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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/18/2008 8:58:22 PM
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everythingat
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I'm quite sick of superhero movies in general, but Batman will always be the exception. It was great. The only thing that bothered me was Christian Bale's voice when he was in the suit...a little too gruff, take it up a notch. Especially with his slight speech impediment.
That's nothing to complain about. It was probably the best superhero movie I've seen. But then again, the others are popcorn fluff...doesn't take much to be superior.
One thing that's really nice is the lack of CGI. Leave it to Mr. Nolan to realize you can still put stunts in action movies.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/18/2008 9:07:37 PM
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todd_t
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quote:
One thing that's really nice is the lack of CGI. Leave it to Mr. Nolan to realize you can still put stunts in action movies.
That semi-truck flip stunt on LaSalle Street (when Batman and The Joker were playing chicken) was mind-blowing in how it was pulled off.
In Chicago last summer, I saw a few IMAX choppers hovering over the downtown area capturing aerial footage. It was cool to see the end results of that work on-screen.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/18/2008 11:58:18 PM
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Marcus.
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Just found this article. Thought you all might like it.
Dark Knight Shift: Why Batman Could Exist--But Not for Long
Batman is the most down-to-earth of all the superheroes. He has no special powers from being born on a distant world or bitten by a radioactive spider. All that protects him from the Joker and other Gotham City villains are his wits and a physique shaped by years of training—combined with the vast fortune to reach his maximum potential and augment himself with Batmobiles, Batcables and other Bat-goodies, of course. In the 2005 blockbuster Batman Begins, vengeful Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) hones his killer instincts in the streets for seven years before landing himself in a Bhutanese prison, where he falls in with the mysterious League of Shadows, who teach him the way of the ninja. The Dark Knight, the next movie in the Batman franchise, opens in theaters Friday. To investigate whether someone like Bruce Wayne could physically transform himself into a one-man wrecking crew, ScientificAmerican.com turned to E. Paul Zehr, associate professor of kinesiology and neuroscience at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a 26-year practitioner of Chito-Ryu karate-do. Zehr's book, Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero (The Johns Hopkins University Press), due out in October, tackles our very question. An edited transcript of the conversation follows.
Dark Knight Shift: Why Batman Could Exist--But Not for Long
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 1:32:21 PM
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ManimalX
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I would definitely recommend the movie. I don't go and see many movies in the theater twice, but I may be going back again.
SPOILERS AHEAD
I watched Batman Begins before going to see TDK last night, and the movies definitely flow together as part of the same story. A lot of times sequels will be a little disjointed from movie to movie, but not so with BB and TDK. The story flowed very nicely for a 2.5 hour movie, with more moral quandaries than you can shake a stick at. The action was frequent, intense, if a bit choppy during hand-to-hand scenes. I personally love a good martial arts scene, but TDK jumps around and changes angles every punch and kick and it was hard to conclude anything except "Yep, Batman beat the **** out of him".
As far as the score goes, well, I don't hate to say it: I was right. Elfman's work on Burton's Batmen blows TDK out of the water, then waits for the pieces to land, and blows those out of the water too. The music was dark and moody, and did an OK job of conveying the mood of the movie, but the only memorable moment was during a particularly tense scene during which the orchestra is reduced to a lone, high pitched violin a la Psycho. Otherwise the score was merely adequate. How many years has it been since Burton's first Batman? I still remember many parts of the score. Conversely, it has been 12 hours since I saw TDK, and I can't remember anything except the previously mentioned bit.
Ledger's Joker was exquisitely insane. The mannerisms he adopted to play this part were done "insanely" well: the constant lip licking, the eye twitches, the head tilts, the speech patterns with the inflections in the wrong place. Very well done. There would be no complaints from me if he won a posthumous Oscar. His dialogue was well written and well delivered, and Ledger's Joker definitely qualifies as one of the best movie villains of all time. That being said, I don't believe he surpassed the bar set by Nicholson's Joker in Burton's Batman. Perhaps reached it, but didn't surpass it as far as who played the better Joker. They definitely have their distinct differences, and there is definitely a time-gap between the two films as far as directing and filming techniques, but both Joker's are top-notch in my book.
Another nit I would like to pick was mentioned previously: Bale's speech while dressed up as Batman was really annoying. It was too deep and gruff, but the most annoying thing was how the mask pinched his nose and made him sound VERY nasally while pulling up his upper lip. I don't know whether this was done on purpose or not, but it was really distracting and severely annoying.
