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Reviews of The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight review
Posted : 1 week, 2 days ago on 8 December 2009 07:29
(A review of The Dark Knight)I knew that The Dark Knight was going to be the best film of 2008 for me because I was so excited about seeing it especially with Heath Ledger's shocking and unexpected yet mysterious death. Before I saw the film, I was watching the trailers over and over again. I even watched them about 5 minutes before the film started. I really love this film to bits! I became obsessed with the trailers and clips of the film especially The Joker. When I saw it at the cinema back in July 2008, I couldn't believe it was a film. It really felt real-life even though Batman is a comic book character. I think only Lord Of The Rings and The Dark Knight have made me feel this way. The Dark Knight is the only non-fantasy/sci fi comic book film that has ever been made. Despite this, there is a taste of fantasy involved that makes it really realistic. People say that The Dark Knight is "The Godfather of comic book films". In other words, like it is the greatest and most powerful comic book film so far. I loved this film because it didn't stop at all. It was tense all the way through even in normal calm scenes. The Dark Knight reminds me a lot of Heat but in a superhero and comic book dialogue.
This film has one of the best ensemble cast ever! Christian Bale delivers another terrific performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman. I loved Batman in the new suit that he had and also the Batmobile particularly the Batbike. That is just too cool! One thing that annoyed me a bit was Bale's Batman voice. I couldn't completely understand what he was saying at first but after seeing it so many times, I understand it a lot more now so it doesn't bother me now. Christian Bale is and probably always will be most remembered for The Dark Knight. Heath Ledger as The Joker... what can I say? Well, first of all I can say that it is the single most terrifying male performance ever! It is the best performance by a supporting male. Heath Ledger underestimated the whole world at first before the film was out but I think he blew every single person that has seen this film away. Heath has now played a character that is very different compared to any other he has played. I have seen The Dark Knight loads of times and I still can't believe that Heath Ledger is The Joker even though I know it (if you get what I mean). You can tell without the make-up (like in one scene) but you can't completely with it on. Heath Ledger was an actor who has been compared numerous times as the present James Dean. Heath had a gift when approaching this film because he generated a voice that is very creepy and very psychotic. To be honest, it was something that I wasn't really expecting out of Heath because he has a very deep and croaky voice. There are a lot of people who state that Heath's performance as the Joker is wildly overrated but I don't think it is because it is just pure brilliant acting. What I love about the Joker is that he is merciless, really cold and a complete psycho but he is a very cool villain too which is why he is my favourite film character ever! Heath Ledger as the Joker makes Jack Nicholson as The Joker like a Razzie win. Heath's Oscar win as the Joker was pretty obvious but he totally deserved it! There was no major competition for it other than Heath. The Dark Knight would have been a huge success anyway but wouldn't have earned half as much money worldwide if Heath Ledger was still alive. Aaron Eckhart is just behind Heath as far as performances are concerned. I really felt sorry for Harvey after what happens to him. Despite he goes mad when a tragedy occurs, I don't think he is a villain. Well, Aaron Eckhart himself said, so that confirms that the Joker is the only villain. Gary Oldman was awesome as cop Jim Gordon who along with Batman and Harvey Dent try and catch the Joker. Maggie Gyllenhaal made a far better Rachel Dawes in The Dark Knight than Katie Holmes did in Batman Begins. Katie Holmes would have made Rachel's character even worse. The one flaw Maggie had playing Rachel was that I couldn't quite feel the love she had for both Bruce and Harvey but to be perfectly honest that wasn't what I was thinking about the most with The Dark Knight. Morgan Freeman was good as well as Lucius Fox who creates the Batman's suit and helps Bruce and Alfred create the technology that is needed.
