The Dark Knight (SPOILERS)

[Courtney]

One bit of sadness I have when it comes to living in Chicago: Many nerds in large quantities.  I got my tickets almost a month ago, the day or so after they came out, and I still could only get into the 9am Saturday (tomorrow) showing waayyy in the back of the theater.  My boyfriend drove out to the suburbs last night for the midnight showing and left me the single most terrifying voicemail I've ever received using the single greatest Heath Joker impression I've ever heard anyone do.  Lovely/uberscary thing to wake up to.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I can never ever ever read this thread till Sunday, okay

[Ortega]

I'm going to wait until Tuesday to see it, and go see the 1:00pm matinee to avoid all the crowds. 

[Tripe]

Hey Pat Leahy chalks up another one..

Oh and 10 am on Sunday for the IMAX, Pat's liver spots will look tremendous.

[Compound]

I can never ever ever read this thread till Sunday, okay

But then you won't find out that


...the Joker is made of chocolate.

[bettertomorrowamy]

I'm gonna go at 3:15 today

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I can never ever ever read this thread till Sunday, okay

But then you won't find out that


...the Joker is made of chocolate.

I'm about to kick your THAT MOVIE RVR KEEPS MENTIONINGing THAT MOVIE RVR KEEPS MENTIONING, okay

[wurwolf]

Onil (Pretty) and the kids and I went to the midnight show last night and it was a party. The theater had a DJ there and there were news cameras and everything. We went in our pajamas and it was fully awesome.

The movie... gosh, I don't even know if I can really put into words how epic it was. I know it's in vogue to talk about how great Heath Ledger was as the Joker in this because he's dead, but honestly.... he really and truly did an amazing job. This was the darkest Joker I'd ever seen. He is a serial killer in this movie. To say that he was cold-hearted implies that he has a heart -- heartless would be a much better term.

I won't spoil anything, but I will say the first big scene where the Joker introduces himself -- unbelievable. I had been half holding my breath through the entire thing without realizing it. When the Joker left the room and the scene ended, Onil and I just looked at each other and said, "Holy shit." Also, the magic trick made the entire theater gasp.

Christian Bale's Batman was great, and he really put a lot of effort into his Bruce Wayne. Very nicely played on Bale's part, but he was overshadowed by Heath Ledger. The Joker stole the show.

Like so many other people here, I left the movie with a sense of being unsettled. I couldn't give a true assessment of what I thought, and I felt that I needed to go home and digest it. Onil said, and I agree, that this was more than a mere comic book movie. It simultaneously elevated the genre by association, yet left the genre behind. We're planning to see it again this weekend.

[Dim of the Yard]

Also, the magic trick made the entire theater gasp.

Those are the kind of moments where the audience is sometimes more entertaining than the movie, itself.  The girls in front of me jumped up really high at that point.  It was great!

[Steve-O]

Word of the next sequel has already leaked out:

http://www.datelinehollywood.com/dateline_hollywood/2008/07/dark-knight-seq.html

[Compound]

D'oh! Something that I missed:

The TV reporter doing the interview with the weaselly "I know who the Batman is" guy- it's Anthony Michael Hall.

[BBQ Platypus]

I went to a midnight screening last night.  The theater was absolutely PACKED.  The movie was showing in nine theaters - SEVEN of those showings were sold out by the time I ordered my tickets, and the one I ended up going to was about 80-90% full.  So I knew the fanboys were going to be out in force (the blue Mustang with the "JEDI" vanity plate that I saw in the parking lot was my first clue).  But honest to God, entering the lobby was like walking into a goddamn comic book convention.  It seemed like half the people there were wearing costumes.  I almost felt like a jackass for not wearing clown makeup...almost.

Still, I felt like a bit of a fanboy myself.  I'd been waiting to see this movie for over a year.  The rational part of me kept saying "Now, now - curb your enthusiasm just a LITTLE bit, BBQ. You won't be disappointed and you'll enjoy it more if you do."  But it was to no avail - deep down, I knew that this was going to be the greatest thing to happen to movies since they added sound.  I sat down in the theater a good 45 minutes before midnight, fully ready for this movie to make me its bitch.

And boy, did it ever.  I think I can safely say without any hint of exaggeration that I want to bear this movie's child.  All the buildup, all the hype - it was all justified.  Anyone who thinks that the Oscar buzz surrounding Heath Ledger is just shameless hype and exploitation of his tragic death can prepare to eat their words.  Because they were NOT FUCKING LYING.  Dear God, Heath Ledger was spectacular.  He was captivating from the moment he was introduced - but to me, the scene where he "makes the pencil disappear" was the part where he really seemed to "arrive."  I never really paid much attention to his career before, but after watching him in this movie, I already miss the hell out of him.  I have no idea how they're going to replace him (if that is what they intend to do).

Make no mistake - the Joker as he appears in TDK is the true, definitive version of the character.  THIS is who the Joker really is - I just didn't know it until last night.  From now on, when people think of the Joker, they will think of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  All other portrayals of him - whether it be Jack Nicholson in the original Batman, Cesar Romero in the TV series, or Mark Hammill in TAS (which up to this point had been my favorite) - simply pale by comparison.  The reason is simple - the others seemed to stay within predictable boundaries (although to be fair, the limits on content in Saturday Morning cartoons came into play in Hammill's case).  This Joker doesn't play by any rules - he has no boundaries or qualms whatsoever.  That's what makes him so scary.

