What do you dislike about The Dark Knight?

[The Evil Dead]

That warning seems kinda strict for the otherwise cool Trek BBS.

Anyway, I'll go with the obvious... Christian Bale's Batman voice is terrible.

 

[David cgc]

I'm pretty sure he was just satirizing the sentiments, language and absurdity of the time. I don't really think that's necessary.

I was going to stick up for it by saying it was a direct quote from Superdickery, but it seems Trekker misremembered it.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I'm pretty sure he was just satirizing the sentiments, language and absurdity of the time. I don't really think that's necessary.

Agreed. Within the context of the WWII cover posted above, Scrooge4747's comments clearly weren't intended to offend anyone or to refer to anything other than the WWII context.

There aren't any naked boobies.

Agreed. If we could somehow edit the sex scenes from Bound, Embrace of the Vampire, & Wild Things into The Dark Knight, we would have the world's first completely perfect movie.

I mean, how did he manage to smuggle barrel fulls of explosives onto two city ferrys?!

The guy somehow put enough explosives in a multi ward hospital to completely level it. let alone the ferry's and warehouses. And this hospital was supposed to be under a watchful eye because Dent was in it!

The empty warehouses seem plausible enough.

The hospital strains credulity when you think about it but I suppose it's not impossible if we assume that the Joker had been planning to blow up that hospital for weeks or even months.

The problem with the ferrys is that, with all of the backlog of people demanding to get off the island, you'd think they would have expanded passenger space by cramming people into the cargo hold. I find it hard to believe that, at the very least, the explosives in the cargo holds would not have been discovered before the ferrys left port.

 

[Ward Fowler]

There aren't any naked boobies.

Agreed. If we could somehow edit the sex scenes from Bound, Embrace of the Vampire, & Wild Things into The Dark Knight, we would have the world's first completely perfect movie.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Well, I love the Tumbler - and it's actually tiny. It's an armored sports car, not a tank. But I absolutely agree about the blowing up of parked cars - totally stupid and destructive and only in the movie to satisfy some 'splosions quota. And while I appreciate Nolan's desire to CGI as little as possible there are times that it causes bad cuts - such as when the Tumbler wrecks and blows through a wall into an alley, spinning on its front bumper. It is clearly about to fall on its roof, but then there's a cut and it lands on its wheels, against all laws of physics.

You mean this?

 

[Braxton]

I didn't like that Gotham City didn't look like the Gotham City from "Batman Begins", especially Wayne Tower. Looked soooooo much better in BB.

 

[ria 75]

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my high-powered machine gun and the yells and cries of hundreds of dying japs!"

Ugh.

I'm sorry, Trekker, but I just can't let that one slide, no more than I could any other racial slur of the sort. I have to give you an infraction for that.

Context!
Trekker was just being faithful to the language of the period. What happened to the spirit of parody?

Not superheroes' greatest hour of glory

Plus a word search brings up these unwarned occurrences - context being similar.
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=2282054&highlight=japs
http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=1936920&highlight=japs#post1936920
It all looks harmless to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ Agreed. Trekker is the furthest thing from a racist. It really IS all about context and parody, which he is well aware of. He doesn't deserve this treatment.

 

[Trubinator]

I thought the film could have benefited from more music during some of the action-heavy sequences.

 

[Aragorn]

Agreed. If we could somehow edit the sex scenes from Bound, Embrace of the Vampire, & Wild Things into The Dark Knight, we would have the world's first completely perfect movie.

Alyssa Milano as a nudist Catwoman who's into chicks?

Gina Gershon as a nudist Poison Ivy who's into chicks?

Denise Richards as a nudist Talia al Ghul who's into chicks?

There's three roles cast for the next movie right there!

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

Agreed. If we could somehow edit the sex scenes from Bound, Embrace of the Vampire, & Wild Things into The Dark Knight, we would have the world's first completely perfect movie.

Alyssa Milano as a nudist Catwoman who's into chicks?

Gina Gershon as a nudist Poison Ivy who's into chicks?

Denise Richards as a nudist Talia al Ghul who's into chicks?

There's three roles cast for the next movie right there!

I swap out Alyssa Milano with Charlotte Lewis as Catwoman. Then, I'd do Denise Richards as Poison Ivy. And I'd add Neve Campbell as Harley Quinn. For Talia al-Ghul, maybe bring in Sarah Michelle Gellar from Cruel Intentions or even Joan Chen from Wild Side.

