Dark Knight: a chronicle
 

For overzealous fans of the caped crusader, with no mention of the caped crusaderette, the film was one capable of meeting most expectations, unless those expectations are looking for the depth of Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky.

Ours started at 12:01 right past midnight. Which means you sit in your seat with your 14 year old son watching everybody arrive for about an hour.

My son texted me, sitting right next to me, "these ARE nerds." At first I didn't comprehend, but that didn't last long.

The moviegoers in front of us started arguing about code. No, C+++ is better for that application. In your dirty code, you should have used xxx

Huh. People wore bat hats and weird stuff. I couldn't wait for the film to start.

Seven or eight trailers later, including one for SPIRIT, a really weird looking film sometime in spring of 2009, we see the offered fare.

It starts off with a good tempo and picks up steam. It's a 150 minutes long, but it wasn't too long.

Heath Ledger virtually stole the show and showed why he was a talented actor. He created depth in a cartoon character. For the most part, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman and the guy playing the butler did outstanding. There may be a little less in terms of script material, because it's difficult to show soul-searching in this medium, but there are a few twists mildly unanticipated.

It is worth the show, even if that means you don't get to bed until four and get up an hour later for a three hour bike ride only to sit here vegging not wishing to work and hoping sushi lunch gets here more quickly than normal.

Downside, the real Barbara Gordon doesn't appear at all.

Recommendation: See it live, don't wait for the DVD.

I'll pass, thank you.

We are going to see it tonight. It is our 10th Anniversary.

Happy anniversary!

I think we took the kids to a baseball game for our 10th.

Too bad dude, it is a kick ass flick, certainly one of the years best.

Heath Ledger was incredible in this, very gritty and dark.

Every part equal to Batman Begins.

Heath Ledger is why I'm choosing not to see it.

Don't feel bad for me missing it though, as I don't.

Thanks. Technically, it was yesterday.....and my wife went out with her friends from the ward. They all went to dinner, then pinkberry, then went over to one of the houses and hung out until 1AM.

So the sum total of my 10th anniversary.....my wife goes out with her friends until 1AM and the next day we go to see Batman.

Sorry ladies, I'm taken.

this is my third midnight movie this year and this one was the best. The largest crowd, the payoff was excellent and it was worth the veggieness I feel right now.

The movie was outstanding. I love Batman because there are no superpowers with these people. Just smart, crazy people doing crazy things for what they believe. Nolan does it in such a way where you might actually think it was possible to do something like this given the right circumstances

I watched the first Batman and Batman Forever before rewatching Batman Begins and it's amazing how horrible those first to movies were. Nolan's vision of Gotham/Batman is truly amazing.

Heath Ledger's performance was outstanding. That is what the Joker is supposed to be like. Not some dancing clown painting over classic artwork.

And how about his "magic trick" at the beginning. Hilarious.

The movie is dark but there was no language and the violence was more implied and not as grotesque or explicit as it could have been.

What does that mean exactly? There was grotesque and/or explicit violence, but it could have been worse? I'm being serious. How bad is it? Violent movies are a problem for me, I apparently have a very low tolerance level for that sort of thing. Anything worse than an Indiana Jones movie and I'm out.

That depends. Do you equate a very dark, gritty and unforgiving tone on the same level of being uncomfortable with violence?

If so, then it will bother you.

When he does his magic trick and makes the "pencil disappear" at the beginning, that was classic.

Yes the violence is very much implied, alot of it is left to the imagination as to what is actually happening, but it is happening.

I loved how they made the joker so dark and sinister, and yet he was really kind of a bumbling idiot at the same time.

I am a little concerned where they leave Mr. Dent, everyone knows that he is one of batmans greatest nemesis, and to leave us hanging, well.........

Thanks a lot, a--hole.

post some more about the movie.

go screw yourself, I posted nothing about the flick that you haven't seen in the trailers.

did the trailers cover the issue that concerns you with Harvey Dent?

Sorry, I wouldn't go see it now, I have told you all about the movie and it is ruined.

My bad, go see wall-e or some other movie that some a--hole hasn't told you about.

I already saw Wall-E.

Stop posting stuff about the movie characters. Post all you want about your like or dislike of the movie or whether you thought it is worth seeing.

His acting in this role is quite good, Paddy. I don't necessarily like or dislike him, but he played Joker the way it should be played.

Gidget and I will post our reviews. 2 1/2 hours though. So we'll be posting our reviews at about 2 am.

The ultimate recommendation is to see it on an IMAX, since several scenes were shot with IMAX cameras.

Just got back from the 9:30 Am showing this morning and I have to agree, it was outstanding! It was well acted and directed and as many have mentioned, the violence was very much implied and much of that was masked (no pun intended) by the spectacular nature of the showdown scenes.

I'm definitely going to check this out in the IMAX.

The Dark Knight was great. Heath Ledger stole the show. I was really blown away by his performance. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a nod from the academy for his work.

Christian Bale is a great Bruce Wayne. As Batman he was driving me nuts. His voice and mouth trying to mask his identity were over the top. Gidget likes him though and would take a little Christian Bale in either character.

Great film. Possibly the most entertained I've ever been at a movie as an adult, maybe LOTR excepting.