Christopher Nolan has created a worldwide classic as far as I am concerned. He has made one of the very few films that has it all! It has a very realistic and dark dialogue, a wide range of well known actors with amazing performances, explosive action and filmmaking at its finest. Nolan has created an epic that is perfect! Nolan has said himself that he doubts he will ever make a better film than The Dark Knight and I don't think we'll ever see a better Batman film than this. When I was watching videos of the filming, I could certainly see that Nolan worked really hard on this film. The script was absolutely amazing! I have to say that the script that was written by Chris and Jonathan Nolan is one of the best scripts that I think I have ever read and heard out of all the films that I have watched. There will be problems doing Batman 3 now because of The Joker meaning to return and because Heath Ledger died, this became a real problem. Despite how good this film was, I actually hope Nolan doesn't do the third one because it could ruin his great reputation for the Batman films. Also, I seriously doubt Nolan will make it better than The Dark Knight. It is a script that is mixed between fantasy and reality with a cool taste which is my perfect script. It doesn't quite beat scripts like Pulp Fiction, Closer and American Beauty though.
The Dark Knight is the ultimate comic book film. I think it will always be my favourite comic book adaptation. The best film of 2008 (only just beating The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button even though I kept reversing the decision between the two films). This is Nolan's best film by far. I really like Nolan's work but The Dark Knight is the only one that I truly adore even though his other films are really awesome. I love this film and always will!! Everything about this film is perfect! It starts off brilliantly and ends in a huge way that is so powerful and brilliantly filmed and written. The Dark Knight is a worldwide phenomenon that totally deserves its place on my close favourite films list.
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Why So Serious?
Posted : 3 months, 1 week ago on 11 September 2009 01:52
(A review of The Dark Knight)Gotham City is falling apart, Bruce Wayne is becoming more distant, chaotic vigilantism is growing more rampant & on top of it all, there's some crazy make-up wearing Joker out there taking advantage of it all.
Heath Ledger in a final performance that marks a high point in his all too short career.
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A review of "Heat 2"
Posted : 8 months ago on 16 April 2009 08:11
(A review of The Dark Knight)When the movie started I was sure of that I was watching Heat. Is this a lame try to make a realistic superhero movie? Superhero movies are suppose to be unrealistic, atleast in my world. And who are we suppose to like? Batman is clearly an asshole in this movie. The Joker got likable jokes and dialog, so I guess thats what they try to. Make people like The Joker. But wtf, isnt this a Batman movie?
The movie had some good action scenes, and some thrilling scenes, but nothing more. The gadgets was terrible. The mobilephone tracker glasses GPS thing was ridiculous. Why make something so unrealistic into a movie that try hard to be realistic.
Well the movie did a good job scare away my braincells, and its to bad that the movie makes it impossible to gain some.
4/10
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TDK
Posted : 10 months ago on 17 February 2009 01:51
(A review of The Dark Knight)This movie was awesome. Heath did a really good job acting as the joker. I could watch it a million times. I didn't find it creepy at all, i found it just awesome. There was no mistakes in making the movie, no mess ups, or anything. I just wish that Heath could of played the joker throughout the whole movie.
-Jimmy-
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the dark knight
Posted : 12 months ago on 21 December 2008 10:09
(A review of The Dark Knight)this movie was awsome with all the graphis and everything they really didnt mess anything up.
i fell sad for leadger though.
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More like "The Dull Movie Night"
Posted : 1 year ago on 13 December 2008 08:33
(A review of The Dark Knight)"How comes you gave the Dark Knight 1 out of 10?"
Strange. I have been away from the site, today I hear a guy laughing on voice chat in Paltalk, and it reminded me of the Joker in Batman. Then, I tried to recall a site I found through Last.fm. This is not the site, but I realized I haven't been on here in a while.
To answer the question, 1 means I haven't seen it. Read the "About me" section in my profile. However, I have seen it since, and it's a 2 which means the same as you probably expected. So, here is my review which will serve as a reply and will be updated if need be.
