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
@Vic
Yah, the whole deal with Batman being a secondary character is definitely one of its flaws, but it’s pretty minor since I’ve always like The Joker as a villain and Ledger did a good job with that. But I do think they should have balanced it out a bit more. The friend I went shooting with today actually just told me that he thought TDK was just “OK” and the only real criticism he kept mentioning was this fact. So apparently it was far more important to him than it was to me, because this one aspect alone would not have been such a big deal.
@ Last Laugh
Yah, I forgot to mention that one of my favorite things about TDK was its message of never backing down to terrorism! I’m not sure if it was intentional, but it was definitely there, same with 300.
To be honest Ken to me it sound an awful like you were saying the majority of the world agrees with you. By saying they are simply to afraid to admit it. I think the vast majority are honest with your opinion and you just wish more people agreed with you. I think the people who give an opinion on this movie mean what they say and aren’t afraid to tell the truth.
The war on terror thing may not have been in the script but it’s part of the conciousness that forms it, I saw several parallels, the most basic in the Joker’s anarchistic nature , how do you deal with someone who does not care about anything , even their own survival,in how the Joker tries to force Batman into reacting in anger, even to the point of killng him,[ the big-rig aftermath] partly because he doesn’t care about himself in the normal way , but also because ultimately if Batman kills him , he will have won by undoing his moral core which would destroy all he is trying to be. And also in the Joker’s underestimation of the positive possibilities of human nature during his ’social experiment’as,after all what can he base it on but his own experience of life and his own consequently warped humanity, It’s thought provoking but I don’t think entirely deliberate, just part of the collective unconscious.
There was some discussion of this in an article in Total Film [July Issue] Gary Oldman mentioned it in interview, from the perspective of his character and the problem of how you police anarchy.
And just for the record, I’m not afraid to speak out about negatives, they just don’t really incite me to write about them, I’d rather write about stuff I find exciting or thought provoking, but thats just me,:}
I should also say , I have no special interest in seeing ‘Terrorism’in everything,[before someone mentions that] .It’s just an interesting angle , As is the Mythic, what about Tricksters, In many cultures they are the ones which through anarchic , rule breaking behaviour, warped humour and malicious and often lethal tricks[think 'Coyote' or 'Anansi']teach the ‘Hero’ who and what he really is, Batman’s encounter with the Joker defines him in a way no other really could,because he’s no one dimensional character, and in a way, as he claims, ‘not crazy’ and ‘just ahead of the curve’ He is supremely clever at unravelling people and holding a mirror up to their weaknesses.It’s his only reason to live, like any Trickster worth his salt. :}
@ Daniel
I’m sure you like to feel like I’m an unrational person just because I have negative things to say about something you’re obviously a fanboy of. But unfortunately for you, I’ve never said or implied any of that. But you’re free to think what you like, this is a free country after all.
@ Last Laugh
Yah, don’t think I would like every movie to be about terrorism either, the reason why I loved that aspect is the fact that the current trend in movies tend to always have some political agenda in the opposite direction. Frankly, I’m pretty sick of it. I’ve never believed that anyone should crumble under terrorist pressure. Nobody should allow murderers to dictate their actions, so it’s nice to see a movie where the characters actually stand up to it.
“My point is that nobody would dare mention any of them about this movie even though I know people are thinking them”
“I feel like people are afraid to say bad things about it with the fear that they would just be called stupid and not a good judge of movies.”
In my last post that’s exactly what I said that you said. Look there it is right there in quotes copied and pasted from your posts. I’m by no means a fanboy I don’t care if you don’t like certain aspects of the film. I simply don’t like you assuming that there are a bunch of people who agree with you but are afraid to admit it.
Um, I said there are people who think it. Where did I say I think everyone, or heck, even MOST people think it? There ARE people who think this, if you’re expecting me to get defensive, I’m not going to change any of what I said just because you’re interpreting it in a way so you can convince yourself that I am an irrational person. Because apparently in your mind only an irrational person can actually have an objective view on the film, meaning both positive AND negative things and not just get all giddy like a school girl in love.
You can keep telling yourself twhat you think I meant all you want if it makes you feel better. You won’t hear any complaints here, whatever makes you happy dude, it’s a free country.
Ok, boys, settle down. Don’t make me separate you two.
We like to keep Screen Rant a friendly place.
Vic
What is wrong with you Ken? I don’t honestly care at all how you feel about the film this isn’t even about how you feel about the film. Have what ever view you feel is necessary. I’m just taking offense to you suggesting that there is even one person who is simply afraid to say they didn’t like it. Hate the film or love the film or just think it’s ok it honestly doesn’t matter. Just don’t assume that people are afraid to say they don’t like a movie. It doesn’t even make sense.
Sorry Vic I’ll drop the subject since he refuses to actually pay attention to what i’m saying an just assumes that I’m some how upset that he didn’t think TDK was perfect.
Hell I don’t even think TDK is perfect. I admitted the pacing toward the end was a little off. I hated the idea of killing off Two Face. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the new suit or the Bat Pod and as always I hate the Tumbler.
Sorry Vic if it seems like it’s going back and forth, but I’m really not even arguing with him. I am sincerely trying to let him know that he can tell himself whatever he wants to, but he insists on trying to tell me what I meant by what I said, as if I don’t know myself or something, lol. I don’t know, somehow he feels like what he’s saying is so complex that somehow I’m not understanding it. I understand exactly what he’s trying to say, it’s simply not the case, but I’m not about to tell him he can’t misinterpret things if he really wants to. Heck if I care, don’t know why he keeps pressing it, not sure what response he wants from me, I’m not trying to stop him from thinking whatever he wants to think.
Well, I really have nothing further to say, so if he wants to keep pressing the matter, I’ll just respond with “*knod* whatever you say.” I guess I probably should have done that from the beginning huh Vic. Sorry I didn’t think of that earlier.
I am so sick of Batman at this point,,,
That’s all I got.
Lol, don’t start that again…
Yes Yaaawwwwnn, no more of that pur-leeze people ;}
Should have been a five out of five
Oh no, call the Dark Knight police…
4.75 out of 5 – can’t think of a complaint. I can’t believe I waited until now to see this movie.
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