movie review the dark knight

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“ Batman ” isn’t a comic book anymore. Christopher Nolan ’s “The Dark Knight” is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy. It creates characters we come to care about. That’s because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production. This film, and to a lesser degree “ Iron Man ,” redefine the possibilities of the “comic-book movie.”

“The Dark Knight” is not a simplistic tale of good and evil. Batman is good, yes, The Joker is evil, yes. But Batman poses a more complex puzzle than usual: The citizens of Gotham City are in an uproar, calling him a vigilante and blaming him for the deaths of policemen and others. And the Joker is more than a villain. He’s a Mephistopheles whose actions are fiendishly designed to pose moral dilemmas for his enemies.

The key performance in the movie is by the late Heath Ledger , as the Joker. Will he become the first posthumous Oscar winner since Peter Finch ? His Joker draws power from the actual inspiration of the character in the silent classic “ The Man Who Laughs ” (1928). His clown's makeup more sloppy than before, his cackle betraying deep wounds, he seeks revenge, he claims, for the horrible punishment his father exacted on him when he was a child. In one diabolical scheme near the end of the film, he invites two ferry-loads of passengers to blow up the other before they are blown up themselves. Throughout the film, he devises ingenious situations that force Batman ( Christian Bale ), Commissioner Gordon ( Gary Oldman ) and District Attorney Harvey Dent ( Aaron Eckhart ) to make impossible ethical decisions. By the end, the whole moral foundation of the Batman legend is threatened.

Because these actors and others are so powerful, and because the movie does not allow its spectacular special effects to upstage the humans, we’re surprised how deeply the drama affects us. Eckhart does an especially good job as Harvey Dent, whose character is transformed by a horrible fate into a bitter monster. It is customary in a comic book movie to maintain a certain knowing distance from the action, to view everything through a sophisticated screen. “The Dark Knight” slips around those defenses and engages us.

Yes, the special effects are extraordinary. They focus on the expected explosions and catastrophes, and have some superb, elaborate chase scenes. The movie was shot on location in Chicago, but it avoids such familiar landmarks as Marina City, the Wrigley Building or the skyline. Chicagoans will recognize many places, notably La Salle Street and Lower Wacker Drive, but director Nolan is not making a travelogue. He presents the city as a wilderness of skyscrapers, and a key sequence is set in the still-uncompleted Trump Tower. Through these heights, the Batman moves at the end of strong wires, or sometimes actually flies, using his cape as a parasail.

The plot involves nothing more or less than the Joker’s attempts to humiliate the forces for good and expose Batman’ secret identity, showing him to be a poser and a fraud. He includes Gordon and Dent on his target list, and contrives cruel tricks to play with the fact that Bruce Wayne once loved, and Harvey Dent now loves, Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes ( Maggie Gyllenhaal ). The tricks are more cruel than he realizes, because the Joker doesn’t know Batman’s identity. Heath Ledger has a good deal of dialogue in the movie, and a lot of it isn’t the usual jabs and jests we’re familiar with: It’s psychologically more complex, outlining the dilemmas he has constructed, and explaining his reasons for them. The screenplay by Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan (who first worked together on “ Memento ”) has more depth and poetry than we might have expected.

Two of the supporting characters are crucial to the action, and are played effortlessly by the great actors Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine . Freeman, as the scientific genius Lucius Fox, is in charge of Bruce Wayne’s underground headquarters, and makes an ethical objection to a method of eavesdropping on all of the citizens of Gotham City. His stand has current political implicstions. Caine is the faithful butler Alfred, who understands Wayne better than anybody, and makes a decision about a crucial letter.

Nolan also directed the previous, and excellent, “ Batman Begins ” (2005), which went into greater detail than ever before about Bruce Wayne’s origins and the reasons for his compulsions. Now it is the Joker’s turn, although his past is handled entirely with dialogue, not flashbacks. There are no references to Batman’s childhood, but we certainly remember it, and we realize that this conflict is between two adults who were twisted by childhood cruelty — one compensating by trying to do good, the other by trying to do evil. Perhaps they instinctively understand that themselves.

Something fundamental seems to be happening in the upper realms of the comic-book movie. “Spider-Man II” (2004) may have defined the high point of the traditional film based on comic-book heroes. A movie like the new “Hellboy II” allows its director free rein for his fantastical visions. But now “Iron Man” and even more so “The Dark Knight” move the genre into deeper waters. They realize, as some comic-book readers instinctively do, that these stories touch on deep fears, traumas, fantasies and hopes. And the Batman legend, with its origins in film noir, is the most fruitful one for exploration.

In his two Batman movies, Nolan has freed the character to be a canvas for a broader scope of human emotion. For Bruce Wayne is a deeply troubled man, let there be no doubt, and if ever in exile from his heroic role, it would not surprise me what he finds himself capable of doing.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Dark Knight (2008)

Rated PG-13 for for intense sequences of violence and some menace

152 minutes

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne

Heath Ledger as The Joker

Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel

Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent

Michael Caine as Alfred

Gary Oldman as Gordon

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

Directed by

Christopher Nolan
Jonathan Nolan

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The Dark Knight Reviews

With a memorable performance from Heath Ledger, masterful direction from Nolan, and bold storytelling, this film stands out as one of the best comic book adaptations in film history. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Mar 11, 2024

It doesn’t matter how many superhero movies its crosstown rival makes; it’ll never match the brilliance that Nolan delivered the same year Marvel began its infinite project. Firing on all cylinders … this is the most complete film Nolan has ever made.

Full Review | Oct 17, 2023

For the longest time, I’ve viewed this film as the Godfather of live-action Batman films.

Full Review | Sep 26, 2023

The pinnacle of Nolan’s career so far, The Dark Knight is one of the most impressionable films of the 21st century (and one of the best).

Full Review | Jul 20, 2023

An incomparable crime thriller and superhero film, and an instant classic in both genres

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 21, 2022

A masterpiece within or outside the superhero & comic book genre it explores. Heath Ledger delivers one of the most iconic performances in film history. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 16, 2021

A rare beast. It's a summer blockbuster with equal parts brain and brawn.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jan 31, 2021

The famous masked vigilante has never looked or felt more intense.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 28, 2020

With his smeared whiteface make-up and leering razor-slashed smile, Ledger's Joker is creepy enough to look at, but what he represents is even more chilling.

Full Review | Nov 15, 2020

The awards hype is warranted.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 5, 2020

The Dark Knight managed to capture something complex and instinctive about the "war on terror" era.

Full Review | Sep 1, 2020

A masterpiece. Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is not only one of the greatest comic book movies you'll ever see, but also one of the best films of all-time.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Feb 15, 2020

It seems almost cruel to take beloved child archetypes and turn them into projections for adult angst.

Full Review | Jan 28, 2020

Heath Ledger gives one of the best performances of the last twenty years. When you watch his take on the Joker, it's one of complete surprise and mystery. It's frightening with how chaotic and mischievous he makes him.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 21, 2019

Ledger's performance alone is good enough to make The Dark Knight a very good movie, but fortunately this is a film with even more than that -- making it the not just the best film of the summer, but one of the best films of the year.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Oct 29, 2019

The Dark Knight represents a masterpiece in filmmaking as Christopher Nolan takes the Batman Begins sequel to an entirely new level.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 22, 2019

The definitive movie of its genre and the best Batman film to date

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 5, 2019

Heath Ledger is great.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Apr 15, 2019

The movie's a real neo-noir all right, wallowing in darkness, thrilled with how bad we are, and getting such a kick out of our impending doom it cheers you right up.

Full Review | Nov 2, 2018

Not just a perfect comic book movie, not just a perfect Batman movie, but darn-near a perfect movie, full stop.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Nov 2, 2018

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Movie Review | 'The Dark Knight'

Showdown in Gotham Town

By Manohla Dargis

July 18, 2008

Dark as night and nearly as long, Christopher Nolan’s new Batman movie feels like a beginning and something of an end. Pitched at the divide between art and industry, poetry and entertainment, it goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind including “Batman Begins,” Mr. Nolan’s 2005 pleasurably moody resurrection of the series largely by embracing an ambivalence that at first glance might be mistaken for pessimism. But no work filled with such thrilling moments of pure cinema can be rightly branded pessimistic, even a postheroic superhero movie like “The Dark Knight.”

Apparently, truth, justice and the American way don’t cut it anymore. That may not fully explain why the last Superman took a nose dive (“Superman Returns,” if not for long), but I think it helps get at why, like other recent ambiguous American heroes, both supermen and super-spies, the new Batman soared. Talent played a considerable part in Mr. Nolan’s Bat restoration, naturally, as did his seriousness of purpose. He brought a gravitas to the superhero that wiped away the camp and kitsch that had shrouded Batman in cobwebs. It helped that Christian Bale, a reluctant smiler whose sharply planed face looks as if it had been carved with a chisel, slid into Bruce Wayne’s insouciance as easily as he did Batman’s suit.

The new Batman movie isn’t a radical overhaul like its predecessor, which is to be expected of a film with a large price tag (well north of $100 million) and major studio expectations (worldwide domination or bust). Instead, like other filmmakers who’ve successfully reworked genre staples, Mr. Nolan has found a way to make Batman relevant to his time meaning, to ours investing him with shadows that remind you of the character’s troubled beginning but without lingering mustiness. That’s nothing new, but what is surprising, actually startling, is that in “The Dark Knight,” which picks up the story after the first film ends, Mr. Nolan has turned Batman (again played by the sturdy, stoic Mr. Bale) into a villain’s sidekick.

That would be the Joker, of course, a demonic creation and three-ring circus of one wholly inhabited by Heath Ledger. Mr. Ledger died in January at age 28 from an accidental overdose, after principal photography ended, and his death might have cast a paralyzing pall over the film if the performance were not so alive. But his Joker is a creature of such ghastly life, and the performance is so visceral, creepy and insistently present that the characterization pulls you in almost at once. When the Joker enters one fray with a murderous flourish and that sawed-off smile, his morbid grin a mirror of the Black Dahlia’s ear-to-ear grimace, your nervous laughter will die in your throat.

A self-described agent of chaos, the Joker arrives in Gotham abruptly, as if he’d been hiding up someone’s sleeve. He quickly seizes control of the city’s crime syndicate and Batman’s attention with no rhyme and less reason. Mr. Ledger, his body tightly wound but limbs jangling, all but disappears under the character’s white mask and red leer. Licking and chewing his sloppy, smeared lips, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth like a jittery animal, he turns the Joker into a tease who taunts criminals (Eric Roberts’s bad guy, among them) and the police (Gary Oldman’s good cop), giggling while he-he-he (ha-ha-ha) tries to burn the world down. He isn’t fighting for anything or anyone. He isn’t a terrorist, just terrifying.

Mr. Nolan is playing with fire here, but partly because he’s a showman. Even before the Joker goes wild, the director lets loose with some comic horror that owes something to Michael Mann’s “Heat,” something to Cirque de Soleil, and quickly sets a tense, coiled mood that he sustains for two fast-moving hours of freakish mischief, vigilante justice, philosophical asides and the usual trinkets and toys, before a final half-hour pileup of gunfire and explosions. This big-bang finish which includes a topsy-turvy image that poignantly suggests the world has been turned on its axis for good is sloppy, at times visually incoherent, yet touching. Mr. Nolan, you learn, likes to linger in the dark, but he doesn’t want to live there.

Though entranced by the Joker, Mr. Nolan, working from a script he wrote with his brother Jonathan Nolan, does make room for romance and tears and even an occasional (nonlethal) joke. There are several new characters, notably Harvey Dent (a charismatic Aaron Eckhart), a crusading district attorney and Bruce Wayne’s rival for the affection of his longtime friend, Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal, a happy improvement over Katie Holmes). Like almost every other character in the film, Batman and Bruce included, Harvey and Rachel live and work in (literal) glass houses. The Gotham they inhabit is shinier and brighter than the antiqued dystopia of “Batman Begins”: theirs is the emblematic modern megalopolis (in truth, a cleverly disguised Chicago), soulless, anonymous, a city of distorting and shattering mirrors.

From certain angles, the city the Joker threatens looks like New York, but it would be reductive to read the film too directly through the prism of 9/11 and its aftermath. You may flash on that day when a building collapses here in a cloud of dust, or when firemen douse some flames, but those resemblances belong more rightly to our memories than to what we see unfolding on screen. Like any number of small- and big-screen thrillers, the film’s engagement with 9/11 is diffuse, more a matter of inference and ideas (chaos, fear, death) than of direct assertion. Still, that a spectacle like this even glances in that direction confirms that American movies have entered a new era of ambivalence when it comes to their heroes or maybe just superness.

In and out of his black carapace and on the restless move, Batman remains, perhaps not surprisingly then, a recessive, almost elusive figure. Part of this has to do with the costume, which has created complications for every actor who wears it. With his eyes dimmed and voice technologically obscured, Mr. Bale, who’s suited up from the start, doesn’t have access to an actor’s most expressive tools. (There are only so many ways to eyeball an enemy.) Mr. Nolan, having already told Batman’s origin story in the first film, initially doesn’t appear motivated to advance the character. Yet by giving him rivals in love and war, he has also shifted Batman’s demons from inside his head to the outside world.

That change in emphasis leaches the melodrama from Mr. Nolan’s original conception, but it gives the story tension and interest beyond one man’s personal struggle. This is a darker Batman, less obviously human, more strangely other. When he perches over Gotham on the edge of a skyscraper roof, he looks more like a gargoyle than a savior. There’s a touch of demon in his stealthy menace. During a crucial scene, one of the film’s saner characters asserts that this isn’t a time for heroes, the implication being that the moment belongs to villains and madmen. Which is why, when Batman takes flight in this film, his wings stretching across the sky like webbed hands, it’s as if he were trying to possess the world as much as save it.

