Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:40 pm Post subject: The Dark Knight
One of the first films I can ever remember seeing was Superman, Christopher Reeve's first outing as Detective Comics' most famous creation. As a child I was a big fan of Spider-Man, to the extent of having the costume, and one of my abiding memories of childhood was seeing Superman III at a drive-in in South Africa.
All of my life I've been a superhero fan. I've loved the big screen portrayals of Superman (both George Reeves and Christopher Reeve), Nicholas Hammond and Tobey Macguire playing Spider-Man, Adam west playing Batman and the fabulous Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno partnership that made the hulk.
However, many modern super-hero films haven't captured my imagination so much. There's more grittiness, more realism. This might sound good (and it certainly has been good for James Bond), but for superheroes, I'm not so sure. Superheroes have always been, for me anyway, a great escape from reality. Pure good versus evil stuff with fabulous costumes and far-fetched storylines would get me almost every time. But introduce too much reality into it, and it doesn't feel the same. It's like reality that just happens to have crazy people in Spandex.
I'm afraid that despite the hype, this movie falls into that category for me. But let me get one thing out of the way first, something that has been mentioned by anybody who has spoken of this movie - Heath Ledger's performance does indeed steal the show. I had little doubt that it would; he is an actor of truly high pedigree, and has shown this numerous times in the past. However, one man does not make a movie. The character himself does not look as good as Jack Nicholson's - Heath appears to be trying an impression of Beetlejuice as a tramp, something probably not lost on Tim Burton and Michael Keaton.
The Dark Knight appears to be little more than a mediocre crime/action movie where one of the characters happens to be a superhero. Plenty of explosions, violence and macho stuff for you testosterone addicts out there, but there's little substance to it. Gritty, yes, but I'd say too much for a superhero movie, which will naturally attract younger eyes. Those who like the Saw movies will see one or two similarities here - that's the extent of it. A 12A rating is debatably lenient, but for a superhero film, such a debate should not even be required.
Batman himself is not a great character. He's not so much of a crime-fighting caped crusader as a tolerated vigilante with design on punishing those who seek to harm him or his friends, and is just as sadistic as those who he professes to oppose. He simply appears to be on the right side of the law for the most part, and that merely gives him carte blanche to get away with it. Superheroes are, in my opinion, the righteous and intelligent, able to defeat a master criminal with speed of thought and minimum violence, never wishing to be dragged down to the level of the criminal. And they'd never usually have Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine doing most of their brainwork. And as for the deep Batman voice, it's ridiculous. He could only hope to catch criminal by making them pee their pants with laughter.
I know I'm going to be in a very small minority in not liking this film, but it's not like that's never happened before. I'm a bluff old traditionalist when it comes to superheroes, and proud of it. This simply does not fit my expectations of a good superhero film. _________________ "It's ok to be different, it's good to be different, and we should question ourselves before we judge others." -- Johnny Depp
Batman teams up with Lt. Gordon and new DA Harvery Dent to take down the mob who hire The Joker to kill Batman and his allies.
Verdict (SPOILER WARNING)
Well what can I say about this. The film is enjoyable, has lots of action and gadgets that won't disappoint most. However, to me it doesn't quiet have the Batman feel like it's prequel or even the Tim Burton two. That was for starters. The film was a bit long but it felt like they were trying to do 2 movies into one. The use of filming around Chicago didn't give it a Gotham feel like the first one or Burton's takes and there were a couple of things like where the hell was the monorail? The use of Harvey "Two Face" Dent was wasted. Not the bad guy that appears in the comics, etc. I did like the way they explained James Gordon's transition from Lt. to Commissioner. Although Gary Oldman did a good job, I much preferred Pat Hingle's Commissioner Gordon. Christian Bale, again, does a good job as Batman/Bruce Wayne but still prefer Michael Keaton. Michael Caine is still struggling to match Michael Gough's Alfred but still OK. Now for the biggier, The Joker. Heath Ledger does a decent job as a psychopath Joker but, as Oddbodd mentions, the make up was poor. Even though they are keeping with the comic where you don't really know where The Joker came from, I much preferred the 1989 movie explaining how Joker was created and Jack Nicholson was a much more convincing Joker.
