Rating:
4.5 out of 5
Short version: The Dark Knight has raised the bar for the comic book superhero genre – it’s a Batman movie for grown-ups.
Screen Rant reviews The Dark Knight
It’s a funny thing about watching a movie you’ve been anticipating so much and for so long – you walk in with preconceived notions of what it should be like. This happened for me with Iron Man, and as it turned out that film nailed my expectations of what an Iron Man movie should be like.
However that very same sense of anticipation hurt my first viewing of The Dark Knight.
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Going in, while I was expecting an excellent film, I was also expecting something along the lines of Batman Begins – a superhero movie with more of a real world feel than your typical film based on a comic book character. That was actually one of the thithengs I really liked about Nolan’s previous movie – it was close enough to reality that I could really imagine a guy dressing up in a bat-suit to fight crime as shown in the film.
But The Dark Knight takes that concept and multiplies it. You’re not watching a superhero movie based in the real world here – you’re watching the real world and it just happens to contain a psychopathic criminal and a modern day samurai.
The film opens with a bank heist perpetrated by a bunch of guys wearing clown masks, and what seems to be the Joker’s initial arrival in Gotham City. The opening scene is brilliant and seems like it could have come right out of one of the “Bourne” movies. We also get insight into just how ruthless the Joker is as his henchmen have been instructed to kill each other after their particular tasks are complete (of course, they don’t know that they’ve ALL been given this instruction).
In a further demonstration of how much the Joker doesn’t care about or fear anything, the bank in question is where every mobster in Gotham City keeps their illegal cash – and that’s what the Joker is stealing.
Batman and Lieutenant Gordon are more concerned with shutting down the gangsters by choking off their funds than dealing with “just one man.” But oh, how wrong they are…
The Joker makes on offer to the heads of the crime families to kill Batman in exchange for HALF of their combined funds of $68 million. They scoff of course at first but soon enough they learn that they’ve gotten far more than they bargained for with our pasty-faced villain, who unleashes a reign of terror upon the city never before seen.
The Dark Knight is the closest of all the Batman films to one of the more mature reading level Batman graphic novels. This world is dead serious, and the Joker is no clown – he’s a deadly, dangerous, semi-suicidal psychopath who also happens to be brilliant. Now there’s a scary combination. Speaking of the Joker… Heath Ledger’s death was tragic, but if there was a role to leave as a legacy – damn, this one is it.
(Continued…)
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117 Comments
As we all expected and it’s great to hear that all the hype around Heath Ledger’s performance is warranted. I was concerned about that.
So is this going to be a box office record setting film?
We’ve certainly had enough discussion about that, haven’t we?
We’ll know in a few days.
Vic
Hm, your mentioning the long running time reminds me of when I went to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The big cgi battle inside the colosseum was coming to an end, I was all ready to leave (falling asleep in my chair), and suddenly she yells, “Look!”. *pew! pew! pew!* *Ugh*…
I’m imagining The Dark Night doesn’t even approach that same level of boredom.
You would be correct, sir.
Vic
I’ve heard some reviewers say that they feel like it went on too long, but they didn’t know what should have been cut.
An interesting dilemma, no?
Vic ,maybe after more of us have seen it
you can tell us the few things you didnt like about it .
1 see it on saturday.
Ahh Vicster, one of your best reviews, but I think this film should have gotten a 5 star rating. (Imo)
The problems you had were minor (Imo)
Yeah the films gonna break 160 mil. See you on the other side Bruce…. Overall in the long run TDK, will break Titanics record.
(Imo)
Saw this epic film last night in an easily sold-out crowd and as Vic, said a new bar has been set. I’m a big Ironman fan and was slightly thing think he would be the big film this year, but TDK will be king this year. Nolan takes the graphic novel(not comic book) and directed in a way that every adult Batman read DREAMED it would be… a Scorsese’s style, crime drama film!
IMHO, TDK is the iconic film of standards that once was own by the likes of Spidey 2, X-men 2, Batman Begins, and the resent Ironman.
