I finally saw the new Batman movie, and I have to say: While pleasantly surprising in unexpected ways, the movie was far more disappointing in other respects.
Ten Reasons Why I Think “The Dark Knight” is overhyped:
1. Sure, Chicago is an excellent choice over New York. Magnificent historic architecture, fabulous lake side location with a somewhat futuristic canal instead of an ordinary river. 
But how on earth did they manage to make Chicago look so boring and plain?!? Could they not spare more than minimum wage for cinematography? Gotham City was always intended to be a dark city with dramatic features and obviously a Gothic nature. Think Caspar David Friedrich cathedrals. (see pic) And no, this does not have to mean a Gotham that is steeped in dark fantasm. Such a Gotham can be portrayed in a realistic manner with a film noir cinematic style. Think German Expressionist cinema which (for the most part) employed no real special effects whatsoever, but instead relied on skilled directors and cinematographers playing with contrasts between light and dark in Gothic settings and Romanticized nature scenes. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight is not ‘realistic’ or ‘modern’, it simply lacks decent cinematography. I find that particularly disappointing in light of the ‘hype’ surrounding Nolan’s style and choice of Chicago.
2. The Geriatric Joker. He’s not much of a joker, is he? And what’s with the lizardine tongue gestures and constant sound of oversalivating? A spit sucking Ledger plays the joker like an elderl
y man with Parkinson-like movements and too much drooling. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised with Heath Ledger’s appearance overall. Some of his previous movies like A Knight’s Tale and The Brother’s Grimm had given me a less than favorable impression of his acting (and besides: I’ve always found Australian accents painful to the ears, reflecting their heritage as common British criminals). Nevertheless, he created a unique interpretation of the Joker that better reflects the Joker’s madness and love of chaos. A joker is traditionally a funny character, but also a character that speaks the truth that nobody wants to hear. He is an uncanny character whose humor perhaps make us laugh because of the absurd truth that lies at the heart of his jokes. The Joker makes people nervous. As British playwright Howard Barker once wrote: “Laughter conceals Fear”, and Ledger got this ancient truth that underlies the figure of the Joker/Jester. I just wish he’d remembered that this truth must be revealed through comedy for the people to listen.
3. The Bat Cave. Could somebody please explain to me why the Bat Cave looked like a large deserted milk bottling plant? Why does it have to be an enormous empty open space, utterly lacking in imagination and devoid of cool gadgets or style? Is that Nolan’s idea of realism??
4. Batmobile vs Lamborghini. So if we’re going for a realistic look, then why does the bat mobile look like a crappy remodeled plastic spaceship from a 1960s SciFi movie?? Thank god for the Lamborghini that Bruce breaks out towards the end of the movie, that offers ‘some’ redemption after that hokey batmobile.
5. Does Batman have a voice modulator installed in his vocal cords that he can magically turn on with his tongue when he puts on his cape?? Why does Christian Bale suddenly sound like a stalker with a $9.99 mod device from Walmart as soon as he turns into Batman? Couldn’t they just have found an older actor with a more masculine voice to do Batman?
6. “Hey, why do the prisoners get to go on a boat first?” “Well, go ahead and join the felons if you think that’s better” Because of course, it’s better to be burned alive by the Joker than to get on board a boat with a bunch of handcuffed American ‘felons’ who may have done things as terrible as sell an ounce of marijuana *gasp*
7. [I have since retracted this criticism, see comment for an explanation] And speaking of the felons, and the other boat: Do you seriously think large crowds would have remained so calm in the face of destruction? Yeah right. Fat middle aged housewives trample people to death each year to get into Walmart on Black Friday to buy a DVD and some half price mumus. Do you really think they’d sit back and relax knowing they’re about to die?? And of course a boat full of criminals will gladly obey a bunch of retard cops when they’re facing death (and a crowd of civilians gung-ho for harsh treatment of everyone who commits even the smallest offense).
8. The lack of development in a flimsy triangular relationship that really doesn’t raise much sympathy with its superficial nature and cliche dialogues. And then she dies, story over? Cheap excuse for easy
Batman-motivators. Ohhh the conflict…. (Though at least we got a great shot when the girl says: “I know they’re coming to save ME, but they should save YOU, my lover!!”, only to then see the horror on her face with a look of “Oh shit, they’re NOT coming to save me? WTF!!!” as Batman breaks into the room where her lover is being held prisoner. They could’ve just shown her as a heroic martyr, relieved to discover that her beloved is rescued, but at least Nolan has the guts to show her much more realistic cowardice and horror.
9. The “deep” symbolism of the coin. It has two ‘heads’-sides, you see! He’s in control of his fate. But not really, because the coin becomes charred on one side, clean on the other. Naturally, this foreshadows his two faced nature and internal struggle between good and evil, light and dark. And of course his literal ‘two-face’: The charred dark side, and the bright clean good side. Nolan overstates the symbolism by making the coin central to the latter part of the movie, referring back to his ‘brilliant’ plot device over, and over and over… And we’re continuously reminded of the hackneyed internal human struggle between madness/chaos and civilization/reason also symablized through the half charred coin AND face. I’m sure Christopher Nolan considers himself the heir to Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents. So deep…
10. And finally… boy what great current events commentary on illegal wiretapping. Batman, taking justice into his own hands like a veritable George ‘W’ Bush, creates the ultimate wiretapping scheme, using sonar. Fortunately his right hand points out that such a scheme is immoral, and though he will help him fight the terrorists, I mean the joker, the machine must be destroyed upon completion of this task, or he will resign. Upon Batman’s victory, the machine is destroyed, because while wiretapping is warranted in a time of war, it is immoral and must be abandoned as soon as the war is over. Batman does what is needed, but eventually proves heroic and fair to his people. What a profound and centrist truth, Nolan! (Looking for a job as running mate perhaps? It would clearly suit you better than the job of filmmaker!)