When I was a child, I watched the TV series Batman with Adam West and enjoyed it immensely. My favorite parts were scenes in the batcave. I probably had a WWF appreciation for the fight scenes back then. It almost had a circus feel to it.
The Dark Knight lacked any real grab. It started off dull and just continued with old bits I have seen numerous times. It was a mix of A Clockwork Orange and your typical Hollywood shoot'em up movie taking place in some fictional high ranking city.
Also, there was complete failure in depicting a superhero movie in a real life setting. This is something that the producers must have spent 2 seconds on and neglected. With Superman Returns and Transformers, you can see the divide between real and not so real characters coming together. The Joker was just thrown into Gotham City like the daily newspaper, and people accepted him like a disease rather than an invader representing evil (think Superman 2 with the 3 Kryptonian criminals).
Throughout the movie, I wasn't asking myself, "How will normal people deal with this invasion of some foreign entity", but rather, "Who else can be part of this movie (like The Penguin or Catwoman)".
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Dark hero!
Posted : 1 year ago on 7 December 2008 09:08
(A review of The Dark Knight)A large part of Dark Knight goes to Heath Ledger for his "The Joker" portrayal. Every scene in which Ledger appeared was riveting. His speech, mannerisms and his dialog were fantastic. For the latter, I have to commend the screen writers who gave Ledger some great lines!
Actually, he and Aaron Eckert, who played "Harvey 'Two Face' Dent," were most of the show, character-wise. Maggie Gyllenhaal was good, too, as "Rachel Dawes," the woman of both Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent's affections. Otherwise, the familiar good guys - Christopher Bale as "Batman," Michael Caine as "Alfred," Gary Oldman as Inspector/Commishoner Gordan" and Morgan Freeman as "Lucius Fox" were okay but all more interesting in the previous film, "Batman Begins." Speaking of Fox, his high-and-mighty attitude toward Wayne's surveillance system was disappointing to hear. I had thought he had trust in Bruce Wayne. Also, I was sorry to hear the language deteriorate in the final half hour with some unneeded profanity by some inconsequential character.
Overall, however, this latest Batman movie ranks among the best of any I've seen, at least on the first viewing. I'm looking forward to watching it again when the Blu-Ray disc comes out next month. This is a great film to enjoy visually and audibly with some fantastic action scenes and excellent dialog.
I had heard that Batman was a "dark" and almost unlikable figure, himself, in this film but I did not find that. Hey, he did what he had to do to stop a maniacal killer (which "Fox" didn't understand., nor some of the other main characters.) For a guy who has provided nothing but good deeds for the fickle citizens of Gotham over the years, this hero certainly doesn't appear to be appreciated......except by his fans of comics and film.
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Awesome
Posted : 1 year, 1 month ago on 14 November 2008 02:41
(A review of The Dark Knight)This was a really surprisingly great film. I didn't like the actor that played The Batman but that's a person opinion, regardless it was a good film. I would highly recommend, and it is a definite buy on my list.
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Can't get enough
Posted : 1 year, 1 month ago on 21 October 2008 10:36
(A review of The Dark Knight)I wish I could go higher than 10/10. After all the waiting, all the hype, all the rumors....it met and exceeded my expectations. And I can't get enough of it. I've seen it 6 times (so far) and it's like the first time, every time. Every time the Joker laughs, I get chills down my spine. Every time there's even the slightest hint to anything else in the Bat Universe, I get excited all over again.
I've been a Batman fan since I was 2 years old and this was the movie I've been waiting my whole life to see. Everyone did a fantastic job, Heath especially. The Joker jumped right off the comic pages into the movie. He is amazing.
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Chaos
Posted : 1 year, 4 months ago on 17 August 2008 03:44
(A review of The Dark Knight)
Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.
Christian Bale: Bruce Wayne / Batman
Heath Ledger: The Joker
When we think back to truly worthy sequels, sequels which surpass even their original predecessors, many of us would proclaim such masterpieces as Aliens, Godfather II, Empire Strikes Back, Terminator 2...So with the coming of 2008 yet another sequel will be honoured enough to take it's place among these glorified masterpieces.