My last complaint is the voice-over at the very conclusion of the movie: "Sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded". In the sense of the movie, this makes a little sense. The people saw Harvey Dent as a truly noble person, so Batman and Gordon hid the truth that Dent had been broken by the Joker and turned into a murdering psycho. However, I think this last line was clunky and just not very intelligent overall. The truth is always good enough, and people deserve to have the truth, not to be made to feel good all of the time. Sometimes the truth has to be handled with grace and wisdom, but it is never "not good enough". Deception is the realm of the Enemy, which in turn perhaps makes Batman a truly "Dark Knight".
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 2:31:18 PM
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truthrevealed
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We were planning on waiting until this afternoon to see the movie but at the last minute decided to see the 11:15pm show(which was so packed we opted for the midnite show). WOW! I thought the reviews about Heath Ledgers performance(as the joker) were abit overhyped but NOT SO! I haven't seen as great an acting job in a loooong time. The movie was great! I left a bit saddened that this young man lost his life because he blew every other actor in the movie off stage(the others did a marvelous job---as expected)and you can only imagine the roles that would have come his way as a result of this movie. OSCAR WORTHY-for his performance!
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 6:56:21 PM
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stateofgrace
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Saw it this afternoon with my two teen girls in a packed theater. It was very well done, but IMO other than the Joker, somewhat minimalist as far as a superhero flick. High body count.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 7:43:37 PM
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gaylel1
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I wonder what FOTF's Plugged In is saying about the movie and is it morally uplifting for Christians?
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 7:52:08 PM
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howling wind
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My wife and I saw it in an IMAX theater earlier today and it was INCREDIBLE.
Favorite scene (**semi-spoiler**): the Joker walking out of the hospital is comedy at its finest.
quote:
ORIGINAL: gaylel1
I wonder what FOTF's Plugged In is saying about the movie and is it morally uplifting for Christians?
I prefer to go and see it myself and make my own opinion. And, yes, Batman does indeed turn out to be a morally uplifting character.
< Message edited by howling wind -- 7/19/2008 8:14:46 PM >
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 8:01:23 PM
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ManimalX
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ConstantReader
Manimal, Ledger's Joker owned Nicholson's. Jack's Joker was nothing but a glorified gangster. Ledger's is the most insane, demented, and psychotic killer since Tony Montana in Scarface. No comparison...it's a stretch of credulity to arrive at the conclusion you formed IMNSHO. 
The over-the-top, bland music from the older Batman flicks can't touch the etheral, moody, and otherworldly score recorded by Zimmer and Newton-Howard.
Differences in personal opinion. No big deal :)
Perhaps it was because of the time-period Burton's Batman was created in. Nicholson MADE the Joker character and a villain unlike any that had really been done before. Nolan's Batman is a re-imagining, and thus the Joker character was done very differently. Last time he was a more sophisticated mastermind, this time he is a deranged loner. Ledger did just as good a job as Nicholson, but to say he was "better" is comparing apples and oranges. The two Jokers were completely different characters.
As far as music, I know it is all personal taste, but I have a hard time understanding how anyone could argue that the new Batman score holds a candle to Elfman's brilliant work. I am curious as to your review of Elfman's score as "over-the-top" AND "bland".... Ethereal and moody are more apt descriptions of Elfman's work. Elfman's use of heavy horns with the orchestra was simply haunting, sometimes militant, and at times thrilling. It reminds me of something like Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King", or Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain". Elfman and Burton did a phenomenal job capturing the "goth" of Gotham city, and Elfman's melodious score had a lot to do with that.
Zimmer's score was just really... minimalist, may be the right term? Lots of looooong tooooones and sustained chords with little actual melody.... not my up of tea. Like Elfman, he did a good job of setting the mood of the picture, but musically it just doesn't rise above par for the course. In other words, lots of movies have moody music. There are some good themes woven in throughout the score, and I do like the "I'm Not a Hero" track, but listen to through some of the clips from TDK on itunes: the first track is just one long suspended note. Ditto for a lot of other cuts. It reminds me more of a radio-theater production, something like "The Shadow" maybe.
Anyhow, TDK was an exciting ride, and I had a supper-good time watching it, but it wasn't the "perfect" movie some are touting it as. Close, but not quite.
_____________________________
"But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed." - 2nd Peter 3:10
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 10:06:00 PM
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todd_t
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quote:
Focus on the Family's review was spot on.
It has some interesting comments, but I was baffled that the reviewer in question was dismayed that "TDK" was not a "family-friendly" picture.
