[Just your average movie goer]

I think we can probably just agree to disagree. Somebody told me recently he thought there was really no one right way to do Batman. There are wrong ways certainly (Joel Schumacher, I'm referring to you) but there is no single right way.

So in the end, it really comes down to taste. Clearly, my tastes are different from everyone else here and it would be crazy of me to try to get a group of people who really liked the movie to turn around and dislike it. However, I wanted to throw in my five cents and now I have so I'm happy.

As for the comics, they are what they are and I think a movie's got to stand up on its own. I've never read a single Batman comic. I really got my introduction to the character watching Adam West re-runs when I was a kid and Tim Burton's 1989 film turned me into a huge fan. After that, I got steadily more and more disappointed until Batman Begins came around. It took me a little while to really warm to it because at first I thought the League of Shadows thing was a bit kooky. However, it wasn't long before it was one of my favourite movies; and it replaced Tim Burton's film as the one to watch in my mind.

So I was seeing The Dark Knight not as a comic book fan waiting to see if they got it right but as your average movie goer, looking forward to a good flick at the cinema. I don't know who here is like me and who here is a real fan of the comics but that was where I was coming from.

Personally, the only comic I enjoy is The Phantom; and oddly enough, I wish they hadn't made it into a movie (especially the movie that they DID make) and that they never do so again.

As for the Batman comics, everything I've encountered in regards to them puts me off wanting to read them, including the stuff you've just cited to me now.

Anyway, like I said, I don't want to stop you from enjoying the film. Don't worry about me; there are plenty of other films I can enjoy.

[Heccubus]

I can sympathize with you, JYAMG. I've never read more than a small handful of Batman comics, but you don't need to be a Batman superfan to see that Nolan's franchise has done more justice to the characters than Burton, Schumacher or Adam West were ever able to. While I can understand the opinion that the movie was...unsettling, I still have to say it was easily the best comic book movie I have ever seen.
You're also not the only person I know who has expressed this sentiment, so at least rest easy knowing you aren't alone.

[Just your average movie goer]

Thanks Heccubus. And don't worry, I'm with you all the way on Nolan's franchise as a whole. Even though I didn't like The Dark Knight, it certainly leaves an impression. I mean, here I am talking about it weeks after I saw it... and it's not in a "let's laugh at the flaws of the Star Wars prequels" kind of way.

Actually, at the end of my first post on the matter, I said it's probably better than I think it is. Certainly, it's better than Burton's incarnation and more compelling than Adam West's tongue-in-cheek show (which in turn is a million times more compelling than Joel Schumacher's mess).

I'll be curious to see how the next installment turns out as it may be that within the context of a larger body of work, I might enjoy The Dark Knight more.

[georgelucas4greedo]

JYAMG,

I admire your honesty. And your points about movie violence are refreshing, in an era in which violence in movies keeps getting crazier and crazier.

While I disagree with your impression of the movie, I enjoyed the review. It is nice to see criticism.

[Just your average movie goer]

Thanks, GeorgeLucas4Greedo. That's kind of you...

... although I'm now in an awkward position because I'm going to have to eat my words.

Because I really wanted to like The Dark Knight, I decided to give it a second chance and
I have to say, I really enjoyed it.

I think because I knew what to expect, I wasn't disturbed by things in the movie as I was the
first time around and I actually found it a lot more entertaining than I remembered. Also, a lot
of things that I missed the first time around were clearer so I could enjoy it a lot more due to
the fact that I could follow everything.

In actual fact, the only thing that bothered me during the film this time were the two inconsiderate
pricks who talked non-stop during the entire film (non-stop, I kid you not). Apart from that, I had
a blast.

So, yeah. You guys were right all along and I was wrong... and to be honest, I'm glad I was. It's
always to have more good movies to watch. And as you guys know I don't do complete 180
degree turns very often, you know I mean it.

This post has been edited by Just your average movie goer: 09 August 2008 - 07:48 AM

[Deucaon]

I am going to make this pencil disappear...



TADA!

[Man Of Doom]

Just watched it yesterday and was immensely pleased. In my opinion this is the best superhero movie ever made, and the best movie I've seen this year.

