodles of fanboys after TDK was announced way back when). It's a sot of pretentiousness that I think developed as a response to the people who refuse to believe that comics are anything but lighthearted children's fair.

What they fail to remember is that they didn't turn twenty-one and all of a sudden understood the dark superhero they had always thought was boring; most of us were Batman fans from a very young age.

QFT

I think you just hit the nail on the head.

 

[Figs]

Hmmmm the only influence I think Heaths death had was on the opening weekend to be honest Figs. After that, with all the stellar reviews, word of mouth and that, I think it just carried on steaming along on it's own merits.

Maybe so.

Dude, the hype for this movie was through the God damned roof long before Ledger's death. I'm a little tired of people bringing this up. People went to go see it because it's Batman, it looked awesome, it was hyped through the wazzoo, and/or they liked the last one when they saw it in the theater or on video/tv/whatever. HL's death had little to do with it. Folks I know (not geeks like us) were ready to plant their ass in a seat on opening night as soon as they got a look at the trailer released in December.

Saying people just went to see it or it wouldn't have been as big of a hit because of Heath's death is not only an insult to the movie, but makes no sense given the hype that existed beforehand.

Ok, semi-rant over. t:

The majority of the hype before Ledger's death that you say was through the roof was from fanboys on here and other sites. The media did have some small interveiws and little segments here and there but nothing major until later on.

Also, if people went to see it because it's Batman what about BB? The Batman film many fans from this site alone that I can truly remember saying it's the Batman movie no one saw or not until TDK came out. Yes, you can say the usual response that Schumacher's films left a bad taste in people's mouths and that WB didn't advertise it as much as they should have but there were still plenty of trailers for it in the theatres...at least that I remember seeing.

I'll say again what I said in my last post.

I still think it would have done damn good numbers and broke records but just not as much as it ended up doing in the end.

The fact that in my first post in this thread I mention seeing the thing 10 times in the theatre, also I dropped money on the DVD AND Blu-Ray. Believe me I love this film as well as BB and Batman overall.

The fact that your saying I'm insulting the movie is typical fanboy crying/yelling at someone just because of a difference of opinion.

 

[Daredevil_2003]

double post

 

[Daredevil_2003]

Maybe so.



The majority of the hype before Ledger's death that you say was through the roof was from fanboys on here and other sites. The media did have some small interveiws and little segments here and there but nothing major until later on.

Also, if people went to see it because it's Batman what about BB? The Batman film many fans from this site alone that I can truly remember saying it's the Batman movie no one saw or not until TDK came out. Yes, you can say the usual response that Schumacher's films left a bad taste in people's mouths and that WB didn't advertise it as much as they should have but there were still plenty of trailers for it in the theatres...at least that I remember seeing.

I'll say again what I said in my last post.

I still think it would have done damn good numbers and broke records but just not as much as it ended up doing in the end.

The fact that in my first post in this thread I mention seeing the thing 10 times in the theatre, also I dropped money on the DVD AND Blu-Ray. Believe me I love this film as well as BB and Batman overall.

The fact that your saying I'm insulting the movie is typical fanboy crying/yelling at someone just because of a difference of opinion.

And the fact that you're calling me a fanboy because of a difference of opinion is also typically fanboyish. Whatthe****ever on that one.

Lemme put it this way: if every single person I know is at least a little bit excited about a movie that's coming out. It's well hyped. It doesn't have to be all over TV and newspapers. Regular stupid folks go on these hurr internets, 2. And when they hear, "new Batman movie", they get interested. Unless the last one was a major flop. Which brings me to my next point.

Most of those same people didn't give a damn about BB because of the old movies. The usual response is the truth, in this case. When they saw BB, their feelings did a 180 and they were excited about a sequel as soon as it ended.

The logic behind this whole argument makes little sense. By the logic you and other's are using The Crow should have been a bigger success, too. It wasn't even a hit, let alone a big one, IIRC. It's a fundamentally flawed view.