Perhaps the movie would have been better if it had features more scenes with veteran thespian Michael Caine, and the stunning Lamborghini…
Reveries of a Solitary Walker 
Quit looking for reasons to thrash a popular new movie. It was a very entertaining film. Sure, you can take a stand and be the friend that says “I didn’t like this!” when everbody else does, but come on! The bat cave this is explained in “Batman Begins” which you clearly did not see. They used Chicago, Hong Kong, London and studios for the sets. A “realistic” city would probably look like…Chicago? How about that! I really just have to disagree with you on every point you’ve made here. Ledger was fantastic as the Joker, and the Australian accent crack was just a cheap shot at Aussies and Brits whom you clearly have distain for. This wasn’t a “German Expressionist” film. It was a summer blockbuster that has made well over $300 million dollars thus far. It’s an interpretation of a comic book character that delivers action for two and a half hours. Ever think the cell phone sonar was just a cool trick and not political commentary? Maybe “Harry Potter” is about how everyone is gay because they run around with phallic wands and point them at each other’s faces. Go find something else to stew up a conspiracy theory about and leave the damn movies out of it, that’s one place people can still go to escape the bullshit of society.
oh my god..its finally happend!! a batman movie thats actually good..ive seen it 4 times already and every time i cant help but go back to the yesteryears where George Clooneys nepples were his greatest weapons as batman..check out this hilarious stand up clip i found the other day..batman gets a black boy wonder!!..funniest stuff ive seen in months
http://effinfunny.com/wyatt-cenac/foster-cave
Ahh Aaron, yet another misguided teenager who thinks selling millions is an indication of quality… I’m sure you think Britney Spears is a musical genius, because she sold millions of records, ‘am i rite’? And by the same reasoning, Van Gogh sucks because he only sold one work during his lifetime, ‘am i rite’?
Perhaps I can ease your fears of being an individual by telling you: “It’s okay to dislike something large crowds love”
As for disliking Brits and Australians, I only dislike Australians, and mostly for their trashy accent really. (But I understand, as an American who speaks no foreign languages, you probably think accents are “charming”, am i rite?) You might have noticed I praised the British actor, Michael Caine, as the best actor in the movie. And I certainly enjoyed living in Britain for years.
As for comic books, I actually consider older comic books to be the literary heirs to film noir and expressionism. That is precisely why this style would be so appropriate for these movies. If you grow up without any interest in, or curiosity about current affairs, as some teenagers like you do these days, then you might entirely overlook the social relevance of classic comic book themes, and their common status as icons of morality and heroism in an industrialized society riddled with immorality, much like our society now.
See http://www.newsweek.com/id/145508/page/1 for an interview with Batman director Christopher Nolan, where he discusses the political echoes he has tried to create in the movie, as well as a potential parallel to Baghdad. Various respectable newspapers drew similar comparisons, such as the Wall Street Journal (a ‘grown-up’ newspaper as you might refer to it).
So, if you’re ready to grow up, take your ADHD meds, and form a genuine, individual opinion, based on constructive analysis of a movie and an interest in current affairs, perhaps you might want to try German Expressionist cinema some time. Wiki it, since I’m sure today is the first time you ever heard that term.
(PS: If you’d actually read beyond the title, you would have noticed most of my reasons actually also include extensive praise for various aspects of the movie)
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
hahahahahahahahaha
It is overhyped. And yes, when all the hype settles down, I think people will realize it wasn’t as good as it’s being made out to be right now.
But that’s only because the hype is so huge right now. I’m pretty certain it will still be seen as a great film years down the road.
While you bring up a couple good points, most of this was pretty hard to get through. You spent an entire paragraph complaining about two-face’s damn coin!
This isn’t why the film won’t stand the test of time. It’s 10 (mostly subjective and superficial) reasons why you don’t like the film.
Michael:
A critical analysis of the cultural heritage of Gotham city in light of film noir, German expressionism and romanticism is a “superficial” reason for disliking the film?
A comparative analysis of the joker in traditional literature and culture and Heath Ledger’s joker, with consideration of the nature and purpose of the role of a jester, is a “superficial” reason for disliking the film?
A comparison of parallels between Batman’s controversial sonar wiretapping system and the current US government’s controversial and also immoral wiretapping legislation, similarly used to fight ‘terrorists’, is a “superficial” reason for disliking the film?
Then I’d love to hear you give a “real” non-superficial reason for why you think the film is good or bad!
I’m really amazed that people like you and ‘trombone_man’ can so mindlessly support something simply because it’s being hyped up by the media. And then when anyone gives a thorough critical analysis, you all get upset and start claiming that the analysis is flawed (without giving a single reason), and that the movie is great because “it sold lots of tickets”. Do you kids ever actually stop and think about why you like or dislike something?
PS: The long paragraph about the coin was obviously intended as an ironic echo of the movie’s continuous obsession with and overuse of the coin symbolism.
