The Dark Knight (SPOILERS)

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

I kinda don't know if I should feel bad for laughing at nearly everything the joker did in this movie, the magic trick, the jacket full of grenades, the hospital scene, all of it, okay

[RobtheBarbarian]

I kinda don't know if I should feel bad for laughing at nearly everything the joker did in this movie, the magic trick, the jacket full of grenades, the hospital scene, all of it, okay

I laughed too, as I usually do to those kinds of scenes, and for the first time I can remember I actually felt like amusement was the wrong thing to be feeling. Other people in the theater seemed to be having the same thoughts. I think it's a credit to the tone of the movie and the writing of the characters that the Joker's craziness wasn't funny as much as it was creepy.

After the magic trick, once I stopped laughing I started thinking "Holy shit, this guy's serious".

[Chaos]

That's what everyone in the room with Joker were thinking too... minus the laughing part.

[a pretty girl is like]

I hope they don't go with a villain for the third film. 

Batman is the villain.  Gordon's "hunt" for him and his redemption would be movie enough for the next one.

[SmilinJackRoss]

As far as the suspension of disbelief goes, the scene where batman pulls Lau out of the building is also not possible. No matter how slow that plane managed to reduce its speed, being yanked from zero to that speed would snap your back like a twig. But just like Two Face's eyeball, you forgive it and move on because of how god damn AWESOME it is.

Actually, this is an actual extraction method that special ops guys have used in tricky extraction points after missions.  Granted, I have no link to provide you at this time to prove it, but this type of extraction has been successfully performed in the real world.

[torgosPizza]

Here you go. Skyhook aka STARS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system

[Tripe]

I hope they don't go with a villain for the third film. 

Batman is the villain.  Gordon's "hunt" for him and his redemption would be movie enough for the next one.

Got to disagree, and more on that in a mo

Ok just got back and my god it's full of awesome.

Just spectacular, Ledgers performance is stellar (or infernal possibly).

Ok back to a third movie, having seen this I absolutely stand by my earlier contention that Nyssa or Talia or preferably both should make an appearance in a future movie.

I think Nolan's take on Batman eliminates the possibility that we'll see a few of the more outlandish villains, but that means a few of the less well know outside of the comic books might have a chance to shine as some of them are very well suited to the cerebral take on Gotham City.

Which means if they want a big name baddie the next would be the Riddler who I can see fitting into this quite well. I also have an idea about casting that role but I'll think more on that before sharing.

[Tyrant]

  Pak and I caught DK yesterday since we couldn't make it to any Friday shows due to work schedules.

  I can't really say anything that hasn't been said before about this movie, to be honest. I'm usually a bit cautious when it comes to hype after being burned multiple times because of it, but in the case of DK, it's all true. There are so many psychological layers to this film that it would take a 6-page essay to discuss them all. Pak and I made a point of watching Batman Begins the night before we saw it just so we can compare and contrast. Were I to  be metaphorical, Batman Begins is like Angel Food cake (I'm being racist again) in that it's fluffy and yummy. DK is like cheesecake, where it's much denser, richer and with a more complex flavor. I also happen to prefer cheesecake over Angel Food cake.    Awesome, awesome movie. Everything a Batman movie should be and more.

  The only thing I didn't like was the fact that the projector wasn't working right so the film jumped around a bit during most of the movie. I'm surprised no one complained and I was tempted for a bit to go to the manager myself and say something (might have scored either a discount or free tickets). There's no excuse for malfunctioning equipment for a movie this huge. But we were hungry by then and just wanted some dinner. We'll be seeing it again soon anyway (hopefully on a better projector).

Something is  bothering me about the film and I'm not sure anyone else noticed it:

    So the Joker and his goons attack Bruce Wayne's penthouse while he's giving Dent a fund raiser. They come looking for Harvey and Bruce wrestles Harvey into a closet and bars it shut so he's not found. Then he shows up as Batman and goes diving out of the window for Rachael. Uh......what happened then with the Joker and his goons? Did they just leave the party or what? It doesn't seem like them to just up and leave without tearing the place apart to find Dent, and they eventually would have (due to the suspicious rod barring the closet door for some reason). The party scene felt very unfinished and abruptly ended with an enormous logical string flaying in the wind. The rest of the movie is as solid as solid comes, so this stood out to me as unnecessarily open-ended. If it got explained at some point, please let me know.

