"The Dark Knight" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Lord Dalek]

Welcome To A World Without Rules



"You can't rely on anybody these days, you gotta do everything yourself, don't we? But that's okay, I came prepared. It's a funny world we live in; speaking of which, you know how I got these scars?" - The Joker

Release Date: July 18, 2008
Studio: Warner Bros./Legendary/Syncopy
Director: Christopher Nolan
Aspect Ratio: 1.65:1/2.40:1 (Mixed IMAX/Panavision)
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Morgan Freeman

Plot Summary: Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

COMMENTS?

LD Talkback #177

Eat your heart out Jim Harvey.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I always felt really bad for Harvey Dent in this. In other adaptions (like BTAS), I sort of sympathized with him but then quickly lost that when he went bad, but here even when he's Two Face for the small amount of time he is I feel sorry for the fact that the bad guys broke him.

The Joker was a pretty good assimilation of "All things evil", but I thought Two Face showed the real difference between Batman and Joker and it's a much bigger difference than most "dark" Batfans want to admit.

[talonmalon333]

TDK Harvey Dent = BTAS Harvey Dent

I'd also say the same about the two Gordons.

[Spark Of Spirit]

TDK Harvey Dent = BTAS Harvey Dent

Eh, I'd say it's a lot different here. TDK Two Face knows what he's doing is wrong, and he isn't doing it for personal gain just revenge. About my only regret is that he was killed a criminal without even a chance at redemption.

BTAS Two Face just becomes a gangster, TDK Two Face becomes a murderer with a death wish.

[talonmalon333]

TDK Harvey Dent = BTAS Harvey Dent

Eh, I'd say it's a lot different here. TDK Two Face knows what he's doing is wrong, and he isn't doing it for personal gain just revenge. About my only regret is that he was killed a criminal without even a chance at redemption.

BTAS Two Face just becomes a gangster, TDK Two Face becomes a murderer with a death wish.

Sorry, I should've elaborated more. I meant that I think they are equally good, in their own ways, which is more than I can say for various other characters.

[Spark Of Spirit]

TDK Harvey Dent = BTAS Harvey Dent

Eh, I'd say it's a lot different here. TDK Two Face knows what he's doing is wrong, and he isn't doing it for personal gain just revenge. About my only regret is that he was killed a criminal without even a chance at redemption.

BTAS Two Face just becomes a gangster, TDK Two Face becomes a murderer with a death wish.

Sorry, I should've elaborated more. I meant that I think they are equally good, in their own ways, which is more than I can say for various other characters.

Oh yeah, in that case I agree. I like 'em both.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I feel sorry for Aaron Eckhart. He did a terrific performance as Harvey Dent/Two-Face but nobody ever talks about it because, lets face it, he got completely overshadowed by Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker. On that note, though, I also must jump on the bandwagon this one time and admit that I was also completely blown away by Ledger's performance. Its his and Nolan's own unique portrayal of The Joker, and for the tone that this film goes for, I feel that it works very well, and this rendition of The Joker is definitely one of the most memorable movie villains that I have ever seen, personally.

Anyways, if you'll all allow for a bit of blasphemy, if I were to be completely honest, while I do still think that this is by far the best live-action Batman film, my favorite Batman movies are still a tie between Mask of the Phantasm and Return of The Joker. Maybe its because of my nostalgic attachment to the animated DCAU Batman series' growing up, but those movies just have such a high re-watch value for me that there's really no comparison. In fact, each of them deserve their own talk-back threads. Somebody who isn't as lazy as me should create them....

Well, at any rate, I don't want to drag this thread off-topic. Like I said, this is the best live-action Batman movie that I have seen, and I hope that TDKR can live-up to the high bar that this movie has set. Judging by early reviews of that movie, it seems like it at least manages to come close.

[gunswordfist]

I like how The Joker's plot with the two ships at the end and what he did with Dent was like what he pulled in The Killing Joke. In The Killing Joke, The Joker attempts to make Jim Gordon become insane, in The Dark Knight, he tries to show that he can make anyone become like him (the people on the ships) and of course he succeeded at making Harvey go mad. I've been thinking about the look on his face when the people actually didn't try to blow each other up. It's priceless. I kind of wish he didn't have an ace up his sleeve after that but what happens to Dent carries over perfectly to The Dark Knight Rises.

The 2nd thing I wanted to mention is I like how The Joker said he wouldn't kill Batman because he's too much fun and Batman would never kill him due to his morality. I believe that instantly reminded me of the TAS episode I haven't seen as a kid where people thought some loser killed Batman and The Joker is mad at the guy and tells him he never wanted Batman to die. I'm not sure if TAS gets that from a comic book but the more I think about it the more I'm sure The Dark Knight pulled that straight from the cartoon. I love that.

I believe I thought of both of this during my first viewing of the film right when these parts occurred so that made it a bit more interesting. I think Gordon says something like let's prove him wrong like he did in The Killing Joke so I'm going to have to go rewatch this movie just to see that (and the look on The Joker's face again. )

[Foggle]

Finally got to watch it again today. While I still like Rises slightly more, this definitely has the most intelligent script of any superhero movie and is just a masterpiece all around.

[gunswordfist]

still the best comic book movie since 2008, imo.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The "Nolan-isms" makes some of the dialogue feel rather dated, but it's a small gripe, IMO, and it's still one of the best films in the genre.

That said, I can now openly say that Captain America: The First Avenger is personally my favorite superhero movie ever, followed very closely behind by The Winter Soldier.