Surely, this brought more spotlight to TDK at the time, but by release who had not seen at least a TV spot for this thing? Not to mention, yet again, all the fans the first one has garnered on video and TV. ****, FX runs it, like, twice a day. The general populace were gonna flock to it either way. Not because some actor most of them had never heard of went to the walk of fame in the sky before it came out, no. They were gonna go see it because it because it's BATMAN and it looked fantastic.

If you don't see it that way, fine, I'm not gonna argue with anybody all night over this. I'm just putting my piece out there.

 

[Figs]

And the fact that you're calling me a fanboy because of a difference of opinion is also typically fanboyish. Whatthe****ever on that one.

Not really. It just get's annoying after awhile being on these boards if you have something to say that can be seen as negative about this film let alone any franchise in it's respected thread you easily get jumped on.

Lemme put it this way: if every single person I know is at least a little bit excited about a movie that's coming out. It's well hyped. It doesn't have to be all over TV and newspapers. Regular stupid folks go on these hurr internets, 2. And when they hear, "new Batman movie", they get interested. Unless the last one was a major flop. Which brings me to my next point.

Most of those same people didn't give a damn about BB because of the old movies. The usual response is the truth, in this case. When they saw BB, their feelings did a 180 and they were excited about a sequel as soon as it ended.

The logic behind this whole argument makes little sense. By the logic you and other's are using The Crow should have been a bigger success, too. It wasn't even a hit, let alone a big one, IIRC. It's a fundamentally flawed view.

While this could be true, honestly...Brandon Lee wasn't a huge name at the time. In fact he became "well known" due to the Crow/his death. Before The Crow he did STV films(well if some of them actually made it into theatres I don't recall since they weren't that good). Maybe if Heath Ledger hadn't done such a controversial film as Brokeback Mountain he wouldn't have been widely known, but since he made that he AND got nominated for it...he became a 'well known star' at that point so his death was felt on a grander scale.

Surely, this brought more spotlight to TDK at the time, but by release who had not seen at least a TV spot for this thing? Not to mention, yet again, all the fans the first one has garnered on video and TV. ****, FX runs it, like, twice a day. The general populace were gonna flock to it either way. Not because some actor most of them had never heard of went to the walk of fame in the sky before it came out, no. They were gonna go see it because it because it's BATMAN and it looked fantastic.

See my previous answer.

If you don't see it that way, fine, I'm not gonna argue with anybody all night over this. I'm just putting my piece out there.

I'll just leave it at difference of opinion since no one can truly prove either side as fact. It all comes down to opinion and speculation really.

 

[Killer Queen77]

I'm getting the feeling there are two sides to this discussion: did they like it, and is this too scary/disturbing?

For the first, I would imagine, if I were a kid, I would have liked it, even with fully understanding the nuances of the film. As I grew older, repeat viewings would peel back more layers, furthering my appreciation of the film.

The second side of the disturbing nature of the film is totally subjective. I wasn't allowed to see Jurassic Park in theaters, but my aunt and uncle gave it to me when it came out on video, and it didn't bother me one bit. Each child is different how they respond. I remember hearing reports of parents complaining that they took their children and the kids were terrified. "Why would they make this movie if kids will see it" they asked. Well, it clearly had a rating, and it's parents' jobs to judge what their own children can handle. Killer Queen77, you seem like a model parent in that regard. I applaud your common-sense approach to exposing your children to the movie.

Ha ha, that made me LOL!!

Thank you for that (don't know if it's true, but nice of you to say so)!

I know the bits to show my kids, and I know the bits to "skip over".

I think some/maybe most of the Joker stuff is okay-ish for them (maybe not always for the littlest one, but the older two). There are certain bits I always skip when they're around, such as Two Face's reveal, and fake Batman slamming the window.

Though my 3 year old does run around saying, "You must be Harvey's Squeeeeeeeee!" which can be quite funny.

 

[batman11]

Though my 3 year old does run around saying, "You must be Harvey's Squeeeeeeeee!" which can be quite funny.

