Did anyone else catch what I thought was excellent foreshadowing of the next bat-villain? I can only hope it's true.
As for the movie, I loved it. My only complaints would be the rather awkward editing in some spots and the dark, hard to see action sequences. Other than that, spot on!
I keep reading comments about this... I didn't catch it. What bit of foreshadowing was in the film, and who do you think it's foreshadowing for? The only bit of possible foreshadowing I came up with was that I could swear that Thomas Schiff (arrested during the parade) is the name of some Bat-villain although I can't recall who.
I hope they bring Harley Quinn in at some point. Maybe as the wife the Joker referred to at the one part, provided he wasn't doing a bit of chaotic evil BSing there.
Two-Face was awesome and looked like what someone who had half their face burnt off should. I actually would argue that as the film went on, Dent was almost more of a player than the Joker was.
I hope they bring Harley Quinn in at some point. Maybe as the wife the Joker referred to at the one part, provided he wasn't doing a bit of chaotic evil BSing there.
More than likely CE BSing there... He's changed his story of his background many times in the past... Almost to what suits his 'needs' at the moment. (In the moving he had two stories on the scars...)
I take it you mean he might have scheduling conflicts because he has trouble turning down work? He's good in good material but he takes a number of scripts that just are not good at all. Particularly, his odd genre work choices have been near disasterous.
A tremendous movie and a great performance by Ledger that will, hopefully, eclipse Nicholson's highly-overrated campy cartoonish capering. Anyone else notice how the Joker's final scene is a direct contrast to the Joker's final scene in the 1989 film (in regards to how Batman deals with the character)? It's a damn shame that if they want to reuse the Joker again that they'll actually have to cast someone else.
Also, anyone else notice that we got two supervillains in this movie (not counting that early cameo by
Scarecrow
)? That's right, multple villains in a movie and it didn't ruin it. So, now folks gotta stop complaining when they hear a movie's going to have more than one villain.
The only complaint I have is that I thought the "surprise" with Gordon wasn't very surprising at all (with the
extended silence from that one guard
telegraphing from a mile away), and it was kind of pointless, both froma a storytelling point of view and from the viewpoint of the character.
That did surprise me. I didn’t think Gordon was dead. But I did think “that guy” was, at some point going to pull the mask off and be the Joker. Then, when the Joker appeared, I thought it was going to be one of the Joker’s minions.
I thought it was a decent movie, even good, but not nearly as good as Batman Begins.
My main complaint is with the last third to quarter of the movie, which I found very rambling. I think that it could have been a little tighter. Specifically (spoilers), [sblock]The scenes on the ferries could have been easily cut. Spiderman-style crowd-wanking doesn't belong in a Batman movie. The guy who figured out Batman was good for a joke from Lucius, but otherwise extraneous to the plot. The last fight against the SWAT was much too tedious for what should have been the final action scene.[/sblock]
As dumb as this may sound, I also think that the movie tried to feature too much of the Batman psychology. I enjoyed all of it, but I think that it all came out a little too muddled to actually have the impact that the first movie had. For example (more spoilers), [sblock]The whole question of the movie seemed to be "What is Batman," which is a fair question and very interesting. The problem is that I don't think the movie did a good job qualifying that question. We ended up with "What is Batman to Bruce," and the subsequent man vs. self introspection of if he should be Batman; the "Is Batman a freak," question in comparison and contrast to the Joker and Dent; "What is Batman to Gotham," leading to the "what is my place/purpose" question; and "Is Batman a hero," spiel that is kind of tacked on to the end. I think they should have picked two (either Bruce/Gotham or Freak/Hero) and save the other. Personally, I think the former works better for this movie, and moving the latter to a possible third movie. Having both leads to scenes such as the fake Batmen - interesting, but not followed through on.[/sblock]
What I specifically liked:
The opening sequence, which sets the stage that Batman has been doing this for a while now. The cameo was cool too. There's another point they call this out, when they indicate that the Joker has been around for a bit. It also sets the stage well for
The "What is Batman to Bruce"
idea.
Pretty much all the actors and characterization. The notable exception is the utterly annoying Rachel Dawes, but that's a given. The stuff with the minor cast (the cops, the mayor, the comissioner, etc) was excellent. They pretty much nailed the Joker.
I'm not a big fan of scales, but I'd give it a 7/10. It's a decent movie, but not as good as the sequel, and certainly not the best movie ever. For reference, a 5/10 is completely unremarkable; a 3/10 would be notably poor; and I would put Batman Begins at 8/10.
That seems to be some kind of idiosyncrasy of Nestor Carbonell's. It's bugged me ever since he started to be a recurring character on LOST.
As for the idea of Mr. Freeze being a villain in the next movie, I think it's probably unlikely. His abilities/powers seem too far removed from the Crime Noir/gritty "reality" feel that Nolan is going for with his Batman movies, and I believe he's gone on record as saying "no powers" at one point.
I think a Catwoman could work, especially if you go with the vigilante take on her (as opposed to the cat burglar take); there could be parallels with Batman's own vigilantism, but pit his morality against her own looser code of conduct. Plus, there's the tension of a romantic angle that otherwise wouldn't be there if they went with contrasting vigilantes (like with, say, a Robin character- playing up the angle of Batman copycats introduced in this one.)
I don't think she would be a good enough "villain" on her own though; maybe a Rupert Thorne character comes to finally unify the mob in Falcone's wake, and they bring in Deadshot to take down Batsy.
Another character I think could really work well in Nolan's vision would be Hugo Strange- if you do a riff on the "Strange Apparitions" story by Englehart. He discovers Bats' identity but won't reveal it to the mob; Thorne has him killed, but he manages to survive, and then decides to take on the Batman's identity for himself.
It was okay, not the best movie of the summer for me and not as good as Batman Begins, which was a surprise. Dark Knight just lack something to hold my interest, I do think that Harvey Dent steals the movie, he was such a better character than The Joker or Batman.
7/10
(Someone just moved up my list on lead as Captain America!)
