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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

The Dark Knight

Personally, I felt that the Joker overshadowed Batman himself. By the end of the flick I was rooting for the Joker, as sick as that is.. His philosophy was more clear than Batman. A wild card, but no b.s. They should have just renamed this flick, 'Joker', because thats the highlight and coincidentally, thats all people are talking about
 
if you go in (like I did) expecting something on the level of The Godfather or There Will Be Blood etc, you'll be let down....
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Its a kids movie about a guy who dresses up as a bat - in the universe of those other films he would be clinically schizophrenic - if you saw a guy on 5th avenue dressed as any kind of animal or arachnid apprehending rapists he would be sent to a home for the mentally ill. I legitimately don't understand how a film about a man who "dresses up as a bat and solves crimes in his spare time" could be comparable to adult films that deal with real world scenarios such as the godfather or taxi driver?
 
I really, really enjoyed this film. Looking back, it would have been nice to have a deeper script, but at least the story was never so sentimental or trite to make me get sick of it. It did the job of moving the movie forward from one incredibly inventive action sequence to the next.

And, I agree that was a great portrayal of the joker. They nailed him in a way that even many of the comic versions of him don't.

Here's something that blew my mind: I saw the show with a friend of mine who had surgery on his mouth after a vicious dog bite. He mentioned that the way the Joker flips his tongue is actually SPOT ON with what people do after having massive trauma to that area, and that he had been doing the same thing for weeks after his surgery. So the tongue thing was both excellently creepy and perfectly motivated. Ledger must have done some serious work prepping for that role.
 
rgdfilmsRED said:
Personally, I felt that the Joker overshadowed Batman himself. By the end of the flick I was rooting for the Joker, as sick as that is.. His philosophy was more clear than Batman. A wild card, but no b.s. They should have just renamed this flick, 'Joker', because thats the highlight and coincidentally, thats all people are talking about
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It's like they say, action movies are only as good as their villains. So it's good that Nolan made that the film's strongest point. At the end of the day Batman is going to be more-or-less the same in every movie. It's the villain's that change. They're the driving force in these films.
 
I'm seeing it on IMAX on tues, I hope it lives up to the hype.

I might take a handful of Advil in advance to dull the inevitable IMAX sensory overload.
 
My wife and I saw it last night and both came away satisfied but unimpressed. I'd say this movie was solid, but not great. Joker was well written, and wonderfully acted, but the movie on a whole just lacked something.

Better yet, maybe it didn't lack something but had too much in it. I never did find myself drawn to the Harvey Dent character and felt that Two Face was used so sparsely that the could have left him out all together.

About 45 minutes from the end of the film I found my mind drifting and I was hoping it would either wrap up or get moving again. This to me in not the mark of a great movie.

I'm glad someone else pointed out the ridiculousness of the Batman voice. It's fine for a quick "stop right there" or "not this time scum bag", but there were times when he'd carry on extended dialogue in that cheesy, raspy voice and it made me cringe.

I wonder if I'm the only dissenting opinion here?
________
Mugen Motorsports
 
Spoilers Here...

Spoilers Here...

jtm said:
Its a kids movie about a guy who dresses up as a bat - in the universe of those other films he would be clinically schizophrenic - if you saw a guy on 5th avenue dressed as any kind of animal or arachnid apprehending rapists he would be sent to a home for the mentally ill. I legitimately don't understand how a film about a man who "dresses up as a bat and solves crimes in his spare time" could be comparable to adult films that deal with real world scenarios such as the godfather or taxi driver?
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That's the thing though, this isn't a kids' Batman and those masks are metaphors for something more. I can't imagine a more thought provoking script. The themes within are adult themes, and while I felt it was handled beautifully, it garnered an R in my book.

Heath Ledger was so organic and made being a psychopath look so cool, that I hope a 13 year old can discern the difference. The Joker had a very convincing sense of logic. It felt real. More like Hannibal Lector or Anton Chigurh, than a comic.



SPOILER AHEAD...


The "sonar" was indicative of the Patriot Act. In the interrogation room, the beating of the Joker for information was Guantanamo.

I hope this isn't taken out of context, but can you get much deeper than the society vs. terrorist analogy? Can society's sense of self endure as it becomes something less than civilized to deal with terror? How does it feel about or perceive what it becomes?

To me, this was about as dark as the Knight could get. Very well executed.
 
IMO...
I think sometimes people read too much into things. For example, there are many sources which argue that Batman and Robin are gay. A good refutation here:
I will concede that Batman was not the ideal father as he was constantly putting young Dick into harm's way and spending most of his spare time ROMANCING LADIES. What? Ladies? Is it true? Oh, let's see now, there's the alluring Silver St. Cloud; Talia al Ghul, the mother of Batman's biological son, Damian; Sasha Bordeaux, Bruce Wayne's sexy former bodyguard; and the most powerful, sought-after woman in the world, a little lady known to everyone as Wonder Woman.
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http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/story.html?id=654384

(Sorry if my disdain for English literature and sociology classes is spilling over here... there's just so much pseudo-academic BS out there.)

Well really, the problem with many readings/interpretations is that you can't prove things one way or the other. Though I would bet that most people who saw the movie didn't think about the Patriot Act or Guantanamo while watching it. Anyways, in my humble opinion, it's reading too much into the movie.

2- I do agree that the film is thematic sophisticated (or not as shallow as other blockbuster films and action movies).

3- "dresses up as a bat and solves crimes in his spare time" would be more apt for some of the other batman movies (and the cartoon series).

But everyone has their own taste in movies. I won't call the taste police on anybody who didn't like the film. ;)
 
GlennChan said:
Though I would bet that most people who saw the movie didn't think about the Patriot Act or Guantanamo while watching it.
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That's certainly true. But I think that the Nolans may have been thinking about it when they wrote it.


GlennChan said:
But everyone has their own taste in movies. I won't call the taste police on anybody who didn't like the film. ;)
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I agree. It's such a subjective thing, but discussion adds to the fun I suppose.
 
jtm said:
Its a kids movie about a guy who dresses up as a bat - in the universe of those other films he would be clinically schizophrenic - if you saw a guy on 5th avenue dressed as any kind of animal or arachnid apprehending rapists he would be sent to a home for the mentally ill. I legitimately don't understand how a film about a man who "dresses up as a bat and solves crimes in his spare time" could be comparable to adult films that deal with real world scenarios such as the godfather or taxi driver?
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I was walking down Hollywood Boulevard a few years ago, and some big scruffy looking guy ahead of me started a fight with one of the Batman impersonaters outside of Manns Chinese theatre.

Batman kicked his fucking ass.

It was awesome.
 
Of course you know what happens with Batman impersonators...
 
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