The Dark Knight (GODDAMN SPOILERS)

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

The Good:

Visuals: Big Gotham City. I always liked the way this was done in the new movies. It kind of shows how small Batman is and how big an effort he needs to put.

Realism: I don't know why, but the whole thing makes me believe that all this shit happened in a real place. Ok, 2-Faces was a bit awkward, I admit. There was a lot of 'people's reactions' stuff in this film, and they were quite believable.

Joker: Damn, this guy is really fucking scary. He was fucking everyone the whole damn film. He always had a plan, and those plans ensured to get a lot of people fucked. And even when he was caught he was also fucking people, right to the end. NO FUCKING LAUGHING GAS INVOLVED.

The Not-so-good:

Batman: Compared to Batman Begins Batman didn't seem quite bright in this film. Yes, he had a good plan during the first catch of Joker, but on the second he was relying a lot on his gadgets.

Edison Chen: The guy who took Fox's cell phone in HK. Yes, he's an insignificant character. But as long as he's in this film, it's like I know there's a pea under my pillow.

To sum up, 5/5. Call me a wanker, but I think this is the fucking Empire Strikes Back of superhero films.

[General Zod]

Batman: Compared to Batman Begins Batman didn't seem quite bright in this film. Yes, he had a good plan during the first catch of Joker, but on the second he was relying a lot on his gadgets.

Batman's supposed to have access to lots of gadgets and use them a fair amount of time. I'm not really seeing the problem here. . .but then again I haven't seen the film yet (fuck you ). Will have to see next week when I can catch it on IMAX.

[Anguirus]

How did you see it ten days early?

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

How did you see it ten days early?

There was a pre-screening here(Taiwan), and I got the chance.

On the gadget thing, I guess I'll say it seemed a bit anti-climax. Though I admit it was still a good watch during that part of the movie.

[JLTucker]

I saw a clip on Youtube and I noticed that Senator Patrick Leahy has a cameo. This isn't really important but I thought I'd point it out.

[The Cooler King]

I saw a clip on Youtube and I noticed that Senator Patrick Leahy has a cameo. This isn't really important but I thought I'd point it out.

Yeah, Leahy's an avowed Batman fan, and, IIRC, this is third appearance in a Batman film.

[Gandalf]

Greatest comic book film ever.

Was the Russian woman alluding to the "masked vigilante" a deliberate reference to the 1966 film?

[Superman]

Damn you guys who already watched it! Damn you all! But did you see it at an IMAX?

All the critics are jizzing over this movie, and now we're getting fan confirmation. I'm starting to get excited.

[hongi]

I literally just got home. I guess it was a pre-screening or whatever, but HOT DAMN THE MOVIE IS SO SO SO SO GOOD! For the first time in a looooong time, I was scared of a villain. The Joker's opening scene basically sums up his evil-villain style: when you least expect it.

I went into the movie knowing already (thanks to spoilers. grr, I should have had more will-power) that a key character would die, but I didn't expect it like this. Not at all like this.

And the ending. Wow. The entire cinema which was incidentally packed gave a long applause at the end.

[Gandalf]

Dude, there's a big spoiler warning. No need to spoilerise.

I literally just got home. I guess it was a pre-screening or whatever, but HOT DAMN THE MOVIE IS SO SO SO SO GOOD! For the first time in a looooong time, I was scared of a villain. The Joker's opening scene basically sums up his evil-villain style: when you least expect it.

Yeah, and William Fichtner was his usual awesome too.

The scene with the gangsters, and especially the pencil trick were a great introduction to the character. Not just the fact that he kills a guy with relative ease, but that he's actually made it amusing. That's a good Joker.

Too bad he can't return in a sequel as some nut in Arkham.

[Ford Prefect]

Well, I saw it last night, and it was good. The film was strongly directed with a current of strong symbolism running through it. Better still was the writing , which elevated this above Batman Begins. This was a very impressively written film; I got really invested in the character of Harvey Dent and everything that Bruce Wayne was investing in him. Even though I avoided pretty much all the promotional material I possibly could for the film, the fact remains that I'm familiar with the franchise, so Dent and his coin immediately said 'Two Face' to me. Which was a pity, because I really wanted Harvey to win. Yeah, blah blah, I believe in Harvey Dent etc.

The Dark Knight pushed for some pretty frightening directions in its writing, and because it does the film is much stronger because of it. Really, watching Bruce have to make some really fucking hard decisions in this film was great (in a rather awful kind of way). The Joker's dilemma and how he saved Dent over Rachel was probably the best part of the film. Seeing how far he was willing to go to protect Gotham was pretty intruiging. The acting helped too.

So yeah, the Joker. Ledger really did the role proud. While I couldn't say that I was actually scared of the Joker, I was impressed with him. He was highly effective, being clever, unpredictable, and dangerous. To get the full effect, you have to see the film.

There were elements I didn't like, however. Particularly, the mobile phone array from the end of the film. When Lucius Fox showed Bruce his specially modified sonar phone, I thought that was pretty cool. When Bruce showed up and pulled 'I converted thirty million phones into a hyper accurate array of active sonar devices because I'm the goddamn Batman', it considerably stretched credibility. It was similar to the feat of Tony Stark building his Arc Reactor in a cave with spare parts, but that was much better handled than this. That is probably my only major complaint, however.