In its grim intensity, “The Dark Knight” can feel closer to David Fincher’s “Zodiac” than Tim Burton’s playfully gothic “Batman,” which means it’s also closer to Bob Kane’s original comic and Frank Miller’s 1986 reinterpretation. That makes it heavy, at times almost pop-Wagnerian, but Mr. Ledger’s performance and the film’s visual beauty are transporting. (In Imax, it’s even more operatic.) No matter how cynical you feel about Hollywood, it is hard not to fall for a film that makes room for a shot of the Joker leaning out the window of a stolen police car and laughing into the wind, the city’s colored lights gleaming behind him like jewels. He’s just a clown in black velvet, but he’s also some kind of masterpiece.

“The Dark Knight” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). Consistently violent but not bloody.

THE DARK KNIGHT

Opens on Friday nationwide.

Directed by Christopher Nolan; written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer; Batman character created by Bob Kane; Batman and other characters from the DC comic books; director of photography, Wally Pfister; edited by Lee Smith; music by Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard; production designer, Nathan Crowley; produced by Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan; released by Warner Brothers Pictures. Running time: 2 hours 32 minutes.

WITH: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne/Batman), Michael Caine (Alfred), Heath Ledger (the Joker), Gary Oldman (James Gordon), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Rachel Dawes) and Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox).

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‘the dark knight’: film review.

Returning director Christopher Nolan, having dispensed with his introspective, moody origin story, now puts the Caped Crusader through a decathlon of explosions, vehicle flips, hand-to-hand combat, midair rescues and pulse-pounding suspense.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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The Dark Knight is pure adrenaline. Returning director Christopher Nolan, having dispensed with his introspective, moody origin story, now puts the Caped Crusader through a decathlon of explosions, vehicle flips, hand-to-hand combat, midair rescues and pulse-pounding suspense.

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The Dark Knight

A sound like a batgloved fist smacking into a cupped palm is what this film delivers: only deafeningly amplified and clarified with crisp, digital precision. It is the sound of all other recent super-hero movies getting their asses well and truly kicked. The Dark Knight is strange, dark, grandiose and mad; it is overlong and overhyped but hugely entertaining. In a simple, physical sense it really is huge, with cityscape sequences filmed on Imax technology, that demand to be seen on the vast Imax screen. Watching the first dizzying, vertiginous overhead shot of the glittering skyscrapers and minuscule streets, I literally forgot to breathe for a second or two, and found myself teetering forward on my seat - timidly, I had chosen one high up at the very back of the auditorium - as if about to topple into the illusory void.

The Dark Knight is the continuation of British director Christopher Nolan's reinvention of the Batman story and it takes the story up to his primal confrontation with the Joker, the villain who among the wrongdoer-gallery ranged against Batman is first among equals: here leading an unspeakable cabal of wiseguys. The caped crusader himself (although this camp designation is now not used) is again played by Christian Bale, clanking around in a kind of titanium-lite exoskeleton and making use of a heavy-duty Batmobile so macho and military-looking it makes a Humvee look like the kind of Prius driven by Gok Wan. Otherwise, he bops around town on a brutal motorbike with wheels the size of rubber boulders, cape fluttering in the slipstream.

The Joker is played, tremendously, by the late Heath Ledger . His great grin, though enhanced by rouge, has evidently been caused by two horrid slash-scars to the corners of his mouth, and his whiteface makeup is always cracking and peeling off, perhaps due to the dried remnants of tears, making him look like some self-hating Pagliaccio of crime, sweating backstage after the latest awful spectacular. Ledger has a weird collection of tics and twitches, kinks and quirks; his tongue darts, lizard-like, around his mouth, a little like Frankie Howerd, or perhaps Graham Kerr, the galloping gourmet of 1970s television.

Batman is still a reasonably novel figure in Gotham city as the action begins. They still refer to this dubious vigilante with a retro-sounding definite article: he is "the Batman". And there is a new, conventional crime fighter in town: the handsome, dashing district attorney Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart, a man who believes that the rule of law has to be upheld by a democratically accountable person, not some shadowy figure of the night. To the chagrin of Batman and his far-from-mild-mannered alter ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, Harvey is dating the love of Batman's life: legal eagle Rachel Dawes, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Gary Oldman plays Lt Gordon, before his historic promotion to "Commissioner" status. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman provide droll performances as Wayne's ancillary staff, his butler Alfred and his Q-like costume designer, Lucius Fox.

There are some really exhilarating set-pieces, especially the one that kickstarts the proceedings: Nolan starts off with a high-tension, high-anxiety bank raid, carried out by a dodgy crew all in Joker masks, all whispering among themselves about the crazy guy in clown makeup who hired them to do the job. Why isn't he there personally? Wait - is he there personally?

With some big masculine face-offs, and a high-speed convoy scene, Nolan appears to have imbibed the influence of Michael Mann, and a sequence in Hong Kong has a touch of the Infernal Affairs movies. Various debates about Jack Bauer/24-type torture methods appear to show modern Hollywood discovering, if not a conscience exactly, then a certain self-consciousness. But the film is better at pure action - particularly one awe-inspiring chase scene Nolan later contrives between Batman on his bike and the Joker at the wheel of a enormous truck. The conclusion to this sequence had the audience in a semi-standing crouch of disbelief.

Perhaps the most bizarre moment comes when the Joker has evidently abducted some unfortunate from the local psychiatric hospital to "impersonate" Batman's lost love: this man does appear to resemble Maggie Gyllenhaal: a joke of considerable malice, sophistication and lack of taste.

Nolan has made an enormously profitable smash with the Batman franchise, but at the risk of sounding priggish, I can't help thinking it may be a bit of a career blind-alley for the talented director who gave us brilliant and disquieting movies like Following (1998) and Memento (2000), whose inventions still linger in the mind. The Dark Knight's massive box-office success has surely given Nolan the means to write his own cheque, and in addition something sweeter still - clout. I hope that he will use it to cultivate movies that are smaller and more manoeuvrable than that great armoured Batmobile.

Christopher Nolan
Action and adventure films
Heath Ledger
Christian Bale
Morgan Freeman

The Movie Review: 'The Dark Knight'

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The dark knight, common sense media reviewers.

Excellent sequel much darker, more violent than the first.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Extensive discussion of the rule of law versus the

Batman is ostensibly the champion of justice, but

Extensive, intense violence, including (but not li

Some kissing; someone walks in on a couple (standi

Words used include "ass," "hell," "damn," "goddamn

Tie-in to vast quantities of related merchandise.

Cocktail party scenes show adults drinking champag

Positive Messages

Extensive discussion of the rule of law versus the rule of force; police and political characters who work within the system are contrasted with the vigilante Batman. Political and police corruption are featured prominently in the plot. The thematic idea of order versus chaos also figures prominently in the film.

Positive Role Models

Batman is ostensibly the champion of justice, but his methods can get pretty iffy, and many characters wonder just how different he is from the "villains" he tracks down. The Joker is pure anarchy -- he embraces chaos for chaos' sake and doesn't flinch at hurting the innocent to accomplish his goals.

Violence & Scariness

Extensive, intense violence, including (but not limited to) shootings, stabbings, fistfights, explosions, rocket attacks, grenades, and more. A thug is slammed face-first onto a pencil that's stuck in a table; an underling has an explosive device sewn into his body and then detonated; a hallucinogenic "fear drug" is used as a weapon; dogs are unleashed on victims; a man is set ablaze; cars crash; characters are bound in rooms full of explosives; live grenades are placed in the hands and mouths of hostages; two boats full of passengers are threatened with bombs on-board; suicide bombs are used as threats; knives and guns are brandished. Several characters have extensive facial scarring, either from knives or fire.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Some kissing; someone walks in on a couple (standing up and fully dressed), and it's clear they've been fooling around; bikini-clad women are shown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Words used include "ass," "hell," "damn," "goddamn," "balls," "son of a bitch," and "oh my God."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Tie-in to vast quantities of related merchandise. Minimal; the Lamborghini brand is mentioned, and Budweiser products are visible.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Cocktail party scenes show adults drinking champagne, liquor, and beer, mostly in the background. Some scenes take place in bars.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that although The Dark Knight is an excellent movie, this sequel to Batman Begins is also much darker and more violent than the first one. Remember: Not all Batmen are created equal. Even though this movie is about a comic-book character, neither it nor its flawed hero and villain are aimed at younger kids or appropriate for them. The film is loaded with intense action, from bombs and bullets to martial-arts fighting and hand-to-hand combat. In addition to the hard-hitting action, expect some drinking and a bit of sexuality. And The Joker's nightmarish appearance has the potential to frighten viewers of all ages. Much of the movie's buzz surrounds actor Heath Ledger 's excellent work in that villainous role -- his final completed part before his January 2008 death from an accidental drug overdose. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

Parents say (133)
Kids say (703)

Based on 133 parent reviews

Great Movie but Joker May Scare Kids

An excellent batman film from christopher nolan, what's the story.

Following 2005's Batman Begins , THE DARK KNIGHT continues the adventures of billionaire Bruce Wayne ( Christian Bale ), who poses as a playboy in public -- and in private takes to the streets as costumed vigilante Batman, working to clean up the beleaguered city of Gotham. This time around, Batman has allies, including up-and-coming district attorney Harvey Dent ( Aaron Eckhart ), whose own crusade to stop Gotham's gangs and organized crime families is almost as effective as Batman's -- and, more importantly, carried out within the letter of the law. Weary and battered, Wayne is eager to help Dent so that he can retire Batman's shadowy efforts, but the arrival of a new player, the giddy and grim anarchist known as The Joker ( Heath Ledger ) tosses a very wild card into the game.

Is It Any Good?

Big, bold, and bruising, this is a prime example of how a high-budget, high-profile comic-book sequel can still be an actual movie -- well-made, exciting, invested, and engaging. Yes, it's going to sell tickets and toys, but credit has to go to director/co-writer Christopher Nolan for making a strong, rich film that gives audiences plenty to talk about and mull over even after the initial adrenaline rush wears off. Like the other filmmakers who've tackled Batman in the modern age, Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher , Nolan has an obvious enthusiasm for the character; unlike Burton and Schumacher, Nolan also has an obvious respect for the character's history, grounding the costumes and action with real character development and focused storytelling.

The actors are all excellent, as well; Ledger's work as The Joker is earning Oscar buzz, and that's not just post-mortem sympathy talking. His swaggering, unhinged take on the character makes for an unsettling, compelling interpretation. As Dent (who, as comic-book fans know, eventually becomes the scarred villain Two-Face), Eckhart also delivers a strong performance that goes much deeper than the special-effects makeup he winds up wearing. Bale's performance is also terrific, whether he's portraying Batman's driven crime-fighting exploits or the quieter moments of Bruce Wayne's struggles behind the mask. Supporting players Gary Oldman , Morgan Freeman , Michael Caine , and Maggie Gyllenhaal also deliver in their smaller roles. The Dark Knight is two and a half hours long, but it never meanders or wastes time; instead, it's packed to the brim with action, ideas, well-drawn character moments, and surprisingly effective drama.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Dark Knight 's violence . How does the film differentiate between "good" and "bad" uses of violence?

What distinguishes Batman from the Joker? Both are angry and dark; why is one a hero and one a villain? Is the rule of law more important than the rule of force?

What does it take to maintain order in the face of those who try to create chaos? Does keeping the public safe from harm justifying curtailing their right to privacy?

Talk about the media coverage around Ledger's role in the film. How does a tragedy like his death affect a film's marketing and publicity?

Movie Details

In theaters : July 18, 2008
On DVD or streaming : December 8, 2008
Cast : Aaron Eckhart , Christian Bale , Heath Ledger
Director : Christopher Nolan
Studio : Warner Bros.
Genre : Action/Adventure
Topics : Superheroes
Run time : 152 minutes
MPAA rating : PG-13
MPAA explanation : intense sequences of violence and some menace
Last updated : February 27, 2024

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The Dark Knight Review

25 Jul 2008

152 minutes

Dark Knight, The

The hero is a billionaire industrialist who likes to beat people up. The only good cop in the city employs dishonest ones. The psychotic terrorist torturing civilians and chopping up criminals… Well, he’s just about the most charismatic character you’ll ever meet. Welcome to Gotham, where no good deed goes unpunished. And welcome to The Dark Knight, an anarchic, malevolent fury of a movie that takes a switchblade to the face of summer conformity and carves a work of twisted beauty out of it.

Anticipation and escalation were the key words in the build up to, post-Indy, 2008’s most hyped and combustible blockbuster. Director/co-writer Christopher Nolan has talked of making a bigger, bolder picture, unfettered by the origin-construction constraints of the still-excellent Batman Begins. The marketing has been masterful: a lesson in tease and please from 42 Entertainment (earning what must surely be the only mention of a movie’s PR firm in an Empire review; whatever, they deserve it). Then, just as the Sturm und Drang around The Dark Knight built to a frenzy came the January death of Heath Ledger. Peeks at his performance as the Clown Prince Of Crime had already prompted whispers of Oscar, of the birth of an icon. Cynics suggested his passing would boost the box office; pessimists griped that a comic-book movie could never serve as a suitable epitaph to the Brokeback Mountain star.

And — yes — as was, perhaps, always inevitable, The Dark Knight is Ledger’s movie. It is a towering performance. From his menacing, pencil-packing greeting to Gotham’s Mob fraternity (one of the most economic and effective character introductions ever), to the threat and fire he conjures in exchanges with Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sexy, sophisticated brief and “The Bat-maaan”, to the Sophie’s choice surprises of the third act, he is pure, powerful, immense. A force of fucking nature. Informed by Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke and Jeph Loeb’s The Long Halloween, Ledger’s Joker is anarchy in a three-piece, a ruthless villain who cares for nothing, not even himself. His function, crafted in the hive mind of the Nolans and as Ledger plays him, is to cause chaos, to question everything, to push everyone to extremes, to show Batman there are no rules to this game.

