Finally.
That first word totally sums it up for me…finally. After all of the waiting and anticipation, I got to see The Dark Knight and it delivered, it truly delivered. After nearly 3 years since the first *NEW* Batman, I finally was able to see The Dark Knight. Choosing to wait out the massive crowds on opening night and weekend, I ventured out on a bright Sunday afternoon to experience this epic movie. With expectations as high as ever in tow, I watched The Dark Knight…
…and it was absolutely fantastic. I walked out of the theater mesmerized and a little short of breath, and in fact, I needed time to sit and recollect on what I just experienced. There was so much in the movie and it was such a BIG movie that there was no way I could even express what I felt or thought until I had a chance to sit down and actually verbalize what I thought. I was overwhelmed by the movie, by the shear mass of it I was taken for a loss. I had waited so long and had such high hopes and had talked about it to nearly everyone I knew, and wrote countless news pieces and insights into the movie that I nearly didn’t know how to even start this review.
I was afraid going into the movie that the hype would outlast the reality of the screen, though I wasn’t as freaked out about it as some other film bloggers, I was at least wary of the fact, but it seriously and utterly lived and surpassed the hype following it. So much goes into the marketing of a movie and many were calling TDK an “over-marketed” movie with all of its viral sites and teasers and trailers debuting here and there, and I am here to tell you, once again, that you will totally forget that fact once you see this movie. I thought that the movie held up great against its “image” that was created prior to its release, there’s never a point where you feel like you were cheated by the amount of information and games that the studios made you play in order to find out anything about the movie. It just adds to the overall phenomenon surrounding the movie.
I think I am going to devote an entire blog to Heath Ledger and why I think he is the best comic book villain to-date to ever appear on screen. His performance ALONE is worth seeing the movie multiple times in the theater. I have never, well, maybe not since Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, forgotten about an actor and legitimately believed I was watching a real person like I did watching Ledger portray The Joker. In most cases, I see the ACTOR portraying a character, I see Christian Bale as Batman, I can see Michael Caine as Alfred, but with Ledger, I didn’t see him AS The Joker, I just saw THE JOKER!! I was totally frightened and amazed at The Joker. His evil was unexplainable, which made it all the better, and he seemed to really and truly embody what The Joker should be…someone who is pure evil, not made evil by some abusive childhood or turned by a tragic event, but someone who just IS evil for evil’s sake. Watching Ledger become Joker was true magic, and to be honest, a little disheartening to think how much he would have had to do to prepare for that role mentally, how depressed, low, insane, lonely he had to become to wholeheartedly become Joker. I read that he spent an entire month in a small run-down apartment in a dangerous and shabby part of New York to learn what that kind of loneliness felt like…hindsight in that situation makes you think a little.
Trust me, don’t believe the hype or the stories you read, Ledger makes this movie stand out on its own. Yes, he was SO GREAT that it did expose how just GOOD Christian Bale, Michael Cane, Gary Oldman, etc. were, in that he absolutely OUT SHINED his costars, but not so much as to ruin the movie. It just reminds you how GREAT Ledger was. You can tell that he put everything, literally everything, into this role and sadly enough, from what I have read, the added stress of preparing for a role as dark as this one may have been too much in the end.
One of the things that bothered me about this movie (I know, half of you just gasped, but hear me out) was the splotchy and fidgety editing. I was really bothered by how at times the scene would cut way too fast to the next scene that was already in progress, and it just really distracted me. At multiple times, there were action scenes that were cut too tight and seemed to end too quickly without any resolution at all. I felt like they had SO MUCH MOVIE to cut and edit that in the end, I think they spent too much time slimming the movie to 2 and a half hours and didn’t concentrate enough on how scenes flowed together. The transitions didn’t match at times and it just seemed a little robotic in its flow.
The Nolan brothers’ script I thought was very well put together and flowed nicely. The story really moved quite well in my opinion and never left you guessing. One of the elements of the story that I didn’t quite like and noticed right away was the “over-villain-izing” that was going on. Like the debacle that was Spider-Man 3 with all 3 of their MAJOR villains trying to split time in a 2 hour movie, I thought the inclusion of Two-Face (Dent), The Joker, Gamble, The Mob, AND the Scarecrow (though his was a small part) was a little much to try and cram into the movie, even though it was 2 and a half hours long. I know that Joker was the MAIN villain and most of the movie revolved around him, but I felt like they tried too hard to show all of the villains on one screen and in one movie.
This was a fantastic movie that I will see again this week. It lived up to its hype and it kept me thinking about it and discussing it days after, which is what a truly great film should aspire to do. This movie will make $300 million in 3 weeks, mark my words!
Content Warning: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace. The Joker is an evil guy and the kind of darkness portrayed in this film is not for the younger kids. Adults, don’t miss it, but find a sitter.