Don’t get too worked up. Really, it’s not that big of a deal.
You gave an opinion on the movie. I gave an opinion of that opinion. Sure it was half-assed but I wasn’t really willing to put much more effort into it at the time.
It was a merely a comment on your post. Not so much a “rebuttal.”
I “support” the film because I personally found that it was very entertaining, had depth, and was thought-provoking. I guess I’m just not smart enough to dislike the film and “see it for what it is.” Eh…I could live with that.
It’s funny that you only cited 3 of your TEN reasons in your recent reply. In my original comment, my main complaint about this post was that “MOST” of it sucked. I did indeed say that you may have brought up a couple of good points. Judging by your reply, it seems that by YOUR count, I guess it was THREE good points. Out of 10. Good job.
Okay, while trying not to get too worked up, I’ll put a little tiny bit more effort into my comment this time by scrolling back up and skimming your post again…
Alright. Reason #3,4,5,6, and 7 seem pretty superficial and subjective to me. So half of your 10 big, bad reasons are weak-sauce. Give me a break. (I also don’t think you had seen “Batman Begins” at the time you wrote this post.)
And #2 and #9 are also borderline. As for #2, Ledger was trying to portray a certain interpretation of the character of “The Joker” from the Batman storyline, not necessarily trying to stay true to the “role of the jester” (which The Joker himself is a TWIST and play off of). So maybe he strayed a bit from the “traditional jester.” Oh well. It worked for me. I also thought Ledger’s Joker was funny. He made me laugh at moments throughout the film.
Okay, so at least in my own personal view, 7 of your 10 reasons are fairly weak. And even #1 seems like a pretty minor reason for discrediting a good film. It’s not like the film made Gotham look like Hollywood, CA.
I could understand #10, although I think Nolan was saying something a bit different than your interpretation of it. I was able to get myself to overlook it because I felt invested in the characters and was caught up in the plot. So it worked in the context of the film and my own viewing.
#8 is…well, it’s a love triangle. Those usually don’t turn out well. It isn’t too big of a part in the overall story though. But you’re right.
Anyway, so it’s possible that you made a whopping 2, maybe 3, good points. And even those are debatable.
P.S. the coin is a big part of Two-Face’s character. they kinda had no choice but to show (and sometimes explain) the coin a lot. Maybe they showed it too much. I always found the Two-Face character sort of gimmicky anyway.
And again, I’m sorry. Maybe you’re just way too smart for this film and I’m just a part of the idiotic, stupid masses. In that case, please simply ignore my ignorance and go on with your smart, well-informed and better-educated badass self.
Alright…I think I’m all commented out.
Hi Michael, thanks for your comments. I’m more than happy to accept people’s positive opinion of the movie, as long as they can support their opinion with reasonable points!
And if you examine my ten points, a number of them are actually quite positive. Ledger’s approach is largely justified in my opinion (contrary to many other critics who found him too serious) because as I wrote “As British playwright Howard Barker once wrote: “Laughter conceals Fear”, and Ledger got this ancient truth that underlies the figure of the Joker/Jester.” I’d be happy to see Ledger receive an oscar for his performance.
Since I didn’t have time yesterday to go into more than three points, here’s a quick addition
#1 You’re right, it wasn’t as bad as it could be, but I’ve also seen far better, and the promo poster was well done and suggestive of far better cinematography. I would call the result mediocre at best, forgettable.
As for point 4: Nolan has tried to emphasize repeatedly that he was going for a more realistic feel, with fewer special effects. I found the batmobile particularly hokey in light of that fact. Had the movie been more comic book like, it would’ve been fine. Why not go for somethign that looks more like an existing concept car, or http://www.bagofnothing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/2002-markshields.com-1989-keaton-batmobile-replica-DSC01311.jpeg for example? I felt Nolan’s batmobile was inconsistent with his vision, and I honestly don’t think that’s a superficial criticism, but maybe you’d disagree?
And people trampling each other on a boat… you’ve seen news stories of people trampling others at sales, or at busts of nightclubs for example, or in case of fires. My criticism lies not so much in the realism of that moment, but in the idea that this forms the climax of the movie where the Joker is finally proven wrong in his view of humanity. Humanity only acts heroically though, because that same crowd has already proven to be completely unlike actual human beings in their capacity to deal with danger. How can a director allow the ultimate ‘proof’ of human nature to rest on such a gross inaccuracy? A serious flaw that makes the climax laughable.
As for 10, I have no idea what Nolan intended to say with it, though it undeniably plays with current controversies. My reasons for feeling that was not a positive addition, was precisely because Nolan made no point with it whatsoever, except maybe some cliche lines about immorality. Why try to get attention by addressing current affairs, and then make no point at all with them? Seems like a cheap shot at attention imo
How about the voice mod for Batman? You honestly didn’t find that annoying? It made me laugh every time I heard it because it sounded so ridiculous. And that int urn obviously means the ‘fourth wall’ is broken, and it becomes hard then to continue identifying with the character and taking him seriously.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but mostly the point I want to make is this:
I find the movie forgettable, mediocre. I gave good reasons for that belief. If someone else finds good reasons for why they think the movie is good (and you gave some in your response, and I even wrote some in my own post), then I’m happy to accept those as well.