This doesn’t mean Christian Bale is sidelined as either Bruce Wayne or his suited, re-booted vigilante. There’s no repeat of Keaton’s eclipse by Nicholson’s “I’d like eggs with that” Joker turn in Burton’s Batman. Bale is too muscular and committed for that, the Nolans’ script too evenly interested in every character in its universe. So, Batman is more conflicted than ever, still clinging to his parents’ memory but minus the scowly brooding that can make DC’s darkest hero feel like a moody teen. Now his concerns are much more immediate: how to neuter a threat that could destroy a city, how to empower a new DA without blowing his cover, how to work outside the system without bringing it down. He’s Dirty Harry with a conscience: a conscience The Joker plays like a violin.

Pre-release presumptions about The Dark Knight being the comic-book Heat are valid, if not all-encompassing. Visually the comparison is spot on, and regular Nolan cinematographer Wally Pfister deserves props: ironically The Dark Knight brings Batman out of the shadows, through a burnished, Michael Mann Chicago into a daylight noir. But while The Joker and Batman are both costumed “freaks”, they don’t completely share the McCauley/Hanna dynamic. De Niro’s criminal, for one, had principles; The Joker has none. And Mann’s film was as much about being a professional as being a cop or a criminal, meaning the characters that are most thematically similar are Gary Oldman’s hard-working lieutenant and Aaron Eckhart’s idealistic lawyer (yes, they do manage to pull off that oxymoron), who are trying to change their world without recourse to gadgets or PVC underpants.

And so on and on (it runs an epic 152 minutes), Nolan navigates through a moral maze and some pointed politicking, but without ever stinting on stunts or explosions. It is thoughtful but never dull, and the OTT action and expansion — underscored in IMAX sequences which will no doubt look spectacular on the enormo-screen (Empire reviewed from a 35mm print) — are generally to its benefit, even though Nolan still appears more comfortable and engaged with interacting people than trucks and Batbikes. After a blistering opening, there’s a second act lull and a story shift not quite as elegant (or, some might argue, even coherent) as you’d expect from the director of The Prestige. But The Dark Knight is spectacular, visionary blockbuster entertainment: pretty much everything you could hope for and then some. It isn’t perfect but then, like its hero, like his late co-star, and as Nolan’s fitting tribute so ably observes, nobody is.

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The Dark Knight Review

**UPDATE – YOU CAN HEAR A FULL 35 MINUTE SPECIAL PODCAST WHERE DOUG NAGY AND I TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE. WARNING… THE PODCAST ASSUMES YOU’VE SEEN THE MOVIE ALREADY AND IS FILLED WITH SPOILERS. YOU CAN HEAR THE PODCAST HERE **

Batman Begins was easily the very best DC comic based film ever made. Yes, better than the Keaton Batman, yes better than the Reeve Superman. It was gritty, intense and fun all at the same time. The success of the film made it a virtual no brainer that there would be a follow up movie at some point… and the fact that Gordon shows Batman the Joker card made it even more obvious. But could another Batman flick live up to the expectations generated by the first? Would the film actually end up being as good as the fans WANT it to be? Would Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker be as good as everyone is going to say it is regardless if he was great or horrible since there is an unwritten rule that everyone is SUPPOSED to say how great he is in it no matter what?

Well… off I went to see The Dark Knight this evening at the IMAX here in Los Angeles along with my buddy Robert from IESB, and I can tell you the film is not perfect… but it is one impressive movie nonetheless.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for The Dark Knight looks like this: “In The Dark Knight, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.”

One of the things I was preparing myself for was how over hyped the performance of Heath Ledger was going to be. Since he passed away, I knew he’d be getting rave reviews out the ying yang no matter what and I’d be frowned upon if I said any different. But holy mother suck puss face… HEATH LEDGER DESERVES AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR HIS PERFORMANCE AS THE JOKER… no… I’m not even kidding in the least. I was totally, 100% blown away like nothing I’ve ever seen in a comic based movie before. He is at all times completely believable, at all time relentlessly disturbing, at all times nightmarishly frightening and at all times THE JOKER. This is a slightly different vision of The Joker than we’ve ever seen before… but it hits the mark so purely that even Batman himself is made to feel like a secondary character. It really was the performance of a lifetime for Ledger in all its poetic tragedy. I can not stress this enough… Ledger really was that good in this flick, and if he gets an Oscar nomination (which he really should), it won’t be out of sympathy or sentimentality… it will be because it was a performance worth of the honor. Absolute best performance in a comic book movie I’ve ever seen. Yes, he was THAT good.

The script was fantastic. The story moved forward at all times, the dialog was crisp, at times profound and always in character relative to the scenario. The way all the key characters are used in vital ways in the plot… all interconnecting in a very naturally feeling way… never forced… was something to see.

The action in The Dark Knight was vastly superior to Batman Begins in every way, shape and form. And we’re not just talking about fight scenes either. There are a couple of scenes that are more like heist movies than comic book ones and they totally work. The camera work is also much better for the fight and action in this movie than they were in the original which was quite a relief since that was one of my few complains about Begins.

Speaking of cinematography… it was INSANELY good. Visually speaking, the camera did as much work in The Dark Knight communicating elements to the audience as the dialog did. It was never over the top or gimmicky either. Each shot felt purposefully selected to aide in communication the underlaying emotion and experiences of the characters on screen… while at the same time giving us a sense of vastness to the scope of the shots. I could just sit and watch this movie on mute again and I’d probably still like it just as much.

Maggie Gyllenhaal (who took over for Katie Holmes) actually made Rachel Dawes a GOOD character instead of the eye gougingly annoying one that Holmes managed to make her out to be. The Dawes character is an important one… but the way Holmes portrayed her made us all wish she was never there in the first place… Gyllenhaal made her work, and work well.

What can I say? All the cast were solid. Christain Bale, Caine, Gary Oldman (who was especially good with a much bigger and more important role this time around), Eric Roberts… the list goes on and on. When an entire cast does such a good job, you have to look at the director. Christopher Nolan sir…. we salute you!

Holy crap did Two Face look WICKED!!!

My biggest complaint about The Dark Knight is one that no one will agree with at first… but if you think about it after a while I think you’ll change your mind… at over 2.5 hours the movie was too long. Sorry, it just was. At about the 2 hour mark I was ready to call The Dark Knight the best film of the year so far… and maybe one of the top 5 movies of the last 3 or 4 years. Yeah… THAT GOOD. Now, I have to be careful here to not give any spoilers away… so if some of this doesn’t make sense to you… it will after you see the flick. After about the 2 hour mark, a major component of the story gets finished… and it was the PERFECT time to stop the movie and be wide open to the next film. PERFECT. But instead Nolan felt the need to tell ANOTHER part to the story in this same movie… that was a big mistake in my opinion. All that energy, perfect pacing and focus that the movie had for the first 120 minutes got lost. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the last 30-40 minutes were bad… they just weren’t right for this movie. Something significant happens near the end (I can’t say what) that I believe was a total waste, and ultimately made the last 30 minutes a waste of time.

Scarecrow was WASTED… and I don’t mean he was on drugs. He’s on screen for about 30 seconds, then gone. Wheee… thanks for coming out. This may sound like a little bit of a spoiler, but it’s so irrelevant to the movie that it really doesn’t matter. Scarecrow isn’t even taken down like a true super villain. No no no… he gets taken down during a routine bust really. There was no need for Scarecrow to be used in that capacity… you could have had the same scene and had it be just another thug and it would have been exactly the same. Such a waste

This is a fantastic movie! Yes it’s too long, yes one or two of the characters are wasted… but aside from that it is a wonderfully told, MAGNIFICENTLY acted and beautifully shot comic book movie that ranks amongst one of the best films (not just comic book films) of the year so far. Not just a great comic movie… it is a great movie period. Overall, I give The Dark Knight an 8.5 out of 10 .

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO VERSION OF THE DARK KNIGHT REVIEW BELOW

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315 thoughts on “ the dark knight review ”.

Interesting and Fantastic Review.

Interesting!

Thanks for your review on “The Dark Knight” Movie. It is the amazing horror movie. I also agree with you this is a really vast movie.

Hey. Great review. I agree with most of what you said. Like the Scarecrow cameo. I mean is the Scarecrow really all that’s going on in Gotham City? But I disagree with your comments about the end of the film. If they would’ve carried it over to the next proposed film, it would’ve given the impression of an ending, and not the start of a fresh movie because it is obviously the end of the Dark Knight storyline. Okay, say they do that. Then, do they just try and scrape out a new villians? Not just to accurately depict them in their entirety, but also establish a resolution within two hours? The next film would have to be just as long as the Dark Knight, so length was inevitable. Of course he could have rewritten it to where it wasn’t as long, but then it wouldn’t be the Dark Knight we know and love.

P.S. If you’ve read YEAR ONE, at the end of the comic, Bruce Wayne (as Bruce Wayne) saves Gordon’s newborn baby, and that is alluded to in the Dark Knight, thus further tying the movie to Batman Begins and Batman’s origins in general. Also, I think if you watch the Dark Knight right after Batman Begins, I think you’ll see the continuation and building of the new take on Batman. One more thing-Scarecrow is never officially arrested in Batman Begins. Nolan may have wanted to resolve him, but-oh look what happened, they concluded Crane in the Dark Knight and we sit here disappointed. Told you so.

I enjoyed reading this review and i agree and disagree with it. I my view i thought this film was better than the first batman. The joker in my eyes was the best thing about this film and anyone else was no where near as good the Joker, he upstaged them all.

so do i think the same the dvd release will do well that wat i feel …..

excellent review , though i havent watched the film but just cant wait for it i know its an amazing movie with great actors ……. i guess its the most awaited movie of the year ..

jokers, what??? the movie is a masterpiece that is great the whole entire time. i saw it on opening day and saw it again today. better the second time, i’ve read the script, and have seen it, don’t give me that. you don’t respect the vision Nolan took this. and in your comment, nothing about ledger?!

i still wish Katie Holmes had stayed on board as Rachel Dawes for the Dark Knight; it was like the time spent getting familiar with her character in Batman Begins was wasted…

Ridiculous film. Too long, never ending and hopelessly flawed. Don’t bother.

Also, re the comment by ‘M’ above: “…the more I think about it the more frustrated I become. Its flaws are so glaring; I can’t understand why the filmmakers let them pass.”

The answer to that is in your first sentence: If you thought it was flawed the first time, why in the heck did you hand them your cash TWO more times? You know perfectly well that the studios don’t care about reviews, they care about $$$. They “let them pass” because they were too busy rubbing their hands thinking about how the kids were gonna eat it up, than worry about pesky little plot holes. The best way to let a studio know that you thought their film was rubbish is to simply not give them your moolah. Give it to charity or something. Honestly. There is no sense in rewarding lazy, cynical filmmaking, which as you point out is exactly what Dark Knight is.

Absolutely terrible. Boring, loud, stupid and long.

There were about ten different stories, none of them properly explained or concluded. How did Oldman avoid death? We are not told. What happened to the ferry folk? It doesn’t matter because people are inerrently good in the face of terrorism. WTF? Why do Oldman’s family, he is the chief of police in Gotham City mind you, WHY do his family live in some kind of trailer park? How does his son go so quickly from being almost killed to cutesy admiration of The Batman?

Could anyone else contain their mirth of the terrible CGI Twoface? Surely this is a setup for another movie, or, in the tradition of the rest of the film, was the Twoface sub-plot yet another 5-minute wonder that started somewhere in the middle of the story, went nowhere, then fizzled out?

Utterly, utterly stupid and dull. Don’t bother.

There is a parallel to be drawn between ‘The Dark Knight’ and that Bigfoot carcass found in the US this week which – surprise, surprise! – turned out to be a gorilla suit stuffed with roadkill. Heath Ledger is good, but I sincerely hope he does not receive a posthumous Oscar as it will be seen as an endorsement for this ridiculous, overblown, overlong, turgid and stupid film. More holes than a Swiss cheese. Acting performances phoned in. The characters in the Spongebob Squarepants film have more flesh on their bones. The Dark Knight is the best argument for illegal downloading I have seen in ages – it is the first film I have seen in a long time that made me truly angry to have squandered my hard-earned.

The movie was frickin awesome. Screw Wall-E, best movie of the Year!

I agree with everyone in saying, the movie was 30 min. too long. If Nolan had done withought the extra 30 min., there could have been a much longer story for Harvey (or maybe there still is one). I agree with M. that it would have been essential to see if Harvey would have killed Gordans son with a flip of a coin, but then Batman’s not that patient when it comes to crime. Another thing, I don’t think that Harvey is dead. If Batman was up and running after a fall like that, then Harvey was most likely unconcsious and sent to Arkham soon after. Just an opinion though.

Thanks for reading!! :)

I agree with mostly everybody here in the movie being 30 minutes to long. If Nolan had done withought the extra 30 min. he could have developed a much longer story for Dent. I agree with M. that it would have been essential to see if Harvey would have ben willing to kill Jack Gordan with a flip of a coin. But, that descision has probably been saved for the next movie. I know a lot of you are probably thinking “what the hell do you mean, Dent is dead!”. I think that if Batman was up and running after a fall like that then Harvey was most likely unconscious and soon his way to Arkham. It’s just an opinion though, that may or may not been true.

