The Dark Knight - Grading & Discussion

Finally got around to seeing it today. Really good! BUT... still doesn't beat X-Men 2 as my all-time favorite superhero movie. Gadgets and bullets just aren't as fun as superpowers! Heck, I don't think any solo superhero movie can top X-Men's team aspect. Still, I'd probably rank The Dark Knight just below X-Men 2.

 

Great movie, felt more like a suspense, crime Drama than a comic book movie, which is a definite bonus.

 

I know, but it's still impressive even if it doesn't stay there.

 

I'm surprised anyone fell for the "death" of Jim Gordon.

Hello!!! It's Jim GORDON! Lieutenant Gordon at the time! I mean, come on, how dense can you be. I didn't believe it for a second.

Someone above mentioned a continuity error with Gordon's wife feeding a baby in BB and both children beening much older here. Well, it's possible she was sitting a relative's or neighbors kid.

 

People cheered and clapped when Gordon re-appeared to capture Joker. I think even the most suspecting people fell for it.

 

Well, if you wanna get technical, that woman in BB was a completely different woman so maybe Gordon has two lives... just like Bruce Wayne!

 

Look, it's all a bit technical, but the important thing is Gordon's future is secured.

 

Yeah. Didn't you get the memo?

 

wasn't the most obvious part that Commissioner Gordon hadn't been promoted to Commissioner yet? For him to die Lt. Gordon wouldn't exactly make any sense, would it?

 

thank god!

 

In any other Batman movie I'd agree. But Nolan had already taken the movie into so many dark directions (and taken it so far from the traditional superhero world) that it started to seem like ANYTHING could happen with these characters.

In any case, it was effective. I was liking the movie fine until then, but it wasn't until his death that the movie REALLY grabbed hold of me and became compelling. Suddenly this was a completely new and unpredictable Batman world I was watching, which was exciting as hell.

In fact part of me wishes Nolan hadn't played it safe, and had kept Gordon dead.

 

I don't think "playing it safe" is the right way to put it. It was part of the plot. It's not as if Gordon was really supposed to die, and then "hey, look, he's okay, folks!". That's for Spielberg and War of the Worlds to do.

 

They sold the "death" of Gordon very well.

 

Agreed! I was starting to wonder how many liberties Nolan was going to take with the series. I figured he probably wasn't dead, but there was certainly doubt in my mind.

 

I don't know, once we see that Gordon is alive, the entire death came across as kind of a cheap and contrived stunt to me-- more for the audience than for The Joker.

You mean to tell me that, with everything ELSE going down, Gordon decides to use The Joker's assassination attempt as a good time to play dead?!? As if his family were somehow high on The Joker's list of targets or something?

I didn't buy it.

 

Well, I don't know about anyone else but I ran across a review before I went to see the movie, which said, "No character, no matter how well established in Batman's history, is safe." Hell, I thought they were going to kill Alfred. When I read that, plus many reviews that mentioned the death of a "major character" (I figured everyone already knew Rachel was going to be Joker fodder so I kind of discounted her death), I was pretty ready to be fooled.

 

Just got back from it. Don't really want to read the whole thread, so I will probably repeat a lot of things that have already been established a few days ago. Oh well.

I've been looking forward to this movie for at least 2 years and it did not disappoint. It was a great sequel to a series of films that might go down as new Batman Classics. I'm really having a hard time deciding which movie I liked better, this or Batman Begins, because they really are like reading chapters of a book. The story continued and the quality didn't let up from one movie to the next.

There was so much fun to be had here but I first want to talk about the Joker. Frankly, while I loved this portrayal as the Joker (Much more than Nicholson's I think), I find Ledgers performance somewhat overrated. Not to say that is a bad thing since he did a terrific job, but I wonder what kind of praise he would have gotten if he hadn't tragically passed away earlier this year. It would have been good, but I'm not so sure if it would have been epic as others claim it is. Still, this movie was about Batman vs The Joker, and Bale and Ledger played off each other really well.

I also liked the inclusion of Harvey Dent and Eckhart is slowly becoming one of my favorite actors. He was great as the White Knight, and his transformation into two-face was handled really well.

Nolan has created something here that is much more epic than I could have thought. We get a great character study on what it means to be a hero, and how this movie ends was only appropriate to what the theme was. Harvey says something in this movie that I think summarizes it very well, "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself the villain."

I'm glad they changed actresses for Rachel, even though both times she seemed more like a distraction than adding anything to the plot. Other than that complaint, Nolan has really done a great job rejuvinating Batman and I can't wait till Number 3. I'm saddened that Ledger won't be part of it because Joker just won't be the same.

Excellent or A

 

Well, with Joker going around using cop's families to turn them against the good guys, it seems logical where if he played dead, he wouldn't have to risk having to chose between Joker's demands and his family.

 

Why not assume that Gordon was simply incapacitated after being shot, and when he awoke in the hospital he ordered that he be declared dead for the sake of his family? Easy enough explanation for me.

 

I fell for it for awhile (I was almost in shock when Gordon "died"), but shortly before he reappeared I was thinking that it was most likely a ruse.