 

[doubleohfive]

This board has no concept of context unless it is being used against posters themselves. There's nothing in the board rules about context though the only time it is brought up tends to be when someone who is a regular troublemaker gets his hand slapped and is told, "Based on your history with so-and-so..."

That said, I see why JKTim issued the warning. There are many sensitive people on this board, sensitive especially to issues of race. I myself tend to be quite touchy when I feel that Arabs are mischaracterized in the media or I see something posted by a fellow member that could be deemed hateful or insulting.

There are also however people who take it WAY too far. Good Will Riker, for instance who seems to believe everyone in the world is out to insult, badmouth, dehumanize, or marginalize Asian-Americans.

I could understand if, in this instance, the usage came from someone we know to be hateful of other cultures, or if Trekker had actually posted something along the lines of, "I hate japs!" but come on! Trekker is a self-described misanthrope, yes, and hopefully he's on what will be a fantastic date tonight, but I have to chime in and say that based on JKTim's history with Trekker, that this might be a bit of an over-reaction.

As Gloria25th points out, similar usage of the word has been friendlied in GM&TV by jkladis, who is about as like-minded a mod as anyone could possibly be with JKTim. I see no reason why, given the satirical nature of the post and the context of the situation the infraction and ban should not be immediately rescinded beyond the obvious factor that mods are probably sleeping, traveling, or on holiday at the moment.

On topic: I enjoyed the film thoroughly. Upon my second viewing however, I found the ferry scene to be quite deadening to the pace of the plot, and was actually saying to myself, "Just blow them up already!!"

Otherwise, fantastic film.

 

[Timby]

While I'm not a big proponent of handing out warnings willy-nilly, racial slurs are unacceptable, no matter the context. If someone in the GTVM forum were to make a post, in a rap-related thread, to the effect of "Hey, insert racially charged n-word epithet here, let's lay down some tracks and then we go cruisin' through my hood, what you say, G?" in some sort of ridiculous attempt at mocking hip-hop culture, I'd have a hard time saying, "Well, we let someone use the word 'Jap' in a mocking, humorous context, so I can't really say that a mocking, humorous usage of 'the n-word' is worthy of a warning, either." Much the same as if the comic cover had Batman brandishing a fire hose and someone had said, "Darkies get the hose, Robin!" Yeah, that'd be satirizing the hyperbole of the south in the 1960s. But it wouldn't be acceptable, either.

If racial slurs merit automatic warnings or boots from The Neutral Zone of all places (which is the rule), then I'm hard-pressed to say they shouldn't merit action in other forums.

That's the last of that matter in this thread. If there's more to be said, it can be said when Trekker returns to the board and starts an MA thread, if he so chooses.

 

[ria 75]

Dare I say, Trekker4747 didn't make a racial slur. World War Two propaganda did. Using comics characters. Can't we allude to that? Or must we be in denial?
Now if he'd said "gooks", I would find that in bad taste, even if it would be historically correct - I realize this is not a blanket excuse.

But an innocent caption? What other word should have been used? Boy, he should have picked the Nazis instead. I think that still goes unpunished. Except Americans, like Batman represented, mostly faught in the Pacific. And "japs" is the least derogatory word that was commonly used.
Says the cracker frog broad to the honkie yankee bloke.
So, do I get 8 warnings for this post?

Oops. Sorry, I spoke already. Didn't see the edit. Or read too fast.
Besides, waiting for Trekker's return sort of defeats the purpose.
The problem being that this prolific poster is denied a chance to plead his cause until it's too late to reverse the sentence.

 

[MyCylon]

Just re-watched The Dark Knight for the first time (got it on DVD for Christmas). And even more than before I personally prefer Batman Begins. I'll even go so far as to say I think it's the better movie.

Here's some of the problems I have with TDK:

- Lack of direction and pacing problems: The movie moves at breakneck speed a lot of the time. However, at times it just feels confused to me although I exactly know where everything is headed. In terms of the pacing, as I stated the movie moves very fast at times. However, it really, really seems to slow down in parts and you're just wishing for it to move on.

- Lenght (connected with the first point): I found the movie quite hard to sit through. I think it should have been shortened quite a bit. What's there IMHO doesn't actually warrant the two hours plus.