Undoubtedly, English Director Christopher Nolan begins to resemble the mythical King Midas, in the sense that every film project he breathes life into results in a deep, puzzling masterpiece of depth and serenity. Memento, Insomnia, The Prestige have all mesmerized and set alight mindful debate among critics and fans alike, and for me been hailed as 5 star masterpieces which breach the synapses.
2005 sees the release of Batman Begins, under the helm is none other than English Director Nolan and Warner Bros. The batman franchise, after Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever and Batman & Robin had been taking it's last dying breaths after turning into a colourful farce of nipples and cartoony villainy.
Only a miracle could of repaired the damage done, and if any man can provide miracles Christopher Nolan surely can. Batman Begins not only gave new life to a dying franchise, it redefined comic book/Graphic Novel adaptations in terms of realism, acting, and adrenaline pumping cinematography. This was a whole new re-imagining for Bruce Wayne becoming the Batman, and quite frankly even more believable than Tim Burton's efforts in 1989.
So 2008 sees the The Dark Knight, from Warner Brothers and once again the directorial genius of Nolan.
David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan collaborated on the story of this film. The script itself was written by Nolan and his brother Jonathan. funnily enough after watching The Dark Knight, Goyer stated "I can't believe my name is on a movie this good".
This time the hype, the anticipation, and the attention has increased a hundred fold since it's predecessor. New cast additions include Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart and the late Heath Ledger, while old veterans return such as Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Micheal Caine and the Dark Knight himself Christian Bale. Obviously the tragic death of Heath Ledger after the completion of the movie warranted alot more attention for viewers due to the complexity of seeing his last performance. However, The Dark Knight is testament to Ledger's legacy, his swan song, his immortal role among many chameleonic characters in his resume. His roles in Brokeback Mountain, Candy, showed his adult raw talent for tackling sensitive controversial material, while A Knight's Tale, The Patriot and 10 things I hate about you showed he could entertain and be charming. So with The Dark Knight we witness his best film to date, his guaranteed Academy Award grabbing carnation of the maniacal nemesis of batman, The Joker. Let it just be said Heath truly is immersed 100% into the confines of the character, he makes us believe and sometimes agree with his views on society and people.
Joker never seized to make me laugh in appreciation despite what could be considered sick antics, I considered genius. Who else could do a pen trick with someone's head? Dress as a nurse with a silencer in hand and his clownish face glistening? Hide in a body-bag to infiltrate a mob boss's joint? Who else could immortalize Batman's most famous nemesis Joker? Without a doubt Heath Ledger bar none.
''Sometimes, truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.''
To prepare for his iconic role as The Joker, Heath Ledger hid away in a motel room for about six weeks. During this extended stay of seclusion, Ledger delved deep into the psychology of the character. He devoted himself to developing The Joker's every detail, namely the voice and that sadistic-sounding laugh. Ledger's interpretation of The Joker's appearance was primarily based upon, of the chaotic, disheveled look of punk rocker Sid Vicious combined with the psychotic mannerisms of Malcolm McDowell's character, Alex De Large, from A Clockwork Orange. Ultimately for his efforts, The Dark Knight was the first comic book movie to ever win an Oscar for an achievement in acting, specifically to Heath Ledger (posthumously) for Best Supporting Actor.
Heath Ledger posthumously won a total of 32 Best Supporting Actor awards for his work on this film, including the Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG and Critic's Choice award.
Christopher Nolan beautifully captures Gotham City (filmed on location at Chicago). Whereas Batman Begins was styled after the iconic piece from Ridley Scott's rainy, dirty Blade Runner, the sequel The Dark Knight mirrors the feel and look of Micheal Mann's Heat giving us a true homage to masters of cinema and film, and we see Nolan has been inspired by the best, rein-visioning his own unique directing and styling to give us a fresh and powerful Gotham City.
