My 'The Dark Knight' Review SPOILERS

[Gotham Knight]

Let's leave the Star Wars/Star Trek guys get too personal with "their" films. It's not as if we are going to pocket any of the box office revenue

I also agree with many of the points you raise. The movie indeed feels like it has an all too convenient plot, as many have said, everything happens exactly when and where the script needs it to happen, with no explanations given. Some of these problems could be solved with 2 lines of dialogue but then, others complain that Nolan's Batman films have too much expository dialogue, and that the film was already overloaded and felt as a series of climaxes instead of a 3-act story.

The sonar sequence was indeed very unreal, and in the context of what these films are supposed to be (Batman in a realistic setting), it feels very pseudo sci-fi. TDK isn't sci-fi, it's not Minority Report.

Yeah, it's a big fault that the setting was too real with too many daylight scenes and a Gotham City that looks more like an advanced modern Metropolis than a rotten city ready to collapse due to its corruption and the mafia. However, this was part of the film's appeal and its transcendence of the genre boundaries. Double edged sword.

I'd give the film an A or A- for being the closest you can get of the modern Batman comic books on screen, as well as a comic film that is very entertaining, at the same time being a selling point for Batman to casual viewers due to its serious tone and non-comicbook look. It's like Batman getting the "Singer's X-Men" treatment. Films like Batman Returns feel like fragile creations one has to protect from unwanted eyes (as a reviewer 16 years ago put it), this one feels like a mammoth you can endorse.

Well put. On the one hand there are issues with over exposition, on the other hand there are thingsa that needed more.

I guess I do have to agree that indeed does capture the modern Batman very well. That doesn't raise my rating however, because I thought the film was quite frankly, boring. Begins with all of it's flaws at least didn't fall short in entertaining me. I think TDK had better storytelling, but I think BB got me excited better. I don't know where the change happened. For instance, I suppose I should have been thrilled to see Bats fly through the air again, but I didn't. The whole scene looked too much like it had been torn straight from MI. Besides, I like the flight over Gotham better in BB, probably because in BB Gotham looks more like Gotham and not just Chicago with "Gotham National Something or Other" writen on everything.

[Joker81]

After reading the last few posts it got me thinking about the finale of TDK. And its like some sort of bad Steven Segal movie (was there ever a good one) with Segal in the Bat-suit!

Seriously though, poster - the dark knight - said there that the final third of TDK is the best of any comic book film ever. Your entitled to your opinion. But for me it was one of the worst. Superman, Superman II, Batman Returns, The Mask, Spiderman, Spiderman II, Sin City, Superman Returns and of course Batman 89 (which is my favourite) are all better finale's!

I can watch batman 89 all the way through anytime its on, and I always look forward to the finale! I always get nervous as Batman and the Joker square up to eachother. I know theres been a lot of debate about this but Batman has murder in his eyes when he says "I'm gonna kill you!" Keaton is brilliant. I love it. Again another debatable point, the joker laying dead at the bottom of Gotham City Cathedral. Him still smiling looking up at the stars and we can still hear him laughing. This is chilling and another great Burton camera shot down to Jacks smiling face! This is the way the Joker had to go in this movie. No mattter what some fans say, this is what movie goers wanted in 1989, the Joker deserved to die. What a satasfying ending. I felt like I'd just watched a complete and entire story. Not left puzzling over it.

No harm to the Joker in TDK, Heath Ledger was amazing, and If I watch it again it'll be for him. But his long winded speech at the end when hes dangling from a bat-rope was a tad annoying. But thats not heaths fault, but the script.

Burtons 1989 Gotham City was difinatley the best, as someone said before, its fantasy gothic tone and style is unique and has never been bettered. Its definatly a city you dont want to visit!

[Batfan]

About the whole Dent thing at the end, I didn't really have a problem with it because
1. Batman's purpose is to strike fear into the hearts of criminals not inspire the good people of Gotham
2. Telling people that the person they saw as a savior turned out to be a nut job isn't going instill a lot of hope
3. Having Batman as the hero would just create more copycats and more trouble. By having Dent be a martyr it will get people behind the police and perhaps even make them join helping to create a few more "good cops"

[Azrael]

The overdramatization of the "Batman takes the blame" plot point is that these two smart guys could construct a different story as to how all these people were killed, at the same time hiding the whole Dent thing. However, Batman taking responsibility for the crimes made for a dramatic and pretty downbeat "he's... a Dark Knight" ending. Most things in movies should be judged on those terms, what works as a story and not how fictitional characters could act like real people.

[Azrael]

By two smart guys I mean Gordon and Bats.

[BurtonBatman]

A D+/F?  Wow, thats BF and B&R territory.  Its a well written review, but I respecfully have to disagree with its conclusion.  This will probably get my Burton card revoked, but I believe TDK edges out B89 as the best Batman film ever, and arguably is the best comic book film/superhero film to date.  I believe the TDK compexity and depth is phenomenal.  A "popcorn" movie?!? With themes regarding whether morality itself is merely a societal driven trait, whether a society should give in to the demands of a terrorist, how far should a society go to protect itself from a terrorist, whether a man should take the fall for another's failings inorder to preserve a society's trust in a leader, whether there is something more than being a hero, etc., etc..  A simple, thoughtless, "popcorn" movie, I couldn't disagree more.   