That must be the most adorable thing in the world. Just the mental image of it makes me smile. You're one lucky mother.

 

[terry78]

So in essence...



KIDS LOVE IT!

 

[BLACK-SPIDEY]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK87sXNIfqs

 

[mjbull23]

My two kids loved TDK, in much the same way the I loved B89 when I was in my late teens. But you know what? In another 10-15 years when a new Franchise of Bat Films emerges, the kids of that era will find a way to diminish what Nolan and Co have achieved in these films, and they will play up the coolness of their generation's Batman and the franchise.

Logically, its the way of the world. Old is old, new is cool. and..better.

 

[Doctor Jones]

That's too bad though. I know they're kids but, films never should get old because well, they're old. But because they're memorable and stand the test of time. TDK will certainly do this.

 

[mongoose-mania]

My friend has a brother in the 4th grade and The Dark Knight is all he talks about. He makes his own Joker cards, makes buttons with the goon masks on them, and has a good deal of the action figures. Sure he still doesn't understand a lot of the conversations about law or anything like that, and the only character he seems remotely interested in is the Joker, he still really loves the movie. He can't open his mouth without bringing it up. He's the man.

 

[lakatmar]

I was in the supermarket yesterday doing some grocery shopping, while a young boy of about 10 was running up and down the aisles. He stopped dead at the end of the aisle, spun around, squared up his shoulders into the joker stance and as a chap in his mid 40s approached him (completely unaware of the kid, just minding his own business, pushing his trolley), the kid started roaring "come on, come on, I want you to do it, come on, hit me HIT ME".

Cue me dying laughing at the kid, and the look on his face when I walked past and whispered "you wanna see a magic trick" was priceless. (BTW I am female, so it wasn't as creepy as it might sound if it had been a 30 yr old dude wearing a mac saying that to a small child).

point of rambling anecdote - kids will always love superheros and villians, TDK is no exception.

 

[Maresk]

We were watching the DVD over the weekend and my almost 4-year old godson was there. He didn't understand jack***** of what was happening on the movie, (we speak spanish but were watching in english with subtitles) but every time Batman was on screen he geeked out in joy. Seemed more amused than scared by the Joker, and I don't know what he thought of Two-Face because the mom kept covering his eyes when he appeared.
Now he believes Batman is the most awesome thing ever and wants his next birthday party to be TDK-themed -and mind you, this is a kid that has seen every spiderman, IM, Hulk, Superman, whatev, so I was pretty surprised myself, since I thought compared to that, he wouldn't like this one.
So bottomline, yeah,

point of rambling anecdote - kids will always love superheros and villians, TDK is no exception.

 

[Doctor Jones]

I was in the supermarket yesterday doing some grocery shopping, while a young boy of about 10 was running up and down the aisles. He stopped dead at the end of the aisle, spun around, squared up his shoulders into the joker stance and as a chap in his mid 40s approached him (completely unaware of the kid, just minding his own business, pushing his trolley), the kid started roaring "come on, come on, I want you to do it, come on, hit me HIT ME".

Cue me dying laughing at the kid, and the look on his face when I walked past and whispered "you wanna see a magic trick" was priceless. (BTW I am female, so it wasn't as creepy as it might sound if it had been a 30 yr old dude wearing a mac saying that to a small child).

point of rambling anecdote - kids will always love superheros and villians, TDK is no exception.

I would of died laughing if I saw that.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

Agreed. Batman is supposed to be the complete polar opposite to Spidey, that should be reflected in the films.

QFT.

Batman is dark, disturbed, and interesting. Spider-Man is overpowered, brightly-colored, and a whiner.

 

[Cunning Stunts]

i just put on spiderman for my nephew and he was asking where the batman movie was.

Your nephew is a ****ing genius.

 

[Doctor Jones]

QFT.

Batman is dark, disturbed, and interesting. Spider-Man is overpowered, brightly-colored, and a whiner.

Wow, and that's makes him a bad character?