Popularity: 50%
Heath Ledger’s performance was genius. I thought to myself what you wrote, I forgot it was Heath Ledger playing this part. One thing that I did not like (that I discussed with my co-workers) was that Two-Face’s makeup was a little overdone. I thought it was a little too unrealistic for all the “realism” they have been trying to bring into the new Batman movies.
That’s a good point Melissa. I had glanced at a make-up test photo that was released a few weeks prior to the film so I was unfairly ready for what I saw in the film.
To me, that was one of the more “comic-book-ish” moments of the film. Contrasted to Two-Face’s overdone makeup, I really liked the subtlety of Joker’s makeup. It looked abstract, random, messy…
Welcome to the Truth On Cinema community Melissa. I hope that you stick around and join our little community.
Re: Two-Face, at least he wasn’t Joel Schumacher-ed up like Tommy Lee Jones (yes, I do use Joel Schumacher as an adjective).
Re: The Joker: I think that you’re right on, Dan, about being evil for evil’s sake. Jack’s Joker had a reason for being twisted (Axis Chemicals). Ledger’s Joker was just twisted because he was.
Who was Gamble?
Re: Over-villanizing? Again, I refer to the disasters of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin.
btw, I have to see this movie again. and again. and again.
I actually spelled his name wrong, it’s actually spelled “Gambol” in the movie. He was that big black guy who wanted to kill the Joker in the beginning of the movie. He was a new villain that they added, he is not in any of the DC Comics involving Batman.
I am seeing this movie again on Thursday, so we’ll see if I see anything new.
Ah, I didn’t make him out to be anyone important.
Here’s a new topic, though: Homages to Tim Burton’s Batman…
maybe we should wait until more people have seen it, but I picked up several and really appreciated them.
Thoughts?
As a longtime Batman fan I couldn’t have been happier with this movie. It had the same dark [no pun inteded] feel that all the best Batman graphic novels have (Alan Moore’s: The Killing Joke, Jeph Loeb’s: The Long Halloween, Frank Miller’s: The Dark Knight Returns or Year One to name a few). Ledger hit a home run in every scene, Bale seemed even more sure of his role and the rest of the players all made you forget you were watching a movie about comic books. GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!!
That’s an interesting topic idea. I didn’t even think about any of those, what did you see Ryan?
I know the one that I just now thought of was the scene where Joker is standing out in the middle of the street waiting for Batman to ride right at him, just like Nicholson did when he was in the middle of the street walking towards the Bat Wing saying to himself, “Come on! Get me! Come on!”
Good catch Ryan.
2 others that stood out…
When Joker is hanging out of the building ledge near the end
and
The meeting of the mob bosses around the table with his “magic trick”
There may have been more, but those come to mind immediately.
Oh man, those are both 2 good observations. I wonder if those were intentional or just coincidence.
I’ve been trying to find any articles or posts relating to those scenes and if there exists any intentional correlation, but I am coming up empty.
If I find anything, I’ll be sure to post it.
I have to say that I liked the movie a whole lot. I loved the story and think Heath Ledger delivered. I cant imagine anyone else in that role. Jack had his take, Caesar Romaero (sp?) had his, but Heath’s Joker was my favorite!
I think that this movie lived up to the hype! I cant wait to see if there will be more movies from this group of actors, but it will be hard to top this one.
We enjoyed this movie very much. We are recommending it to everyone we talk to. It kept our attention the whole time we were watching it!!Heath was great in this role and I hope he gets some recognition for it by the award society.
3 million in three weeks? Guess again! 3 million in 10 days domestically. That’s an all time record.
That’s right Michael! I predicted 300 million in 3 weeks and so many people laughed at me and thought I was crazy…and look at me now.
I was actually TOO CONSERVATIVE in my guess…that’s crazy!
It’s number 23 all time right now and climbing I am sure!
Movie on its own I considered subpar, Ledger made it enter the realm of decent. Maybe the disgusting hype surrounding it killed it for me, some even said it was the “best movie of all time”. Absolutely hilarious.
@Jay, I wouldn’t go that far, but it was definitely the best movie of this year so far.
Just got out from seeing it for the 3rd time. This time in IMAX. (They just reopened that theater in Colleyville today.)
I have to say that I appreciate the performances even more each time that I see it.
That’s awesome Ryan! What scenes are much improved with IMAX? I have yet to see it in that format and I am curious to see if it’s worth it or not.
The really impressive stuff was the “Flyovers” of the city. They had great texture.
Otherwise, there was no really great differences that I could note off of the top of my head.
Just a really great experience.
The Joker had always been my favorite villian as a child, so when I went to see The Dark Night I had high expectations. I loved how crazy Jack Nicholson played him, but Ledger took that love of chaos and anarchy in addition to just a touch of insanity to a whole new level. However, I wonder if they planned to give the details of his capture in the beginning of the next movie, similar to how they handled Scarecrow.