Saw TDK a third time this week. I still like it, but the more I think about it the more frustrated I become. Its flaws are so glaring; I can’t understand why the filmmakers let them pass. In a movie world of MARTIXes and BOURNEs, the hand-to-hand combat scenes were unforgivable. It would have cost them (relative) pennies to hire a good fight-choreographer and bring in an experienced action director to film the fight scenes. What happened to all of his ninja training? The Scarecrow and Hong Kong scenes needed to be reworked/expanded or altogether dropped. The whole idea that, for all the good he may be doing, the Batman is also attracting nuts and zealots (the Bat-vigilantes, Joker) to Gotham was never fleshed out. The cell phone sonar gimmick was terrible, unnecessary and needlessly complicated. The Two Ferries dilemma was just rotten. The filmmakers obviously pride themselves in making a “gritty,” “realistic” movie, but that Ferry scenario was only there to lie to us. Only there to give Batman an excuse to make a sentimental speech about how people are good at heart. This is not only untrue, but it’s also internally illogical with the rest of the film. The worst thing though was Harvey Dent. He was just too handsome. How am I supposed to pay attention to the story when they keep showing me this handsome man and his tousled blond hair? But, seriously, it’s obvious the writers’ primary interest was the Tragedy of Harvey Dent. Everything else in the movie was peripheral, or there to move the tragedy along. Heck, all Bruce Wayne does in the movie is gaze dreamily at Harvey and tell anyone who will listen that Harvey is Gotham’s True Hero. So, I think a four hour, two-part DARK KNIGHT (the 2nd part out in December) giving Two-Face the attention he deserved would’ve been the way to go. Is Two-Face a villain? Or is he Batman’s nemesis- a twisted hero willing to do what Batman will not? Is Harvey still noble, dedicated to exterminating Gotham’s scum, but using his coin as an agent of clemency? Or is does his “good half” use the coin to keep Two-Face’s vengeance in check? Regardless, when the writers decided to have Harvey die, it became absolutely essential to let the audience see if Harvey would have been willing to murder little Jack Gordon. If that coin had come up with the scarred-side, would Harvey have pulled the trigger? That is the ONLY important thing for us to know about Harvey Two-Face, and they cheated us out of it. That’s just fucking terrible writing.

SPOILER ALERT: I had a hard time feeling any emotion for Rachael when she died. I feel like if that character was developed at all, I would feel bad or something, but instead I felt nothing.

Hey, great review, except… the comment about Scarecrow being taken down so quickly, well, that was just to wrap up a loose end. He was never going to eat up any significant amount of screen time in this already plot-heavy story, but at the same time he didn’t get caught at the end of “Begins.” I love the way Batman took him out. It’s like at the beginning of a Bond film where they show 007 finishing a case before the opening credits.

A mishandling of the Scarecrow? Perhaps. But who was ever really a fan of his corny scarecrow outfit and long diatribes about how much he loves instilling fear? This Scarecrow, while more realistic and less fantastical, works in Nolan’s world. And it’s fitting Batman finally catches up to him and promptly and efficiently takes him out.

well actually, technically (SPOILER), it never shows the joker ide. i know that swat dude is there, but that couldve been anybody, it even couldve somehow been a henchmen. so basically the joker either, died, escaped, or got arrested. personally, i see know reason to carry him on in another film. the reason being no one could play him as good. heath had such an art to it. all in all, freakin great movie

I fully agree the following comments, it’s bit of reduced the enjoyment, instead of expanding the film, after the death of real hero (heath ledger) Harvey Dent not stay in mind, so after the death of Joker the movie gots over, the best movie of the dcade. We all miss Heath Ledger, such a fentastic man, will always stay in our mind

and actually the movie was a masterpiece.

i think what john meant by the last 30 minutes bieng a waste, i think he meant harvey dent chasing ater gordons family. surely he didnt mean the boat scene including the joker/batman building fight, cuz i really enjoyed that. but, i also do agree,to an extent, that harvey/two-face going after gordon’s family wasnt needed

I liked your review, I didn’t necassarily think it was to long, I just felt a bit let down with the ending. At some point(if they make a 3rd) they will have to show that Batman was not a murderer, which defeats the purpose of the ‘protect Harvey’ story line, and Batman is the protector of Gotham so how can he do this if he is to be hunted.

A few people asked about a 3rd super-villain, will I think there was a reference to an appearance by Catwoman in the next film. When Bruce asks Lucius about the armour protecting against a dog bite, Lucius replies something like ‘it will stop a cat bite’

Does anyone think that this was this movies ‘Joker card’??

Your perception of “THE DARK KNIGHT” seemed spot on to me. I was ready to name it as the best summer movie . . . until I was forced to watched the last half hour. Not only was the movie a half hour too long, I hated what went on in that last half hour. For me, TDK lost its chance to be my favorite movie this summer, thanks to that unecessary last half hour.

Good but too long. Tried to add too much there………..could have done without the whole littlegirl kidnapping thing. The ferry passengers gave us the hope message, without going there. I liked BB better.I may have to rent this to give it another shot. 6/10 for me……………maybe it was just my mood at the time

ALSO i totally agree with John the movie was too long i personally thought two faces “revenge” on all those that failed him would have been a great story line for the 3rd movie and a way of hunting down all the corrupt police officers would be a great starter for part 3 and then introduce the next super villains i was exhausted not only the wonderful andrenalin rush of a ride the movie took me on but also there is so much going on in the movie my it was too much absorbing it all in and seeing it 4 times made it so much better for me as i pay so much attention to the roles all the actors are in and even though in some movies ive seen i sometimes find i zone out in some quiter scenes but in the dark knight it was impossible as there is so much key moments that leads into the next scenes if that makes sense but again i absolutely loved this movie! THANK MR CHRISTOPHER NOLAN FOR telling the true “dark” story af batman the way it should be and i think Jessica Alba or Angelina jolie or Gina Gershon would make a great CATWOMAN.

I was absolutely BLOWN away by the movie ive now seen it 4 times and my 4th time was at imax, i just wish i went there for my first screening and my GOD imax took it to a whole different level! I have always been a fan of batman and of Heath Ledgers and his performance was by far the most intense ive ever seen in a movie by any actor i would say it was as brilliant as Anthony Hopkins in silence of the lambs i was spellbound and totally drawn into every word Ledger spoke there was a method to his madness he was so intense i had tears in my eyes as i get really involved with the movies i watch and i was taken on an adrenalin rush ride with his performance and the whole movie in general there was so much going on i was exhausted and seeing it 4 times just made it so much better in the scenes in imax especially the hong kong rooftop seen was amazing it felt like i leapt off the building with batman and was flying with him and the cell room scene with batman and joker was incredible and i loved the way Ledger would lick his lips almost like a lizard and he just showed why the joker was eccentric and deadly and yet very intelligent as it made sense why he wanted the world to burn and his way of manipulating every one was amazing i sincerely hope ledger gets nominated for every possible award there is for an actor as he TRULY deserves it, Christopher Nolan did BATMAN so much justice by telling thre true story of batman and showing the way it was meant to be and i thank him for the best movie i have EVER been fortunate enough to see!

I agree with John the movie was 30 minutes too long. It was like the director thought most of the audience might be mentaly challenged so he tried to explain as you would to a 5 year old. It was kind of like, ok now ladies and gentleman here is how this good guy will become the bad guy for the next episode, here is how he starts having bad thoughts, here is why he will be a bad guy, here is another shot of him just to make sure you remember you’ll see him in the next episode, here once again just so you remember he will be in the next episode. Meanwhile, don’t worry about Batman and Joker they are old news, just keep watching the promotion for the next episode.

I was also disappointed to see early on in the movie the lawyer with mask from Batman Begins, there was no need for him unless he signed a 2 episode contract. Maybe I shouldn’t take this movie too seriously at the end of the day it’s a comic book on screen but like John said it could’ve been a better movie which would leave a sweeter taste in your mouth if it was shorter.

Health Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight was truly amazing! As for Christian Bale ……I cringed when I saw him attempt to play Batman. Christian Bale is NOT sexy enough to play Batman! In every past Batman that we have had, George Clooney, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer….these guys all made Batman sexy! But NOT Christian Bale. I thought Christian Bale’s performance was stale and unmemorable. Thank goodness we had Health Ledger and Morgan Freeman to make the movie worth going to. Next Batman Movie can we have have a talented, SEXY, goodlooking actor play Batman??

i totally agree that heath ledger’s performance was superb in every way… other than that; i really didn’t like it to much. there’s one reason i didn’t: christian bale. i really hated him as batman. i’m sorry, but i just thought he was trying way too hard.

i did a review of it on my blog, check it out if you have time. :)

Don’t get me wrong… I loved this movie, it was great. But I had two big dissapoinments at the end:

1) I hated that 2 faces didn’t have a big part and obviously overshaded by the joker character. I thought they would used two faces in future moves, but they killed him. Not Good!!!

2) The joker doesn’t die, what was the purpose? He should’ve died. There are two many villans in Gothic City for Batman to fight against. As in the original the Joker should’ve died.

I just hope in the future Batman movies the don’t overshade the other villans… Each Villan should have their own movie.

oh yea heath ledger not only deserves an oscar but like an award for best played villain EVER.

well… ledger deserves an oscar no doubt but movie was hyped a lot and failed my expectations sadly cuz it tired to fit in too much and that two faced died (which he shouldn’t have). oh yea my favorite quote of the movie was probly the scene where the two ferries and the bomb things at the end and batman has the joker hanging from a rope hooked on his ankle. so the joker says “u wont kill me because u complete me and i complete u” and then the joker says which is funny as hell “and i wont kill u cuz your just too much fun. i luv it also when he drops the joker then he laughs his way down which is previous to the commentary.

The Dark Knight This is my first review on the movie many may like this or hate. My first initially experience on watching this movie was grate .Since the movie just picks up from where the batman begins was left . With the kind of all hype the movie got, it scored on all parts of the movie Heath ledger as role of joker has brought a life in the joke character, I guess he might stand a chance for the Oscars this time.

Dark knight displays a perfect good and the evil. Christine bale has once more showed what he is made of .The joker part by heath is to impressive reminds me of the other sequels of batman where jack Nicholson played just a lunatic role in that, but this sequel is too good. The dialogs are too good the one which joker yells “why so serious?”,”you changed the plans” “I like bad & u are going to get it” are some of it . To close this I just want to tell all that this movie of the decade so just go and watch this movie it’s worth a watch in a cinema hall.

The joker was one of the best villan’s ive EVER seen played.. the last half an hour was a little dragged but in a way was very clever too! i have also seen wanted and i must say.. how can that be better than this?!?!

The Dark Knight was great, but it’s not a Masterpiece.

Wow. Talk about a contrarian review:

http://tinyurl.com/timesdarkknightreview

The guy initially slated to play the joker was… Sean Penn… The first time I heard about that, I was like “What? Sean? I can’t even imagine the guy smiling.”

But Chris Nolan showed us good that the joker doesn’t need to smile in the literal sense. The ‘smile’ that they went with… is AWE inspiring. Whoever thought that up for the movie IS a bloody genius! That set the tone for the entire character. And of course, Heath Ledger overshadowed them ALL…

When I went for the movie, I was already impressed by Heath through whatever was shown in the trailer. I loved Jack Nicholson’s joker, which suited the mood of Tim Burton’s movie. But the trailer was enough to show me that Heath had gone MUCH farther with the character. Even then, I certainly did not expect him to be THIS good. One of the best performances of all time. It’s been a week since I’ve seen it, and the dialogues are still running through my head…

Why so serious?

What did Harvey mean at the end of the movie when he told Gordon that he sold his soul to the devil?

There is a review of Dark Knight with a different perspective and extra special insight from two old-school movie vets check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUTrh2ueqtU

I’m going to see the film today in about 2 hours yet all you lot have done is undermind the fact that it is johns blog. ok so he thought wanted is better than the dark night by 0.5, it’s his opion atop judging a film on other peoples opinions and go out and see it for yourself like i’m gunna do!

Thuderous applause for Heath Ledger … No one could’ve bettered his act …. Joker scares me ….

im trying to figure out what John is saying about the last 30 to 40 minutes were a waste and the movie should of ended at the 2hr mark. so can anyone or John tell me at what scene should the movie had ended?

maria, thats cool if you didnt like it. but this WAS NOT i repeat WAS NOT a boring movie. we were always on the edge of our seats, and let me say this one more time: THIS MOVIE WAS THE FASTEST 2 AND A HALF HOURS OF MY LIFE, IT DIDNT DRAG AT ALL. best movie ever. best comic boo kmovie ever. Heath did the best acting EVER. the only thing i didnt like was batman’s voice and scarecrow. other than that, friggin awesome film. this blows iron man, kills the incredible hulk. and murders hancock, which is nothing compared to TDK. I thought the last 30-40 mins of the film was a PERFECT ending for the joker, A PERFECT ONE. it lived up to the hype. 9.8/10

Nice review, but i have to disagree about the last 30 – 40mins of the movie. It was absolutely necessary. The title of the movie gets explained in the very last minute. That would not arise if the downfall of the white knight did not happen. To have stretched out those last 30mins into another movie would stink of the exploitation that most movies usually employ.

No, those last minutes were absolutely necessary. The people of Gotham passed their test (the boats) thus dissapointing the joker, but Gotham’s hope in the white knight failed his test. This leaves the Batman as the true hero of Gotham even if he has to bear the consequences of the actions of the white knight.

This was a crime drama exploring the battle between good and evil disguised as a superhero movie. Everybody complains about the popcorn movies coming out of hollywood, but then complain when served the real deal. In the “golden age” of hollywood movies lasted for 3hrs, now most people seem to want a quick hour and a half fix. 90 mins is fine if it comprises of bad plots, poor writing like Hancock and Wanted. No when i settle down for a full course meal like TDK I want to watch it as long as possible.

I have seen TDK twice and left entertained both times. I cannot wait to see it on IMAX.

How many movies leave you exploring the various themes that this one brings up. From the parallels it draws to the state of the world today, to the philosophical battles that it made flesh, this movie touches on something in all of us. This is why it has had so much repeat business and will continue to do so.

This movie can stand beside ANY movie. One of the best i have ever seen.

The film was completed by the last 30 to 40 minutes… If the movie had ended, not only would people have bitched about them not having enough two-face and him just falling out of the story and having no place in the resolution, the movie would be incomplete. Batman was forced to break his one rule at the end (assuming Harvey died, and since they had a funeral for him and the shooting scrips actually says he snapped his neck and died) for the greater good. Now, in the peoples’ eyes, Harvey died a hero (they’ll never know he was two-face) and Batman has lived long enough to become the villain (the deaths Harvey caused will be blamed on him).

It’s central to and very important to the main theme of the movie, without it the movie is a superhero beat’em up with a freaky bad guy and a less effective message.

