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agreed!
i made a bunch of predictions on the film that ended up becoming true. they were less on whats in the books and more based on what i would like to see happen and all but one came true, so awesome.
SPOILERS
I really love Seven for this same reason: it doesn’t have a happy ending. As a matter of fact, for most of The Dark Knight, things weren’t promising for the good guys. The themes throughout the movie were so dramatic and genuine because there was no supernatural forces involved. It was like a straight-up crime/drama movie.
I love the interrogation room scene and that the Joker has to keep moving his tongue because the scars fucked up his saliva control. The make-up/effects on Two-face’s bad half were believable. That’s another thing, Two-face was just a District Attorney with post-traumatic stress, a really bad scar and a taste for revenge; nothing extravagant at all.
I thought it was awesome all around and will see it again (hopefully IMAX style). Two complaints: Bruce’s Batman voice on occasion AND Maggie Gyllenhaal being cast because she looks like a 25-year-old grandmother.
Paris, did they ever say something about his salvia control or are you just assuming that? I didn’t get that impression. I thought it was just him being crazy.
Derrick, what were your predictions?
I thought it was too short.
Jason said:I thought it was too short.
I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or just additional praise (i.e., it was so awesome I wish it never ended). I honestly thought the movie was too long, and I also think it got a little busy/confusing at certain points, particularly the whole “the clowns are actually the hostages” scene. What the fuck was going on there?
I totally agree with Paris about the Batman growl and Maggie Gyllenhall as well. I don’t think she’s a very good actress and she’s certainly not attractive, so I don’t understand how she’s going so strong. I liked the movie a lot despite all of this though.
Oh, and, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Psyched.
You guys are nuts. The movie was long, sure, but when it was over, I wanted more. The sonar is the only thing I can really complain about cause they coulda done something else, but the whole scene was still amazing.
The Batman growl was explained in the first movie. He’s got mics in his cowl that do that to his voice to make him sound more frightening. And as for Maggie Gyllenahll…, seriously? What the hell is wrong with you people? She’s great and she’s gorgeous. You’re clearly insane.
There was a point about 90 minutes in where I was all excited and I looked down at my watch and thought how great it was that the movie was nowhere near over. But somewhere between then and the end, it had too many extra scenes. You probably hit on it – it was probably the confusing scenes that contributed to the “movie too long, viewer wiped out” feeling.
I thought most of it was great, it just could have used some editing.
Jason said:You probably hit on it – it was probably the confusing scenes that contributed to the “movie too long, viewer wiped out” feeling.
That’s exactly it, the movie was just so intense from beginning to end that it left me feeling exhausted.
I need to reiterate that I really liked it though, I just think it could have been better.
John said:The Batman growl was explained in the first movie. He’s got mics in his cowl that do that to his voice to make him sound more frightening. And as for Maggie Gyllenahll…, seriously? What the hell is wrong with you people? She’s great and she’s gorgeous. You’re clearly insane.
I don’t care how they explain the growl, it’s lame. I understand the reason why his voice needs to be disguised, but these movies are all about cutting the cheese (hehe, uh, hehe) out of Batman, and the voice seriously undermines that whole idea. He sounds like a guy doing a bad Clint Eastwood impression, it sucks.
And Maggie Gyllenhaal? She has her moments, I guess, but this movie was certainly not one of them.
<img src = “http://www.netkushi.com/gallery5/albums/celebrities/Maggie%20Gyllenhaal/normal_Maggie_Gyllenhaal-11.jpg”>
you can complain about her all you want, but she was still infinitely better than katie holmes, whose acting consists entirely of flicking her focus back and forth between the nearest person’s eyes. camera one, camera two.
this movie was so good.
Obviously, you have not seen Secretary.
spoilers galore:
after immediately seeing the first movie i wanted to see the joker as just a complete psychotic murderer who is disfigured and wears make up like a clown to cover it up and because hes crazy. the whole acid thing bleaching his skin and making him nuts doesnt have a place in these more realistic takes on the batman mythoscheck
i wanted to see rachel daws die, because she doesnt serve too much of a purpose and how many times does the hero have to save the girl before she learns to stop being in the wrong place at the wrong time check
i wanted to see harvey dent loose faith in the justice system and become an even worse vigilante than batman. to me this makes more sense than him going from DA to crime boss, to just become a more twisted version of himself as opposed to the complete opposite.check
the only thing i wanted to see that didnt happen was that i wanted dent to kill the joker. i wanted him to step over the line and do what batman said he couldnt. im still confused on how i felt about the film because i think the closer it gets to the end, the more they just kinda jam in there without giving it enough attention.