I'd give the film an A or A- for being the closest you can get of the modern Batman comic books on screen, as well as a comic film that is very entertaining, at the same time being a selling point for Batman to casual viewers due to its serious tone and non-comicbook look. It's like Batman getting the "Singer's X-Men" treatment. Films like Batman Returns feel like fragile creations one has to protect from unwanted eyes (as a reviewer 16 years ago put it), this one feels like a mammoth you can endorse.

Excellent points.  Just as B89 was the closest you could get to Bob Kane/Bill Fingers' Batman on screen, TDK is the closest you could get to modern Batman on screen.  I consider both films to be the definitive versions for thier historical eras.  Not only that, I consider both films to be vitally important not only to the character himself but for the genre of comic book/superhero films as well.  B89 forced the mass public to see Batman as he was meant to be, dark and serious.  B89 also showed the potential of comic book/superhero films, which Spiderman, X-men, Iron Man, Hulk, and others now exploit.  As for the TDK, it pushed the Batman envelope a little further and higher.  I think it is a truly transcendent film, one that pushes the superhero genre into the realm of credibilty and respect.  In other words, people are more likely to take them seriously and appreciate them more.  But above all, TDK puts Batman at the center of the proverbial universe.  People are not talking about Superman, Spiderman, or some other superhero, they are talking about Batman, and unless you would rather Batman fans be a small, shadowy cult, all Batman fans should appreciate what TDK is doing in expanding the fanbase and Batman's appeal. 

[Gotham Knight]

Well, then we'll have to agree to dissagree. Whether it was popcorny or indepth isn't what got it the rating I gave it. What got it the D is Bale sleepwalking through the movie and that I simply found it boring in general. It didn't have any fun...at all. 

[thecolorsblend]

A D+/F?  Wow, thats BF and B&R territory.  Its a well written review, but I respecfully have to disagree with its conclusion.  This will probably get my Burton card revoked, but I believe TDK edges out B89 as the best Batman film ever, and arguably is the best comic book film/superhero film to date.  I believe the TDK compexity and depth is phenomenal.  A "popcorn" movie?!? With themes regarding whether morality itself is merely a societal driven trait, whether a society should give in to the demands of a terrorist, how far should a society go to protect itself from a terrorist, whether a man should take the fall for another's failings inorder to preserve a society's trust in a leader, whether there is something more than being a hero, etc., etc..  A simple, thoughtless, "popcorn" movie, I couldn't disagree more.

I personally am not attacking the themes.  I think they're clearly evident in the film and are also clearly intentional on the part of the filmmakers.

By calling it a popcorn movie, I meant to say that I don't think the plot is as hammered out as (by some standards) it ought to be.  The IMDB guy brings a lot of those problems up.  I don't disagree that they are problems, I simply don't let them spoil my enjoyment of the film because I enjoy it in the vocabulary of popcorn cinema.  The scenes work because the larger plot demands they must.  I'm perfectly willing to give Nolan that indulgence but only in the context of action cinema.  If Nolan wants higher criticism, he needs to earn it and I don't believe he has.

In other words, I'm not sweating the small stuff.

[The Dark Knight]

A D+/F?  Wow, thats BF and B&R territory.  Its a well written review, but I respecfully have to disagree with its conclusion. 

As do I. Hence my hysterical response above.

This will probably get my Burton card revoked, but I believe TDK edges out B89 as the best Batman film ever, and arguably is the best comic book film/superhero film to date. 

Smart man. I absolutely agree with you. It is nothing about being a Burton or Nolan person, it is about the Batman. And The Dark Knight delivers it in spades.

I believe the TDK compexity and depth is phenomenal.  A "popcorn" movie?!? With themes regarding whether morality itself is merely a societal driven trait, whether a society should give in to the demands of a terrorist, how far should a society go to protect itself from a terrorist, whether a man should take the fall for another's failings inorder to preserve a society's trust in a leader, whether there is something more than being a hero, etc., etc..  A simple, thoughtless, "popcorn" movie, I couldn't disagree more. 

Exactly. No way is this a popcorn film. There are themes running left, right and centre.   

[Paul (ral)]

Gotham Knight, I agree with you about Bale. Having watched this twice now (hopefully 3 times tomorrow) Bale really was the weak link in the whole movie.

Heath was really hungry in this movie, as was Eckhart. Oldman is Oldman (he can do no wrong!) but everyone else was just doing it by the numbers.

I did enjoy the story and couldn't leave to go to the bathroom, but the only time i wanted to yell "Hell yeah" was when the Bat-pod emerged and when the Bat-pod made the 180degree turn using the wall (that bit was "wow").