   For the record, I do believe this may be the best incarnation of the Joker ever. Ledger's performance was a flawless balance between Miller's version, the classic version, and TAS version. Also, thanks to Fox Family rerunning Burton's Batman the very night we got home from DK, he may have also been channeling Jack Nicholson's version to a minimal extent as well. That someone could take that kind of complexity and turn it into a believable performance is nothing short of genius.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" became box office legend as it opened to over $155 million from 4,366 theaters, the highest opening ever for a three-day weekend. In addition, the film has now become the highest-rated movie on IMDB, beating "The Godfather."

"Dark Knight," from filmmaker Christopher Nolan and returning Christian Bale as the caped crusader, shot past the previous record-holder, "Spider-Man 3," which earned $151.1 million in its debut in May 2007. Batman -- after multiple stops-and-starts, is now the most successful superhero ever to hit the bigscreen.

Musical "Mamma Mia!" was no wallflower either, grossing an estimated $27.6 million from 2,976 runs in its debut to snatch the best opening for a musical in narrowly beating out the $27.5 million opening of musical "Hairspray" on the same weekend last year.

"Dark Knight" earned a record-breaking $67.8 on Friday alone. Of that, $18.5 million came from midnight shows, besting the previous midnight record set by "Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith," which grossed $16.9 million from 3,663 venues.

The film easily soared past the $47 million earned by Nolan's "Batman Begins" when opening in summer 2005. Sequel could gross as much as $220 million in its first week domestic -- more than the final domestic gross of "Batman Begins," which earned a total $205 million domestically.

[RoninFox]

    So the Joker and his goons attack Bruce Wayne's penthouse while he's giving Dent a fund raiser. They come looking for Harvey and Bruce wrestles Harvey into a closet and bars it shut so he's not found. Then he shows up as Batman and goes diving out of the window for Rachael. Uh......what happened then with the Joker and his goons? Did they just leave the party or what? It doesn't seem like them to just up and leave without tearing the place apart to find Dent, and they eventually would have (due to the suspicious rod barring the closet door for some reason). The party scene felt very unfinished and abruptly ended with an enormous logical string flaying in the wind. The rest of the movie is as solid as solid comes, so this stood out to me as unnecessarily open-ended. If it got explained at some point, please let me know.

I'm going to have to pay extra attention to this part next time I watch it.  The best I can think of is the Joker's main purpose in targeting Dent was to draw out Batman.  Once he saw that Rachel was obviously more useful for that purpose, perhaps he just forgot about Dent.  It also might help support the fact that Joker, for a moment, believed that Dent and Batman were one and the same.

[Tyrant]

    So the Joker and his goons attack Bruce Wayne's penthouse while he's giving Dent a fund raiser. They come looking for Harvey and Bruce wrestles Harvey into a closet and bars it shut so he's not found. Then he shows up as Batman and goes diving out of the window for Rachael. Uh......what happened then with the Joker and his goons? Did they just leave the party or what? It doesn't seem like them to just up and leave without tearing the place apart to find Dent, and they eventually would have (due to the suspicious rod barring the closet door for some reason). The party scene felt very unfinished and abruptly ended with an enormous logical string flaying in the wind. The rest of the movie is as solid as solid comes, so this stood out to me as unnecessarily open-ended. If it got explained at some point, please let me know.

I'm going to have to pay extra attention to this part next time I watch it.  The best I can think of is the Joker's main purpose in targeting Dent was to draw out Batman.  Once he saw that Rachel was obviously more useful for that purpose, perhaps he just forgot about Dent.  It also might help support the fact that Joker, for a moment, believed that Dent and Batman were one and the same.

  If that's the case, the movie didn't do a great job pointing that out. But maybe  I missed something. As I mentioned, the film was jumping a bit on the projector and I could have been distracted. I also was unable to focus much on the part where the Joker reversed the addresses where Rachael and Dent were located so that Batman was saving the wrong person. That's why Pak and I are seeing it again ASAP.

[RoninFox]

    So the Joker and his goons attack Bruce Wayne's penthouse while he's giving Dent a fund raiser. They come looking for Harvey and Bruce wrestles Harvey into a closet and bars it shut so he's not found. Then he shows up as Batman and goes diving out of the window for Rachael. Uh......what happened then with the Joker and his goons? Did they just leave the party or what? It doesn't seem like them to just up and leave without tearing the place apart to find Dent, and they eventually would have (due to the suspicious rod barring the closet door for some reason). The party scene felt very unfinished and abruptly ended with an enormous logical string flaying in the wind. The rest of the movie is as solid as solid comes, so this stood out to me as unnecessarily open-ended. If it got explained at some point, please let me know.