(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)

The very best part of TDK is the last 40 mins. Had the film ended at the 2 hours mark it would have been cheap cliffhanger time. No, the last 30-40 mins give the film its iconic status as the best movie ( forget comic-book movie) of the year thus far. In terms of completing the story arc/s we have to remember that this story is Harvey Dent’s. He is the central character and without giving anything away, the main premise of the film demanded that last sequence. The Batman’s role is to solve and resolve and as such, he is utilised as the force to challenge chaos. He is the champion of order.

The Nolans have got a masterpiece on their hands.

Wow, I thought I was the only one who thought it was too long and I agree with you about there being an exact point where they should have ended it and then running it on beyond that being a mistake.

I actually convinced myself I was being too hard because nobody I know agreed with me but reading this review I think your thoughts match mine perfectly. At the end I felt like the last 30 minutes had let the previous 2 hours down. Still a very good film but could have been so much more without the ending they chose to use.

Didnt like it

Too long, so boring, the girl’s acting skills were really bad. Batman’s voice is too much. I don’t know, I didn’t like it at all. The only positive for me was Ledger’s acting.

im not a huge batman fan but i went to see it anyway because everyone said heaths performance was amazing .. and they were right .. he blew everyone out of the water .. it was believeable and freaky at the same time .. he could have been the next jack nicholson .. its a shame he had to die RIP heath

I thought heath did an ok job as the joker and that you are over the top in saying that he was stunning. Any good actor could have done as good a job as heath, he wasn’t amazing, i thought the acting was standard, he could have made more of the role.

Besides Clooney’s attempt at Batman, this movie was the second worst by far. Batman was the character featured least in the film and the whole project would probably have been better served entitled “The Joker.” I don’t know if Ledger’s death was the reason that the powers that be decided to show the Joker probably 65% of the time, but the movie was entitled The Dark Knight and shouldn’t have been. There were perhaps two action scenes in the whole damn thing. Iron Man and Incredible Hulk trounced this crap of a movie. Don’t see it. I should have seen Hellboy 2.

i really disagree with the statement on the script.

“The script was fantastic. The story moved forward at all times, the dialog was crisp, at times profound and always in character relative to the scenario. The way all the key characters are used in vital ways in the plot… all interconnecting in a very naturally feeling way… never forced… was something to see.”

i felt that alot of the words were wasted on unneeded exposition of the plot and some of the dialogues that should have been shining fell flat simply by never really blooming into anything interesting. this was slightly confusing, as at times (mostly containing the joker) the scripting was spot on. i think the dark knight could be a prime example of a movie where they just didnt know where to cut the fat out of their movie, or alternatively they just never pushed for it to be any different.

I know this is your review and all, and you can do whatever you want, and this is obviously just my opinion but… thinking a film was a little too long and wishing ONE character had more of a role is a pretty bad reason to give it an 8.5

As gushing as you were about the first 2 hours, I don’t think it would be a stretch to say you would have given it a 10/10 if it had stopped then. Now for the 30 minutes, you said it wasn’t bad, just that you didn’t really like it… so that sounds like a 8/10 to me, certainly not BAD, but nothing to write home about.

As wrong as it is to review a movie based solely on the first 2 hours and ignore the end, it’s just as wrong to review a movie mostly on the last 30 minutes and practically ignore almost everything else you said.

Read your review again, maybe. All that great stuff? It doesn’t become worse or less meaningful because you didn’t think the last few minutes fit in very well. An 85 is a B. Not even a B+, a B, and I honestly can’t see how you can say so many great things about a movie and give it a B.

This film is a ten. Yes, it is long, so it “2001 a Spacy Odessey”. It tells a big story. It is a very deep film.

Anyone who thinks TDK had anything to do with superheros and villians missed the point.

You do need the last 30 minutes of the film. Again, it has nothing to do with putting the Joker behind bars. This is NOT a cops and robbers story.

This one belongs in the time capsule.

hello went to see the dark night first i adgreed to long about the 2 hrs joker was great all most like the comic as a comic book geek y biggest bitch dc does not make movies for the fans un like marvel that ad stuff for a fan of comics i get kick out out i would give 31/2 out of 5 but ironman still rock as a super hero movie it much better

It was good, really good. Could someone explain what The Scarecrow was doing in the movie since batman took care of him in batman begins. Could someone explain?

Saw DK last sun and seeing it again tomorrow. Heath Ledger..awesome, and so sad he is not with us anymore.

My son reckons reason Scarecrow was taken down so mundanely was to show what a bit character he is in this movie plus he is now just one of the many crims around..as opposed to the Joker.

Movie was too long, but hey enjoyed it overall! Roll on tomorrow!

I gotta re-post this…

Ok quick question but first everyone must forget about Heath Ledgers tragic death, the eye popping visual effects, the ear numbing explosions and focus… WHY THE H*** is the Joker literally wearing make-up? I mean come on am I the only one who realizes that the Joker’s entire body was turned white, his hair green and his lips red from dropping in vat a chemicals? Oh yea lets not forget his smile wasnt carved into his face it was a result of the chemicals as well so why does Heath have huge scars to protray a smile? Now I can’t deny that Ledger did an awesome job with what he had but lets look further into the “Joker” did he really nail the Jokers personaility? I think not I think he feel wayyy short on the mannerisms and who can forget that mind rattling laugh of Mark Hammill?

HI John, Thanks for the wonderful review. I really enjoyed watching TDK and it was more than what i had expected from this movie. Hats off to Heath Ledger and Nolan for making the characters look real and ruthless. and yea, i agree to your point that movie is too long and scare crow is really wasted in this movie. But as for Joker, hez the real character who steals the show from everyone. Enjoyed watching it and wish to see it again. But for me as compared to Batman Begins, i feel Begins was more better in showing a Super-Hero uprising.As I am a fan of Batman, its rather disappointing to see Batman loosing its way in this movie. Its like, I am a fan of Joker now, instead of Batman. hehe. Another thing that disappoints me is the character of rachel dawes which was never suitable for katie nor properly done by Maggie Gyllenhaal… She looks very old for the role (that’ wat i think) Well, overall, a great movie with loads of action pack and great plots. It gets slow n little boring in between (Mostly the last 30 min as you have mentioned).. which should have been shown in a better way. But Joker really steals the show from everyone.. for me, this is the best and most serious comic movie i have ever seen.. Great work by everyone in the movie and also by the movie makers….

Only thing i agree with is scarecrow was wasted lol i didnt even notice he was there :O lol besides that i dont think it was too long everything was just right definately give 10/10 if u havent seen it go watch it i honestly mean u wont regret it The ticket price just seem’d to cheap to see such a amazing movie Ive seen it and gonna watch it again

Joker hahaha omg , movies need more classy criminals like him forget gotham lol

every character played great and the joker will never be matched i can say that with 99.9% confidence, 0.1% chance if i played him lmao , na im messing.

honestly giving him a oscar would be a under-statement deserves more

also, did it feel to anybody else besides me that the joker didn’t have alot of screen time? he did an amazing job though

i just think the last 30 mins completed the joker, it wouldn’t have been complete if it ended at 2 hours though, but i will admit there was about 5 minutes in the film where i said “when is this gonna end?” not in a bad way though, becuase this is the best movie ive ever seen

I agree with most of your points, including that it felt like the film was over after around two hours. However, I feel that the last bit, though not completely necessary, was something like an added bonus. If the film would have ended where we all expected it to end, I wouldn’t have been as satisfied. I wanted to see some Twoface action, and I wanted more from the Joker. By the end of the entire film, I truly felt fulfilled and satisfied, and I wouldn’t have without the last thirty minutes. I would have added more depth and reasoning, but I’d really rather not leave any spoils in my comment.

TDK’s the best comic-book movie ever, period. No two ways about it, I mean look at the films we’ve made to go through so far excepting a couple of good ones, a giant green thing with no brains going gaga jumping up and down, a tin-head b-grade hero wearing tin underpants, oh sorry, that’s “iron” underpants, Superman returned and they writers forgot to give both Clark and Supes talking parts, and look at those earlier Batman movies….he has nipples on the neon suit!!!!!!

TDk’s one of those movies which you wanted to put a frame on and take home and hang somewhere you’ll always see and keep looking at for the rest of your days…..

I belive that ledger was in fact ment to play that roll, I was very happy when I seen batman begins and the dark knight because it has been long overdue to make batman no longer look like a wimp. The fact that (((spoiler))) ******batman beat the hell out of the joker*****, made me belive that batman was awsome. Now the roll with the joker, made me glad to see that his clown make up wasnt neatly done with presision, how it looked rough was a good part because it made him look more agressive to the camera

Very well done movie, but the end could have done without, i think that (((spoiler))) *******Two Face would have been a great villin for a third movie

if anything i think it was too short. they should’ve added a scene showing the joker and two face in arkham. the scarecrow wasn’t wasted either it was just a cool cameo appearance just so people could see where he was at these days. i mean the last time we saw scarecrow he was goin crazy off fear toxin on a fucking horse riding off to god knows where. it was nice to see that hes settled in as one of batmans regular mischief makers

I was stupid enough to go see the movie The Dark Knight and to sum it up in a few words review – it SUCKS. Right from the beginning the movie lived off of the fact that one of their main protagonists – Heath Ledger died. As much as the passing of Heath Ledger was a very sad thing to happen, it did help promote the movie and made people talk about it and want to go see it. Had Heath Ledger not died, The Dark Knight would be just another Batman movie that makes a few million dollars and is put on a shelf as pretty good, but nothing much. I wish I could classify The Dark Knight as “pretty good, but nothing much” but considering this is a 2008 movie, I can’t. All I can say is – The Dark Knight Sucked! It sucked elephant balls. The cast, except from Heath Ledger were almost all amiss. In particular Christian Bale who is the most obnoxious male actor out there. His acting skills suck, how face sucks and the way he talk completely sucks. And… and this has got to be a fucking joke – did those people in Hollywood, in particular Warner Bros not notice that it’s fucking 2008 already? Batman used to wear rubber costumes back in the 70’s when computer effects were not as advanced. This has been figured out by movie studios from 1980’s and now, three decades later, Warner Bros come with a movie where Batman wears a silly rubber costume. Give me a fucking break, what a failure. The Dark Knight Sucks! Nevermind third grade special effects, let me get back to terrible acting and absolutely horrible cast (once again, Heath ledger DID do a great job, he’s not included in this). Christian Bale is the worst actor ever. I enjoyed Shaft, great performance by Samuel L. Jackson, and the only weak link in entire movie was obnoxious, untalented presence of Christian Bale. then look at America Psycho – could have been a good movie, but the obnoxious mug of Christian Bale and his speech impediment fucked it all up and made it worthless. And it is just the same in Dark Knight. Add to it female character who hisses as she speaks and you have a cast that you can’t listen to. It was annoying listening to the dialogue by people who can’t talk and make who sort of annoying sounds. The movie itself has way too many long and boring passages. I can’t imagine anyone who’d buy a DVD watching it without a remote control in their hands. Never ending, boring scenes that take away from any potential excitement you may have accumulated during some potentially exciting minute. Overall I find The Dark Knight a joke. A failure. The Dark Knight Sucks. If it wasn’t for Heath Ledger’s death, it would have never broken the Box Office records. He was the only one who did decent job acting and he’s the sole reason why box office figures for this movie seem to suggest it’s a success. Look past the tip of your nose and you’ll see a worthless movie that’s a waste of time to watch. It will irritate you with hissing sounds main characters make as they speak and the special effects look like they were done a few decades back. The joke robotic voice run through 1978 voice effector that Batman uses when he’s dressed up in his 1965 rubber batman suit that went out of style for Halloween 25 years ago sort of masks irritating voice of Christian Bale, but it is such a joke, you ask yourself inside – what in the crappy hell am I doing in the movie theater. Is this a movie for backwards people who still live in the 70’s and haven’t noticed that the world has moved forward, or are we in an asylum for mentally challenged so we’re going to clap even if something sucks? The Dark Knight = FAIL

way funnier than batman?! hmmmm…i guess that’s why they called The DARK Knight and not Late Night with Batman. i haven’t seen wanted, but Joker’s pencil trick, and his sarcastic clappling during gordon’s promotion to commisioner was classic. that’s all the humor i need.

I agree with John, that the Dark Knight was so so much better than “Wanted.” That movie spent a trememdous amount of time preparing for the big fight scene than actually progressing in the story plot. I give “The Dark Knight” a 10! I never wanted to end. John is hott

and it was way funnier than batman.

batman was pretty good, but i just felt that there was nothing unique about it besides heath being an awesome joker. Wanted was something i expected, and more. the twist and action packed scenes.

alright i can see where the 2 hour mark would’ve been a good ending, and left alot of doors open, but it wouldn’t have finished it! the last 30 mins were perfect, not gonna say what happens to joker or batman, but it was good to end the story

I have yet to see Batman. I probably won’t, but I have enjoyed watching hundreds of people line up around the block from the 42nd street Lowes. With all of those commercials and posters, it’s impossible to not want to see this movie. So I decided to download it last night. I watched the first ten minutes before I realized my mistake. I was watching a movie that made me, made all the poor schleps of the world into villains. This is the story of a wealthy white man who uses his fortune to monopolize virtue. “For money buys all virtues.” His incredible wealth is surmounted only by his unjustified hold on morality. Gotham has put its fate in the hands of a man who cannot fathom want, lack, or need. If Batman symbolizes anything, he is an exaggerated depiction of our dilapidated morals in this capitalist, Hollywood-worshipping world. We are the relentless joker, the loathsome masses. Here is our chance to look in the mirror to glimpse our devastating image. The joker is the synthesis of all that is hideous about poverty and neglect-ugly and ridden with mental illness. Say for his intelligence, he is all that we wish we were not. His greed is that of all who lack. His misery and self pity transformed into a rightful anger. He is perhaps the only character who deserves respect. And all this unfolds in the hellish Gotham, a city of millions where wealth is concentrated into the hands of few hundred, and every dark corner wreaks of “the humiliation of poverty.”

hello john i agree it was a lil long i totally agree heath ledger gave me chills i mean litarelly i was so taken ive been a huge joker fan for so long wow he was amazing if he doesnt get a award im rioting lol

i love the film a lot!!!!!!!!

