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So HOW i there not a Dark Knight post here?!? (Spoilers)
A2597
Fanboy
in Zocalo v2.0
I mean, WTF? This movie was absofrakinglutly awesome!
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[url]http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/22/bale.questioned/index.html[/url]
Anyway, I thought it was absolutely incredible. Top-notch and worthy of all the praise I've seen it getting. I need to watch it one more time before I can really get a solid understanding of how the plot really went, but Ledger earned his paycheck and will be sorely missed. The mob scene "Magic Trick" ("Ladies and gentlemen, watch as I make this pencil...disappear") and his cold, psychotic initial appearance in the bank was remarkably different than anything seen on screen in recent memory, delving deep down into Frank Miller levels of darkness and setting the tone for things to come.
It was significantly darker than I expected it to be, what with the (apparent) death of Gordon and the later far more real death of Rachel Dawes, the Joker's repeat social experiments and brutally confrontational nature, and the horror of Two-Face's appearance and actions.
The death of Harvey Dent, the birth of Two-Face was incredible and was not something I could have ever imagined as being so perfectly executed on-screen. I felt his loss, felt the tragedy on all sides and was glued to the screen as he was played by the Joker into betraying his moral base in the name of his lost companion.
The effects are a new level of quality. The fact that so much time, money, blood, sweat and tears went into the practical vfx is primarily why it came out so well, but the fact that not a single scene throughout the film ever had me questioning the realism of a shot, never once even considering the nature of the effects scene in the film, is utterly remarkable. The story had my complete attention (to the point where I even managed to not pay conscious attention to the film score, something I have only rarely been able to do).
Maggie Gyllenhaal's talent (and raw skill) as an actress allowed her to so completely blow away Katie Holmes' performance in the previous movie, bringing depth and a level of realism and maturity that is genuinely rare in modern acting styles.
But even with the movie being so exceptionally good in all these ways, what really kept me interested was that it was always a couple steps ahead of me. I was consistently surprised by creative plot turns, exciting twists, and thoroughly dynamic characters who were intelligent and either with or ahead.
It's remarkable and has me eagerly awaiting the next (final?) movie in the series, assuming there will even be one. I'd even be content with this being the closer, as the ending itself is more than satisfying, but I'd like to see Nolan & Co. continue their successful run.
The possibility still exists that the era of Two-Face isn't entirely over, but that's up to the writers to continue as necessary. I'd prefer that Dent/Two-Face remain dead, but it seems as if there was some openness left in the closing that allows for Dent to remain "dead" while two-face lives on. At the very least, characters in these movies seem to be more robust than real-world beings when the situation calls on it, but I'd rather see an evolution toward another villain (The Riddler, Bane (done right), The Mad Hatter, or even the classic Doctor Death).
The pencil trick is pure awesome.
The rumour is David Tennant is interested in being the Riddler for the third movie.
Worf
See? One thing I like!
Worf
Jake
Here's my Facebook rant if someone hangs around that dreaded place: :)
Batman - all grown up and smiling at his father. What Batman Begins began (enter obvious pun), The Dark Knight grabs on to and runs a mile with it. A very entertaining movie in itself; visually impressive, clever ideas, dark humour, interesting enough a plot to follow, some great (albeit grim) laughs and an ending that's more than appropriate: All in all, the movie simply plays out well, the only minus being the slightly dragged out length. The star of the whole movie is not Bale, however, as Heath Ledger pulls off an absolutely brilliant performance as the why-so-serious Joker. The whole performance was completely on par with Jack Nicholson himself, whom I found myself reminded of, numerous times. I'd never heard of Ledger before, but despite his death, the man simply _NEEDS_ to be awarded an Oscar for the performance. Even if the latex'n'leather -loving vigilante isn't your thing, I recommend seeing the film, just for the sake of that smiling feller that steals the whole show. Every single bit of it.
On a side note, after the disappointment I experienced watching Indiana Jones, I thought that some franchises should remain dead and I sort of lost faith in the studio's ability to make good sequels. This movie (and the one that preceded it) restored my faith in both a movie living up to expectations (hype) and the intelligent continuation of a franchise. Bravo.
My only fear, however, is if they do make another one (which I am sure they will) the rest of the villains in the franchise are less believable. In other words: in a series that is the most realistic of the franchise (indeed, of almost any other superhero adaptation), it will be hard to make some of them (Penguin, Riddler, Mr. Freeze, etc.) fit into the gritty, true-to-life world that they have created. I believe they can pull it off, but it will be difficult to walk that line.
Penguin...again, don't see much of an issue. Somewhat disfigured man with a brillient mind.
