Batman - The Dark Knight

Bob Miller

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My brother dragged me to the midnight opening show. I'm not a big fan of comic book superhero movies, period. I thought the first batman movie with this actor and Katie Holmes was pretty good. This second batman movie sucked monkey balls however.

Jack Murphey, good ASL player here in the Chicago area once said about science fiction, " I like my SF with a heavy dose of reality" I'm in the same boat. I'm willing to believe in fairy tales and such for the premise of a movie to work but it still needs to make sense. This batman movie was implausable from the start and just got worse. I would have rather seen Mamma Mia with a date in the hopes of some action afterwards.
 

kawaiku

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What are you reasons Bob?

I think it is one of the best movies of the year imho. Heath as the Joker was great and nobody could've done it better than him. And the first Batman movie was good and this one was great. It was much darker than the first yet it still had its sense of humor. At first I was curious about Maggie Gyllenhaal in Katie's place but she did a good job and made you forget that she was stepping in for someone else. One thing about this movie, is that afterwards, I felt that there were parts missing and I hope that I'm right and an extended version will be released. The sad thing is, is that they left no real clue like the first one that they might do another...but if this is the last one with Christian Bale, then it's a good end to the series and no one can top him as Batman as he did/does a superb job as the capped crusader.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Who knew that the new batman flick was a tribute to President Bush?

What Bush and Batman Have in Common

A cry for help goes out from a city beleaguered by violence and fear: A beam of light flashed into the night sky, the dark symbol of a bat projected onto the surface of the racing clouds . . .

Oh, wait a minute. That's not a bat, actually. In fact, when you trace the outline with your finger, it looks kind of like . . . a "W."

There seems to me no question that the Batman film "The Dark Knight," currently breaking every box office record in history, is at some level a paean of praise to the fortitude and moral courage that has been shown by George W. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. Like W, Batman sometimes has to push the boundaries of civil rights to deal with an emergency, certain that he will re-establish those boundaries when the emergency is past.

And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.

"The Dark Knight," then, is a conservative movie about the war on terror. And like another such film, last year's "300," "The Dark Knight" is making a fortune depicting the values and necessities that the Bush administration cannot seem to articulate for beans.
 

kawaiku

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Okay...WOW...somebody has too much time on their hands?! When did a Bat symbol come to represent the "W" in Bush's middle name? It reminds me of the belief that the Japanese were behind the 9/11 attacks. They really stretched this one out imho... I think he also forgot to realize that the 300 was also based off of a comic book/graphic novel that I have read, and realized that it glorifies the stand of the Spartans after it has been blown up into some mythical like battle. This is just plain stupid.
 

Dr Zaius

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I'm fortunate to have a brand new mega theater with an IMAX just minutes from where I live, so I saw this a few days ago.

Although I'm a fan of comic movies, I disliked most of the other Batman movies as I feel they simply failed to capture the essence of what the Dark Knight is all about. They were more a tribute to the campy Batman & Robin series of the '60s than the actual comic books. None of them were very good movies, except for Batman Begins. That was generally excellent.

The Dark Knight is even better and continues the dark and gritty style of Batman Begins. The movie is outrageously over the top, but somehow manages to retain a serious tone. No easy task.

There is plenty of explosive action and fight scenes to be had here, but the Joker really steals the movie. Ledger's portrayal of the Joker as a twisted and unpredicatable maniac is thoroughly entertaining, and just when you think you've seen it all... he goes into another gear. Unlike Nicolson's Joker, there's nothing humorous or cute about this guy. He's violent and quite intelligent, which makes him a worthy adversary for our main man.

On IMAX, this is one movie that really was larger than life. Hat's off to Hollywood for the sound work they've been doing of late in bringing comic book heroes to the big screen. This is one of the best comic movies to date, and manages to outshine Hellboy 2, Iron Man and Hulk. Big thumbs up for this one.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Although I'm a fan of comic movies, I disliked most of the other Batman movies as I feel they simply failed to capture the essence of what the Dark Knight is all about. They were more a tribute to the campy Batman & Robin series of the '60s than the actual comic books. None of them were very good movies, except for Batman Begins. That was generally excellent.

The Dark Knight is even better and continues the dark and gritty style of Batman Begins. The movie is outrageously over the top, but somehow manages to retain a serious tone. No easy task.
Interesting. I'm not a fan of comic movies generally, nor of the Batman flicks specifically for the same reasons you cite. However, since you like this one, I might like it as well. Definitely a rental then.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Interesting counter-points. As to who is right...well, I'll defer that answer until I see the film late this year on DVD. :D

However, I would point out that Bryant Frazer, in seeking to refute Klavan's POV, succeeds in validating it. To wit, Klavan wrote:

The answers to these questions seem to me to be embedded in the story of "The Dark Knight" itself: Doing what's right is hard, and speaking the truth is dangerous. Many have been abhorred for it, some killed, one crucified.

Leftists frequently complain that right-wing morality is simplistic. Morality is relative, they say; nuanced, complex. They're wrong, of course, even on their own terms.
Frazer, missing this point completely, concludes:

But it's clear that Lucius has compromised in his pursuit of a worthy goal, and the film assigns a moral weight to that compromise. The Dark Knight is about how hard it is to do the right thing -- not least because in Gotham, as in the rest of the world, moral certitude is more difficult to reach than either idealists or ideologues would have you believe.
In attempting to refute Klavan's accusations, Frazer has plead guilty to them! :D

Something tell me that if Frazer wrote a review of Red Dawn, he would deny its indictment of 80's Soviet aggression and instead tell us that the movie is a critique of the militia mentality run amok in a "dark and paranoid" America under President Reagan. :rolleyes:
 

rickysimth

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Hi!
I have seen Batman-The Dark Night. I like this movie. The Dark Knight is the best Batman film ever made, the best superhero movie ever made, and the best movie of the 2008. It has all the ingredients to be a great movie. Powerful acting, powerful action, huge IMAX sequences give this Batman a great big commanding feel.
 
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