The Dark Knight (possible spoilers)

I gave the film last night in the Movie Tab. I don't believe I spoiled things, but if I did, somebody tell me what I should hide in a comment or a PM, or just do it if you have the power.

I felt that the Joker was actually one of the more honest characters in the movie. Even if he changed the story of his origin depending exactly on who he was talking to, and he does deliver one baldfaced lie, it appears to all be within the realm of his believing in having fun by playing games. Batman seems to force himself to have to believe in what he stands for, but the Joker has no problem whatsoever in letting you know that he believes in Anarchy and the vileness of human nature, but it still has to be demonstrated with a maximum amount of "fun". This Joker is definitely one of the scarier characters I've ever seen. I don't know if you think that escalating one-note symphony which played during the tenser moments of the film was a cheat or super-effective, but I always took it to be what the Joker hears inside his mind when things are going his way.

Many of the characters in the film are duplicitous, but the Joker seems to stay true to his beliefs. He's obviously very smart and possesses some form of mind control to be able to pull off all the things he does with no visible means of support. I mean, he must have some financial backing, but it isn't anything comparable to Bruce Wayne's. Plus, the Joker commits a heinous crime in the film: he burns money! (I'm only discussing what's seen in this film, not the comic books.)

In some ways the Joker and Harvey Dent both seem interested in playing games of chance, whether involving playing cards or coin flips. The Joker probably enjoys doing magic tricks more than Harvey, but he certainly did a good one when he spoke to Harvey Dent (offscreen) in the hospital room. I'm going to cut that one short now, but I'm still interested in how Chigurh in No Country For Old Men can be compared to the villains in The Dark Knight. I'm also interested in if you feel the films share the same theme. Is Chigurh a terrorist? The Joker in The Dark Knight would certainly make Osama bin Laden proud.

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Great Review!

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The Dark Knight was a masterpiece. It's # 1 on IMDB now.

Yeah I saw that.

Nearly crapped my pants. I never recall any film dethroning The Godfather....even if it were temporary.

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Suspect's Reviews

This movie is something special.

The Dark Knight was OK. Not the best thing i have ever seen but not the worst. It kept me in my seat for 3 hours which is hard to do lol. But i have defently seen better. Heath Ledger's performance was good, but the movie featured to much on Two Face.

IMO Hancock was better. Now before you jump out of your seats and try to hunt me down and rip my left shoulder out of it's socket for dissin this movie, i just have one thing to say to you.....

Why so serious?

Best superhero movie to date, no question. #1 on imdb? That's going a bit too far. shawshank will always be #1 to me.

brandon lee & heath ledger: 1. both die accidentally 2. both die @ the young age of 28. 3. both will be remembered for their final performances in makeup. Isn't that erie?

That little post above is both eerie and pretty accurate, interesting thoughts there. Keep them coming. Also is there any way this thread can be made into a spoiler free zone? I think its pretty safe to assume that most people are going to see this and if not then they should. Couldn't a little note be made in the threads title, much like it was in the upcoming movie thread?

Yes! I picked up on that right away, and I remember thinking a similar thought. It was spooky and just plain creepy. I loved it.


There is one interesting difference I suppose, and I'm not an expert on the comic books by any means. But, to me, Chigurh only used his coin toss during times when he was trying to make a point about perhaps why he was what he was or what he was doing. The Dent character in the film and I believe in the comic as well only killed if the coin came up tails. Chigurh on the other hand did not only let a coin toss determine if he was going to kill someone. Also he killed several people during the line of his mission to recover the goods without the benefit of a coin toss. Is Chigurh a terrorist? I wouldn't call him that, murderer and psychopath sure, but I didn't see Chigurh blowing up any hospitals or burning huge piles of money (which I'm sure a lot of folks think is worse than murder) did you? You don't have to answer that I know you didn't, it was rhetorical. Still though it's an interesting comparison.

I gave the flick a and Yoda made an interesting point in his review when he talks about how much it criss crosses and comes together at the end perfectly the first time through, and I agree with that. I wonder though if after repeated viewings if it will stay perfect. Most films don't so I hesitate to give it a perfect rating.

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I found a few logical flaws and a couple of strange edits where it seemed that a scene was missing, but I didn't let those bother me. It is a super hero movie, even if it's presented as a documentary.

Havey does. Mr. Eckhart is on for the next film. I would hate to tarnish that amazing joker of Ledgers but if it had to be done, I could see Benecio Del Toro filling in. he has the high pitched thing down and the kindof interesting look about his face. i dont know. Great movie though. "I had a wife..."

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[punches him in the face, grabs him and points his gun right at his throat] I never said anything about the FBI. She's my partner, ese. And if anything happens to her, I will find you and I will kill you. I won't think twice. Come here, look in my eyes. [pushes barrel of the gun into his mouth and cocks it] Look at my face. If anything happens to her, I will kill you. This is between you and me, and nobody sees, nobody knows.

A while back, I had been incredibly skeptical of Heath Ledger playing the Joker. But from the very first picture of him AS the joker, along with the trailer, I instantly accepted him in the role.
The Dark Knight is everything I wanted it to be, and a little bit more. The highlights are of course Heath Ledger as the Joker(such a GREAT PERFORMANCE), the batpod, and Harvey Dent/Two-face. I don't know if i will, but i may put up a review of the movie at some point. I may like it enough to do so.
ABOUT JOKER RETURNING IN SEQUEL: As much as I would have loved seeing him return, Heath won't be able to(RIP). therefore..i don't see ANY FATHOMABLE REASON why they should bring the joker back.

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I know most people are talking about the scars monologues and the "Why so serious?" lines a lot but how many picked up on what I thought was the funniest and best line of the film towards the end? When The Joker says: "You complete me." I thought that was hysterical. So Chris Nolan is either a fan of Jerry Maguire or hates it I'm not sure which. Either way though it was pretty damn funny.

My favorite Joker material was by far the interrogation scenes and the scene in which he talks about chaos in the hospital.

"I just...want my phone call..."

Semi-spoilers below...

One thing my girlfriend and I were trying to figure out is why they reintroduced the Scarecrow so early in the film, and didn't return to him. I would have thought he'd have played a role in the climax somehow, especially given how early he was shown (giving the audience plenty of time to forget about him). One of the writers over on Cinematical had an interesting, straightforward theory:

Makes sense to me.

I figured they were just tying up the loose end from the previous film. Otherwise, at any point, we would have expected him to pop up and join the fray. Had to button it up to move on to different (and better) stories.

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Aye. It also help established how far Batman's come; the Scarecrow gave him trouble at first, but now disposing of him is easy. He's not being adequately challenged by the thugs and villains of Gotham anymore. Until, of course, the Joker.

Exactly. Notice how he shrugs him off at first.

"He's one man, he can wait. This is half of the criminals in Gotham."

Unfortunately for him, this "one man" gave him far, far more trouble than an entire legion of mobsters could.

This is why this film is the ****, folks. It finally nailed the relationship between the Joker and Batman, which had yet to be brought to the big screen (or small, for that matter) properly.

Just got back from seeing it.

The only dissapointing part of the movie was that the clown character looked like he was ****ed up on drugs and not taking the role seriously, otherwise it was a great film.

Are you saying the Joker was the worst part of the film, but you thought it was great anyway? Heath Ledger was on drugs while filming the movie and wasn't making sense or in character? We all know the Clown died from drugs in real life, but if he was on drugs during those scenes in the movie then he's maybe ten times better in that role than I already think.

P.S. Welcome!