All I want is someone to critically defend their reason for liking/disliking a movie. Sadly most (not all, and not your) opinions go something like this:
“The movie is obviously awesome, because it sold lots of tickets” (See above)
“The Wall Street Journal is an asshole who likes to fuck men, because he doesn’t like this movie, and everybody else does” (See Rotten Tomatoes)
“Batman was totally awesome, and like, Heath Ledger was, like, awesome” (see CNN article)
And if that’s all people can come up with to defend why they think the movie is great, then I must conclude that they have been grossly misled by a corporation sinking a lot of money into viral marketing.
This movie sucked big time… I left before it was over and felt ripped off it every way!!!
Dark Knight sucked the BIG one!!!!
11 for a Batman movie he was barely in the movie, Why wasnt the movie called “The Joker”?
12 lackluster performances by all the LEADS except Ledger, I swear did Bale, Eckhart and Gyllenhal nip into the ambien just before shooting?
13 craptacular action shots, I’m not fond of the whole flying martial arts thing but at least then I can SEE the action
Personally looking back at 40 years of watching movies, I think those three things will sink the movie over the long term.
Very well written and thought out list!
Your first two “reasons” had a point, but the rest were uh…not so great man. The “batcave” you mentioned, isnt the bat cave. The bat cave makes no appearance in this movie, thats his current base until wayne manor is rebuilt. That would be why its so empty, its like a back up. Now, the Batmobile, is REAL vehicle made for the movie, complete with not plastic, but real armor plating. You can say you think it looks plastic all you want, but it doesnt change the facts. Also, for the whole chicago looking terrible thing, you are the first person i have heard that complained about the cinematography, to everyone i know, it was pretty stunning, especially if you saw it in imax, although i do agree that gotham is supposed to have a gothic nature to it, and it completely lacked that. And now the coin, let me get this straight, you are complaining because the film has too much symbolism and depth?….for you, I recommend the movie called “The Marine” starring John Cena, I think that would fit your taste alot better. Now I have heard from alot of you people criticizing this movie that it has alot of bush references, and I think that is pretty funny. Of course if you dont like bush, and you dont like the dark knight, your gonna say they have alot in common. And as for your final note, I do think it would be cool if it had more Caine, but oh well.
On another note, I find it very easy to see why you and many others hated Bales voice. In my opinion, in the first scene of the movie when he says “im not wearing hockey pants!” actually made me feel a little embarrassed in a way, but also, I thought it sounded great in certain scenes, for instance, when he first sees gordon in the bank vault, I thought it sounded very good. In general, pretty much when he was just standing there talking to someone, I usually thought it sounded very good, but it seemed like anytime he was doing anything else, it would break up and sound terrible. I can see how that would ruin some important scenes for movie goers. Overall to me I think the problem with it was it was extremely inconsistent, which could have been a result of not practicing enough.
I am a fan of the film overall. There were a lot of things that were done well…the same way BB did a lot of thing right. However I have several major gripes that prevent me from falling all over it the way many have in their online reviews.
I could not agree with you more regarding the Chicago location for the shoot. It just looked like a run of the mill city and nothing like Gotham has ever been portrayed. Even in BB there are some great shots of the city that give you a feel as to the scope it has. To me the backdrop of Gotham has to be set to really feel the movie and this was not done in TDK.
Secondly the batsuit looks more like the Green Goblin’s suit of armor from the original Spiderman movie than something Batman would wear. Once and for all this has to be done correctly. For starters it should be jet black and there should be no need to ‘explain’ why the suit must be jointed to allow for movement. It’s a given that Batman can’t move all that great in these suits and there is NO WAY one could be used in real life/hand to hand combat. So as for making the suit more functional and spending time explaining it to me is wasteful. I continue to contend that the suit in Forever was perfectly fine with the exception of the nipples. Take those off and frankly it looks great.
As for the Batcave I accepted that it was a temporary set up but it didn’t need to be so well lit. I can life with it being off site from Wayne Manor but it would have been a nice touch to give it a darker ambience.
I am also sick of the “Tumbler” version of the Batmobile and was happy to see it destroyed. With any luck that will be the last of it. Batman driving around in some plated tank is not what I read in the comics. Let’s get this franchise out of the ‘realism’ kick that it’s on and get a bit closer to what it was intended to be…a action comic book movie with dark tones and a great detective story.
As for your point on ‘wiretapping’ if I read you correcctly the sudden invocation of morality/ethics into this film. Batman is a vigilante and Fox has no problem for better than a year helping him in every way possible. Even in the comics and past movies Batman has the ability to tap into law enforcement databases. Suddenly we need to hear about how this creates an ethical dilemma when a mass murdering psychopath is on the loose. PLEASE…someone save the policital angle and its relevance to a post 9/11 world for a speech at the Oscars. Seriously where was Fox’s objections when in Begins when the Tumbler was both running over and flipping random police cars??? I don’t pay $10 to hear about such nonsense at a movie about Batman.
So because its popular its not allowed to be criticized?
Because its popular is it above judgment?
Just because its popular doesn’t make it good; it just means that a vast amount of people are stupid.
2 million people CAN be wrong, just look at Scientology.
lol Couldn’t agree more, Aaron!
I agree 2 million people can be wrong, and I think this site does have some good points to actual flaws to the movie, because of course every movie has flaws. But just because the vast majority is against your personal opinion, doesn’t make them stupid.
yeah this movie sucked a grapefruit through a straw, and its kind of refreshing that there really are people who realize its just another overrated hollywood movie… for me the worst thing was nolans pseudo-hyper-realism-thing for im a great comicfan (joker with makeup, no “batmobile”, batwing etc pp) i would have find it kind of consequent, when batman would have been dressed in a black ploce-suit with a ski-mask instead of his costume… and the joker should have been juast a normal-dressed guy with a pin on his jacket ;) ….
