The Dark Knight - Review AND SPOILERS!

[feldspar]

Because the climax of Batman Begins was a serious misstep that almost derailed the entire movie.

Pun intended?

[Udaman]

The whole story between Batman and The Joker (at least in the Dark Knight books) is that killing a person is the one line Batman won't cross. He won't be a killer. Hurt them? Yell yes. Scare them? That's the entire point. But he won't kill them.

The Joker is always his purest nemisis, because he won't stop until he is indeed killed, and by Batman. As he said in this movie - it's the irresistable force versus the immovable object. It's Yin versus Yang. Good versus evil. Bruce can't let himself become that, and ultimately The Joker knows that. It's his Ace up the sleeve - the kryptonite to Superman. He has figured out the true Achilles Heel of Batman. It's also really cool. You have a crazy killer who is being hunted by a crazy vigilante only the latter won't cross the one line he knows he must to stop the former. Great, great stuff. In the real world, yeah, he would get captured and locked up and never get out. But in this world, he always escapes - constantly pressing Batman. The argument is that neither can exist without the other.

Even in The Dark Knight Returns - when the older Batman finally realizes that he must in fact kill The Joker, he can't bring himself to do it. In the end, he finally compromises, and severs his spine (in maybe the best comic book series ever written).

[feldspar]

The whole story between Batman and The Joker (at least in the Dark Knight books) is that killing a person is the one line Batman won't cross. He won't be a killer. Hurt them? Yell yes. Scare them? That's the entire point. But he won't kill them.

I understand that. I'm just pointing out that it's inconsistent with Batman Begins. And that creates a big problem for the plot of Dark Knight. A huge problem, since that's at the center of what the movie is about.

[Udaman]

Here's where we disagree - I didn't see Batman's actions in Batman Begins as going against this rule. The bad guy had created the runaway subway - it was his fault. Bruce wasn't in a position to really save him anyway (not without likely dying himself).

It's more an issue of Batman actually physically killing someone. Throwing them off a building. Running them over. Beating them to death. He doesn't cross that line.

[JasonEvans]

Feldspar, can I ask, was my review one of the many that over-inflated your expectations? I tried to not be overly excessive in my praise because, like you, I felt the final third of the film had some real plot problems.

--Jason "I would give it an 8.5 out of 10, it is second to WALL*E in terms of best movie of the summer" Evans

[feldspar]

Feldspar, can I ask, was my review one of the many that over-inflated your expectations? I tried to not be overly excessive in my praise because, like you, I felt the final third of the film had some real plot problems.

--Jason "I would give it an 8.5 out of 10, it is second to WALL*E in terms of best movie of the summer" Evans

No, I thought your review was perfectly muted, and I went back and read it again after seeing the movie. You hit pretty much all of my concerns.

I'm trying to remember the names of a couple of the more outlandish reviewers I read, but can't come up with them offhand.

Like I said, I hated to make the comments I did because it really was a great movie, I just hate coming out of a movie that good feeling disappointed.

[ForeverBlowingBubbles]

I just saw Sin City again last night. First time in a while. As far as dark action packed movies go... My room mate and I agreed Sin City was a lot better... better put together... better all around performance by the entire cast... and every single scene was captivating. It was a little more grown up, gory, and of course even darker the the dark knight. Overall a better movie... it only got around an 8.5 on IMDB. Don't understand.

In fact, I invite everyone to watch Sin City again after viewing bat man and tell me what you think. Sin City 2 is coming out next year... can't wait.

[A-Tex Devil]

I just saw Sin City again last night. First time in a while. As far as dark action packed movies go... My room mate and I agreed Sin City was a lot better... better put together... better all around performance by the entire cast... and every single scene was captivating. It was a little more grown up, gory, and of course even darker the the dark knight. Overall a better movie... it only got around an 8.5 on IMDB. Don't understand.

In fact, I invite everyone to watch Sin City again after viewing bat man and tell me what you think. Sin City 2 is coming out next year... can't wait.

I really liked Sin City. More than most, I think. But comparing Batman to Sin City is like comparing Gladiator to 300. Sure the genre is similar, but they are completely different movies.

Sin City and 300 are comic books come to life. There's a sense of realism in the cinematography of the 2 Batman movies (plot and technology aside) that doesn't exist in Sin City which was literally a frame by frame capture of Frank Miller's comics.

I like the comparisons of TDK to crime movies like Heat, etc. as opposed to a comic book movie. Definitely plot holes, but I really enjoyed it.

[NashvilleDevil]

I just checked the daily box office for the Dark Knight and it made 24 million on Monday. After Monday's take it was at 184 million, Tuesday's numbers are not out yet or I have not seen them so I am sure it has already passed 200 million dollars. Does anyone know the record for reaching 200 million dollars?

[blazindw]

I think Spidey 3 has it at 10 days, but I'm not certain of that. If that's the case, however, that record is about to be shattered.

[Clipsfan]

I just checked the daily box office for the Dark Knight and it made 24 million on Monday. After Monday's take it was at 184 million, Tuesday's numbers are not out yet or I have not seen them so I am sure it has already passed 200 million dollars. Does anyone know the record for reaching 200 million dollars?

The numbers I'm seeing for Tuesday are just over $20 mil and around $199.1 mil in total. Those are insane numbers for a Monday and Tuesday.

However, that site (Rentrak) only has $155.1 mil for the opening weekend. The adjusted numbers were $158MM, so I'm not quite sure whether they've not updated that yet (they go back a few days after the fact in many cases) or whether the $158MM was wrong.