I'm going to have to pay extra attention to this part next time I watch it.  The best I can think of is the Joker's main purpose in targeting Dent was to draw out Batman.  Once he saw that Rachel was obviously more useful for that purpose, perhaps he just forgot about Dent.  It also might help support the fact that Joker, for a moment, believed that Dent and Batman were one and the same.

  If that's the case, the movie didn't do a great job pointing that out. But maybe  I missed something. As I mentioned, the film was jumping a bit on the projector and I could have been distracted. I also was unable to focus much on the part where the Joker reversed the addresses where Rachael and Dent were located so that Batman was saving the wrong person. That's why Pak and I are seeing it again ASAP.

Oh, I'm just trying to justify here, I agree that part wasn't pointed out well.  While watching I was wondering what was going to happen when he left Rachel to go back to the party, then the next scene started.

[Hebs]

A few people have talked about possible next movie villians: 

Some thoughts *ahem*

I think Nolan could do a FANTASTIC Mr. Freeze.  Picture this; a cold icy lair with a beautiful frozen woman (Freeze's dead wife Nora) as a glittering blue center piece -   wooooooo!! 

Andy and I read in an interview that Nolan said he will never do a Penguin - his reasoning is that he thinks he can't work with him - too cartoony. 

Killer Kroc could be pretty sweet as could Bain.   I liked in the first movie how Mr. Zazzz made an appearance in Arkham.

[Tripe]

I think Nolan could do a FANTASTIC Mr. Freeze.  Picture this; a cold icy lair with a beautiful frozen woman (Freeze's dead wife Nora) as a glittering blue center piece -   wooooooo!! 

I could maybe see that but Freeze verges on the cartoony for me.

Andy and I read in an interview that Nolan said he will never do a Penguin - his reasoning is that he thinks he can't work with him - too cartoony. 

Well, thank pan for that, love the Penguin, can't see any way to fit him into Nolan's Gotham city.

Ok the way I could see it working Is having Mr. Nigma providing the meat of the criminal action while Bruce's new Girlf Talia and her half sister do some above the law criminality.

Off the top of my head that is.

[Thom_Serveaux]

   For the record, I do believe this may be the best incarnation of the Joker ever. Ledger's performance was a flawless balance between Miller's version, the classic version, and TAS version. Also, thanks to Fox Family rerunning Burton's Batman the very night we got home from DK, he may have also been channeling Jack Nicholson's version to a minimal extent as well. That someone could take that kind of complexity and turn it into a believable performance is nothing short of genius.

...and sadly as is often the case a genius that is taken before his time. (or at least before he could make a future sequel down the line..)

Can't say what hasn't already been said.  So I'll touch on the things that stood out the most for me.  The first thing, the sun actually does shine in Gotham.  In previous movies, at least prior to Batman Begins, it seemed that the only time you saw a daytime exterior shot was at Wayne Manor.  Okay, I realize I'm exaggerating a bit.  There were few city scenes in the '89 Batman that took place during the day, but not many.

Secondly, while I have immense fondness for Nicholson's Joker, Ledger's is definitely darker, more twisted & psychotic.  Without giving anything away I just want to say that 'the magic trick' & 'why so serious?' both made me cringe, and look away.  Constantly turning the tables and standing everything on it's head.  Like Bale as Batman said, With the Joker, nothing is as it seems" or something like that...

Two Face was well done the prosthetics/CGI was well executed, much better than Tommy Lee's and better acted to boot. Batman Forever's 'Harvey Two-Face'  was a little too comical for my taste.  In the comnics, it wasn't exactly common knowledge that Harvey became Two-Face, I think.  the whole dichotomy of Dent(the white knight) and Batman  (the Dark Knight) was a nice touch too. At least he was black(until after the fire anyway)

I also wanted to cheer at the end when the Joker's "social experiment' failed...
the two ferries

About the 'Batpod'/motorcycle...
That it was actually part of the Batmobile after it crashed, and was subsequently 'ejected' from the wreckage.  I actually almost cheered when it blew up.  I hated that Batmobile more than any other...

Unlike others that preceded this (& Batman Begins, perhaps) It was both the Batman movie we needed & deserved...