THIS MOVIE SUCKED !!
THE WORST BATMAN MOVIE !!!!!!!
IF U HAVENT SEEN IT .. YOUR BETTER OFF JUST WATCHING THE TRAILER !!!!
who cares about the plot or whatever. the film has no heart. it is dead pointless hype. a meaningless distraction. a ride at an amusement park. rascal flatts painted black.
Its not that the film had no heart, its that YOU have no heart, if you couldnt recognize all of the symbolism in that movie, then you shouldnt be saying that IT had no heart.
Dear MAKER OF THIS WEBSITE
Your A Little Braty Cunt.
ITS THE BEST F**KING FILM OF ALL TIME
AND YOU HAVE THE NUTS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IT ON A PATHETIC LITTLE WEBSITE.
THREE WORDS-GET-A-LIFE
Fuck The Scenery, Its ABout The Actors And Whats Happening For Pity Sake
Heith Ledger Was Amazing At Playing It, And You Seem Like An Old Person Yourself Since Your Complaining About His Every Action,Sound And Looks.
And As For Whatever Crap You Wrote After That (Which I Didnt Give A Monkeys To Read Cause Its All Prob Sh!te) I Just Put My Middle Finger Up At You And Say ‘Pfft Id Like To See You Do Better’…
You Dont Even Deserve To Say,Type Or Even Think About The Word ‘Batman’.
And As For The Rest Of You WHo Commented Here…
Id Say, Judging By What Youve Said Here, That You Spent Most Your Life Wanking Over A Lil Picture Of Batman. And Then You Have A Fanny Attack All Because Of…Well I Dunno What Over,Since The Film Was Fuking Fantastic.
Burn In Hell. And Im Glad You Think Youve Waisted Your Money, You Deserved To Have Lost It. F**kers
please do email me if you really are bothered by my kind, fabulous and point-prooven-right comment… emailmeifyoudonthavealife@hotmail.com
sorry a slight miss-type there
kitten_coble@hotmail.co.uk
(seriously email me if you really think your right, WHICH YOUR NOT…cunts ¬_¬)
Oh And Your Just Great At Making Your Points Into Jokes… Id Laugh At Them, But Im Too Busy Laughing At Your Pathetic Attempt To Proove A Loosing Point That the Batman Film Sucks! Which It Doesnt.
I Hope People Who Think It Sucks Chokes On What Youve Made them Laugh At…
EG-‘Ledger plays the joker like an elderly man with Parkinson-like movements’
HAHAHAHAHA-no
smooth, just smooth ‘brightviolet’
I Hope YOU Get Parkinsons Disease…I Really Do
And Heith Ledger Is A Heith Ledgend, And Dont You Wear it Out ;)
Much Fuking Love
x)
WOW Jade you need a life and a dictionary..
At least spell your invective correctly..
geez…people need to relax a little. Just a blog post. Just some discussion. Just a movie.
Channel all that energy into eliminating poverty or something.
Since when the DK hype is something similiar to Al-Qaeda? Why all the zealotry where criticizing the movie is like poking fun at Islam? Pathetic
Wow, just because you can throw some big words around doesn’t make you justified, I agree that TDK is over hyped, but really you just made up some shit and justified yourself by saying you are more cultured than “americans” and I kind of just find you pathetic. I mean reasons 1,2, 3, and 4 are completely personal, reason 6 and 7 are because its supposed to be arkham asylum and prison where all of the maximum security prisoners as well as crazies are kept. Proving you did not read the comic book and are ignorantly disdaining the heritage of the setting. Reason 9 again proves your ignorance of the character and that any other portrayal than the two headed coin with subsequent gash would really not follow the history of the character. Lastly, Reason 10 proves you are completely bullshitting. 5 and 8 I agree with. I would not be surprised if you were a prepubescent american who wrote this to be funny and used a thesaurus. I personally would not go through this much effort to be silly at any age, but I guess you are immeasurably bored.
Dear John,
I’m sorry you had difficulty reading the big words on my website. I’m afraid I’m required to use them in my line of work, but I assure you that I will try my very best to remember the limited intellectual capacity (= how well you understand difficult words and concepts) of some internet users by using simple language. Thank you for visiting my blog.
It wasn’t that bad of a movie. Honestly. Disregarding the reasons why everyone hates it; i found it to be rather intresting. By the way, Heath Ledger was a good joker.
hello all,
ok. i have spent nearly an hour reading through all of these responses and i must say that i am not very impressed.
i will say that i really liked the movie. I thought that it was a knock out of the park but, i would like to start by saying this. THIS IS A FICTIONAL MOVIE. Now, i understand that for anybody who has even a small education in literature will probably disagree with me however, i am a big fan of not reading into movies/stories too much. Sometimes a great work of fiction can be taken on faith and face value and be great.
I am quite sure that i could pick up a book on criticism and go through chapter by chapter and and take this movie apart in every way (historically, feministically, look at it from a reader response point of view, social-politically, etc.) but, that does not determine if the movie was good or not.