Good review thank you sooo much for telling people how good heath ledger was in this role! It pisses me off when people say if he gets nominated its just out of symphathy because i honestly think he made the whole movie it definitly wouldn’t have been the same without him. I do disagree with you about one thing. I do thing it was necesaary to have the last 30 or 40 minutes because they needed to tie up all the loose ends.

can anyone tell me where they thought would’ve been an appropriate point to end the movie if it seemed to long?

i’ve seen it 3 times already and have not seen one scene to say, “alright, now we can stop! time for the third!”

best batman movie. by far. (but you knew that already)

best movie i’ve seen in years. i think some are losing sight of the fact that batman is more of the anti-hero. there’s a reason he’s the “dark” knight. try to look at this as the most accurate perspective on the batman character and his legacy, not just a random batman movie.

this movie was probably not meant to inspire hope in the sense of most superhero/comic book movies already out there, and given that, the last 30-40 minutes were completely necessary. they set up a third installment perfectly, especially the very last scene (gordon’s speech). without that entire 30-40 minutes, the movie wouldn’t have had as much essence to carry over into the third because it’s a great ending that would’ve otherwise came in the beginning or middle of the third movie. i don’t think anyone could validate the last 30-40 minutes actually boring them. simply put, it was a powerful ending, much less a movie.

i can’t say enough about ledger that hasn’t already been said. if he gets an oscar, its for the performance hands down, not sympathy (with respects). best movie villain i think i’ve ever seen.

this movie was dark, intense, non-stop, and even macabre. and i loved every minute of it. every scene was completely necessary and kept your interest for the entire length of the film. go ahead and complain of how long and cramped it seemed to you because that didn’t take a damn thing away from the movie.

best of 2008. by far.

I agree that TDK was quite long and I left feeling like I ate too much. An entertaining movie but I have a few small beefs:

1. Batman often talks like he needs an inhaler – they should maybe loosen the suit a bit.

2. As the agent of Chaos and apparent loner, Joker must have legions of well “Organized” and connected loyal henchman to pull off his increasingly elaborate schemes.

3. Commissioner Gordon could not look any more like Ned Flanders.

Other than that, plus being a little dark to make out some of the action where I saw it, this movie was very good.

First of all i have to agree with you John Heath Ledger gave the performance of his life. and it showed. What i dont understand like other people is how you rated wanted higher. in my opinion wanted felt more dragged out than the dark knight. for about 45 minutes to an hour we see the main character training and getting beaten to a pulp over and over again. its like the writers couldnt think of anything else so they just kept doing the same thing. Also the story was ridiculous. The whole loom thing, i mean really? is that the best they could think up. THey rushed explaining the process and why you were left confused. THe twist was pretty good but it just took to long to get there. I felt wanted was sooooo dragged out and a bad plot and bad writing. and i loved the length of batman. i never wanted it to end. Great movie and a hundred times better than Wanted!

sorry… you can see it at http://tinyurl.com/5oas34

I can’t wait to see this movie. It looks like the newspaper in Jacksonville had a blast finding a unique way to cover the movie release as well!

Awesome movie, I agree however with John as the movie does drag on for the last 30 minutes, they could have with that material, created a whole new movie. Ledgers performance however, is absolutly incredible, ocsar worthly in my opinion.

This was such an incredible movie to see, I agree with many of your comments. Heath Ledger’s performance was absolutely legendary, and will go down as one of the greatest in cinema history without question. He owned every scene he was in and took the movie to an entirely different level by himself. I will disagree with your comments about the last 30 minutes being a waste. Frankly I wanted it to keep going just so we could see more Joker scenes. If the movie had been less than 2 hours long I would have been dissapointed. In my opinion this is one of the best movies of the last decade and far and away blows every other superhero movie out of the water.

great review but disagree with the whole scarecrow being a waste thing. in my opinion scarecrow was great to use because it showed how nothing a villain he was. The whole point of the scarecrow was to show that there are much worse criminals out there (the joker, twoface etc) and batman how a lot to worry about.

Just listened to your podcast. And i’m seriously considering to never come back to the blog again. I thought the film was long, but never thought that it wandered from the realm of possibility or believability. (Unlike some movies where the hero takes his orders from woven cloth?!?!?! Never thought fun could be so stupid.) And who said that the Two-face is dead? We all know Harvey Dent is.

It is possible to survive from that high of a fall . . . if you remember when Batman throws that guy off the building.

I thought it was a great movie. Better and smarter than Iron Man. Wanted is not even in the same league as this movie. And listening to you guys rant on the details that you disliked is almost as annoying as Bill O’Reilley flipping out on the set of Inside Edition. At least that was funny.

sorry but i thought it sucked. no one can beat Jack Nicholson point blank. there were too many dialogs and not enough action. the Joker wasnt even funny and hardly laughed. i was bored several times

I just saw the movie and was impressed. I usually don’t go to see movies these days, because most are not worth the waste of time and money. Being a fan of classics, well produced, directed and acted films, solid films in other words, I’m delighted to see that some people still care to make movies right. When I heard that they were making Batman Begins, I thought just another crappy Batman movie, considering the previous two. That makes me want to say that I was a fan of the Burton films, especially Batman Returns. While the Burton films put Batman in a more mythical setting, one that fits in well with comic books, Nolan’s vision is different; he puts Batman in a more realistic setting, a setting that represents more of what the present realities are in certain cities. But my point is after seeing Batman Begins I was surprised how well it flowed, the actors were cast perfectly and the acting was very good. Batman Begins was structured very well and it worked so it was not what I imagined it to be. So this naturally led me to have high expectations for The Dark Knight. While the movie started out like a classic heist movie which I liked, it went immediately into what I perceived to be weak dialogue and pointless introductions, like the director wasn’t sure of himself or what he wanted of the part of the movie right after the first minutes of action. So I was happy to see that as it progressed it got more serious.

Now about Ledgers performance, as Gary Oldman said, it’s right up there with the best of actors such as Al Pacino, and in my opinion as Robert De Niro, especially since I think a lot of Ledgers’ inspiration for the Joker came from Robert De Niros’ performance in Cape Fear, but at the same time creating a character that’s all his own and leaves you with a sense of an enigmatic figure, illusive and the type that runs in kids imaginations when they think of villains, at least in my mind when I was a kid. I remember the Batman cartoons in the early 90’s and the Joker in those, and I get reminded of that type of Joker from Ledgers performance, but certainly more cruel and graphic. I remember seeing the trailer for this film and reading about Ledgers’ performance, how great it might be and from seeing the clips and images they had of some scenes, I imagined his complete performance exactly as he delivered it. When you think of something inspiring and something cool, something over the top, considering I’ve been disappointed in the past from other hypes, this performance really dug deep, and when someone can convey depth to the level of fantasy, I mean this guy disappeared in this character. I’ve seen many actors and their supposed immersion into the character or disappearance in them, but this guy literally disappeared into the Joker, something I could say that in watching thousands of movies I’ve rarely seen, others being like Al Pacino in Scarface. Now the Joker is Ledgers’, no one has or will duplicate, certainly not make him better. When he even surprised himself with his performance, he certainly reached a level of where he became this character.

That being said I can probably guess right when I say that they were planning at least another movie with him reprising his role. Now to all those who complain about the length of the movie, I will admit that even I thought that the movie was ending right when two face was getting introduced, but I think the point was that the Joker is a much more enigmatic figure and certainly with Ledgers’ performance who would you rather see in the next one, two face or the Joker again? Heck I’d go for Ledgers’ Joker another 3 movies, sadly that won’t be, and with two face and the Joker gone, who are they going to bring next, Robin?, I guess that’s why Christian Bale was complaining lately that he would quit if they brought Robin back. Also about the complaints about inconsistency in the movie and quick illogical end to scenes, I think that’s just for the sake of the theatrical release, where they had to cut it from over 3 hours to the studios request, so expect a much more complete version on DVD. One more note, about the other actors’ performances, especially Christian Bale, he seemed like someone took the life out of him, he seemed very uninspired at times to even be in the movie, which he made up for when he was in costume, but certainly weaker then in Batman Begins. I’m a fan of his ever since his Empire of the Sun days with solid performances, but he should definitely be more inspired in the next Batman if he stars in it. Since I’m also a fan of realistic special effects with minimal camera movements to make up for lack of skill or imagination, Nolan’s handling of the special effects reminds me of the days of James Cameron and his Terminator 2; very realistic, everything looked real, real cars, real explosions, real trucks and helicopters, even the computer generated things looked real, you can’t beat that. Overall, this is a rugged masterpiece: that combines different elements to deliver a movie that’s rarely made in Hollywood these days.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

the borest movie i have ever seen really

It didn’t live up to the hype. Yes, Ledger was good. Spectacular in fact. But it didn’t deliver. Iron Man was a more satisfactory movie. Maybe he should play Joker in the next one.

Dude, the whole movie was really great, AND THE LAST 30 MINS DID NOT DRAG. What? You think seeing bullets defy physics and CGI effects was better than the flesh and blood that is The Dark Knight??? The movie is arguasbly the greatest comic-book flick ever made, and hey, like Bale said, it’s a great movie, irrespetive of genres. Really, the movie was THAT GOOD, the people who’ve already seen this film would agree with me.

But then again, this is only my humble opinion, thought I’d put it across. Thanks.

John, excellent review. I do agree that it was too long, by about a half hour. The first two hours flew by, and then the last few minutes seemed weirdly long. I went into the movie with high expectations for Ledger, completely prepared to be disappointed. He completely blew me away. I’ve always been a fan and have seen most of his work, but his Joker was just amazing. All of his mannerisms, his voice, his presence, was nothing like the Heath Ledger of other films. He was just truly and completely immersed in the role. Add me to the posthumous Oscar campaign! Christian Bale impressed me too, I’ve never thought too much of him but he was very solid and Maggie Gyllenhaal was a refreshing upgrade over Holmes.

yup, great movie 9.8/10

I just finished watching the Dark Night. The best super hero movie ever. In comparison to these cheezy ones coming up… iron man, water man, weather man… you name it! LOL. Anyway I agree the last half hour with the district attorney was completely unnecessary. They should have made him into a bad character for the next movie. It would be more productive. I do agree that at 2 hour mark the movie was at the right time to end, then all these plots came in… I am sorry after 1 1/2 hour I got go to the bathroom after a large diet soda. Have u seen the size they serve? I waited for another hour afraid I was going to miss something. Now I realize that I should have gone to the bathroom… I would probably enjoy the movie better… but I will definitely watch it again when it comes out on DVD.

The movie is an interesting study in contrasts.

The first ten or so minutes are a sublime study in storytelling-by-visuals. Truly stellar stuff. The way an action film should be told: visually.

The final portion…and indeed, the second half…are overburdened by a surfeit of dialogue; way too many declamations, way too many speeches. The Mayor…Gordon…Alfred…Dent…Joker…The Good Humor Man… (Just checking to see you were paying attention…) EVERYONE gets a speech. Here’s a little bit of insight: you can’t continually ‘go back to the well’. You diminish the intensity of anything repeatedly offered past a certain point. Wisdom, insight offered eventually becomes meaningless. Just, as Hamlet said, ‘Words, words, words…’

The movie’s about a hero…and heroes usually have a primary enemy in each story…but here, there ends up being two. And really, as any storyteller will tell you, splitting the focus is dangerous. In this case, the payoff fizzled. (It was limp.)

And, as a capper, the hero really doesn’t take center-stage. There is very little ‘pro-actively’ done by Batman…except when he has to. This is SO contrary to how things are normally done…effectively done.

Right about here is where people…fanboys, primarily…chime in with ‘Clearly, you have no understanding of Batman, especially Miller’s Batman…’ and I respond by saying ‘None of that matters. The only thing that matters is what’s on the screen. I shouldn’t need notes or references or some pre-constructed understanding of things in order to ‘get’ what’s going on, to appreciate just how great this film actually is.’

‘The Dark Knight’ is a very good film. It has some fantastic elements, Ledger should be nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, and it most certainly could be the ‘best’ superhero film ever made. But it’s certainly not a ‘great’ film, and doesn’t warrant all the goo-firing that’s been going off since last Friday at 12:01 am. With a better script…and yes, John, about 30 minutes cut from its running time…maybe it could have been ‘great’. As it is, from where I’m standing, it’s a 7.5/10.

LUKE you made a good point, I also liked how they didnt leave a cliffhanger for the next movie. As said before, the unexpected makes the best movies, and that part of the movie was completely unexpected. Also, the Joker is one of the most loved/ famous villians of ALL MOVIES, he’s right up there with Darth Vador, and I love how at the end yes he is captured but Nolan sort of leaves it up to you to decide if The Joker won, or Batman, yeah you can say they covered up The Jokers plan so the city wont ever know about what Dent really did, but The Joker has caused COMPLETE chaos in Gotham, and The White Knight is gone!! So after thinking it over for hours for me I came to the conclusion The Joker sort of won, which is awesome because you rarely see villians win in movies, PLUS i’m a HUGE Joker fan. It was amazing how the Joker was able to hold his own with Batman despite not having the billion dollar suits or any super weapons. Every time they met in the movie I say The Joker left with the upper hand, even when The Jokers boat plan was flawed and Batman caught him.

#1 movie on imdb! 9.7- i give it 10 out of 10. Started off pretty good then got better and better. I like how they didn’t leave a cliff-hanger. Being a fan of Heroes and Lost, i’m sick of cliffhangers.

It felt like two movies in one Batman vs. Joker and Batman vs. two-face. Thats a complaint and at the same time a bonus.

The Dark Knight…. A fantastic movie. As of Saturday July 20th..152 million with Sunday yet to go. It is unfortunate that great fantasy movies like the Dark Knight don’t receive the recognition they deserve by the Academy.

No doubt Heath will be awarded something and maybe another for the graphics or musical score.

