Unofficial Tex Murphy

No spoiler review.

I just got back from seeing what was easily the best ever Batman film. Not only this, but it will probably be one of my top ten favourite ever films. You've never seen a Batman film like this, and, quite frankly, if this was the last ever Batman film, it would be a fine one to call it quits on.

The Dark Knight follows on from Batman Begins where our caped hero is much more well-known and experienced. Wayne Manor is still in the process of being built, so Wayne and Alfred are making use of an appartment setting for a home. The Joker is at large and is a bank robber who later involves himself with the crime family of Gotham City. IT's here where things get interesting. In forming a coalition with the mob, the resutls are desasterous, except for The Joker. Meanwhile, District Attourney, Harvey Dent wins the hearts of Gotham City and runs for mayor, only to have these dreams shattered and replaced by turning him into what could become Gotham's worst nightmare...

As with Batman Begins, the performance and production is stellar. However, unlike Batman Begins, The Dark Knight is not a story about Bruce Wayne, rather, it is a Gotham City crime story that focuses on the psychology of Gotham's villains, heros and civillians. Meanwhile, the story's events take various twists and turns leaving it anybody's guess as to how the issues at hand will be resolved.

In terms of acting, Heath Ledger's final ever performance it extremely noteworthy and deserves a nomination for performance, not his passing.

The Dark Knight is filled with mystique, tragedy, irony and thrills. It combines elements of James Bond, Mission Impossible, Heat, The Godfather and of course, Batman.


Outstanding.

5 out of 5

Just came back from seeing it then as well. I agree that it is the best Batman film yet... but perhaps 30 mins too long. Overall I really enjoyed it!

-Cub. =o)

I believe Heath Ledger will have another movie after Batman. It's titled "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus".

SansGUI wrote:I believe Heath Ledger will have another movie after Batman. It's titled "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus".

Very true... It is in Post Production right now...


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005132/




Plot

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is a fantastical morality tale, set in the present day. It tells the story of Dr Parnassus and his extraordinary 'Imaginarium', a travelling show where members of the audience get an irresistible opportunity to choose between light and joy or darkness and gloom. Blessed with the extraordinary gift of guiding the imaginations of others, Dr Parnassus is cursed with a dark secret. Long ago he made a bet with the devil, Mr Nick, in which he won immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now rapidly approaching this 'coming of age' milestone and Dr Parnassus is desperate to protect her from her impending fate. Mr Nick arrives to collect but, always keen to make a bet, renegotiates the wager. Now the winner of Valentina will be determined by whoever seduces the first five souls. Enlisting a series of wild, comical and compelling characters in his journey, Dr Parnassus promises his daughter's hand in marriage to the man that helps him win. In this captivating, explosive and wonderfully imaginative race against time, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter in a never-ending landscape of surreal obstacles - and undo the mistakes of his past once and for all...

Bafitis wrote:

SansGUI wrote:I believe Heath Ledger will have another movie after Batman. It's titled "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus".

Yeah, but he never completed his role. He was replaced halfway through by three other actors who will finish it.

oldmurphy wrote:

Bafitis wrote:

SansGUI wrote:I believe Heath Ledger will have another movie after Batman. It's titled "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus".

Yeah, but he never completed his role. He was replaced halfway through by three other actors who will finish it.

Terry Gilliam, the director, is trying to use the existing footage of Ledger. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will be playing different incarnations of the character to complete the role.

SansGUI wrote:Terry Gilliam, the director, is trying to use the existing footage of Ledger. Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell will be playing different incarnations of the character to complete the role.

Too bad Gilliam has such bad luck during productions on his movies. However, Heath Ledger's last completed role in a movie was Dark Knight. Gonna go watch it on the 25th, I am so looking forward to it.

For those of you who don't know what kind of director Christopher Nolan is, he puts the story first and foremost in his movies, and he uses old-school filming - always using real effects instead of CGI as much as possible.

Here's an paraphrase from him: Link

Can´t wait for the dark knight. Unfortunately in Germany the release date is late august, but ok , not really thaaaat far away. I really liked Batman Begins a lot and I definately consider it to be the best Batmanfilm together with Burtons first film. An amazing cast (Bale,Neeson,Caine,Freeman,Oldman) . Like it was said before ,Chris Nolan is a brilliant young director who gave new life to the Batmanfilms, that really went into a deadend with the last films prior to BB. All of Nolans film have really a high artistic value( Memento, The prestige, Batman begins , I´ll leave out Insomnia since this was a remake of a wonderful film from norway). Finally someone in Hollywood had some guts, letting a "real" director and artist do such a blockbuster. Can´t wait for the dark knight. Bale is one of the greatest actors of our time ( my oppinion) even though he probably has more freedom in other roles, and just like everyone says Ledgers performance as Joker looks mindblowing. Oh yeah and another good thing: Katie Holmes ( What the hell was she doing in Batmin begins anyway) was replaced by someone with talent.
(Maggie Gyllenhaal)

Cubase wrote:Just came back from seeing it then as well. I agree that it is the best Batman film yet... but perhaps 30 mins too long. Overall I really enjoyed it!

