THE DARK KNIGHT

Reader Comments

1. Deadpool 07/18/2008 @ 3:39pm

   Well said.

2. The Visitor 07/19/2008 @ 8:55am

   just saw it again today in IMAX ... it still holds together very well the second time, and a lot more emerged.

   there’s a joke about the old batsuit (of all the previous movies), by Lucius Fox, that went by so fast, few people caught it. i only caught it today.

3. IEDParty 07/19/2008 @ 3:08pm

   A sequel is unfathomable.

   I think Christopher Nolan has come in and said what he has to say.  It’s not like the now-reprehensible Tim Burton turd of yore where a framework and look is simply established for everyone to build up to and follow. Even the X-men films sort of have a bit of the same thing in it’s filmic DNA ( the first one, after all, was the transition point between the tacky rubber-spandex coated junk food of the Tim Burton era and the here and now, more ‘ real movie ‘ style, & we can’t thank that enough for making the latter plausible for everybody ), but even failed when it got followed up by somebody else. Because it was unwisely picked up from where the original makers left off,who weren’t able to finish their story. That’s quite like changing artists midway into a painting or something. It’s even more difficult to add onto it if the work is already done.
   Nolan has completed his case, perioud. And a crime flick at that - a drastic improvement of an output, a sleek passage to maturity, which confidently strides in and tells a story clean, just as when all his films begin to seem like repeatedly inundated by a constant structure. It’s like asking Michael Mann to do a sequel to ‘ Heat ‘, really. 

   This is going to be a tough act to follow or emulate for some time. Personally, the only way I could imagine the character’s franchise rationally going forward is to veer into another cinematic direction.

4. The Visitor 07/19/2008 @ 7:02pm

   why is everyone suddenly dissing Tim Burton’s Batman? what improvement?

   Burton’s version worked as what it really is, no more and no less. it’s a fun carnival ride, whimsical, colourful, but still with a dark edge to it.it’s DC Comics filtered through Burton’s very personal vision. it’s consistent with what Burton had been doing up till then. he certainly didn’t just build a “framework and look”, ie. a template for every other director to follow.

   Nolan’s version is a crime/detective story with a social commentary thrown in. yes, it’s more in line with the Batman of the comics, but each film(s) is/are each director’s own take on the character, and each works in its own way.

   no need to call Burton or his film a “turd of yore.”

5. cjhobbies00 07/20/2008 @ 8:50am

   Seconded.  I think Tim Burton’s Batman is just as impressive as Nolan’s creations.  They were both aiming for different goals and both versions hit their marks.  Burton’s version wasn’t just “junk-food,” it took an incredible amount of work and vision to create the dreamy noirish Gotham of the first two Batman films.

6. Michael Guillen 07/20/2008 @ 10:44am

   People feel comfortable with false dichotomies.

   Okay, you have two boats out in the water.  One with Tim Burton fans on board.  The other with Christopher Nolan fans on board.  They each have a detonative device that can blow the other up within ten minutes....

   WHAT will happen?

7. Canfield 07/20/2008 @ 11:02am

   All the Tim Burton fans die because Burton knows how the scene should look but has no idea why it should be there in the first place. The Nolan fans (being generally much smarter) use this to their advantage and blow all those goth-bunny narrative myth defilers straight into the burning lava pit of Hell where Bob Kane waits with nasty pointed teeth!!!!!!!

8. Michael Guillen 07/20/2008 @ 12:15pm

   WRONG answer.  If you were a true Christopher Nolan fan, you would not let your personal passions or preferences color your judgment.  You would recognize that the Batman mythos welcomes expansive interpretation; that just as various comic illustrators have interpreted Batman over the years, from Bob Kane to Frank Miller, so will filmmakers, and that Burton’s vision is as solid and valid as Nolan’s.  Mileage, of course, varies.

9. eDWeiRD 07/20/2008 @ 12:40pm

   The fire truck on fire made me laugh out loud. No one else in the theater got that joke. I need to watch this film a few more times. Amazing.

10. Canfield 07/20/2008 @ 1:36pm

    Just to clarify- I was totally kidding about my earlier comment. Burton drives me a little batty sometimes but I own just about everything he’s done.

    Now suppose Michael Guillen and Dave Canfield were on two separate boats going 12 miles an hour. How many cream pies would they have to throw at each other before one of them cried uncle?

11. Michael Guillen 07/20/2008 @ 2:13pm

    That one I’m not so sure about.  Heh.

12. Mavsman15 08/13/2008 @ 7:48am

    Well, to be honest, I still am not sure if I have seen this film. As of the writing of this review, I have seen the film three times now and I am still not sure I have seen all that the film has to offer.

