The Dark Knight thread.

[Winslow Leach]

One thing I particularly liked about this film was the fact that it was more or less an ensemble piece. Neither Bale nor Ledger carried the film, but instead the bulk was equally carried by Bale, Ledger, Caine, Eckhart, Freeman, Oldman, and Gyllenhaal. I liked the fact that they showed the war for Gotham as being carried out on so many fronts, instead of Batman doing all the work while the police and the DA's department sit around and go "Aw, shucks, Batman, thanks for catchin' those bad guys for us!" That was a nice improvement over most (if not all) of the other films in the franchise.

Exactly. In fact, the very question of "do we need a Batman?" is brought up several times.

I'm glad that Harvey Dent (my favorite character in the books, next to The Joker) had a complete story arc; he wasn't just squeezed in there to appease the fans, a la Venom.

 

[theprawncracker]

Michael Caine was so unnerved by Ledger's Joker, that he actually forgot his lines in one scene.

That... is awesome. That's a fantastic piece of trivia, Tony, thanks for sharing it.

 

[RedPiggy]

I, too, loved Mr. J's disappearing pencil trick ... as well as the ironic gag of a fire truck on fire.

Spoilers ... kinda...

Spoiler

Why am I using the label, "Mr. J", you ask? My only irritation ... Harley (or the lack thereof). Not even some random blonde chick. Though, I never could identify the name on Mr. J's name tag during his unusual costume scene. I guess that's as close as we were going to get. He didn't even puddin', if I recall.

 

[theprawncracker]

I, too, loved Mr. J's disappearing pencil trick ... as well as the ironic gag of a fire truck on fire.

Oh yes, yes, yes! ! ! Both of those things were SO awesome! Especially the pencil trick--just spectacular! I'd almost forgotten about the fire truck, I really liked that part when it happened. Too funny.

 

[Count von Count]

Don't wait for the DVD! You need to see it on the big screen!

Or a even bigger screen, Imax. I whould go see it there.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Don't wait for the DVD! You need to see it on the big screen! And yes, the Joker is insanely creepy, but it works. I don't know if Heath Ledger lives up to all of the Oscar buzz, but he really is very good and this role is such a departure for him.

I don't think I'll be able to make it.

But on an awesome note, it's the top single day gross of any movie in the history of cinema with 66 million!

 

[Winslow Leach]

That... is awesome. That's a fantastic piece of trivia, Tony, thanks for sharing it.

Sure, Ryan, no problem!

 

[Winslow Leach]

Though, I never could identify the name on Mr. J's name tag during his unusual costume scene.

I thought Rachel's name was on the tag, no? It was shown so fleetingly, but I'm pretty sure it said Rachel Dawes. The Joker is also wearing a Harvey Dent sticker/campaign button in that scene, lol!

 

[Winslow Leach]

WOW!

The Dark Knight is currently #1 on the imdb's top 250 movies!

 

[Winslow Leach]

Apparently Ledger improvised a lot...one example is in the scene where Gordon becomes the new commish, and the Joker applauds in his cell, with the rest of the squadroom. The clapping was Heath's idea.

**SPOILERS**

I love the scene in the prison, where the Joker is taunting the cop ("how many of your friends did I kill?"), and the cop finally blows his steam, and starts beating on the Joker. Rather than fight back, the clown actually giggles during the beating, as if he enjoys it in some perverse way.

The scene where Bruce throws a party for Harvey, and the Joker crashes it; great scene for Heath, as he totally takes command of the screen.

Again, I must mention the "magic trick" with the pencil, lol!

I also really like and appreciate how Nolan put a twist on the "hero must choose" scene, where two very important people are put in peril, and the hero must make a decision. I'll never be able to take such a scene seriously again, after seeing The Dark Knight.

**END SPOILERS**