- Action sequences: Some of the major action sequences IMHO are not very convincing. The transport of Dent across the city strikes me as one particularly weak example. First of all, the cops take the far more dangerous lower route even though only one side of the road is blocked. You can clearly see they simply could have avoided the obstacle put in place by the Joker. Secondly, the cops come across really, really badly in the ensuing chase scenes. They don't seem to be communicating at all (warning each other e.g.) or working together to hold off harm from Dent's truck. And why can't Dent's vehicle outrun a big freight truck (maybe these prisoner transport vehicles really are that slow but it just seems wrong IMHO)? All in all, the scene to me just never really managed to engage but just seemed to plod along slowly.

- Quieter scenes: One of the biggest strengths for me in BB were the quieter parts where characters had time and space to breathe and develop. Those moments were as effective as they were introspective. And I sorely missed them here. Yes, there were some quieter moments here and there. But they were few and far between and IMHO never achieved the same atmosphere and, intimacy and beauty found in BB.

- I really like Gyllenhaal as an actress but I just don't like her in this particular part. Personally, I far prefer Katie Holmes in BB, and even though she was probably one of the weakest links in that movie I keep missing her here.

- Music: I adore the music in BB. And the best parts in TDK are the themes already established in the predecessor. I wasn't able to discover a single new piece of music that really stood out to me positively. There is a rather effective sound effect that illustrates the Joker's madness in several scenes (such as in Wayne's penthouse) but I wouldn't count that as music, personally.


I do think TDK is a pretty good movie. It's certainly entertaining and has its share of though-provoking, challenging material. But in the end, I feel it's far more conventional than BB. To me, personally, BB managed to be special in some way. It's a beautiful movie. TDK, IMHO, simply is not.

 

[trekkerguy]

Absoloutely nothing. This was the greatest work of cinematic art ever made.

 

[MIB]

For a comic book movie, I though "The Dark Knight" was an 'A' effort. I had no trouble following the characters or the story. Not once did I think "Lets get on with it!!" or "Whoa, slow down, dammit!" Furthermore, the plot was engaging and remained so even after I saw it three time in the theater. Granted, there were plenty of comic-isms that would be in no way plausible in real life, but that's why it's a comic-book movie.

The one thing that did grate on me however was the raspy voice. I didn't mind it in "Batman Begins". I didn't mind it during the first half of "TDK", but somewhere around the point where Dent finally goes nuts Nolan decides to jack up the raspy voice effect by a factor of ten. Batman's dialog just starts overpowering everything else and it got damned annoying.

 

[mr.peany]

The only thing that bugs me every time I watch the film is at the end of the bank robbery scene, where the Joker drives the bus out of the bank, surely someone must stop and think "hey, that ain't right!!". Just seemed jarring. Otherwise, I thought the film was brilliant. Well except for the final sonar scene, which confused me in the cinemas, but played out better at home.

 

[Trekker4747]

The only thing that bugs me every time I watch the film is at the end of the bank robbery scene, where the Joker drives the bus out of the bank, surely someone must stop and think "hey, that ain't right!!". Just seemed jarring. Otherwise, I thought the film was brilliant. Well except for the final sonar scene, which confused me in the cinemas, but played out better at home.

And why Fitchner's bank/liquor store manager didn't simply reach up and pull the smoke-gernade out of his mouth with his unbound and perfectly functional arms and hands.

(And wouldn't the smoke gernade have made all the hostages pass out and and thus their explosive gernades would go off?

But, yeah, you'd think SOMEONE would've noticed the bus that was backed into a building pulling into the line of busses. It was terribly convenient, too, that those busses were going by just as the Joker pulled his out.

 

[roliver]

It was terribly convenient, too, that those busses were going by just as the Joker pulled his out.

"It's all part of the plan."

But, yes, it was odd that none of the bus drivers apparently took any notice of a bus pulling out of a building and slipping quietly into formation. Or perhaps they did, reported it, but the Joker slipped away in time to avoid capture?

One part of the film I have never understood is why the kidnapped Dent knocked himself over in his chair, which lead to him knocking over some of the gas, which in turn ultimately lead to half of his face being burned over. What was he trying to accomplish?

And why did Joker think that only Dent or Rachael could be saved? Did he calculate the exact moment in time Batman would learn of the two locations, the exact speed of the Batpod, future traffic conditions in Gotham, and adjust his timers accordingly? Not bad for a rabid dog chasing cars.