Indeed, a similar scene in Michael Mann's crime saga, Heat, inspired this film's introductory bank robbery sequence. As a matter of fact, William Fichtner, who had a notable appearance in this scene, was also in Heat.
''I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos? It's fair...''
The Dark Knight runs at nearly 3 hours, yet never ceases to lose any momentum. It doesn't waste a scene or moment of it's run-time; every event is utilized and necessary to a meaningful complex plot. Nolan tells a story worth telling and like his other film projects, nothing is ever as it seems, he is in a way the new master of suspense, a shadow of Hitchcock proportions.
Action-sequences are mind blowingly frantic, old-school, eye-grabbing stunts and in their chaotic intensity we see that they serve purpose to the plot, yet even more interestingly, are not played for pure entertainment-value alone.
Audiences are meant to watch, petrified, simply hoping that the outcome will go the hero's way and another show stealing performance from it's villain. Attention is never lost because we are immersed in a breathtaking, almost completely-unpredictable story, that makes us think and more importantly gains our emotional liability. We come to care for the characters, because they are believable, developed, and personified.
Interestingly, this film and its predecessor have one-word themes which are driving forces in the stories and explanations for villains: Batman Begins centers around Fear(Scarecrow/ Ra's Al Ghul), while the focus of The Dark Knight is Chaos(The Joker/Two Face).
''Sometimes, truth isn't good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.''
Maggie Gyllenhaal results in being a more mature Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes. Morgan Freeman again provides his authoritative presence to the role of Wayne-Enterprise CEO Lucius Fox, and under anyone else's portrayal, the part would be less than memorable. Legendary Gary Oldman underplays his world-wearied lawman with such honest finesse and plausibility, you never feel for a second any of it is artificial. The irreplaceable Michael Caine makes a gentle, reassuring, foster parent presence for Bruce Wayne yet again as faithful Alfred, and the story would surely diminish without his strong presence and interlacing moments of humourous quips and anecdotal advice for the masked hero.
Aaron Eckhart whom plays Harvey Dent, really excels in being ''The White Knight'' politician of Gotham City whom is likable, and charismatic. The attraction between Gyllenhaal and Eckhart is believable, whereas the love triangle which forms between the complexities of Harvey, Rachel and Bruce are greatly helped by amazing chemistry between them.
Dent's dual personality comes into effect very well, as we the audience scratch beyond that exterior, we see a dark side to Dent. A dark side the Joker inevitably wants to exploit for his own agendas.
Brilliant scores by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. In fact the scores could be two new characters in the film in the sense of depth and emotion they stitch together with the powerful resonance in the scenes. The chase where Batman first uses his Bat-pod bike is nerve tinglingly delivered thanks to the effective use of musical genius and poignant sound. The movies climax and final scenes elevate The Dark Knight's soul into the heavens, creating a moving, emotional, turbulent, deep message of honour, sacrifice and themes of the greater good. Batman isn't the hero we deserve, he's whatever we need him to be...He's strong, he can take it...and as we hear deep words like this, the tones in the score give the words even more power. A power they deserve.
Overall The Dark Knight rightly received 8 Academy Award nominations, more than any other film based on a comic book, comic strip, or graphic novel. First film based on a comic book, comic strip, or graphic novel to win an Academy Award for acting (Best Supporting Actor).
The Dark Knight was everything I expected it to be and even more so in places, it's certainly the dark masterpiece I predicted, but I do get the feeling that it's been overly hyped for the wrong reasons. See it not just for Heath's performance which is defining and immortalized, but also see it because Dark Knight is the greatest comic book/graphic novel to movie ever. DC comics & Warner Bros. must be singing and praising Nolan a hundred fold.
Dark Knight really does have the last laugh. An astonishing achievement that really does succeed in redefining sequels and graphic novel comic book adaptations.
''Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.''
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