IMHO, TDK is worthy of several Academy Awards nominations: best film, best drama, best support actor, best director, best screen write.
Heath Ledge is BRILLANT and difinently deserves an Academy nomination nod. Heath now OWNS his role that Jack N. once portrade. Jack N. was Jack N. in Joker costume, Heath is the JOKER, period! Aaron Eckhart is also excellent…actually the casting outstanding and almost flawless.
I could go on, but just really thought I’d give my 2 cents on this masterpiece. I’m willing to now admit that TDK will be 08′ #1 film and easily a top 5 mega-money block buster. Hope WB takes pride in the other DC main characters and BEG Marvel to either follow in the foot steps of Nolan or hire Nolan to take up Daredevil.
My rating: 5 out of 5, sorry Vic.
No worries, guys. I can see how people might give this a perfect score.
Vic
Nikki Finke reports that TDK has broken the 16 million dollar preview record set by Revenge of the Sith.
However, those are not final numbers for the night .
We shall see how it all shakes out .
790, i know you literally said it with a wink but even with a record breaking weekend , TDK wont break Titanics record .
Its interesting to note that Nikki finke reported yesterday that 1,700 of the tickets sold for TDK were for the 1201 show last night .
how could it NOT break records with presale numbers like that ?
Gary, I meant overall it will make more than Titanic.
Over the course of the year.
I hope!
It’s not going to beat “Titanic” despite all the opening weekend insanity. Inflation adjusted “Titanic” earned $900MM in the U.S. and almost $1.9 BILLION overseas.
That’s a grand total of $2.7 billion. I’m sorry, but TDK aint’ gonna do that. This is a case of “everybody wants to see it on opening weekend.”
Vic
I vote Aaron Eckhart for Captain America!
It will be the biggest money maker this year but beat out Titanic? That’s hoping for too much.
Well if any film will beat Titanic I think this has a good chance.
TDK won’t just have a great opening, it will have a huge run during the summer.
Even overseas countries are gonna like this film.
This film has a super high rewatchability factor.
790,
except there is no film that can beat Titanics record.
Getting into the billions is very tough.
Nikki Finke reports preview estimates are 18.4 million for TDK .
Beating Titanic is ridiculous. Some day with all the inflatoin some film will come along and make a higher number, but if you adjust the total gross no film will ever beat Titanic.
Titanic was a phenomenon and TDK sounds like it will be a phenomenon..probably already is actually..time will tell but TDK will put a lot of @$$#@ in a lot of seats!! GO DK !!!
Gone With the Wind adjusted for inflation actually beats Titanic and so does the original Star WarsDaniel Fenwick..so it’s already been done in terms of @$$#$ in seats..
thats true about GWTW & SW greenknight ,
I meant nothings going to come along this summer .
I am sure TDK will do well
just not “TITANIC” well.
Well TDK, broke the midnight showing record last night with 18mil. Sorry Titanic.
So that’s 18 mil for the first hour of the weekend.
Sombody do the math,
18.Mil x 72 hours, should give an estimate on how this could go.
Tomarrow this time we should have an idea how much this is gonna doooo.
I’m sure this will be a big deal at ComicCon toooo.
nikki Finke reports that the 18.4 million TDK made last night includes
a record 640K for IMAX theatres.
she is also estimating 60 million for TDKs Friday gross.
A very good flick; Ledger was brilliant and the movie was definitely a grown up affair. No major flaws in it at all. Although I thought the fight scenes could have been a bit better worked out and meaningful. Batman just pimp slapped everyone like they were absolutely nothing. No effort required at all. I like fight scenes to hve more at stake. Stil think Iron Man was a bit more exiting, with Downey’s performance on par with Ledger. Batman makes you realize how awesome Punisher and Daredevil should have been. Overall, Batman is an excellent movie.
4.5/5
Like I said if any film will break Titanics record over-time, it could be TDK.