Only you can decide if you like it or not. Me, I loved it. I find it very pleasing to see an ordinary man stand up and be unshakable in his morals and fight for everyone equally against evil. How can anybody not enjoy that. In fact, i find that if you read to much into a movie then you can actually miss the point of it. It is supposed to be enjoyable to watch. If you did not find it so then you did not like the movie. leave it at that.
Also, I find it very hard when serious people go to see a movie about super heros and then compare them to real life. These stories are not about real life and they are not supposed to be. Sure they will have parts in the story that speak to the crowd that was meant to watch it but, lets face it, that is what gets people into the movie and interested. It is even the same stuff that gets you and I on a webiste like this talking and sharing ideas and feelings about this movie. If you want to look at it that way then the fact that we have spent unknown hours reading, developing, and writting responses to each other tells me that the movie was a major success because it got the audience engaged. Also, if you are about to walk into a superhero movie to tear it apart there were parts of the movie that seemed unlikely or “super”, then i must tell you to relax, its just a movie.
I have loved the Batman character my whole life, from when i was a little guy right up until now. My father actually loved the first set of batman movies because he said that when he was growing up, that is how the comics were, a little bit rediculous (bat nipples, batman forever credit card, etc.) I did not agree with him because i grew up with the dark knight. That is why i loved this movie.
As for the jokers performance, flawless. You must remember that the joker is a madman. who are you to say how he acts. Ask yourself if you would be scared to meet him in a dark alley. if the answer is yes, then he did his job correctly. I personally would never like to meet somebody who even approached the level of insanity that Ledger put to screen. And if you have never read the Dark Knight comics then i suggest that you do the joker/batman relationship is exactly as it is played out in the movie (to quote “this is what happens when an unstoppable force meets and inmovable object”)
In real life yes, people may have freaked out on the boats and killed each other but, that is not the point of the movie. The point of the movie is to show that people are inherently good and will make the right decisions when tested. it validates batman. what kind of shitty movie would it have been if they all killed each other. the joker would have won, batman would have been fighting for nothing. These stories are supposed to inspire hope, good, and faith in people in dark times. If you want to watch an armageddon go look somewhere else.
As for batmans voice, he is supposed to inspire fear in the hearts of villians. george clooney did not inspire fear in me. Pee Wee herman would not do this either. His voice is part of the costume he wears. It is a package deal to achieve his overall result of making criminals terrified to do bad things. “as a symbol i can be indestructable, everlasting”. This is a very necessary part of the costume he wears. next time just picture batman with woody allens voice.
There is also the fact that he will have to disguise his identity from the people he works with as batman. lets face it, he rubs shoulders with people in the movies regularly as both batman and bruce. if your father put on a batman costume and walked up behind you and said hello, you would know it was him before you even looked around to see who was there. This seems very simple to understand.
As for the felons on the boat first. Have you ever tried to control a huge crowd of people? It is very hard. Especially in the face of panic. If you do not take control of ( in this case the criminals) and move them to where you want them first then you create long portions of time for them to get restless and start trying to take control. This is a fact. also, if you get them off boats first then you have a better chance of getting them away from people they can potentially hurt on the loading side and time to put them in a new spot alltogether before the rest of the people get there. then you can focus on the rest instead of letting the criminals run free in the streets to rape, steal and create more panic among the rest of the relatively calm people. I actually agreed with this move in the movie.
Finally, this last paragraph is for brightviolet. the way that you attack the other people on this site who dont agree with you is very childish. I find it very funny because you have referred to the people you put down numerous times as children. kind of ironic when it is you who are acting like one. If you want to have a serious conversation about literature then go have one with someone who will understand and be able to contribute on your level. Attacking people with your big words, or swooping in with your convoluted criticisms and using them at different times to support your argument at different parts of the movie is very frustrating. If you want to look at something historically then you must look at the whole thing historically and not just the points that make you look like you know what you’re talking about. Stuff like this is the reason why my Literature degree almost ruined Literature on the whole for me.
In the book “IT”, by Stephen King (and i will probaby get hammered for quoting King becaue im sure most dont give him the respect he deserves in the Literature circles), there is a part where one of the characters is in his university literature class and all the students are engaged in the “deeper symbolism” of a certain object in a book they are reading. when the character is asked by his prof what he thinks his reply is why cant it just be what it is. In other words why does everything have to always mean something else in movies and literature. I agree with this and i feel the same way. In fact, i find that people tend to over-analyise stuff to the point that they miss the purpose of the literature, and that is to be enjoyable. I will not blindly say that there is no such thing as symbolism or other literary tools, but if it gets to the point when you hate to read or watch the movie becuase you are spending too much time thinking about how much you hate the way something was portrayed then i think its time to relax a bit.
anyway,
cheers and i hope you all will all go and see the movie again. This time go and view it with the eyes of someone who believes this kind of stuff can happen, a child.
Bright Violet you are an arrogant moron. What do your believe your IQ to be? Okay, now divide it by five and you’ve got the real answer. Oh wait, you can’t do that in your minature pin-head. You don’t like the movie, fine. Just don’t go around with your tighty whities up your crack crying about flipping movie! Your ignorance further explains your haughty attitude.
A spoon does not taste the soup which it bears, nor a learned fool the taste of wisdom.
be brave my son!
you just need to quiet your mind and let your inner voice come through and tell them the truth…
“u fucked ur mum last night & u r sorry!”