Gee, what was your first clue?
Anyone who walked into "TDK" expecting to see "The Sound of Music" had no idea what they were in for. How could it be more obvious that it is not a film for kids?
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 10:39:51 PM
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alias007
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quote:
ORIGINAL: ConstantReader
Uh, no, it wasn't. More plays by Jim Dobson and the morality police, nitpicking every word and clothing style (tabulating profane words? commenting on women's "low-cut" dresses?). IMO, folks like Dobson and the fundy arm of American Christianity go way overboard criticizing every little thing they disagree with. Another reason I'm so upset at the contemporary American church. IMNSHO, it's gutless of folks like these to whine and moan and not offer any sound alternatives to entertainment, instead settling on giving us mediocre music (CCM, anyone? ), hacklike writers (Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti come to mind), and terrible movies (more like propaganda a la The Visitation and Thr3e). 
Uh, yes it was. It was very accurate in its analysis and it certainly did not condemn the movie. Granted, it was detailed in its content review. But, that's what family review sites like that (religious or not) are supposed to do. It helps families make informed decisions on whether or not they want to see a movie, after being given the information regarding the kind of content to expect.
I find your labeling Jim Dobson and Focus on the Family as "gutless" to be way off base. Not to mention off topic of this particular thread.
Having said that, I really enjoyed the movie. It was indeed darker than the first. Heath Ledger did an incredible job as The Joker. Wow, he was amazing. I wasn't really bothered by Batman's voice as others have noted. I just viewed it as a tactic to sound different than Bruce Wayne in order to avoid being recognized. Loved the part with the boats and what the big prisoner did.
The movie definitely lived up to all of the hype.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 10:56:33 PM
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gaylel1
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quote:
ORIGINAL: todd_t
quote:
Focus on the Family's review was spot on.
It has some interesting comments, but I was baffled that the reviewer in question was dismayed that "TDK" was not a "family-friendly" picture.
Gee, what was your first clue?
Anyone who walked into "TDK" expecting to see "The Sound of Music" had no idea what they were in for. How could it be more obvious that it is not a film for kids?
It may be because some impressionable kid wants to watch it And yes, kids do watch this sort of stuff.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 10:57:59 PM
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ConstantReader
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I think the "impressionable kids" will realize what they're "getting into" when they go see it...
Unfortunately, it's a bunch of overly-upset adults getting their knickers in a bunch concerning it.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 11:15:02 PM
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Marcus.
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It is rated PG-13 not PG. I wouldn't take a grade schooler to see this.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/19/2008 11:51:06 PM
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everythingat
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I'll take Oingo Boingo over either of the soundtracks. 
I will say that if you listen to the soundtrack after watching the movie, it will bring back a lot of memories of various scenes.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/20/2008 12:22:50 AM
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Ps103
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MODERATOR'S NOTE :: ATTENTION PLEASE
The topic of this thread is neither James Dobson nor Focus on the Family.
Discussing the review of the topic movie is fine, but off-topic rants about Dobson generally are not.
If you wish to discuss Dobson or FOTH, I suggest you start a thread in the Church folder, but do not do it here.
Please do not reply to this message within the Community.
Please email Community@salemwebnetwork.com with questions, comments, or concerns.
Please do not send me PMs regarding this message.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/20/2008 12:07:03 PM
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henny
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Burton's Batman films were OK, but I like the Nolan films better.
The only area in which the Burton films outshine the Nolan ones is in Elfman's score. I loved the score and have always associated it with Batman (maybe because they used it in the animated series from the early 1990s).
The scores for the Nolan films are fine and certainly get the job done, but there's really nothing memorable about them and they never stick in your head the same way Elfman's did.
Although that said, I actually don't think that Elfman's score would necessarily fit well with Nolan's version of the universe. Except for maybe the main title bit (which is somber and dark enough to fit), it has too much of a sense of humor to work in Nolan's world.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/20/2008 12:34:45 PM
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McFatty
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After seeing "the Dark Knight", I tried to watch "Batman Forever" today on TNT... within a few minutes I was laughing and reaching for the remote. The contrast is amazing.
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RE: The Dark Knight - 7/20/2008 1:19:03 PM
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todd_t
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quote:
After seeing "the Dark Knight", I tried to watch "Batman Forever" today on TNT... within a few minutes I was laughing and reaching for the remote. The contrast is amazing.
Agreed. The difference between Nolan's films, and those of Schumacher and Burton is like night and day (thankfully, for us).
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