The Dark Knight

[Niko_Fx]

Went in at 8:10pm, there was a small line to get into the auditorium, but nothing to worry about. There wasn't a seat empty by the time the movie started though.

Great movie, I'll watch it again once it's released on DVD.

[LandQuail]

Quite good. In the early e-buzz, a few said it rose to Godfather II levels. I'd not go that far, but it was an utterly superb superhero movie.

My only complaint would be that the audience was spoon-fed the major themes. I only need to be told once or twice that Batman is separate and different than the law, and that Harvey Dent seemed destined to be the 'white knight.'

It wasn't as bad as Troy, where that tired old immortality through bravery/strength/valor chestnut was repeated every fifteen minutes, but it was enough to warrant a little e-bitching over it.

That said, I was impressed.

[Cyco]

Good, but not the best ever.

[Blue Supra]

WHY SO SERIOUS!?!?!?

It was EPIC. i loved it, missus loved it. I will buy it on DVD for sure.

And yes, the pencil trick was awesome, really did set up the rest of the movie.

[RacingManiac]

I thought it was pretty awesome, hard to imagine a superhero movie have something that serious of a plot and heavy moral undertone...great acting too, and the physical stuntwork is 100 times more interesting to see then pure CGI stuff...pretty tightly packed 2.5 hrs too....definitely enjoyed more than the Spiderman series...

[Manik]

Such an excellent movie, and the role of the Joker undermining everything was played out so perfectly.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Going to see tonight, should be good.

[john14]

I agree with the Quail. I wouldn't go as far as saying it rose to Godfather 2 or Godfather 1 levels but I was impressed with the Dark Knight. It was a very good movie.

[roosterjuicer]

I agree it was a great movie. I thought the first one was a great movie but this blew it out of the water. untill i saw dark night live free or die hard was my favorite new action movie but dark knight takes the crown.

I thought heath ledger really did an incredible job. especially when you consider that his usual role is the "hunk" or good guy or whatever. Joker was out of his usual mold and he was by far the best batman bad guy ever. To be honest, one of the best bad guys in any move ever. I dunno if they give oscars posthumously but he might possibly deserve one for doing such a great job.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Really good, really really really good. Especially the relative scarcity of CG effects, which is a big tick for me. Thought it stretched on a bit, but can't really see anyway they could have wrapped it up any other way.

And +eleventybillion for Batman riding a 312R.

[SlickHolden]

Seen it today and thought it was much better then Batman returns, More like a real Batman should be, Noone of this fancy laughing stupid act's like some of them ended up being. I agree on that with what Viper said in the OP, Traditional Batman..

Then heath. Man you had my skin skin crawling bad!, You truly scared shit out of me at times, If you didn't know it was him, You wouldn't know, He was truly something else playing the joker..
Also a good mention to Harvey 2 Face, I thought his part also was played well, I was so enthralled with Heath as the joker, I missed the part where he was going to become 2Face, Head wasn't fully onto that, That is why I'll be happy to watch it again..

Bale's effort is always strong, He is a fine actor, One of my favourites since Equilibrium, I'm always impressed with his work.

I really think in part's of the movie the joker really took over the show,
It was always going to be hard knowing Heath's outcome, So watching everything he did closely was always going to be something i couldn't control, I was impressed, I'd loved to have seen him in the next one.

He's best effort in a movie that would make him big, And he is going to miss the accolades he truly deserves.

[#1 Mustang Fan]

Went to see it today, loved it.

Undoubtedly heath played the joker in one of the best best performances I've seen.

The movie was a great.

[Jack_Bauer]

So was it just me that thought it didn't really live up to all the hype?

Heath Ledger's performance was indeed very good, but that doesn't make it a great film. It was far too long, poorly structured in parts, and its attempt to deal with "issues" (which apparently is something all comic book films have to do in order to pretend they're not kid's films, even though they blatantly are) was clumsy at best.

That whole section of the movie where they went to Hong Kong could have been completely eliminated, knocking about 15 mins off the run time. The only purpose it served was to show off yet more of the special effects with that ridiculous "skyhook" stunt. I suppose it also very vaguely introduced that whole business of the sonar mobile phones, but that screamed of the writers clutching at straws for a plot device for that showdown with the Joker. The dialogue may as well have been:

Lucius Fox: "...oh, and by the way, all mobile phones are now sonar devices thanks to, errr, some kind of technical type stuff."

Batman: "Cheers dude, nice one!"

That was about the level of thought that the writers appeared to put into it. Presumably they realised that it didn't make a damn bit of sense, so they didn't want to dwell on it too long.

Then there was the whole 'Two-Face' thing, which seemed like it had just been tacked on to the end of the film. I fully expected at the point he was revealed that it was setting up the next film in the "franchise", but then they tried to cram in a whole extra plot in about 20 mins, which obviously ended up being hopelessly under-cooked. Perhaps if they had actually developed Dent's character properly up to that point it wouldn't have seemed so completely out of place. There was no indication in his character portrayal that he would be at all evil. It went like:

Harvey Dent is nice.
Harvey Dent is nice.
Harvey Dent is nice.
Harvey Dent is nice - but is he a prick?
No, Harvey Dent is nice.
Actually, Harvey Dent is great.
Make that really great.
Really, really great.
What a guy.
Oh, Harvey Dent is Two-Face.
And now he's dead.

It just seemed bolted on to me.

And then there were all those attempts to throw in "moral issues", which were all half-baked. For example, that bit towards the end with those ridiculous sonar phones and the 'moral dilemma' of Batman spying on people. There was no substance to it at all. It was like the writers were going through the motions as quickly as possible of showing that they were making a 'serious' film with some proper thought and depth, even though they blatantly weren't.

"Hey look, we're being all serious and moral and deep and stuff, this isn't a kid's film, honest! Now, lets get back to more fighting and shouting and blowing stuff up."

If you're gonna try and make a serious film with real themes and issues to challenge the viewer, with some action thrown in for good measure, then do it properly! Don't be half-arsed about it. All these comic book movies seem to attempt this kind of thing in order to justify their existence, but ultimately are completely vacuous. (See Terminator 2: Judgement Day for a perfect example of how to do a kick-ass action movie yet still stimulate the grey-matter of the audience.)

Of if you you just want to make a good action movie, don't even bother with all the faux seriousness. Just put a good, well structured plot together, with a good 'hero' and a good bad guy, and then blow some stuff up. See the original Die Hard for the perfect example of doing brainless action movies properly.

Dark Knight wasn't a bad film. It just wasn't half as good as some people seem to be making out. Just because it was slightly better then the usual unmitigated drivel of these comic book based films, does not make it a great movie.

P.S. Christian Bale's 'Batman voice' is laughably silly.

[Kooper]

Agreed with Jack_Bauer on this one.

Heath's performance was good, but the movie itself didn't live up to expectation at all. Maybe it was just overhyped, dunno.

Things I found bad:
1. The batvoice
2. The cellphone bateyes
3. The freaking length of the movie


Hopefully I won't upset anyone by saying this, but for my money the Hulk was way better.

[IBrake4Rainbows]

I agree it was a bit of a slap in the face when dealing with issues, but honestly, I feel as though hardcore fans of the series were catered for by the process of construction of characters like Two-Face.

And the rest of us were mighty impressed with Ledgers performance - there is such a sense of anarchy & distaste that creates a real sense of unease when watching his performance.

As for the gadgets etc....Suspend belief? you're watching a movie about a billionaire who dresses up like a bat to save the world....and you're concerned about the realism of the Cell-Phone?