^^^this one was for brightviolet with f**k
This is pathetic. I’ve seen all the batman movies including the ones with Adam West and to make these accusations about the dark knight is ridiculous. Brightiviolet, have you even seen the Batman begins movie? I’m assuming you haven’t because that would answer 9 out of your 10 reasons for disliking the new one. My advice, Do your darn research and get a life brother.
Only people with no life use the “get a life” line.
Brightviolet has it spot on and has gone to some trouble to analyse the movie’s shortcomings using reasoned argument.
Shame on the sweary fools who throw lazy obscenities for lack of an argument beyond “I like it, and I’m the centre of my little universe, so those who dislike it are wrong and must be flamed”.
And anyone who states any film is “THE BEST F**KING FILM OF ALL TIME” is
a) charmingly unaware that opinion is both subjective and non-negotiable
b) in curious denial of the possibility that anything better may show up in the future.
Nice one BrightViolet.
the dark knight=good movie
brightviolet=asshole
ultraviolet=asshole
sorry brightviolet
In light of something I just learned, I’d like to retract my criticism in Point #7
See this post for an explanation:
https://brightviolet.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/brace-for-impact/
bob bob= attention seeking brat who has sexual feelings
for his mommy but it to afraid f**k
brightviolet you are such an idiot, and asshole also
whats you favorite movie SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2 because you iq is not more than a gay ape.
The Dark Knight is a very entertaining movie. All those who don’t like it please shut the fuck up.
I did not like the movie. I have a right to my opinion. The movie should have been called ‘The Joker”. It had serious continuity problems in the script especially toward the end of the movie. Come on, you are on a ferry that has explosives and you are going to sit there to see what happens? Jump off and go for a swim! This movie makes batman look like a spineless idiot who only want to quit every time he gets a scratch. What the f*** happened at the end of the movie?? I guess they are going to make another sequel. Sorry I bought the DVD, its going in the tra$h.
the batcave was that open space because wayne manor burned down. it is only the temporary cave until his house gets rebuilt
lol
I know this is an old topic but everyone has the right to voice their own opinion on the matter.
firstly the comment in regard for disliking Australians for the accent they have. im sorry but that is one of the most stereotypical and prejudice views that i have heard in a very long time. that is no grounds for disliking a single person let alone an entire nation.
ok for the points i disagree with: heath ledger as the joker. you did praise his performance and i agree with that. in terms of acting it was the best performance by an actor in the entire film. the tongue gestures were made out of ledger’s habit of feeling the prosthetics attached to his face and he felt it gave the character more of a menacing and psychotic appearance. i agree with that. his approach was not one of a somewhat ‘comic’ approach but one that was designed to instil fear and show his psychotic nature. i do have another point on this which will be in the summary at the end.
as stated the reason for the ‘bat cave’ being what it was due to wayne manor being totally destroyed by a fire in batman begins. the bland nature could be as a result of several factors. one being that ass only a temporary measure go to the effort of fully equipping it to a certain level. secondly, all be it behind closed doors the possibility that it could be discovered was present. with his equipment o display and items that no ‘ordinary’ businessman would possess would only blow his cover as batman.
this in turn brings me onto the point regarding his voice. the concept in my opinion is to not only help conceal his identity but also to aid in the fear factor of batman. it sounds more menacing to opponents then simply a deeper voice.
the tumbler is a full sized and fully operational vehicle. (the picture in your post was taken from when in was the pace car of a NASCAR face I believe). the majority of, if not all the stunts that involved the tumbler were live action sequences with little to no special effects. the batpod is also a fully operational vehicle and again most if not all stunts were live action sequences.
as for not wanting to get on a boat loaded with felons: it is said that the greatest enemy of mankind is fear itself. the prospect of something happening however small is often enough to dissuade people from doing things. in this case the fear of x amount of felons on a boat with limited guards.
you retracted point 7 and i agree with that. an exact situation of the same circumstances has not existed and as such we will not know the actions that people will take.
as for the coin in my personal opinion it is not overused. yes it depicts the duality of himself and mankind as a whole but as he says the only fair option is through simple chance. this has become his belief and so is the basis of his actions.
i believe you as other have said, if not i assume you grew up with the comics and the TV series, which in my opinion is the reason for the dislike of the film and the opinions you hold. these were done in a particular way and it is what you are accustomed to. the different approach to the film does not conform to this and so you do not like it. this is what i was alluding to in my evaluation of the joker and the point i said i was going to make. because his performance and the way in which the character is portrayed does not conform to what you are used to it is something you do not like. when beginning the project as a whole it was said that they would obey the ‘traditional’ portrayals and that a darker approach was going to be pursued.
a point was made about not needing the change in the batsuit to be explained. in my opinion more questions would have been asked had it not been. the usual questions being: when/how/why was it changed etc.
continuing the suit topic: in combat (which batman does) there is always a compromise between trade offs. in the BB there was superior protection at the expense of mobility reducing his combat effectiveness. im sure the majority of people would rather have an increase in mobility that allowed for more combat capabilities and options at the expense of protection. protection that the added mobility might negate. it would make no sense in my opinion to not exploit any advantage that could be gained. soulpt’s opinions are influenced by what i stated above, because it does not conform to what they are used to it is wrong and so a feeling of dislike occurs. also reflected in his opinion of the tumbler.
as for the remaining points i personally did not see them as an issue and was able to overlook them.