Mr. Freeze...gosh that man has a back story. His suit and all...yea, hard to pull that off...the rest, I'd be upset if they didn't pay tribute to it.
Deadshot..yea, he'll fit right in.
Bane, done right, could work nicely.
Killer Croc, I can see that happening as well. He WAS a curcus Freak due to a skin condition, toss in brute strength and "jaws" from James Bond (AKA, he sharpens his teeth to use as a weapon) and you have a formidable opponent.
Clayface? Not likely.
CatWoman, easily doable, but I sure hope not.
various mob bosses, yep.
Lets not forget Al ghul, that man isn't dead, I gurentee it. And I want the Lazerous pits to come into play. ANd of course, Talia.
Leauge of Assasines (Lady Shiva anyone?)
Anarchy, definately possible.
Mr. Zsasz, oh gosh...I can see this man redone. A serial killer who keeps tallys by making new scars for his scores? or yea...
Poison Ivy? Yep. She could be in there. Especially with all this global warming stuff and high gas prices.
Scarface? Yep, he stands a chance to show up.
this one may only have been from the 90s TV show, but the Ninja would be awesome. Someone that trained with Bruce Wayne, knows his identity, and wants him dead? Sounds like a winning combo to me.
Trust me, they have NO lack of villians that can work in a real world setting.
Catwoman was killed off pretty well by a certain recent attempt. Clayface is...a little cheesy these days, even in a less refined form.Anarchy is just too 90's teen angst. Mr. Freeze is just too fantasty-heavy for this world unless his character were to be adapted into a less literal form. Penguin could be viable, but would risk losing too much of what made the character unique. And last, but not least, Poison Ivy is too much of a "hot button" character. A movie should never aim to send a message, which trades off longevity for short-term relevance. She's also a bit too much with the fantasy. And Scarface won't likely make the mass-market transition too well. And The Ninja was simply replaced by Ra's al Ghul, who stepped in and did exactly that in the first movie.
This still leaves The Riddler, Bane, Zsasz, the entire League of Assassins (though a league is far too impersonal a foe, makes for bad short-run drama and could come off as a re-hash of the first), and Doctor Death (who may be silly in name, but has seriously dark and realistic qualities).
I still feel The Riddler is our best bet for a sequel. He needn't be biggest or the best, as the plot should center around Commissioner Gordon's pursuit of our hero and Gotham's steps toward rebirth. TDK demonstrated that Batman is primarily a means to an end, even if marketing would make it seem otherwise.
Although yes...slightly different timelines between the two.
I'm betting on The Riddler as the villain for the next film.
Worf
Wow, never heard of Heath before!? I recommend seeing A Knight's Tale. The movie itself is a bit hokey and hollywood at times, but very entertaining and Ledger's performance is fantastic there as well. He was also fantastic in The Patriot. If you can find it, I also recommend the short-lived fantasy tv series Roar, one of his earlier projects.
Worf
Definitely need a climatic final movie with Bane. After the treatment that character got in that movie to which I will not give the honor of providing the name. Bane, the baddest ass bad-guy Batman ever faced and he's given the role of a chauffeur?
Jake
Before going to the film I listened to Zimmers & Newton Howards score. I had read a review which said it was a hard soundtrack to listen to outside of the film, but during the film it worked brilliantly. In a way I agree, its not the same as the score for the 1st film but it is still a fantastic piece of work. Having listened to it beforehand I actually found I enjoyed the film more having done so. They both did a superb job and all the tracks just worked so well.
Personally I think this is probably one of the very few films that has succeeded in going one step further than the previous. Nolan and his crew really took it to a new level, which will now become a benchmark for many many years to come. Bay & Bruckheimer could learn a lot from these guys.
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[*]Not enough stealthy Batman.
[*]The cinematography wasn't quite up to the previous film (this ties in with the first complaint).
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Also, did anyone else notice the conspicuous absence of the 3-level train system?
Here it looks like any modern city (I believe they used Chicago). I suspect they wanted to get away from the overuse of CGI in movies, which is fine but it creates a big inconsistency. There's supposedly only a year at most between the two, that's not enough time for the look of an entire city to change.
Worf
Peter and I actually watched the 1st film and then 30 mins later went out and saw the 2nd one. Ledger was awesome, Morgan Freeman is one of my all time faves so yeah, of course awesome.
There is some rumours going about that say Ledger's death was kinda related to his character. He supposedly holed himself up in a hotel room for a month and went kinda crazy to get into character. During film he was complaining about not getting enough sleep (quoted by a costar) and he died of sleeping pill over dose... too bad really.
I would *LOVE* to see the Riddler for the next one and David Tennant is brilliant of course (finally finished S4 of that the other night) so that would be all kinds of awesome.