This film in reality could be the first 200 mil weekend film ??
If that happens the buzz will fill the seats in other countries BiG Time.
It prob won’t beat Titanic only cause that was the utimate chick-flick of all time, but this is fun to watch happen.
Should be a busy weekend for Screen Rant with Batman and ComicCon at the same time.
I just saw this movie the other night and it was everything I expected, and a lot more. I could also say that if Batman Begins is considered to be the long-awaited “proper treatment” of the Batman franchise, then The Dark Knight can arguably be considered as the “proper” rendition of the Joker character.
I would really have to agree with you Vic, with regards to your observation that this was a movie set in the real world and it just so happened that there’s a psychopath on the lose and a “modern day samurai” is there to stop him. I think more superhero flicks should have this kind of treatment, but then again, I guess not all our comic book superheroes can fit in this kind of setting because the hero’s “super power” thing will get in the way.
Gary Oldman was on the radio a little while ago and he said two scenes in TDK were shot by Heath Ledger!
I agree John but just think how great Daredevil could have been with this kind of treatment and this kind of writing. If it had been properly adapted it could have been Marvels answer to TDK franchise.
@ Gary…Does the 60 million Friday estimate (I can’t believe 60 million freakin dollars) include the early screenings that started at midnight or just Friday nights numbers?
Cheers
Greenknight,I assume its from the start of the 1201 screenings on.
It was just a headline on Nikki Finkes website that said TDK:60 million Friday
TYVM Gary..
i went back to Nikki Finkes website website the 60 million figure is from Warner Bros.
its not an official estimate, but they are privately saying they beat Spider-Man 3s 59.5 debut.
i just wanted to be clear.
the only offically released estimate is
the 18.5 million for the previews .
Nikke Finke is saying the estimate for TDK is between 64-65 million for Friday,
and yes that does include the 18.5 million from the midnight showings .
The estimate over at Fantasy Moguls Is 66 million.
say, since this is a review thread
Who else has seen this thing?
This is my last prediction,,,,, sports fans,,,,
60+ for Friday.
57+ for Saturday..
63+ mil on Sunday…
=180mil beating Spiderman 3……
It should break 200mil by Wednesday beating another record.
Just saw it today, and frankly I was pretty much blown away. You’re right. Ledger disappears into the role. His presence has real gravity, it carries an oppressiveness at times that is alternately chill inducing and humorous. Completely self-assured, but not arrogant, the Joker is always the smartest man in the room and he knows it. I haven’t seen an actor truly inhabit a role so thoroughly in a very long time. Ledger never, even for a split second, gave off the impression he was acting. I’ve seen others perform roles where they achieve this level in fits and spurts, but rarely for an entire film. It is as complete a performance as I am ever likely to witness in my lifetime.
I would like to see it again, as some of the line readings came off as relatively low compared to sound effects and score making it difficult at times to hear somewhat important information. Now to the film’s credit, events are sometimes very well portrayed so that even if you missed some dialog, you can fill in the important parts yourself, but other times I was stymied. Is this a theater issue, or did anyone else have trouble hearing the dialog?
The final scenes with Dent seemed to be a little bit too monologue-y (they seemed a bit forced considering the situation) whereas in earlier monologues, I felt they flowed naturally from the situations and tone of the scenes.
All in all, I am reserving my final rating on this one ’till I get the opportunity to see it a few more times because quite simply it is a very challenging piece of work (much as Wall-E was for very different reasons) that made you really have to put the puzzle together without having it spelled out for you. That’s not a criticism either. I wish more movies made audiences use their heads a little. I think the over-reliance on exposition in recent years has led to something of a ‘dumbing down’ of our expectations. Hopefully “The Dark Knight” and “Wall-E” will help reverse the trend.
Well I just got back from the theatre, and after months and months of anticipation I have to say I was a little disappointed. Maybe because the last film was so great it’s hard to live up to Begins. The film was good don’t get me wrong but there were a few things that stood out. Heath was great as the Joker, Bale comes through again as well. The downside, the movie was on the long side, we could have done with Maggie G as Rachel, story is a little undeveloped, the transition that Two Face makes to become a villian doesn’t fit. All in all, good movie but I was expecting more.