Ledger and the director were brilliant on the creation of Joker. Only complaint is that the movie slowed down the last 30 minutes. They might have tried to accomplish too much.

Agree on Batman's voice. When he has one or two lines at a time the voice works fine. When he's got a soliloquy it's irritating.

I prefer Katie Holmes.

Mp and I just got back. I think it was definitely one of the most intense films that I have ever seen. Two hours in, I realized I had been clenching Mpfunk's hand the whole time and finally let up the grip.

I agree with everything that's been said about Ledger's performance. It was chilling but darkly humorous at points. I definitely think his was one of the better villain performance I have seen, and scarily convincing.

The movie possibly tried to tackle a few too many themes in the last twenty minutes (i.e. what really defines a hero? the importance of honorable figureheads... all is not lost until people stop believing in good.. among other things) but overall, it was an riveting ride.

Just got back from seeing it. IMAX is sold out until Monday, so I had to watch in a regular theater. Maybe I'll watch it next week in IMAX...one thing I love about California is the number of quality theaters available for movie watching.

Anyway, I thought the movie was very good. It's the antithesis of Michael Bay. I love how Nolan doesn't play down to his audience and is actually able to tell a story with philosophical/moral themes. Lots of layered depth.

One thing I did needed help clarifying from the movie, and I will rot13 this to avoid TripletDaddy's wrath,

Jura Ongzna qvfpbirerq gur nqqerffrf bs jurer Enpury naq Uneirl jrer ybpngrq, jnf ur bevtvanyyl vagraqvat Uneirl? N cbfg ba nabgure jrofvgr fnvq gung gur Wbxre fjvgpurq hc gur crbcyr ng nqqerffrf, juvpu jbhyq zrna Ongzna jnf gelvat gb fnir Enpury ohg tbg Uneirl vafgrnq. Gur npgvba frdhrapr jrag gbb snfg cnprq sbe zr gb erzrzore gur nqqerffrf naq qvfprea jurgure gur Wbxre ernyyl chyyrq gur fjvgpurebb.

For those of you who haven't used rot13, it's a simple Caeser-cypher encryption method. Just copy the text above into www.rot13.com to decode the cypher.

-J

Fantastic film. Pitch perfect from beginning to end.

And with enough open ended questions that makes me very curious as to how they're going to pull off the next film as Bale and Nolan are contracted to do a 3rd one.

Also, I'm bet the little kid...Commissioner Gordon's kid ends up becoming Robin.

For that to happen, it would really be a stretch from the original comic book. Robin was an orphan, which is why he was living with Bruce Wayne as his ward. Also, Batman and Robin worked with Commissioner Gordon. If the kid were to become Robin, that would mean that Robin would first have to grow up (meaning 12 or so years would have to pass in the timeline of the characters) and Gordon and his wife would have to die. Or, the writers could ignore all that and just make him Robin, so you could be right.

Jennerstein....you are correct....or better said, the other message board is correct. Switcheroo.

You win a prize for effort above and beyond the call of duty to not spoil the flick for others.

The last 2 Batman movies aren't your typical comic book fare.

Some things happened in that movie, which shows you they can go any direction they want and they're choosing that route without being tied down to the history of the comic books, and it's fun to watch.

major spoiler:






i guess i'm wrong but i interpreted it as batman making a choice between the girl and the guy. he chose the guy because he was more important in the overall plan of fight against crime and struggle for hope and goodness in gotham. i thought it was an important step in batman's evolution and showed his commitment to what he was getting into deeper and deeper.

spoiler:

I think it could be seen in two ways, either he picked Rachel and the Joker gave him the wrong addresses so the person he wanted to save would end up dying, or Batman actually picked Dent. I think it was left ambiguous on purpose.

Batman stated he was going after the girl. He said 'I'm going after Rachel,' in that ridiculous voice of his. That's one of the reasons why he was so committed to making sure that Dent became the symbol and figurehead that his mask didn't afford.

It's c++.
And they must have been dumb nerds. Everyone knows python is the best fit these days.

Ya but all the "cool" nerds know it should have been call ++C.

Did anybody notice that Barbara Gordon is now married to the Commissioner? yikes! Also, I must say I didn't get near enough screentime.

My son leaned over to inform that a certain crimefighter had advised him to use Python.

he's in the club now.

WTF?

IPU wasn't impressed with Heath's performance in BBM. He wanted a real homosexual.

This may be the silliest thing I've ever read in the New Yorker (which is saying a lot):

"When Ledger wields a knife, he is thoroughly terrifying (do not, despite the PG-13 rating, bring the children), and, as you’re watching him, you can’t help wondering—in a response that admittedly lies outside film criticism—how badly he messed himself up in order to play the role this way. His performance is a heroic, unsettling final act: this young actor looked into the abyss."

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critic..._cinema_denby/

"This young actor looked into the abyss"? Good Lord. We're not talking about Keats or Poe or even Malcolm McDowell. We're talking about a Batman film, and Heath Ledger.

Ironically, Denby goes on to say that notwithstanding Ledger's virtuoso performance the film as a whole sucks.

Saying it sucks might be taking it a stitch far. But I agree the jaunt out to Hong Kong was pointless, the death of Rachel seemed glossed over, and the movie had too many climaxes. When the end came it seemed truly ... well .... anti-climactic.