I think my only complaint about it was that I don't think it should have been released as a 12A in the UK, it's a lot darker than that rating would imply. But that has nothing to do with the film itself and is just the fault of stupid censors, so I don't really have any problems with it.

Oh wait, I though Dent's eye was really odd. Like, he has no eyelids so how does it not dry up? Did he steal some eye drops? Man his eye must sting.

But yeah. Awesomeness. Just a shame Heath is gone and we can't have more of that madness.

[Icey]

I hope the Joker more or less just disappears without any kind of explanation, instead of getting another actor or saying that he was killed somehow off screen. (Or if they do, please give us three different stories that each contradict each other.)

[Heccubus]

Personally, I don't think Nolan is stupid enough to try and get someone to fill Ledger's shoes. There won't be another Joker in his franchise, I think that's safe to assume.

Now then, I just hope no one is dumb enough to go off on "OMG JONNY DEPPZ IS PLAYING THE RIDDLA!" nonsense, because that has already been disproven by Depp himself.

This post has been edited by Heccubus: 17 September 2008 - 05:31 AM

[Dr Lecter]

I think the Riddler would be a hard one to do again after Jim Carey.

I really want to see this film, but just never got round to it. Don't know if it's still showing anymore either.

[Sailor Abbey]

I liked it the first time. I liked it the second time. I liked it the third time. I also enjoyed it the fourth time, since we saw it at the IMAX. I’d have been happy with just watching it once, but the spouse REALLY liked it. It’s one of his all-time favorite movies, or something like that.

[Mr Pye]

you don't need to be a Batman superfan to see that Nolan's franchise has done more justice to the characters than Burton, Schumacher or Adam West were ever able to.

That may be true but I also found that Nolan has taken some of the Batman essence out of them. I have only seen the movie once, and while it is a good movie that I enjoyed it left me searching for its raison d'être as a Batman movie. (If the exp​ression can be used that way.)

What I mean is, it seemed to easy for me in my mind to replace Batman with say Ethan Hunt and the Joker with any generic madman and end up with the same movie. Something I could not do with Burtons movie which would work only as a Batman movie.

Somehow Burton managed to make the value in the Batman concept itself an important part of his movie in a way that I don't sense in Nolans much more realistic approach. Possibly Batman destroying his own image was the logical finale for this movie.

Although once you have the Joker, you have to have Batman. The two go together. You could lift them both out of Nolans movie, that is to say replace them. If you try the same with Burtons movie there are no other character weird enough to fit his weird world.

It is maybe that iconic weirdness the characters present that Burton soaked through his movie that I found missing in The Dark Knight. Not in the characters themselves but in the rest of the movie. I think sometimes extraordinary heroes can only with conviction be rescuers of extraordinary victims.

But try to identify the victims with us and you end up in a similar cheapness that the latest Alien vs Predator movie faced, and there is something about alien monsters in our home town that I can't reconcile with an attempt at psychological drama.

I don't know. Perhaps I just wan't Batman to be more escapism than Nolans movie was. Someone mentioned above that each of us may have our own way and our own reasons for liking Batman. Burton suited me better. The Dark Knight is still a good movie though.

This post has been edited by Mr Pye: 20 September 2008 - 12:49 PM

[Sailor Abbey]

I always liked Batman Returns. I’ll still watch it if it comes on. It does have a surreal sort of charm to it, and I dig watching Michelle Pfeiffer jump around in poorly hewn black latex body suit. It’s good stuff, I’ll admit – but for me at least, Nolan’s world seems much more realistic, and I find myself relating to the characters and the events therein, much more readily.

[Slade]

I think some of the hangups people are having stem from this being a little bit more of a Gotham City story than just Batman. It is perhaps more wounded expectations than a flaw in the film? Not that I'm saying it's a pristine, perfect monument to good cinema, of course.

[Otal Nimrodi]

This is a very '90s comic book movie. Whereas Burton wrote the bronze age, this movie fits the dark age. Marvel's movies seem the most like the modern age of comics, specifically Iron Man. What with the crossing-over and all. I don't know if the whole universe is going to be threatened or what in the Avengers movie.

Still. The Burton movies were more like the early eighties, while this is more like the mid-to-late nineties.

Maybe ten years from now, we'll get a Crisis movie. That'd be interesting.