    When I was a child, I used to collect comic books and I always had one favorite hero, The Batman. I had no idea why I liked him. Maybe it was his dark outfit, maybe it was him trying to save Gotham City from the bad guys. I have no idea to this day why I selected him as my favorite. All of my other childhood friends were into Superman. I like him but to me he was just to good to be true. After awhile, I quit reading the books and moved onto baseball cards.

    I forgot all about Batman until I heard about a story called The Dark Knight Returns and rediscovered Batman as a dark hero that the world deserved and have not left the Batman world since.

    So who is the man that we call “Batman”? To me he is a Ronin because he has always blamed himself for his parents death as a child. In the new batman film, he looses another one close to him and it looks to make him more of a “Ronin.”

    So with all of this in my mind, I went to see my childhood hero, “Batman’s” latest film, The Dark Knight . I had only one thought after I saw it at the IMAX, “My God, They have finally gotten my hero right.”

    THIS WILL BE A HEAVY SPOILER REVIEW ALERT, SO IF YOU DO NOT WANT THE FILM SPOILED, THEN PLEASE STOP READING NOW.

    If you are going to show a hero, you must also show the villain. Batman’s main villain is The Joker and he is shown the way that the Joker was meant to be played by the late, Heath Ledger.

    Alfred states the best description of “The Joker” and he makes this comment. “You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them to the point of desperation. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.” …….”Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.” Mr. Ledger’s acting makes you think that all he wants to do is to watch the world burn while he laughs at the result.

    I think that the Academy Award Oscar should just be given to the estate of Mr. Ledger for his performance as the Joker.

    Near the end of the film “The Joker” makes A statement that shows that him and Batman are the same..

    The Joker: You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
    Batman: You’ll be in a padded cell forever.
    The Joker: Maybe we can share one. They’ll be doubling up, the rate this city’s inhabitants are losing their minds.

    This led to the first major question that I had about the next film. Do they recast the Joker or do they try and find another villain? The Joker was supposed to be in the third film and with the death of Mr. Ledger would you want to even try and make another one? How can you top this battle between good and evil between the Joker and Batman?

    Now for what I liked about the film…

    The voices of sanity for Batman, Alfred Pennyworth: (Michael Caine) and Lucius Fox: (Morgan Freeman) These two fine actors show why they are great actors and the two of them give the film and Batman a voice of logic and reason in insane times.

    The role of Harvey Dent: (Played by Aaron Eckhart) In this role, he gave Batman hope that he could be the white knight face that Gotham needed. He could be the hero and save Gotham from crime. When you see it all go wrong for Dent, Eckhart’s acting makes you see that he has fallen and the white knight is no more.

    I loved this role, I actually believed that he had made a deal with the devil to get revenge and in the end it cost his life and almost his dream of hero for Gotham.

    The role of James Gordon (Played by Gary Oldman) tells us, the movie viewer, what the city of Gotham needs.

    Lt. James Gordon: Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.

    In this film, he becomes the police commissioner. He also knows that he must also play a two-face role with Batman. In private he must hunt Batman for his fake crimes and he knows that he will need him to save the city from itself.

    Now for the one thing in the film that I really hated, was the role of Rachel Dawes: (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal).

    This character was never in the comic book and was made for this series of the movie. She was supposed to be a love interest for Bruce Wayne. Instead, when she dies in this film, she becomes another reason for Batman’s “Ronin” outlook. He has now lost his parents and the only woman that he has ever loved. I thought her acting was very bad and she slowed the pace of the film in every shot that she was in.

    At the time of this writing, the film has made over 440 million in the US Market and is within striking range of the 600 million $ that “Titanic” made in the 90’s.

    I have written words of praise for this film in order to try and convince you to see this film. I honesty do not if the words I have written have done this film any justice. All I can ask is that you take your time and please see this film. It is worth your time and your $. We are given a hero that we deserve, as a world. We are not given a hero that we need. I think this is why the film has done so well in the USA. He is what we need as a nation, a dark knight.

    Grade A+

    The Chechen: What do you propose?
    The Joker: It’s simple, we, uh, kill the Batman.
    [mobsters laugh]
    Salvatore Maroni: If it’s so simple, why haven’t you done it already?
    The Joker: If you’re good at something, never do it for free.

    How I saw it. CGV IMAX

    Opened in South Korea on 6 August 2008

    Opening weekend in USA. $158,411,483 (USA) (20 July 2008) (4,366 Screens)

    MAY HEATH LEDGER FIND THE PEACE IN DEATH THAT HE COULD NOT FIND IN THE TIME OF HIS LIFE.

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