[Gandalf]

I just remembered something; did anyone else catch Gordon's wife was named Barbara?

It looks like they could take Batgirl in a new direction.

[hongi]

The Joker's dilemma and how he saved Dent over Rachel was probably the best part of the film. Seeing how far he was willing to go to protect Gotham was pretty intruiging. The acting helped too.

I don't think Bruce wanting to protect Gotham was entirely or even the main motivation for saving Dent as opposed to Rachel. Saving Dent was the only way in which the Batman persona could be abandoned, thereby freeing him to rekindle the relationship with Rachel.

I think you can detect the desperation in as he tries to keep Dent alive, he's Bruce Wayne's last and best chance for a normal life.

[Ford Prefect]

The Joker's dilemma and how he saved Dent over Rachel was probably the best part of the film. Seeing how far he was willing to go to protect Gotham was pretty intruiging. The acting helped too.

I don't think Bruce wanting to protect Gotham was entirely or even the main motivation for saving Dent as opposed to Rachel. Saving Dent was the only way in which the Batman persona could be abandoned, thereby freeing him to rekindle the relationship with Rachel.

I think you can detect the desperation in as he tries to keep Dent alive, he's Bruce Wayne's last and best chance for a normal life.

Hmm, that's something I hadn't thought of, though reflecting on it, it's quite true. I don't normally get into the whole 'how crazy is Batman' thing, but here it's pretty potent. Thinking about it some more, Alfred noticed as well.

[hongi]

Hmm, that's something I hadn't thought of, though reflecting on it, it's quite true. I don't normally get into the whole 'how crazy is Batman' thing, but here it's pretty potent. Thinking about it some more, Alfred noticed as well.

I'd go a step further than that and say 'how crazy is Bruce Wayne'? It's sort of scary to consider that the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is just as much of a fake shell as Batman is. Or perhaps Batman really is Bruce Wayne. If there is a third and final film, I think they should settle who Bruce Wayne really is, deep inside.

[Setzer]

Did you ever see Batman Beyond? There was an episode where a villain used a mini radio to make Bruce think he was hearing voices in his head. He knew they were fake, because they kept calling him Bruce. And in his head, he doesn't call himself that.

[ray245]

This film really shows why it's not fun to be batman.

And heath ledger IS the joker. Jack, you just lost to someone who is better than you.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I just remembered something; did anyone else catch Gordon's wife was named Barbara?

It looks like they could take Batgirl in a new direction.

Barbara 'Babs' Gordon has often been named after her mother in the comics.

[ray245]

Darth Wong once said that why in alot of comic book films...the cops becomes rather useless...well in this film, they are not really useless when the are faced with any criminals.

Joker is a guy that can be captured by the police and taken down...but what happens when you take him down is something NO one in a 'real' world would have known.

[Schuyler Colfax]

Dude, I didn't realize so many people had their tickets already, I just figured that I would go around 10:00am tomorrow.

[Mark S]

I'd go a step further than that and say 'how crazy is Bruce Wayne'? It's sort of scary to consider that the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is just as much of a fake shell as Batman is. Or perhaps Batman really is Bruce Wayne. If there is a third and final film, I think they should settle who Bruce Wayne really is, deep inside.

I'm not a big reader of the Batman comic, but I thought that in the comic, there was no real personality dilemma at all. Bruce Wayne's real personality is Batman and he knows it. The playboy is an act to throw people off. Is that not true?

[ray245]

I'd go a step further than that and say 'how crazy is Bruce Wayne'? It's sort of scary to consider that the billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is just as much of a fake shell as Batman is. Or perhaps Batman really is Bruce Wayne. If there is a third and final film, I think they should settle who Bruce Wayne really is, deep inside.

I'm not a big reader of the Batman comic, but I thought that in the comic, there was no real personality dilemma at all. Bruce Wayne's real personality is Batman and he knows it. The playboy is an act to throw people off. Is that not true?

In the comics...we can say there is TWO personality. In Nolan's universe, there is 3.

The acting playboy. The batman...and the real bruce that only a few people can know.

People like Rachel and alfred. It's the 3rd personality that is considered crazy. He is the 'real' bruce wayne in that sense.

[Anguirus]

Just got back from the midnight screening.

Good god.

This is just a really good film.

I'm still processing, but I think the moment that made the movie was the convict throwing the remote out the window. That was the first time that someone really beat the Joker, and it showed that there really was hope for Gotham City.

[Jack Bauer]

Go see this film. End of story.

To echo Yenchin, this is the Empire of comic book movies.

Sorry, Tony. The best movie of year award goes to Bats. Or more accurately, to the Joker.

Ledger deserves an Oscar.

[loomer]

Fuck Ledger, he wasn't that brilliant. Nor was Bale.

It was an enjoyable movie. It is not the greatest movie every made. It is possibly the finest comic book movie so far, but that doesn't really say much.

Ledger does not deserve an Oscar, unless by some magic, he actually remains the best supporting character this year, which I consider unlikely.