The Dark Knight Reviews

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-

If you like Batman then you would like this movie because it is non-stop action
and full of fun.Dont make fun of Heath though.Heath Leadger died during the movie because he overdosed on sleeping pills.

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.

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.

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.

''Why SO serious?''

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, opposing force, 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).

''Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me! They need you right now, but when they don't, they'll cast you out, like a leper! You see, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve.''

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 explore.

''Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.''

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.

James Gordon Jr.: Why's he running, Dad?
Lt. James Gordon: Because we have to chase him.
James Gordon Jr.: He didn't do anything wrong.
Lt. James Gordon: 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.

Dark, haunting and energetic but not as deep as the hype would like you to believe. A great comic book adaptation, good action movie and half-decent crime thriller. Oldman is still the best actor on show, never does Gordon feel like Oldman playing Gordon. I can't say that about the rest of the cast, but I can see why the public are hyped for the leading roles.

as you all know the Dark Knight is a sequel to last summers Batman Begins and has recieved twice as much hype as the first movie. The Dark Knight is really more of the same with Heath Ledger Providing one awesome performance as the JOker who sets the bar higher than Liam Neeson's Henri Ducard/Ra's Al Ghul the one spirited man who used two bodies to foil with batman.

the Dark knight like it's predecessor has one hell of a cast which includes Gary Oldman(Lt. Jim Gordon),Aaron Eckhart(Harvey Dent), Maggie Gyllenhaal(Rachel Dawes), Morgan Freeman(Lucius Fox),Eric Roberts(salvatore Maroni),Michael Caine (alfred Pennyworth) and cillian Murphy as the scarecrow.

The Dark knight which is just as long as Batman Begins, a whole two and a half hours, is action packed from the begginning wich has batman stopping the scarecrow from robbing a bank with the mob led by Salvatore maroni while the Joker is simultaneously doing the same thing and getting away with it. and once batman is done with them he leaves Lt. Jim GOrdon to clean up as usual.

This leaves Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes To procescute the mob putting 200 men in jail at once thanks to the judge giving Dent an arrest warrant. this all happens within the first half an hour.

Maggie Gyllenhaal who replaced Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes fits the character more and is more enigmatic. although as someone who just picked up this new series won't even notice the diference. however, Rachel Starts Dating Dent and creates a love triangle for Bruce when he tells Rachel that that time when two can be together is nearly there.

Heath Ledger's perfomance as the joker Blows Jack Nicholson's performance in the original batman out of the water. because not only is the joker more pychotic he has his way of having fun as well.

The Dark knight is the best installment in the batman franchis thus far do not miss the summer blockbuster

"The Dark Knight", as expected, is very good and is considerably better than "Batman Begins".

As we've all already heard, Heath Ledger was great as the Joker. Actually, all 3 of the live-action Jokers have been amazing (Romero, Nicholson and now Ledger). Ledger's is just a bit different than the other two. He's much darker and doesn't audibly sound like the prior editions, but he's amazing in his own right.

It's a little early to say that Ledger deserves the Oscar nod, but if he does get the nomination (I imagine it would be for Best Supporting Actor), I think he lands it in the interrogation room at the station. It's the best, most intense scene in the movie.

Much like Brandon Lee as The Crow, Ledger left us with a defining performance that we'll appreciate and enjoy for many years to come.

While The Joker is certainly a highlight of the film, Harvey Dent is no slouch either. I'm not even a big Aaron Eckhart fan, but he really does a great job in his role as well. For the first half of the film, he's actually the most dominant and interesting character.

"The Dark Knight" reminded me a little of the "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" in that it felt like there were several endings during the film. Unlike LOTR, it wasn't a bad thing. There were several moments where you feel like you might be seeing the resolution to the story only to discover that things aren't as resolved as they seem to be.

Oh, and it's too bad Maggie Gyllenhaal wasn't in the original film; she's soooo much better than Katie Holmes.

Anyhow, The Dark Knight is a winner. Big shock, right?

Honestly, I tried to stay away from the hype of The Dark KNight as much as possible. So basically all I knew about it was there was a bank robbery and The Joker was played by Heath Ledger. Oh, and Batman had a motorcycle. That was it, and I went to see it based solely on that. Good thing it kicked ass then, huh.

Yes, Heath Ledger rocked the shit out of The Joker. Yeah, he's getting a lot of buzz because this was, effectively, his last film ever. Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon was just as good. Hell, everyone in the film was golden. But, yes there's a but, there's a very good reason I and many others are comparing everyone else to him in this movie and that's because he, The Joker, brought this movie, this world, full circle. A world without Joker, but Batman is not a world I would choose to watch. Heath Ledger brought out the magnificent bastard in Joker and I think everyone will remember him for it.

Now, lets get to the actual movie, hmm. I was never bored once through this ordeal of a movie. That's saying something as it was two and a half hours. Some things happened that I was totally not expecting to happen. I don't just mean some of the larger plot twists, but it was some of te small things. If anything those little moments that don't seem to add up to much, kinda see m to fill you up as to what exactly Batman is fighting for, and why he does the things he does. You get it.
Then ofcourse, there's the flipside, where normally you think you would be disgusted or that you would never laugh at; you find yourself cracking a smile and laughing along with The Joker, and you don't feel bad about it. I don't even remember how many movies have made me do that, if any.

This movie was off the hook, and I think I'll go see it again.