Just watched "The Dark Knight" (no spoilers)

[rushingwind]

"THE DARK KNIGHT" IS AN AMAZING MOVIE.

Working at a movie theater has its advantages. Such as being required to "quality check" movies before they come out. So, obviously, I just spent the last three hours watching "The Dark Knight".

Let me be clear. I don't really like comics or superhero stuff. The older Batman movies (the 80's and 90's ones)? Hated them. They were too silly for my tastes, and none of the villains were scary. I liked "Batman Begins" quite a bit, but it wouldn't be one of my favorites. I honestly didn't believe that the Joker could be pulled off either believably or in a remotely scary fashion.

I was wrong.

"The Dark Knight" probably just became my favorite movie of ALL TIME. IT IS THAT AWESOME. HEATH LEDGER SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME IN THAT MOVIE.

Heath Ledger as the Joker was AMAZING. I would be scared to death of this guy if he were real and I ever met him. I was very doubtful at first of Heath Ledger's ability to play the role until I saw the teaser trailer for the movie. I thought, "Eh, I'll give him a chance." HE IS A HUNDRED TIMES BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED. In fact, I can't even imagine anyone else in that role now. Heath Ledger IS the face of the Joker now!

At times the Joker's antics were like calculated chaos. Here's the thing though, HE WASN'T PSYCHOTIC. He had a complete grasp on reality for the entire length of the movie! He completely knew the difference of right and wrong, but loved wrong, and loved pain and making other people hurt! AND HE WAS COMPLETELY BELIEVABLE! He's the first true villain I've seen who's sanity is questionable, and not for the reasons you might think! Yes, he acted crazy, but though you know he's insane, he meets none of the normal criteria for insanity (other than the traditional, 'he wants to kill people' perspective). You know something is VERY wrong about this guy, yet...yet...you just can't figure out what! He's not insane (not completely, at least), he's not psychotic, and he's got a full grasp on reality, and you're not sure if he's a flippin' genius or a crazy dog as time goes on.

He was SCARY. I mean, there are weird villains in every superhero flick, but his performance is very intense. I...wow. I just don't know what else to say. I think Heath Ledger scared the crap out of me as the bad guy.

The movie was long, but I didn't notice. In fact, when it was over, I was looking at my watch and going, "Hey, is it over already?"

Go see The Dark Knight. GO AS SOON AS YOU CAN. I see most of the movies that come out (it's part of my job), but I haven't seen one this amazing in YEARS. Even if you're not a fan of Batman (I'm not) please go! You won't regret it!

I know I'm just going on and on about it, but...wow. AMAZING.  I just want to tell everyone I can about it! 

[Lakonthegreat]

Catching the midnight show tomorrow.


SUPER EXCITED, and thank you so much for the spoiler free review.

[Lakonthegreat]

This is a spoiler free review.


Let me preface this review by saying that I have become somewhat of a film connoisseur in my life. I've seen everything from C and D-list movies that never stood a chance, to gigantic box office flops that were filled to bursting with empty promises of grandeur.

If you were to compress every one of those $1 bin pieces of trash pressed onto plastic as 1's and 0's along with every copy of movies like Ang Lee's renditions of the Hulk and Godzilla into a void of abhorrent desolation, this movie would be the polar opposite designed only to eliminate all of the horror and pain that that void has caused.

This movie lulled me in with the stunning CGI intro, and then slammed me into a suspenseful thrill ride that kept my eyes riveted to the screen I sat in front of, and my buttocks firmly grasping the cushion that had become their domicile for the next 2.6 hours (I stayed for the credits just to see what all went into this beautiful creation.)

I have to say that in my time, I have seen a number of movies from a number of different genres. I have also seen many films that crossed these genres. No movie, however, has EVER convincingly taken every bit of suspense from some of the best horror movies ever going back all the way to the original Nosferatu, formed it and shaped it with the hands that broke so many necks in every decent action movie ever made, AND added every bit of dark comedy that one has come to expect from the likes of those B-movie screenwriters and directors that will never get the credit they deserve for the masterpieces that they create. This movie has successfully done all three. If one were to follow an archetype for a "superhero movie" or a "comic book movie," let them follow the one set in this film my the Nolan brothers and the rest of the cast and crew.

A word about Heath Ledger. I lament for his friends, family, and fans. But if he were alive today, I would pray to the Almighty God of Heaven and Earth that he would never be cast as the Joker again. There is a VERY good reason for this. The reason is that I simply do not think that this performance could be duplicated even by a man so tortured by his inner demons as Heath Ledger. This was the single best villain I have ever seen in a film, and I believe that the 100 top villains list should be corrected accordingly.

Christian Bale is the best Batman ever, I will hear no argument otherwise. By saying he's the best Batman ever, I intend to explain that the original Batman created by Bob Kane in the 1950's was very dark, brooding, mysterious, and very stone cold serious. I think that the best adaptation of this Batman was characterized by Frank Miller, and could only be executed by such a man as Christian Bale. Yes, the obvious small lisp in his voice does add to this role, as even the richest man in Gotham, Bruce Wayne, has faults. I believe that Christian Bale was made for this role, and I cannot wait to see what he does with John Connor.

I'm assuming that the next Batman movie will probably feature Rupert Thorne, Catwoman, The Riddler, or The Penguin. If you know anything about Batman at all then I have no need to explain what villain has already shown his face(s) as Harvey Dent, and R'has al Gh'ul was defeated in Batman Begins.

I don't care what the next movie looks like. As long as these people stay on as the development cast and crew, I have no problem handing them my $9 to sit and be hit with a rotten fish before the movie starts. I would not care.

So in conclusion, this movie has no rating scale on this planet large enough to contain the amount of stars or points that could be awarded to it. It gets an A+++ from me. Go see it, because I'm going to go see it again.