my bad points in the film were these: performances by the actors in certain occasions were a bit…. flat. most notably was christian bail and michael caines scene following the death of rachel. and i agree that the love triangle was a bit… well i agree totally with your point so i wont restate it. however i did find bruce running off with the entire ballet cast amusing as well as it being something that people do, sabotaging the efforts of others to get the person they love.
the good points: the performance by heath ledger and his portrayal of the joker. the sadistic and psychotic approach and the way in which it created terror amongst people. his ruthlessness and disregard for human life was evident and the manners by which he achieved this were imaginative and dark in nature. notably making the pencil ‘disappear’. that is one of the best methods i have seen in film and television on how to kill someone. in my opinion he one of the best villains i have seen and he alone would be enough to entice audiences into viewing and enjoying the performance, being able to overlook its faults.
as well as that were the moments where personal loss would ensure overall gain i enjoyed. Dent coming out as batman and the end in which bruce sacrificed his status to ensure Dents remained and that good prevailed in gotham. however i will admit that is my feeling from any film not just this one.
i guess in the end it all comes down to the reason why people watch movies in the first place. the action, the love, the iconic figure to name but a few. my personal reason is to escape from reality. allowing me to forget the world i currently live. to escape peoples opinions, the pressure of life, any problems that may be going through, to allow my imagination to wander and for 2 hours to say ‘what if…’ and in that regards this film accomplished this in my opinion and will continue to do so. but i respect your opinion on the film as i do everyone else’s as long as it can be supported with reason as i hope i have done.
scott
Hey Scott,
Thank you for your reply! I’m in the middle of a move and about to go on a two week trip as well, so I don’t have time to reply extensively, but I just wanted to let you know that I had a chance to read your comments. I appreciate your contribution, and I value your opinion. Thank you for taking the time to share you well argued analysis of the film!
I was incredibly disappointed with this film. At first I saw it as a possible great, new thriller and later it was hailed as a masterpiece.
But god, when I saw it, it was just so incredibly ‘bland’! The story elements are so mediocre and have been seen before a thousand times. The only thing I liked here was Heath Ledger, and I hate that arsehole, Christian Bale.
By the way, one thing that irked me about this movie was that scene where the Joker films himself torturing the cop, and then the News Agency PUTS IT ON PUBLIC TELEVISION. Are you kidding me? That would never happen. It was just so amateurish and… well, a generally boring film, I hate the fact that I can’t see what everyone sees in this film. I would have preferred it if it went the whole ‘Sin City’, Noir-ish look and feel instead.
I liked your review, especially the criticism of the whole Chicago cinematography look, but I feel there are other factors about this film that are seriously lacking and require severe critical analysis.
Btw, I can’t say I like Australian people that much either. They’re mostly a bit ‘uncouth’.
But I also can’t say I like most English people that much , and I am English. I like my English family (I live in the US right now) but I jsut find most of the population to be, well, uncouth as well.
welp… its 2010 now… and this is still a great movie…
Yeah its 2010 and its still an amazing rendition of the Batman plot. I will agree with you in terms of the voice of Christian Bale while donning the Bat suit-that is ridiculous. But as far as everything else, i think you just wanted to play devil’s advocate. Heath Ledger did an outstanding performance from every standpoint. Even his odd salivating and tongue gestures were apt. When you look into the character of the joker-the dark, evil, psychotic, and trully sadistic nature of the joker- you have to understand that someone with that kind of mindset isn’t going to be concerned with the things that the normal mind is concerned with. That is true for even subconcious system controls i.e. salivating, off timing with statement delivery, and even loss of sensitivity to pain: taking into account the nonchalant physical response to Batman’s bullying.
As far as the batmobile goes, it was obviously not designed to be pretty- as a matter of fact, it wasn’t even complete. It was designed for withstanding punishment and getting around quickly with higher performance. However I would love to see what you had in mind for fighting crime and dealing with high speed collision and projectile fire. Not to mention emergency alternate vehicular optional capabilities (the project bike that detached from the car)..
Honestly I can understand that the movie wasnt perfect, and the reason it wasnt perfect, I suspect, was because it is based on THE BATMAN!! I think you somehow got the impression that the Batman and the story therein was supposed to be realistic…Well he is not. The story is HIGHLY fictional and therefore you will always be able to nit pick and complain about the theoretical rhetoric and nuances that develop the plot. My advice to you when watching things that involve super heroes, science fiction, and or anything that deals with “make believe”, your best bet is to just sit tight and enjoy the show- or just stay outta the theatres.
why do i have to read this dumb shit everywhere i go? here it is, straight up: the movie is bland, bloated and overhyped just like the other two films in the series. it’s shitty, ok? it’s shitty. there, someone finally said it. Bale can’t act, Ledger’s joker is a fuckin’ cartoon, Oldman’s Gordon was feminine and totally inconsequential, and the dialogue (for all three films) was a flat-out fuckin’ joke. and the only the defense that anyone ever has for these films (for instance, the imbecile-author of the previous comment) in the face of realistic criticism is ‘ur a nitpicker’ or ‘stay outta the theaters’. gee, thanks for the sage wisdom, asshole! i’m not a fucking nitpicker. i didn’t nitpick – i’m not even hard to please. i know what i saw, and i guess that’s all there is to it. i harbor no ill will for Nolan or anybody else involved in the movie. i went and saw the thing when it came out, it sucked, it made billions, everybody else said it was great, and Nolan retired to his newly-afforded mansion. sad but true. end of fucking story.
the movie is awful the fanboys are incredibly brainwashed