I think it’s time the Academy responded to the “Peoples Choice” which would be as easy as following ticket sales.

Anyway great movie, see it at least twice,and Great Blog! moviedownloadreviews.info

guys the weekend numbers came in, or atleast an estimate, $155 M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wasup John I appreciate you doing this review over a monthago…i refused to write something until i saw the movie. I completely agree with your opinion over a month ago when you said the movie went 30 minutes too long. It was not dry, however it could have ended and had two-face a leading character in the third intallment. Right after the bomb scene when alfred reads the letter is when the movie should have ended. Harvey should have been left in the hospital, angry, with a two sided coin, one being dark. Funny thing to me was the bomb scene was the climax of the movie. So very late. It kinda threw me off. Throw offs obviously make the best movies though. But if that movie would have ended right there, what would they have done with the joker?? or heath ledger since hes passed(RIP)

The movie was too long and nowhere as impressive as Batman Begins. Heath Ledger is the only reason to enjoy this, and they should have called the film “The Joker” rather than the Dark Knight. Aaron Eckhart is a lot more interesting too. As for Christian Bale – he just didn’t have enough going for us to empathise with him. The film is definitely dark…and not for kids.

well i honestly loved the movie although its sad that it just had to be the last for Heath Ledger…out of all of the batman movies i think they are getting better but at the same time its like they are going backwards but its whatever…the explosions and the who plot of the story was amazing. but i will say at the beginning i was a little disappointed but after 5 min of it i began to like the movie..and also if anyone thinks that TIM BURTON IS OVERRATED then they are just crazy cuz he has came out with the most wonderful movies and best ones to may i say cuz of course its just a sequel atleast its not of the same movie just different actors and more computerization.in it..

Richard, you really just care about the cursing? You know your 12 year old already knows those words. What you should be worried about is disturbing IDEAS not curse words. Sheesh.

Also, all pre-Batman Begins movies are garbage. Tim Burton is one of the most overrated directors of all time, up there with Terry Gilliam. (Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is Burton’s only good film)

Finally, Maggie Gyllenhaal is not “some plain girl with a pig nose”. I love her. Go see Secretary.

Actually, I was somewhat disappointed. Not as good as the first.

Some things just didn’t make sense, which in a “comic book” movie they don’t have to, but part of what made the first so good was how realistic it stayed.

But the Joker just happened to put two men with harpoon guns on the right level of fire escape at just the right street where they could knock down a helicopter? Ludicrous.

And he used a timer to exactly coordinate a shade flying open with the end of the mayor’s speech? Um, sometimes they go long you know, not really a great plan.

I thought much of the pacing and dialogue was very choppy and rushed. The plot was very crowded and overly complex.

That said, Ledger was great, The Joker was always great to watch on screen. Most of the action scenes worked, and the Two Face effect was really cool.

But still, not as good as the first and a bit of a let down.

what i meant was, the dark knight is so good, i dont wanna see another film for like 1 month

the movie freaking rules!! yeah if i saw iron man after this, i would’ve been incredibly bored, i loved it. and actually, it was so good, i dont want to see another film for a long time, but thats just me

Are you kidding?!?! ONLY 8.5? You gave Iron Man an 8.5, there is NO WAY that this movie is on the same level as Iron Man, like the kid on the VMA’s said… Iron Man was just to hold you over until the Dark Knight came out. You either have to reduce your rating on Iron Man or increase the Dark Knight. If I would have seen this before Iron Man, Iron Man would have been SUPER boring, the villians in Iron Man are a JOKE (no punt intended) compared to The Joker and VILLIAN I wont name so I wont spoil anything. Dont get me wrong Iron Man was a good movie, but dang compared to The D.K. it looked like minor league comic books, Marvel took it in the nuts after this one. The complaints on D.K. arent completely wrong, I can see where your going, I thought it was raping up at the 2 hour mark to, but honestly think about it, was Iron Man just as bit as good as the Dark Knight? That is what your rating of the 2 is saying.

(Also whats you thought about that crappy Harry Potter IMAX clip, it happened so fast I missed what he even said?)

Eons better than previous Batman movie … the real heroes were the citizens of Gotham … full review http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2008/07/dark-knight-transcends.html

Never read IMDB’s lists or take them seriously. People can vote 200 times and vote without ever seeing the movie. Do you realize how many people voted it a 10 out of 10 before the film ever came out?

According to Imdb.com’s “Top 250 Movies” list, this was #1 over The Godfather.

(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)can’t believe anyone would not like this movie. I saw it with my 15 yo son this morning and at the end we were both in “shock and awe”. It is a great movie and you could take Silence of the Lambs+No Country for Old Men & multiply them by 1000 and not get the effect TDN had on us. It is an incredibly intense movie and no other movie ever has made me feel that it will take days at least to shake off the awe I have. Heath Ledger was phenomenal. I have to disagree with John on the length- I thought it was perfect. This film is simply an amazing entertainment achievment. I do hope Heath gets the best actor Oscar posthumously, his portrayal of the Joker was just literally INSANE!

I didn’t read many of the other reviews but if you didn’t enjoy this film you can’t possibly understand Batman. Totally blew the 1989 version out the water. So far it’s been the best comic book adaption IMO. Better than those crumby X-men movies, Spiderman, and the countless others Hollywood botched up. Even Ironman pales in comparison. Second best being this year’s Incredible Hulk. The Joker completely stole the spotlight. But the villains should be the focal point. Heath Ledger pulled you into the Joker’s world. He mastered the character. The lack of humanity and, what seems like, lack of a soul is what made the Joker what he was. Simply calling him insane or crazy doesn’t even scratch the surface. And the Dark Knight is exactly what the name implies. He’s a hero but not in the cookie-cutter, boy scout since that everyone routes for like Superman. It’s like he stood in a gray area.

With that being said, I couldn’t help but leave the theater in a melancholy state. Knowing Ledger will never reprise the role left me with an emptiness. Ledger’s performance was masterful. Not like Nicholson’s portrayal which was along the lines of the 60’s TV series. The scene where the Joker demolished the hospital while leaving in the nurses’ uniform culminated the character’s persona.

how can u say the movie was good. it was disappointing.. cuz of the end and too much action even though that sounds stupid. but i did like the beginning tho, it was very original by just hitting the movie off with a bank robbery but just the movie tried to put too much stuff in it.

this movie rocked, saw it yesterday. box office mojo’s friday estimates says dark knight got $66 M opening day!!

I went last night to see this movie FANTASTIC!! . I don’t think that was too long it was perfect. I really think that this movie is an OSCAR movie. If the Joker won it is because is real. The bad guys are never defeated they are prisoner of the Good guys until they break free. That’s why we always need a hero.

great movie :)

I think everyone who thinks it went on too long, or the end UN-necessarily dragged on was expecting a trilogy, I wasn’t.

I didn’t think it was too long…in my mind Two-Face was proof that the Joker won. Had they just ended the movie with the Joker hanging from the building, that point of the Joker winning simply wouldn’t have felt as emphasized or meaningful.

Also my own little nitpick…why was Lau a native Mandarin speaker being a business man from Hong Kong? Hong Kong is predominantly Cantonese. Heck you hear more English there than Mandarin. Sure there are ppl there who speak both dialects but Cantonese is the main language so it’s really unlikely that Lau’s character would be native Mandarin (not to mention his name would be spelled Liu in Mandarin).

saw the movie it.is good, two face should have been a spin off and he should have been played by tom cruise, anyways did anyone notice the amount of blacks that was killed in the film. the black comminsoner, two black cops and two black gangsters. I was just hoping morgan freeman would stay alive in this picture lol. Heath played the joker, made him his own but I still put jack’s performance above his. two face character wasn’t deep enough for me, he and bruce was not friends like in the comics, he wasn’t a pretty boy like he should have been, his breakdown and hatred for the law wasn’t believable for me, two face would have been a perfect role for cruise. next it would have to bee the pigun and the riddler, it would have to bee real darker film. all in all I give it a 7 out of ten. my reason is the movie added too many variables to a simple equation

sorry but as any critic of the movie comments must be made in defense for “the bad” that you have set upon the dark knight. yeah sure it might have been long as hell but like any good book the author must build up the setting and create the ideal seen for the story. Every clip of the story had a purpose within the story and essentially it was to show that no matter what there always will be an equal balance between the good and bad. Furthermore this was alluded in the beginning with scarecrow and the batman wanna be’s. know scarecrow might have been a waste in the fact that the comics might have made him more than he was in this movie but we must move on past this, as this batman movie series is not a regular DC comic story of batman but Christopher Nolan’s vision of batman. In saying this Batman begins must have alluded into the fact that the scarecrow was rather a mere pawn in the story so one should expect the same in the next film given the previous circumstances. And the last 30 min of the film where the best! the whole idea of “you either die and become the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” was pronounced in the juxtaposition between batman and twoface. I think that your 8.5 is a sore in the series of this batman films and as a fan and critic of the movie i would definitely give it a 9.5. =P p.s. no hard feelings and look past the action and drama and look towards the character interactions you’ll see how amazingly they connect and interact it’ll give you reason to change your opinion lol =)

Almost a great movie. This was to date the best Batman movie made, until the part where Lucius Fox gets upset with Bruce about the phone tapping. Ok I get it, there are too many people in this country with something to hide and are afraid of the government of listening in on their phone conversations…but really, is it necessary to put this political crap in a movie? It’s sad enough Happy Feet had to make political statements. Pearl Jam was one of the greatest bands this country ever produced, now they are just whiney asses with instruments. Is there no source of entertainment left that we can enjoy without hearing Hollywood’s view on our government?

If the phone taping crap would not have been in the movie I would have given it a 9 out of 10 due to the lenght. However I’m dropping to a 8 out of 10 only because of Ledgers performance. It would have been lower with out him.

yea ill give it a…7.0 at the end and a 9.0 after rachel’s death.

my expectations were so high and they were so disappointed. except for heath ledger, bravo great job i thought he was the best villain ive ever seen played. the movie would’ve been great if they ended the movie after rachel died so that they wuld have joker batman and two faced in next movie but harvey dies along with the movie. the people who made this movie tried to fit in soo much. that is a risk and reward thing. they took the risk and blewwwwwww it. very disappointing movie but joker is best heath for an oscar.

A bad movie.

The plot was like loose sand, with loose ends and too many climaxes. Half of the talking was difficult to understand. Actings was generally mediocre, totally not compatable with Batman Begins. Katie Holmes was dearly misssed and instead we had a badly cast plain looking girl with a clowns nose. Not exactly a heroine type. The directing was subpar, with many scenes being chaotic and illogical in their order. The final hostages scen was aslo very overdone. One such sequenece woudl have suffised to make the point. The planned assault on the Joker burning his money was a loose end that was annlounced but never happened. Especially in the final 15 minutes one could not even see what exactly was happening.

My advice: Ask your money back if you can and use it to rent Batman Begins. This was worse than Batman & Robin with George Clooney, which I had previously rated as the worst Bat movie!

I usually don’t get caught up in rushing to catch summer blockbusters on opening day. Well, I was bored on a hot summer day, and let’s just say, it was even hotter inside the theatre! Awesome movie! I agree that it was about 30 minutes too long, but there is enough action that moviegoers won’t really notice. I also agree that I was a bit skeptical about how Ledger would perform as The Joker, but he did not disappoint. It’s very unfortunate about his passing, but I definitely believe he deserves a posthumous Oscar. And at the risk of sounding morbid or insensitive, the fact that The Joker was being portrayed by a dead actor added a bit of “chill” and darkness to this movie that gave it even more of an edge. I give it a 9.5 out of 10!

I would have liked to see scarecrow more, but gawd, three villains with major parts? Good movie on Nolan to have scarecrow’s biggest scene full of him getting his ass kicked.

I disagree about the last half hour, maybe its because I’m a comic book guy. The police are out to get batman, that’s just how it is. Harvey Dent is a hero, how futile would batman’s mission be if batman allowed “message” to be tarnished by the joker. The movie absolutely did not feel forty minutes longer then it should have felt. The amount of time was perfect. Movie is perfect.

hey Richard, there are like two cuss words in it. but as you probably know the joker says extremely, extremely, dark things.

I totally agree with you John about the last half hour of it but the movie was overally AWESOME. I think the scene where Harvey wakes up in the hospital, with a dramatic shot of his half-disfigured face, could’ve been saved after the Joker getting-caught scene for a better ending giving the audience a hint for a follow-up movie with Two-Face.

wow!!!!!!!! i saw it today, freaking blew my mind. but John i actually liked the last 30-40 mins, and it didnt drag to me. it was a quick 2 hrs. and 32 mins, but people see this it is mind-blowingly good!!

After seeing the movie I was looking for someone that could hit the point I wanted to make about the last 30min. And you hit it on the head. And without giving anything away. I wish I could express more about why I agree but I dont want to give it away to anyone that may happen to read the 180th reply to your review.

nicely done

I loved it except for one big reoccurring problem that happens in scene-to-scene transitions. Often scenes were cut from one to the other leaving a trail of unfinished logic. Two Face shoots a mob driver instead of a mob boss yet remains in the car as it tumbles. No explanation how the mob boss was or was not killed and two face walks away the same? The Joker drops the girl and Batman follows to save her but leaves the rest of the guests with the Joker. So what did the Joker do? Did he just tell his thugs “oh well, I guess Harvey really isn’t here so instead of tearing the place apart, let’s split without killing everyone for curiously uncharacteristic $%#$s and giggles.” Great movie, but I think there were some alarming gaps in logic that only an audience member wearing a batsuit could forgive. Personally, after saving the girl, I would have shot back up there and taken care of The Joker faster than he could say “$%*$s and giggles”.

Yours truly,

Nope, I’m 100% correct. And I did see it again. 30-35 seconds tops

John, I totally disagree with your complaints on the final 30 mins of the film. Your belief that the time spent wasn’t necessary is completely absurd. You are also completely wrong about the scenes with Scarecrow. Oh and by the way the scarecrow had more than 30 seconds of screen time. I think you need to go see the movie again!

