The Dark Knight What was the WEAKEST portrayal of a comic character in TDK

[Optimus_Prime_]

Options are
James Gordon
Joker
Harvey Dent/Two-Face
Alfred Pennyworth
Bruce Wayne/Batman
Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow
Lucius Fox

I'm leaving Salvator Maroni off the list because of how minimal his character was, I feel like it is wrong to compare him to the much larger characters I've listed. I included Scarecrow since he was prominently featured in Batman Begins, despite being a bit part in The Dark Knight. Consider a few of these appeared in both films, you're welcome to discuss both.

My vote is Alfred Pennyworth. I still don't like Caine's Alfred

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

Well if you leave out Maroni, who had a bigger part than the Scarecrow in The Dark Knight, which is what the question pertains, too...

Umm, I'll go with Caine by default, as Eckhart, Ledger, and Oldman are pure gold, and I love Bale's Batman.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Well if you leave out Maroni, who had a bigger part than the Scarecrow in The Dark Knight, which is what the question pertains, too...

I explained why I included Scarecrow and not Maroni, because Scarecrow, unlike Maroni was in both The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. Since some of the characters on the poll, like Batman, Gordon and Alfred, were also in both those characters are building upon their performances in the previous film. I decided to include Scarecrow because ultimately you know a lot about him already before the movie starts.

 

[truth]

Batman was a bore. So bad after Begins.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I explained why I included Scarecrow and not Maroni, because Scarecrow, unlike Maroni was in both The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. Since some of the characters on the poll, like Batman, Gordon and Alfred, were also in both those characters are building upon their performances in the previous film. I decided to include Scarecrow because ultimately you know a lot about him already before the movie starts.

Doesn't matter, we're (or maybe just me) talking about The Dark Knight and nothing before it.

 

[Fudgie]

None of the above.

 

[GothamAlleys]

My pick is Scarecrow since, well, he had nothing to do with Scarecrow. The comic Scarecrow is one of my top favorite villains - I like the idea of this incredibly skinny, old professor set out for revenge, dressed as a rag covered Scarecrow in an old hat. Its a very horrorish character. I know many Nolan characters have also very little to do with the comic and thats never been an issue with me, but in the case of Scarecrow I just didnt like what hes been replaced with. While Joker wasnt reflecting the comic Joer completely either and had plenty of original, newly developed bones, all the new stuff and the ending mixture was very interesting and entertaining. In case of Scarecrow, I just didnt find a young criminal psychologist who occasionally uses just a mask to be interesting at all. As a separate character he works, but as a Scarecrow he fails miserably imo. And Im not talking about accurate portrayal (the hell with copycating comics, it counts whats good not whats copied), Im talking about being an interesting character. And as I mentioned, outside of personality, age and who he is, the visual aspect lacked as well. I would love something like this (screens from the movie Scarecrows)

 

[EliteF50]

Batman, but not Bruce Wayne.

I really, really dislike Batman in TDK. The way he talks, acts, sounds, fights... just everything about him.

 

[truth]

Even Bruce in this was very bland. All he did was moan and go through monotony for the entire film.

In Begins he was so much more interesting and alive. Yeah, I get the story is more serious, but that don't mean you should just have the same expression for the whole film.

Don't get me started on Batman and that suit. In Begins, it was close to perfect. He looked imposing and sometimes like a monster. In Tdk, it was a guy in black modern armor...with a gallery of ridges.

 

[El Payaso]

Scarecrow is one of the weakest ever. He was just a comedic relief. A girl can beat him. And the acting IMO was weak.

 

[Lord]

I liked the scarecrow and the actor, how different the characters are physically in nolans movie, deep inside their the same, crane is still that psychopathic maniac that loves fear.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Scarecrow is one of the weakest ever. He was just a comedic relief. A girl can beat him. And the acting IMO was weak.

I never really had this high opinion of Scarecrow everyone else seems to. I saw him exactly how Nolan used him, a good secondary villain to take some beatings. I also liked his final costume in Begins, despite how short-lived it was.

I really always wanted comic movies to utilize C-Listers, and even some B-Listers as single use, throwaway villains. The Dark Knight used Scarecrow fairly effectively in that regard. I will throw some people a bone though, the costume for most of Scarecrow's collective screentime was poor. I thought it was an excellent example of Nolan letting 'realism' get the best of him. What is unrealistic about his costume? I could make it in three hours with a gift certificate to T.J.Max. It's just a 'scarecrow' costume, heavy on browns and grays with a hat. Nothing special about it. I think that would've improved his effectiveness.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

While I love Michael Caine and his unique vision for Alfred...

It just doesn't resemble the comic interpreatation very well, but I wouldn't call it weak AT ALL.

Scarecrow works just fine in Nolan's world... but I don't really want to see anymore done with him.

*sigh* What Tim Burton could have done with him...!

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

While I love Michael Caine and his unique vision for Alfred...

It just doesn't resemble the comic interpreatation very well, but I wouldn't call it weak AT ALL.

I would. Not only do I agree with the initial statement I bolded, but I just don't see it as one of his better acting jobs, in fact he's pretty forgetable in the role especially in TDK and especially when compared to Michael Gough. Michael Gough was awesome even when the movie(s) completely sucked. There was never a single scene where I didn't like his Alfred, his job was perfect. The only one I think who could play the role as good as Gough is Ian McKellen.