[dukeblueyes]

Loved it. Super entertaining and awesome flick. Not best movie of the year/ever, but that's not what I was looking for or expecting, so I enjoyed it a lot.

There was a LOT of stuff packed in there, and I will obviously need to go back and watch it/enjoy it again in theaters, but I was hoping someone could explain some stuff in the meantime.

-Rachel's letter... why does Alfred have to burn it? Just to protect Bruce's ego that he thought he got the girl? To keep Bruce feeling guilty for stealing her away from Dent and therefore committed to saving Dent and his image?

-Why does Harvey go after Gordon? Doesn't make much sense. Did he think Gordon was dirty too? Is Harvey really dead? If Batman survived the fall after being shot, is Dent dead? Did Gordon secretly save him after Batman ran off because he felt guilty?

One of the best parts of the movie when Fox says "Let me get this straight. You think that your employer, one of the richest men in the world, is spending his nights running around the city beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands? And your plan is to blackmail him? Good luck with that." The entire theater laughed at that.

[NashvilleDevil]

The numbers I'm seeing for Tuesday are just over $20 mil and around $199.1 mil in total. Those are insane numbers for a Monday and Tuesday.

However, that site (Rentrak) only has $155.1 mil for the opening weekend. The adjusted numbers were $158MM, so I'm not quite sure whether they've not updated that yet (they go back a few days after the fact in many cases) or whether the $158MM was wrong.

I checked it on Yahoo! and Box Office Mojo.

[Clipsfan]

I checked it on Yahoo! and Box Office Mojo.

Boxofficemojo's source is Rentrak. Anyway, the reason I responded was to include the Tuesday number, which is now up on boxofficemojo. I gave the info about the weekend being different because I was surprised that they hadn't updated it. I think that they wait for every single theater to report before they update to final numbers.

[NashvilleDevil]

Boxofficemojo's source is Rentrak. Anyway, the reason I responded was to include the Tuesday number, which is now up on boxofficemojo. I gave the info about the weekend being different because I was surprised that they hadn't updated it. I think that they wait for every single theater to report before they update to final numbers.

Got it. It has now crossed the 200 million dollar mark after Tuesday's final number came in. This movie could reach 300 million by the middle of next week. The only movie opening that has any publicity is the Step-Brothers and that is not going to stop The Dark Knight from winning the weekend.

[jma4life]

Maybe Alfred was concerned that Bruce would become disillusioned and give up the batman role if he knew that Rachel left him based on the reasons stated in the letter.

[mpj96]

I agree largely with feldspar's post except that I had few expectations before going in due to not having read any reviews.

Definitely not an epic flick but not bad either. I give it a 7 out of 10.

The good:

The ferry scene was probably the best scene in the film. The pencil trick was the coolest. The sky hook was the best special effect. the tunnel was a great chase scene and the best one in the movie. Echoing others' comments, Ledger was the best actor in the flick.

The bad:

this movie was too long. I did not buy the relationship between the DA and the girlfriend and batman. I did not buy the 2 face reaction following the explosion. Dark Knight had its share of the worst James Bond movie -- "oh, I guess anything can happen now" kind of moments -- more than any movie can endure and claim to be great.

I thought the end was pretty lame and overdone. If they had done more showing that the DA was the "best among us" and less telling us that and given a believable explanation for his mental shift at the end perhaps I would feel differently.

the last sentence of the movie made me laugh out loud it was so cheesy and contrived.

The ugly:

I came away fairly surprised that this was a PG-13 movie and not rated R.

As good as Ledger was, his joker character must have been a hard depiction for his family to watch in the wake of his death.

Overall:

Not the best movie of the summer, much less the year. Not a bad flick, not a waste of $ but it could have been better by a long shot.

[darthur]

Just saw it and really liked it. Despite some of the complaints here, I found the story really solid, especially given how many interesting directions it goes.

[Ping Lin]

Loved it. Super entertaining and awesome flick. Not best movie of the year/ever, but that's not what I was looking for or expecting, so I enjoyed it a lot.

There was a LOT of stuff packed in there, and I will obviously need to go back and watch it/enjoy it again in theaters, but I was hoping someone could explain some stuff in the meantime.

-Rachel's letter... why does Alfred have to burn it? Just to protect Bruce's ego that he thought he got the girl? To keep Bruce feeling guilty for stealing her away from Dent and therefore committed to saving Dent and his image?

-Why does Harvey go after Gordon? Doesn't make much sense. Did he think Gordon was dirty too? Is Harvey really dead? If Batman survived the fall after being shot, is Dent dead? Did Gordon secretly save him after Batman ran off because he felt guilty?

- Re: the letter. It's left ambiguous, but I personally think the part of the letter that Alfred wanted hidden most was the part where Rachel claims Wayne will never let go of Batman because he needs it. At the close of the film, with Dent dead and Gotham in a relative shambles, it's the city that needs him more than anything else, and perhaps Alfred doesn't want Wayne to question that fact.

- Dent. Dead as a doornail. (Yeah, I know, I was disappointed too.) One of the brief scenes in the ending montage is Gordon speaking before a large audience, outdoors, with a giant photo of Dent behind him: clearly meant as his address during Dent's funeral. As for his rationale for going after Gordon, perhaps he blamed him for not reaching Rachel in time (his squad is the one that's a split second too late), or not being able to see through the Joker's plot.

[DukeDevil]

I believe Dent had rage against Gordon because he repeatedly told Gordon that his people were dirty, and Gordon refused to listed. Had he listened, Rachel would still have been alive.