All in all, I did enjoy it and set up for another sequel but prefer its predecessor. Be interesting to see who his next villian is.
Phil, you bring up a good point about it almost being two movies in one, something that I'd forgotten to mention. There are one or two points after the 90-minute mark where you think the movie might be ending, but it doesn't. By the time two-and-a-half hours is up, you've more or less seen the joker film with a short two-face sequel. _________________ "It's ok to be different, it's good to be different, and we should question ourselves before we judge others." -- Johnny Depp
Ok while I was on me hols in Bonny Scotland I saw this article in a newspaper and immediately ripped it out.
It read as followed.
DEPP 'SET FOR RIDDLER ROLE"
Johnny Depp is being lined up to play the villain in the next Batman movie. The 45 year-old will reportedly be The Riddler in the follow-up to The Dark Knight.
The film is expected to be the third Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who made The Dark Knight and Batman Begins.
Ooooooooo! so what do you think of that ????? has wor Johnny got what it takes to riddle me this and riddle me that ??????? watch this space. _________________ http://www.withintheshadowofthetree.com/
Carl B Harrison
Ok while I was on me hols in Bonny Scotland I saw this article in a newspaper and immediately ripped it out.
It read as followed.
DEPP 'SET FOR RIDDLER ROLE"
Johnny Depp is being lined up to play the villain in the next Batman movie. The 45 year-old will reportedly be The Riddler in the follow-up to The Dark Knight.
The film is expected to be the third Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who made The Dark Knight and Batman Begins.
Ooooooooo! so what do you think of that ????? has wor Johnny got what it takes to riddle me this and riddle me that ??????? watch this space.
Ok while I was on me hols in Bonny Scotland I saw this article in a newspaper and immediately ripped it out.
It read as followed.
DEPP 'SET FOR RIDDLER ROLE"
Johnny Depp is being lined up to play the villain in the next Batman movie. The 45 year-old will reportedly be The Riddler in the follow-up to The Dark Knight.
The film is expected to be the third Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who made The Dark Knight and Batman Begins.
Ooooooooo! so what do you think of that ????? has wor Johnny got what it takes to riddle me this and riddle me that ??????? watch this space.
I read about it on Aint It Cool News as well.
Does this cause a dilemma for our Oddbodd? His favourite actor in the whole world being part of a movie he's likely to hate...
Ok while I was on me hols in Bonny Scotland I saw this article in a newspaper and immediately ripped it out.
It read as followed.
DEPP 'SET FOR RIDDLER ROLE"
Johnny Depp is being lined up to play the villain in the next Batman movie. The 45 year-old will reportedly be The Riddler in the follow-up to The Dark Knight.
The film is expected to be the third Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who made The Dark Knight and Batman Begins.
Ooooooooo! so what do you think of that ????? has wor Johnny got what it takes to riddle me this and riddle me that ??????? watch this space.
I read about it on Aint It Cool News as well.
Does this cause a dilemma for our Oddbodd? His favourite actor in the whole world being part of a movie he's likely to hate...
I read about it on Aint It Cool News as well.
Does this cause a dilemma for our Oddbodd? His favourite actor in the whole world being part of a movie he's likely to hate...
I'm too much Johnny's bitch to stay away from that movie. I'll even have to buy it. _________________ "It's ok to be different, it's good to be different, and we should question ourselves before we judge others." -- Johnny Depp
I suppose demons have to get haircuts as well. _________________ "It's ok to be different, it's good to be different, and we should question ourselves before we judge others." -- Johnny Depp
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Just to confirm it and some more info..........
Could this be a riddle