[neo-fusion]

welll i want to see it bad... my brother is being a bitch and won't get tickets beforehand so now we are fucked... Anyway I will say this rgiht now. I think Heath will be a cooler joker but jack is the better actor.

I also think that george clooney is the best batman... AHAHAHAHAHAA anyway yes Christian bale is the awsomest batman.

The thing that really pisses me off is that people love tim burtons stuff when it isn't even remotely realistic. It's built in a grim world by a grim and weird person. The tim burton batmans were not good. They were not thrilling. They were not cool. They were not realistic. Whereas here we have all of those in the new batman.

Fuck off Tim Burton lovers.

[placidchap]

Fuck off Batman lovers.

Fixed.

[Lakonthegreat]

Batman lovers deserve medals.

Fixed.

Yep. Now it's fixed.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

The movie was too long.  For real.  It was great, but it was too long.

Overall it was an amazing film; not only one of the best superhero movies, but one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time.

I loved the way they portrayed Harvey Dent, and I loved the way Two-Face looked even more.

[x_XTacTX_x]

FUCKING BEST BATMAN MOVE EVER AND EVER FOREVER OH MY GAWD.

The Joker... He's incredible. He's not even a villain, when you think about it, he's just insane. Heath Ledger is an amazing actor.

During the scene where he says "I'm gonna make this pencil dissapear", and he slams it straight into the guys head, everyone in the theatre, including myself, cheered.

The movie was too long.  For real.  It was great, but it was too long.

But that's the thing; When a movie is utterly spectacular as The Dark Knight is, you shouldn't care if it's long. I know I didn't, in fact, I didn't want the movie to end.



But if they make a third, they better not bring Robin in. I hate Robin, he sucks.

[ZeaLitY]

I was a mini-celebrity at my theater. It took 45 minutes to do...

[x_XTacTX_x]

WHY SO SERIOUS ZEALITY?

Awesome Cosplay. Someone did that at the theater I went to as well.


Seriously, I felt lame because everyone else was wearing something batman-esque and I wasn't.

[ZeaLitY]

Out of 500 people who went, 1 person wore a Batman mask at my theater. No one else made any attempt to dress up. I was crushed until I realized that it made me that much more awesome.

[x_XTacTX_x]

Out of 500 people who went, 1 person wore a Batman mask at my theater. No one else made any attempt to dress up. I was crushed until I realized that it made me that much more awesome.

Exactly.

Jeez, I should've at least worn a shirt or something... I stopped by Hot Topic right after the movie and used the little cash I had left to buy a Joker T-shirt, which was surprisingly cheap.

TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE WHO SAYS JACK NICHOLSON PLAYED A BETTER JOKER:

Were you watching the same movie? Did you see how beautifully Heath Ledger acted? From the incoherent mumbling while talking to the Mafia, to that eerie cackling while falling to his doom, he did a perfect representation of who The Joker is; No, scratch that, He made The Joker even cooler. He did what Nicholson didn't: He gave the Joker a past, and made him even a likeable character. He brought him past "Villain", and made him an insane recluse bent on destruction, who still manages to have a blast.

Props to Nicholson, he's a great actor, but Ledger wins hands down (may he rest in peace).

[ZeaLitY]

Ledger made Nicholson look like a complete, spineless wimp.

[x_XTacTX_x]

Ledger made Nicholson look like a complete, spineless wimp.

It sucks we wont see him again.

He'll win an oscar from beyond the grave. That's how kickass he is.

[ZeaLitY]

My thoughts...

I read the spoiler-free reviews at aintitcoolnews to gear up, and I paid special attention to Quint's calling the movie "immune to expectations". I knew at that moment that there was no real way to prepare for it. I downloaded the soundtrack, but my god...I had no idea how well the Joker's theme would be used in the film.

All the reviews at AICN, and Ebert's were dead on the money. The film left a mark that I wasn't entirely aware of. After retiring to bed at 3 AM, I became very depressed as I recalled the sad events in the film. And then that horrible note; that screechy, almost siren-like Joker note faded into my brain like the sound of an electric hum, and stayed there. During the movie we were all shocked and sickly amused by the Joker at times, but at the end there was no question: he is total fucking anarchy and it is scary. The theme is used well to this effect; it builds high-strung tension and then SMASHES down with those few effects you can hear at 2:29 in "Why So Serious" and at other parts of the score. It's like getting slammed in the face by raw anarchy.

The critics were right about Nolan's ability to throw curveballs too, and AICN's reviewers were especially correct about the fact that you care. Just as Quint predicted, by the middle of the film I felt like I'd give anything to keep Harvey Dent the White Knight of Gotham. I think James Berardenelli brought up the fact that in ANY other Batman movie, most of us would have been giddily waiting for Harvey Dent to get scarred, thinking "WOO TWO-FACE IS COMING!" But this time it was just...painful...

And Batman was handled well. It wasn't JOKER MOVIE (featuring Batman); he was at the axis and as the other reviewers stated, he played as a detective. I don't read the comics, but I'm well aware of how Batman is portrayed in his natural format. The (tiny spoiler) excursion to Hong Kong was a brilliant piece of action to snack on before things got dark and nasty.

If there is any sick, Jokeresque thing I can delight in the film, it's what several reviewers have already said: this film is not for kids, and it's not a happy summer blockbuster, yet people are FILING IN LIKE NO TOMORROW. People are going to be horrified, shocked, disturbed, but ultimately moved. This just rules. I absolutely love it when thematic depth can be crossed with a big budget production like this.

Batman is the real American hero now, not Superman, nor Spider-Man. I'm glad TDK outdid the entire Spider-Man series in a single shot. People deserve better than the whiny Peter Parker they made in those movies,  or the crappy mess of a movie called Superman Returns.