Scarecrow works just fine in Nolan's world... but I don't really want to see anymore done with him.

*sigh* What Tim Burton could have done with him...!

Great point actually.

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

I would. Not only do I agree with the initial statement I bolded, but I just don't see it as one of his better acting jobs, in fact he's pretty forgetable in the role especially in TDK and especially when compared to Michael Gough. Michael Gough was awesome even when the movie(s) completely sucked. There was never a single scene where I didn't like his Alfred, his job was perfect. The only one I think who could play the role as good as Gough is Ian McKellen.

I thought he was pretty memorable in Batman Begins. He got a lot of the heart-warming moments and I'll never forget my first viewing of the movie in the cinema...

... the audience laughed so hard during the ''I hope your not a member of the fire-bridage!'' moment. So I think he worked well as comic relief too.

Plus he got some great scenes/lines in The Dark Knight as well. Although I felt he was definitely more ''Michael Caine'' than Alfred in the sequel.

It's different... but it works for the Nolan series. It may not be the Alfred from the comics (which is the only reason I voted for him) but it still a fun interpretation of a more relaxed and outspoken Alfred. It's fun to get different versions.

 

[Wolverine1988]

Batman, Bales Batman really regressed from Begins and it's not like he was amazing in Begins.

Compared to the amount of hype Bale had when he got casted , he really hasn't lived up to it and the whole Batman voice is down right awful

 

[The Morningstar]

They were all weak apart from Dent and Joker.

Alfred was nothing but a exposition dumper or device to move the plot forward. Same with Lucius.

Bruce Wayne was a *****e who tried to steal the girl of the guy he wants to save Gotham. His Batman sounded like he had throat cancer and the fight scenes were abysmal.

Crane was a laughable villain. He had one good scene in Begins where he sprayed Batman with the feat toxin and set him on fire.

I thought Gordon was ok... until the ridiculously overwraught, exposition dump in the last monologue. Which for some strange reason people think was brilliant.

 

[Wolverine1988]

Yeah i wasn't as keen on the Gordon monlogue at the end, not saying it was bad but i think it also seemed a bit cheesy.

 

[Travesty]

-Scarecrow was 1000x worse in TDK, than in BB.
-I didn't like Batman in TDK that much, and thought he was better in BB.
-I really liked Dent and Two-Face.
-Wasn't a fan of The Joker. Heath did a good job of playing a nasty villain, but it didn't completely feel like a good Joker to me. Some parts were great, others were just, mehhhhh.

So I guess I'll say The Joker, because of how much time he was on screen, and how disappointed I was by the performance.

But I also thought Scarecrow was HORRIBLE in TDK. He was good in BB, sure, he wasn't perfect, but a stupid drug dealer who gets caught in seconds is pretty much a useless character. So both were pretty bad, IMO.

 

[Travesty]

I thought Gordon was ok... until the ridiculously overwraught, exposition dump in the last monologue. Which for some strange reason people think was brilliant.

Yeah, I hate the last line in the movie. I thought it was a bit too pretentious. But I love Gordon in these movies. His worst line throughout the series was at the end of TDK, so I won't give him too much flak for it, cause he's one of the best things in the series.

 

[The Morningstar]

Yeah i wasn't as keen on the Gordon monlogue at the end, not saying it was bad but i think it also seemed a bit cheesy.

Yea it was corny. But what i thought was worse, was that it was really forced and unnecessary. It basically just spoon feeds us the entire theme of the movie, like talking down to us as though we might not understand what just happened. It didn't even seem like an actual character in the movie talking, but someone doing a commentary of it and talking to me like i'm some kind of idiot who didn't get what happened in the 2 and a half hours beforehand (as if it wasn't already obvious with all the other spoon feeding and exposition dumping going on...). Completely took me out of the movie.

The scenes accompanying it were good, with Batman being chased by the cops. But ugh, the dialogue just completely ruins it for me.

I think the worst part of the movie in terms of spoon feeding was Lucius' line to Batman when he reveals his big sonar super computer.

"This... is wrong!"

Well no **** Sherlock! Thanks for talking to me like i'm a 5 year old!

 

[Travesty]

"This... is wrong!"

Well no **** Sherlock! Thanks for talking to me like i'm a 5 year old!

Well, to me, this line/theme felt completely and utterly spoonfed. Lucius had no problem giving Bruce The Tumbler and new suits to illegally fight crime, but also had no hesitation to invade Chinese airspace, and illegally extradite a Chinese citizen back to Gotham, but the sonar equipment was "too much". Yeah, talk about "too much power".

But speaking of "talking to me like a 5 year old", the themes of "fear" were pretty much spoonfed in BB, as well. So both movies have their faults, IMO.

 

[Fudgie]

Hahaha this has just turned into a clone of the 'Criticisms' thread, with the same three or four people repeating the same stuff they said in there.

Cute.

 

[The Morningstar]

The title of the thread is what was the weakest portrayal. We are criticizing the characters. If you see no faults what so ever, you're blind.

Unless you want to counter my point about Lucius' spoon feeding?

 

[Travesty]

Cute.

But I guess I could go into every other thread here, and see you praise the movie more than we do dislike it.

But yes, it is cute how upset you get about peoples dislike for a movie you love so much.