The Dark Knight

[theFRANCHISE]

The Dark Knight's been in theaters for a week and most of those who've planned on seeing it, have likely already seen it.

After having digested the movie's greatness (lol), what are your thoughts on it?

NO SPOILERS, PLEASE. If you have to talk about specifics related to the plot, please use the spoiler tag.

Personally, if you couldn't already tell from my introduction and the quote I have in my sig, I loved the movie. I've seen it twice so far, and I'm planning to see it a third time tonight.

I never thought I'd see a comic book movie that turned out to be a legitimately good crime drama. The dialogue is extremely well-written; I never thought that a filmmaker would bother to explore the philosophical underpinnings of a comic book -- but Christopher Nolan did just that.

[Natural Born Hitters]

It was a great movie. I was a bit worried about having to sit in a theater for 2 and a half hours, but time flew by as the movie kept me on the edge of my seat, there were so many stories and plot twists in that movie, and also great acting, by everyone. Not just Heath Ledger. I'm planning on going to see it for a 2nd time, sometime next week.

I think this movie is going to open the horizons for future comic book movies.

[theFRANCHISE]

I think this movie is going to open the horizons for future comic book movies.

I read an article the other day that wondered if comic book movies have now hit their peak with this movie.

In a sense...I'm sort of worried, because I don't want to see the genre flame out. It'll happen eventually, since we all know nothing lasts forever. But I'd at least want a third Batman film by Christopher Nolan & co. that either meets or exceeds this standard, before a decline starts.

It happened to the romantic comedy genre. It happened to teen comedies. It happened to action movies (which always seem to resurface).

I'm worried that movie studios will start to take literally ANY comic book and try to cash in, without respecting the source material.

Batman's story is something that's MUCH DEEPER than the old '60s TV show and the two Joel Schumacher movies, and I'm glad that people are just now starting to realize it. But it's only a matter of time before someone takes something iconic like, say, Captain America or The Flash (which have both been done before, HORRIBLY) and dumbs them both down, just for a quick buck.

It already happened to Superman, with that AWFUL Superman Returns movie by Bryan Singer; and the X-Men, with that horrible third film directed by Rush Hour's Brett Ratner...

[Sub-Zero]

great great movie! Storyline was excellent, and the whole Joker manipulation angle was as well. After watching the movie, and after gathering all my thoughts, I just realized that the title for the movie was very fitting.

I will say Batman's voice was annoying as hell, and Maggie Glyenhall (sp?) wasn't enough eye candy for my taste, but other than that it was solid all around.

I give the movie, two pencils up!! (oh snap a Dark Knight reference!)

[theFRANCHISE]

LOL, I gave Christian Bale a pass for his hammy Batman voice. I mean, the man already has to mask his British accent, and he has to make his Batman voice sound different than Bruce Wayne's voice on top of that.

At least it's not like Val Kilmer's Batman that had the slight lisp, or George Clooney's Batman that just plain sounded like George Clooney in every other role (lol).

I'll give Maggie Gyllenhaal a pass for her role since they didn't really give her much to work with. It's still an improvement over Katie Holmes' Rachel Dawes in the last movie. At least she still made me somewhat care a little bit about her towards the end, especially when that letter to Bruce was being narrated.

And let me just say: the entire finale (meaning the boats, the hostages, etc.) was just plain BRILLIANT. I've never seen a climax to any big-budget film so intelligently done.

[Hero/Villian]

The movie was great! Ledger played the Joker so well in this movie.

I actually like the Batman voice, made him manly. lol

[DRayRaven]

I'm waiting for the DVD. I have Batman Begins, and it's pretty good.

I don't hit the theaters very often - but I did make an exception for X-Files, which was excellent. Gillian Anderson is still hotter than hell, too.

[theFRANCHISE]

I'm waiting for the DVD.

If the DVD (or even the Blu-Ray version) doesn't come LOADED with special features, I'll be sorely disappointed.