I couldn’t disagree with you more Darthbalo. I thought this movie far surpassed Begins and my expectations.
I just got home from the matinee showing and I have to say that it was a great movie. I did, however, think it was a bit too long. Between the previews and the movie, it was almost 3 hours sitting in the theater. I had to go to the bathroom at the 2 hr mark and couldn’t leave because I didn’t want to miss anything!! I thought the movie started out kinda slow, but it definitely picked up at the end. I normally don’t care for Heath Ledger, but I have to say that he was awesome as the Joker. Bale is simply the best Batman ever. I’m only going to give it 4/5 stars because it WAS too long; parts in the beginning seemed to drag. Maybe if I watch it again without the thought of my bladder bursting open I will change my mind. I still like Begins better, though.
Wow!Did TDK deliver or what,an absolutely awesome movie from start to finish,I loved it.Everyone seems to be complaining that it was to long,but the time never bothered me,I was to busy enjoying the film.Some say it started out slow,I thought it just jumped right into the story and began to take us on a great ride.
Vic,I will say your right in giving it 4.5 stars as opposed to the full 5 stars,though.I thought Nolan could have done a better job in explaining how Harvey Dent goes from a man that’s disfigured to Harvey 2 Face a homicidal pschoypath.Also theirs a scene(I wont spoil it for someone who hasn’t seen it)where their is no explanation as to how it came to happen.
Heath Ledger should get the Oscar for his performance as the Joker,he nailed it.TDK should be nominated for best picture,along with Chris Nolan for best director.
BTW,I thought Nolan did a good job with the trailers in not giving the whole story line.
Selah
I’ve been eagerly waiting for this movie for too long. After seeing it tonight (non-IMAX this time, but next weekend…), I have to say I’d go with a 4 out of 5. I am taking Vic’s advice and seeing it a second time before judging.
My favorite scenes were almost all Ledger scenes, except for the Hong Kong capture. Heath is the man IMO, sad he won’t be able to reprise the role
Much more Killing Joke than I anticipated
BTW
Don’t know why sound editing is what I always focus on, but the bank heist and the convoy / car chase were brilliantly edited. Little to no score during those scenes added so much tension, I was glued. It reminded me of the Nepal saloon scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, a scene I have commended a few times on Screenrant. I cannot wait to see that on IMAX
My only problem with the film was how it all ended up with Two Face/Harvey. I won’t spoil it but I suspect most people know what I’m talking about at the end of the movie.
IMO the plot with Dent/2face ssemed rushed and not played out as they should gave been due to them trying to fit in as many , if not all, of the Ledger/Joker scenes. i think once they saw how great ledger was…they decided to go in a little different direction which caused the 2 face plot to almost seem incomplete…but great movie….great, great movie!! But the question is , where do they go from here?
Probably a variation on Frank Millar’s “The Dark Knight Returns” minus the older Batman angle. He’ll be considered an outlaw and will have to defeat some bad guy with both the police and public sentiment against him.
Vic
I liked the movie and all the performances, that being said I preferred Nicholson’s Joker. I know I am in the minority but when I look at the Joker, I think he is a good character because he is the polar opposite of Batman, I felt Ledger’s Joker was too dark. He was twisted and psychotic but I also liked the randomness of Nicholson’s Joker a little more. Plus, I read the comics alot, I am used to seeing the more traditional Joker. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Ledger’s performance and how he disappeared in the role, I just prefer the more traditional Joker. Try not to let me have it too much.
LOL, Shane, I actually think that Heath was much closer to the Joker as seen in the graphic novels (where they can push the envelope more) instead of the monthly comic.
To me Jack Nicholson as the Joker was… Jack Nicholson. On the other hand Ledger disappeared into the role.
Vic
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