one thing that suffers is the developement of harvey and his fall into becoming two face. it shouldve felt more tragic but somewhere past the halfway mark they had to play catch up and ditched the character developement for flipping big rigs.
basically i wanted to see dent take out the joker and for the movie to end with him missing. then in the next film we could have batman tracking down someone who is brutally murdering the mob characters, corrupt cops, ect… this could be harvey getting revenge against everyone he feels wronged him. so basically batman now has to track down someone who is essentially doing bad things for a good reason. its like himself but one step further. i thought it wouldve made for good internal conflict on both dent and waynes characters.
maybe im just mad that they left the door open for the one villian that they cant even use now, but who couldve predicted ledgers death. either way i dont think i wouldve cared to see the joker come back, his story and purpose felt pretty complete. i did like how they reference his death in the first movie, save him, and than mock any reason for keeping his character alive.
now i guess we are left with batman being on the run all the time. i guess a task force will be made to bring batman in that gordon has little to no control over. maybe the city brings in someone to help track him down. the only character i think of that would fall into that realm is bane. and hes just dumb.
We were arguing about the Joker at work today. I think the consensus was that he was great this time, but (had he lived in real life…) bringing him back just wouldn’t be cool.
But he was great, much better than any of the other crappy villains we’ve seen lately.
We were arguing about the Joker at work today. I think the consensus was that he was great this time, but (had he lived in real life…) bringing him back just wouldn’t be cool.
But he was great, much better than any of the other crappy villains we’ve seen lately.
Wow wow wow. What an amazing movie. It’s almost the antithesis of the superhero genre, one of the best attempts to examine the post-2001 mindset. There’s little satisfaction in the consequences of the heroics or action here, just a grim and unrelenting despair and frustration over how the efforts of the best men are just barely – BARELY – keeping the world from falling apart. It’s probably the first time I’ve considered how much it must suck to live in Gotham. It’s a bleak and horrifying movie.
Ledger is, naturally, amazing… and there’s so much elegance in his construction. Like his lack of exposition: He exists. He’s always existed. His nebulous origin (supplied, of course, by a narrator you can’t trust) just shows how men like him will be endlessly reborn. It’s PERFECT that he’s left, at the end, hanging in the air above everyone’s heads. He’ll be up there forever, a Sword of Damocles threatening to drop, until Gotham manages to set itself straight. His performance was energetic and a joy to watch, but I didn’t laugh at any of his odd jokes like the rest of the audience. I just found him scary and wanted to see him destroyed at any cost. Tap our phones? Sure, whatever it takes… bring him down. Disturbing how that made me feel.
I agree the last act feels bloated and poorly edited. Harvey Dent’s sad story (and GEEZ that Two Face effect is amazing) feels squished and doesn’t get proper room to breathe. I enjoyed how he was set up as a failed and broken mirror of Batman, but it was slightly lost in the rush of the converging plotlines. Everything up until that point was assembled so carefully that it stuck out like a sore thumb.
Bizarre trivia: the guy Joker grabs at the banquet and grumbles over reminding him of his father is Senator Patrick Leahy, who’s apparently a huge Batman fan.
And I am now a huge Senator Patrick Leahy fan.
How about the pencil trick?
I thought the pencil trick was disturbing. Lots of people giggled, but my jaw dropped open a little bit. Here’s a guy who violently murders a stranger just to mildly amuse himself and put a period on the end of his sentence. A city’s bloated institutions can’t possibly defend you against a mindset like that. They’ll deploy tactics and obstacles he simply won’t notice as he dances around them and stalks up to slide a knife between your ribs. It’s an excellent character moment. Here’s a Joker that uses whatever dirty objects he finds lying around, with no interest in silly joy buzzers and trick guns.
I’ve just realized how much altitude/distance plays into this movie. Nearly every scene involving the powerful and wealthy takes place hundreds of feet in the air. It shouldn’t be surprising that they fail to understand the problems in their city, since they’re extremely removed from the trouble skulking around on the ground below. Dent’s one of the only public officials we see addressing the people directly on the ground (even the mayor insists on a raised dais), and he pays a price for getting that close to the ugly.
whoah, Justin. I never caught the whole height aspect. Super insightful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2yv8aT0UFc
A spoof on the batman interrogation scene. It’s admittedly stupid, but I have to admit having lol’d.
dent holds a press conference from a raised platform.
the joker holds his hostages hostage in a tall building.
your theory is blown.