Though, to be honest, if there was at least commentary from Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Aaron Eckhart OR Gary Oldman, I'd give it a pass until a special edition version comes along.

I'm really curious as to how they designed the new Batsuit (which allows Christian Bale to turn his head -- NO Batsuit before has allowed that), as well as some sort of feature about Heath Ledger as The Joker.

Oh, and of course, the visual effects.

I really want to know how they came up with the concept for Two-Face's disfigured face.

[FellsPointRaven]

I'm waiting for the DVD. I have Batman Begins, and it's pretty good.

I don't hit the theaters very often - but I did make an exception for X-Files, which was excellent. Gillian Anderson is still hotter than hell, too.

You really should make the trip to the theater - this one begs to be watched on the big screen. Best movie I've ever seen at a theater, hands down. Will be making the trip down to DC so I can see it on IMAX in the next couple of weeks.

I saw X-Files as well on Saturday. I was disappointed. Thought the storyline was fairly weak, the conundrum between God and Science a little dull and poorly executed and the lack of a big government conspiracy or legitimate supernatural element (apart from Billy Connolly, who I love by the way) a let down. Not that I wasn't entertained, but it was like an extended, below average episode. 5/10

[DRayRaven]

Aside from the God/Science dichotomy (which I don't believe was in the forefront), there were a lot of religious metaphors about faith that carried through every plot and subplot of the story - from Mulder's quest, to his relationship with Scully, her patient in the hospital, the priest (his psychic abilities and relationship with God), right down to the movie's villains and even the FBI itself.

It's probably not good summer fare for an audience expecting UFOs and car chases, but I was happy with it. Fox may have been better off releasing it in the Fall.

[theFRANCHISE]

Fox may have been better off releasing this in the Fall.

Most movie studios may have been better off releasing their movies later in the summer, than compete directly against The Dark Knight.

Counter-programming like Mamma Mia aside, any movie that had even remotely the same target audience as The Dark Knight, ran the risk of being run over by Christopher Nolan's juggernaut.

Even this past weekend, Step Brothers was only able to rake in a decent amount of cash because it was, like Mamma Mia, counter-programming.

When you have a sci-fi thriller like The X-Files competing against what (on the surface) is an action movie like The Dark Knight, it's difficult to cut into the other movie's audience like that, especially when said action movie is critically-acclaimed and setting records the previous weekend.

In other words, 20th Century Fox messed up. BIG TIME.

It would've helped if the movie had also gotten better word-of-mouth, as well.

[raven43]

I've ben hearing Heath Ledger is the real star of this movie, not whoener plays batman(don't even know his name ) Is this true? I haven't seen it yet, sorry, I can't drive there I gotta beg my dad to take me, so I'm still waiting. But is th Heath Ledger thing true?

[FellsPointRaven]

Yes - Heath Ledger is astoundingly good.

[theFRANCHISE]

Heath Ledger stole the show. I'm not afraid to admit it.

But that's not to say that the other actors aren't great in their own right. Christian Bale is still the best Bruce Wayne I've seen on the big screen, and tied for the best Batman with Michael Keaton. Michael Caine is great as Alfred, Morgan Freeman basically plays himself in every movie but is great at it as Lucius Fox, and Gary Oldman is excellent as Jim Gordon.

Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent is heavily underrated, since he was able to juggle both the squeaky-clean image of Gotham's "white knight" district attorney, and the edge that sort of bubbles out when he's pushed further and further.

**Spoiler alert (even though most of you who follow the comics/cartoons/whatever probably knows what this is in reference to)**

And he's much better than Tommy Lee Jones at being Two-Face, that's for sure. He portrayed Two-Face as a vigilante like Batman, but with more extreme methods, which made him a villain. He had a twisted sense of justice, and that's the point of Two-Face, at his core.

[Passepartout]

Think that the movie if it is kept

On pace could break Titanic's all-time box office record!

[ravenlily2005]

Heath Ledger was the star of that movie! It was awesomely good and I am not really a Batman movie fan.