Of course, there's much more to this movie than just his amazing performance.  The ensemble cast turns in great performances all around (seriously, why the hell hasn't Christian Bale even been NOMINATED for an Oscar yet?), and Christopher Nolan's direction is superb.  And the storyline is superbly dramatic, compelling, and intense, managing to be both uplifting and profoundly tragic at the same time.  I really liked the way the film kept building momentum as the story progressed, getting better and better with every minute.  And it has a lot to say as well (but I don't want to spoil anything by revealing any of the themes to you - the movie does it way better than I could).  "I'm not a hero - I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be."  Holy shit, that line is awesome.  Really, together with Batman Begins, it just makes other superhero movies look downright silly by comparison.

I have but two complaints about my experience.  First, there were about elevnty jillion trailers in front of the movie.  While I understand why the various studios would want this kind of advertising space (since damn near everybody in the country is going to see this movie), I found it pretty irritating that I had to sit through 20 minutes of trailers (and - ugh - straight-up advertisements).  On the plus side, most of them were for movies I look forward to seeing (the new Bond movie, Watchmen, and Terminator 4, which I refuse to refer to by the godawful title they've saddled it with).

Second, the film burned out with about an hour left to go (right when Commissioner Gordon is interrogating the Joker).  Fortunately, they had it up and running in about five minutes, and everyone in the theater got a free pass for a movie of their choice for their troubles.

All in all, it was an awesome experience.  If you haven't seen it, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?  Stop what you're doing and SEE IT NOW!!!  See it TWICE!!!  See it FIVE TIMES!!!!!!


DISCLAIMER:  Despite the orgasmic levels of praise I have lavished upon this movie, I would still recommend you to follow my stupid, boring old brain's advice if at all possible.  Try not to get TOO worked up over it.  it's just a movie, not the second coming of Jesus Christ...even if it is pretty close.

[Fortis]

Well...its time to add my take on this movie..........I love villains, I love deep and complex characters. Its what makes me like some movies other people don't like. Lady in the water for instance, I like it becuase of its characters.

But....they accomplished the impossible here. You see, there are special criteria for a villain to be good and interesting. Here are a few of the options...

misunderstood - used way too much, but can make for some good villains (Voldemort)

able to be redeemed - the villains that in spite of their evil...can still make the right choice (Darth Vader)

Godlike power - These sorts of villains usually don't have a view point and we don't usually see them, but we know how powerful they can be (Sauron)

Downright Evil - Have such hate and rage that they go after the hero relentlessly...these are usually pretty 2D characters (Ganon)


And then...we have the villain that Joker is. This kind of villain is never done...because its very hard to write a villain like the Joker. It is very hard to write a villain that has NO motivation, none whatsoever. Usually these villains are boring, because everyone needs to usually have the motivation. Unless the audience hates the villain, which makes things interesting, but again, this doesn't work if we hate the villain so much we can't stand to see them on screen.

But they accomplished every writers dream of the perfect villain. A force of nature, one that has no rules, no motivation, one that you hate so much, but is so interesting you crave to see more of it. A villain that makes a hero almost become a villain himself to defeat him.

Guys...I've been trying to write a villain like this in one of my books...and its extremely hard, I mean, incredibly hard. I don't think I have the skill to do it, but I was in awe at what the Nolan brothers were able to write, and what Heath Ledger was able to portray. I was giddy as a school boy to see the villain I've always wanted to create, on screen...(though after watching this...I realized that my villain just isn't as interesting as the Joker...oh well. I'll think of something)


Also, everybody's performances were great, especially Christian Bale and Heath Ledger. They were simply incredible. Gary Oldman and Micheal Caine are always fun to watch, and the soundtrack was also great. I love James Newton Howard, and even though I don't really like Hanz Zimmer...his contribution mixed well with James Newton Howards.

All in all, I give this movie a ten out of ten, for making a writer almost piss his pants in glee.

[Hebs]

Okay:  *cracks knuckles*  a few things.

A. IT WAS FUCKING SWEET.  About 30 minutes too long, BUT FUCKING SWEET

B. In Issue 1 of Batman (I'm totally nerding out here) the Joker DOES actually masquerade as a cop
- and it's super awesome that they recreated that.    It's nice to know that they are looking at his totaly history as a character, not just from Frank Miller + Dave Mazz on, you know?

C. Harvey's burned side bothered me.  I know I'm being reeeeaaalllly aaanal but the fact that he DOESN'T have an eyelid, would suggest that he cant blink so his eye would be all white and dead - which would've been cool.  But whatevs.

D. Was totally surprized Rachel got all 'sploded.    AND totally surprised that they faked Gordon's death.

E. Ledger's scenes were fab - every time he wasn't on screen, I waited for him to come back. 

[BBQ Platypus]

Wow...The Dark Knight is #3 on the IMDB Top 250 right now!

http://www.imdb.com/chart/top

Not that I take the IMDB rankings seriously (anyone who does is an idiot), but it's nice to know that people are seeing the movie and liking it.