-Cub. =o)

Yeah? I honestly felt the length was perfect. There was the right amount of closure without drawing too much out, it answered all the important questions and left me begging for more. I truly felt the length was satisfying, not one bit of lag in this film for me. Indiana Jones on the other hand may have worked better if some of the filler from the Graveyard scene and the campsite scene had been chopped.

This film fits somewhere into my top ten films of all time. Some other films in that list include The Godfather, Heat, Star Wars: Episode 5 - the Empire Strikes Back, The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Collatoral, Indiana Jones and the Last Cruisade, The Fugitive and The Departed.

The film was absolutely the BEST film this entire decade. It took all the pain that Indy4 gave me about hollywood, and now I'm very content with what they have produced in this film. I can't explain how brilliant the film was. All I know is that I'm pre-ordering the DVD ASAP!

Also did anyone see a little TERMINATOR 4 TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://movies.yahoo.com/premieres/88415 ... ardformat/

Christian Bale stars as John Conner!

mr_cyberpunk wrote:The film was absolutely the BEST film this entire decade. It took all the pain that Indy4 gave me about hollywood, and now I'm very content with what they have produced in this film. I can't explain how brilliant the film was. All I know is that I'm pre-ordering the DVD ASAP!

Also did anyone see a little TERMINATOR 4 TRAILER!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://movies.yahoo.com/premieres/88415 ... ardformat/

Christian Bale stars as John Conner!

Ahhh Cyberpunk, good to see you share my enthusiasm Thanks, Dude. I'll be lining up for the blu-ray, it cannot come soon enough. It was SOOOO good. I loved it. I just hope everyone else hurries and sees it so we can have a spoiler heavy forum discussion about it.

Did anyone also see THIS!:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/

WATCHMEN! Another DC film. Superheros ect..

Considered to be the BEST comic of all time.

Hi, my name is Fred and I am a huge fan of Rorschach.

-Fred

After seeing The Dark Knight I don't see how one can help to avoid comparisons with Batman and Iron Man. They both have a lot of parallels and contradictions.

Both are "super-heroes", although neither have super-powers. Both use technology and gadgets to beat the bad guys. The alter-egos of both characters are fabulously wealthy, rich playboys. Bruce Wayne is dark and troubled, Tony Stark is happy-go-lucky.

This is an interesting contrast, because one of the biggest differences between DC and Marvel comics is that the Marvel super heroes usually have a more troubled personal life than the DC heroes. But the situation is reversed with Batman and Iron Man.

The Dark Knight was not a fun movie. A great movie, yes. But not fun. Iron Man was loads of fun. Iron Man's plot and characters were relatively thin while The Dark Knight had much more depth of story and characters.

Now, if I could choose between being Bruce Wayne or Tony Stark, I'd pick Tony in an wink.

They both represent amazingly similar super heroes, but their implementations are so entirely different.

And then there's the bad guys.

The bad guys in The Dark Knight were downright scary while Iron Man's bad guys were almost funny.

Heath Ledger's Joker stole the movie as far as I'm concerned. Words cannot describe how wonderfully he portrayed his character. Even knowing it was Heath Ledger, I could not see one sign of him behind the makeup and performance. Not in appearance, not in voice, not in mannerism. Heath Ledger didn't exist. He was the Joker. Absolutely fantastic.

DrPaul wrote: Heath Ledger's Joker stole the movie as far as I'm concerned. Words cannot describe how wonderfully he portrayed his character. Even knowing it was Heath Ledger, I could not see one sign of him behind the makeup and performance. Not in appearance, not in voice, not in mannerism. Heath Ledger didn't exist. He was the Joker. Absolutely fantastic.

I agree 100%. I just wrote a blog on my myspace page about Ledger's performance in this movie. I truly felt scarred of this character while I was watching the movie. It was a person that if I knew was in my town and causing the chaos he did in the movie, I would truly fear for my life and those close to me. Such an amazing movie and such and amazing performance. It's just very sad that Heath Ledger has passed and can no longer give us this gift of truly great acting. Sad...very sad indeed.