I’ve seen the premier last night and I have to say that is the best Batman yet. All this fuss about the Joker role made me believe that am going to be disappointed again but it was the opposite. Ledger was evrything and more and he stole the movie. The only thing I have to criticize is couple of unneccessary dialogs and I think that Ms. Gyllenhaal sucked especialy in the scene before her death. Look for your self. (no emotions, bad acting) 9 out of 10. And one more little thing. In order to save money and time the craated Two-Face with compute graphics which I wouldn’t have done. They could have created it little more believable.

Just right, perfect, I mean there are 5 minutes at most that felt slow, but last 30 minutes I liked.

I just saw this movie this morning and yes it did run long but it still sucks you right back into the movie and I applaud Nolan for being able to do that. I dont believe the last forty minutes at all brought down the quality of this movie whatsoever though, its childish to think that way simply because something extra is added. This simply means that the writers and director are good at changing storylines within the movie which is not really a bad thing. The part at the 2 hour mark that you claimed ended the movie was very anti climactic and would be a disappointing end, I feel that the movie ended as it should.

So, I was sitting there on my blog, with all my readers getting more and more anxious to see the new movie, when drkllpnt the great writer extraordinaire finds something that raised the hair on the back of my neck. It was the first 6 minutes of the movie!

There are some other great stories about The Dark Knight and Batman in general at the blog as well. I think this may live up to the hype.

http://themicrocosm.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/the-dark-knight-prologue/

I went to see the dark knight today and it was probably the best movie I have ever seen. This movie had me on the edge of my seat. Heath Ledger did a terrific job as the joker. This movie is a must see and is probably going to win the best movie of the year.

Let’s be honest folks with the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger there how’s been a lot hype about ‘The Dark knight.” This movie is a good movie, but to say it’s the best movie of 2008, I’m not sure about that. Everyone loved heath and I’m taking away from his performance, because I think he stole show. He brought something darker to the Joker character than Jack Nicholson, but I was expecting a much darker Joker. I wanted to see more MAYHEM and CARNAGE brought on by the Joker and that wasn’t delivered, but that’s okay. Once again Heath did a magnificent job with the character and I would have to say that Heath played a better Joker than Jack. Overall the movie was great, but don’t create this illusion around the movie as if this is the “Messiah” of the 2008 summer movies. The movie was great, but that’s it.

If you want to see my critique of the movie with spoilers, go to blogger.com/brothawithavoice

Oh and Heath was the SHIT!!! Fo Sho!!!

I saw the movie last night and I couldnt agree with you more. The last 30 minutes or so were unnecessary. Great movie for sure!! But you are right that if it had ended at the time you are talking about it would have opened a sequal for sure and ended this movie better… but as you and the other people know that saw the movie… the sequal is not what we would think it would be… at one point it looks like the sequal is going one way then at the end it changes… the last 30 took the movie from a 9.5 to an 8.5 for sure! But i will pay again to go see it this week… again! P.S. DONT TAKE YOUR KIDS… even I had nightmares about the freaky ass joker!!!!

how long does the movie go for ‘m going to see it this weekend

John, I agree that the movie did somewhat slow down after the first hour, as to whether or not it was necessary that he add the last 30 mins the “jury will be out” on that until the next one comes out IMO

I don’t remember who posted the question/comment on here but according to some interviews that i read by Chris Nolan, he’s not inclined to add Robin to his series since he’s starting when Batman was young(er/ish) http://www.superherohype.com/news/batmannews.php?id=3189 http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/07/02/batman_bale_says_no_to_robin_

And also the writer David Goyer said he’d more inclined to show villains in the next batman that have not come out on the big screen yet http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=17036

RICHARD i saw the movie today and as for language its not bad at all maybe afew words here and there like maybe 2 or 3 in the whole movie. And as for the movie i think it Was good Not Great, i agree that it was too long and the fact it could of ended alot earlyer and theye even shoot them selvs in the foot abit with the ending theye do have. But i have to say that Heath Ledger’s JOKER is the best Villen in all the batman movies and no im not just saying that because he is dead but beacuse he just is. He was the best Actor in this film and deserves all the prase he gets for it. HE Makes this move!!!!!!

i haven’t seen the movie yet but in my opinion i think maybe nolan used all the footage of heath ledger as the joker because they didn’t finish cutting the film until after ledger died so i think maybe he used all footage he had of him so he could put it out there and if that meant lengthening the movie then maybe that’s only a good thing. It’s released in Ireland next Thursday and I cannot wait!!

Great review, but I really don’t think the movie was too long. I agree that cutting it off at that earlier point would have been a great cliffhanger for the next film, but I feel like adding the extra story into this film makes it view more like a comic, with several story lines and various resolution times.

Thanks for the review. What about Language? Im wanting my 12 year old to see it. any vulgarities or cussing? What do you attribute the PG13 rating to? Thanks

Let me first start out by saying thank you for telling it how it is man. I havnt seen this film yet but let me just say you just breathtakingly made me want to see it that much more even with the extra over time. Sometime people like more overtime but thats based on the person. By no way were you bashing this movie I coudl see and hear it in your voice how excited you were talking about it. Im seeing it tommorrow evening 12 am well which would be friday lol. But hay weve all had characters get the shaft in movies lets face it scarecrow I mean hes really not that great in the end of the movie either think about how they got rid of him in the first movie so yeah if he gets the shaft in this movie Id find it that much better we all kinda figured that anyways I mean come on hes no even in the reviews anyways so who care!!!!!

But like I said thank you for the review It was nice to read a honest review!!!!!

I haven’t read the review yet (sorry!) but I just watched the video and I am so pumped. I got a ticket to the advanced show at the IMAX tonight and I can’t wait to experience the film.

I’ll hit you back up after I see the movie tonight.

Here is my advice. If you are going to watch this movie, the first time round will probably not be pretty. DO NOT DESPAIR!

Watch the movie a second time – I did. And all of a sudden, it WILL be that awesome movie that you wanted it to be.

Because the second time round, you knew what to expect. And on that, the film delivers. It is single handedly the film of the year with regards to ACTION scenes and an awesome villian. It has a good plot that you WILL understand the second time around. It will all come together the second time you watch it. And best of all, you won’t be expecting The Dark Knight to single handedly cure cancer, fight AIDS, and at the same time, take up the mantle of ‘Greatest Film of ALL Time’. No, you’ll actually go in like a normal movie-goer, watching a normal movie, and only THEN, will you be blown away, I promise you.

Hey there…thought your site would be interested in this very cool promotion going on. Our mobile entertainment portal is giving away reserved VIP passes to Dark Knight screenings across the country. They also have behind the scenes content there… Thought your users might be interested…check it out: http://43kix.com/vip

yup, cinco mas dias till the man of bat comes to your cavernous hideout called a theater. My question to John is, do they have a special dedication to Heath Ledger at the end of the movie, like an “In Memory of..” kind of thing? Oh yeah check out the masks they have of the clown dudes from the movie. They’re like $15 online at some Halloween site. Definitely something I’m looking at purchasing, like all 7 of em. Sweet. R.I.P Heath Ledger.

i’m sorry john but i can’t see wanted being better, but thats just my opinion. i know i haven’t seen this, yet. i agree wnated was friggin awesome, and the effects were breath taking! but i just think TDK will be better

Hello, Loved the review, good job. The one thing I must ask, is what you believe led to so much speculation to having about 4 villains in this movie. I’m not telling you to give it staright out to me, otherwise i’ll have no hype when i go see, but i just need to have some idea as to why their was a such a huge villain group created over the net, when theirs only 2, along with a 3rd cameo.

Write back please

Sorry, but Wanted is nothing but a pop flick with flashy effects and large breasts… I have no idea how anyone could give it a 9 and then give TDK an 8.5 … Wanted is a 7 at best!

Hi John, Good review. We in Hong Kong cannot wait for the Dark Knight to show on the 17th. Many of my friends will see it since we are fans of the first movie. I guess most of us are really anticipating to see Heath Ledgers performance and one that hopefully will be unforgettable. I did watch “Wanted” but really didn’t enjoy it that much so I guess each person has there individual opinions so I am not all that concerned that “Wanted” got a 9.0. However I did enjoy RDJr’s performance in Iron Man. I am thinking that “TDK” will hit over 100 million in its first 3 days of screening.

This is the best review i’ve read of it. I liked the video review, too. I hope the last 30-40 minutes don’t make me leave feeling unfufilled.

John, can you please clarify what exactly happens to Scarecrow, I must know!!! He’s my favorite villain!!!

i agree with you kate, yeah i watched the first 5 too and they couldn’t have started it better! but they left us hanging, if only they gave us the movie now…..

I heard that Regal Cinemas is going to show the Dark Knight all night long starting Thursday at midnight, almost like a Star Wars.

Guess they are as hyped about it as the rest of us.

Can’t wait to see it. Watched the first 5 minutes on the web and I’m hooked from there. Even if the last 30 are irrelevant, I’m still game. Marking the 18th on the calendar!

wow i think im gonna love this film so much

CAN SOMEONE JUST PLEASE CLEAR UP WHETHER THE SCARECROW DIES OR IS JUST ARRESTED????

so john who do you thnik is the mian character in this one? joker or batman

you have a good point

Hey Aarron,

ummm… yes there is a “rest of us”. Unless Dark Knight makes $2 billion at the box office, then there are other people out there who think like Larry do.

larry, i don’t mean this in a bad way, but there is no “the rest of us” we all want to see this film so bad we’d pay $30 for it. you said you were alot older, so maybe it’s for a younger crowd (again, i mean that in a good way). i think the target audience is for teens, and most people seeing it will be teens.

hey john, i agree with your review, i’m seeing it on opening day and cannot wait, but i’m gonna ask a question, and i asked this on movie blog. who do you really think is the main character here, i know it’s a batman film. but who is REALLY the main character?

You honestly think Wanted is a better movie than The Dark Knight. I AM OUTRAGED!!! Wanted had so many holes it was disgusting. I also thought the pacing for the movie was terrible and it did not effectively build to any climatic scenes. Also a magic loom?!?!?!?! Change The Dark Knight’s score to 9.2 and Wanted to a 7.1. OMG!

I got my ticket and am pumped for the midnight showing opening night! I hope I haven’t set my standards too high but will find out in a week and a half.

I haven’t seen ‘TDK’ yet, though at this point I believe John’s score rating to be a little off. I haven’t even seen ‘Wanted’ (rated higher than ‘TDK’), though, to be honest, I’m not over excited to see it at all. ‘TDK’ is going to be a great movie and will no doubt be better than ‘Batman Begins’ (even though I love this movie). I just wish that Katie Holmes reprised her role for this film, as it would give ‘TDK’ the continuity that the ‘Spider-man’ movies have (especially if they complete the trilogy that has been suggested)…Nevermind. For the rest of the cast, Heath looks great as The Joker and it will be interesting to see if he does get the Oscar that he apparently deserves. Bale will not disapoint, as he did a good job in ‘BB’ and everyone else will no doubt be impressive (Caine, Oldman etc). My only concern is that Nolan should finnish what he’s started. I’m dreading someone else taking over the frachise and screwing it all up. If Nolan passes on the next one they may give it to a less passionate director and spoil the series. Whoops Goyer co-wrote ‘BB’ and ‘TDK’…If he takes over then we’ve had it (Blade Trinity). Will someone, who has Christopher Nolan connections, please encourage him to direct one more Bat-flick, just so we have the trilogy every Bat-fan has been waiting for since they left the cinemas after watching ‘Batman Returns’?

I’m sorry John but I too got to see a special screening of “TDK” and I have to disagree with you about ‘being to long’. The last 30 mins was perfect for this movie. The Rise and Fall of a great person becoming this horrible monster (Two-Face) is great for the movie. I have to say with strong feelings, you’re wrong John.

I don’t know what the fuss about movie length is, I really don’t. Does a movie have to have a limit on length? Like a song has to be 4min long? Some of my favorite songs are over 10min long. Among my favorite films of all time are Munich (over 3hrs) and Apocalypse Now Redux (about 4hrs or more!)

It’s not the length of your movie, it’s how you use it! I’ll be my own judge come July 18th… 14 days and counting. I gotta find some long movies to help kill the time in between…

Personally I think theres to much hype for this movie,and we expect to be delivered with the greatest movie to come out in a long time.As a result of that we analyze and critique all of the aspects of the movie according with how we felt (obviously).Im not saying that John’s review was bad,but thats his opinion(freaking 8.5 out of 10 my a@#…).Go into the movie with an open mind,and dont worry about the half hour gone wrong…is CHRIS NOLAN,there must be a reason. 10/10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ledger rest in peace.

the dark knight well be a great movie to watch i think the batman movie are all great and im looking forward to see heath ledger in this movie………………………………………………….

Here’s the confusion I think many of the visitor’s to your site are having with your rating of TDK and Wanted… it just doesn’t seem to have any order. Meaning, if Heath Ledger’s performance is Oscar worthy and TDK transcends its genre… how is it that “Wanted” gets a higher score or even the same rating as TDK? Wanted was neither transcendent for its genre nor were any of the performances even near Oscar worthy. These two films are not even on the same planet artistically… so the order of things would have you believe that TDK would be rated higher. You simply confused the order… that’s all.

We are very excited for this movie here in our country. By the way are there any hints of AMH becomming The Riddler? I think Riddler would work very well in Nolan’s World. He can be played like the Zodiac killer.

Hello John, GREAT reviews. I am now hungrier for Batman than ever. Please riddle me this: I am a musician so it is one of my favorite things to collect soundtracks from movies i love. Why haven’t you talked about the great job Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer have done for for this franchise. The score man, why didn’t you mention it?

What part does gambol play in the film? the black gangster

I think The Scarecrow would be necessary because he was left on the run at the end of Batman Begins and people will wonder what happened to him. And obviously making him a main villain wouldn’t work.

how is i possible that you saw the movie before all of us?

I believe what you are saying is correct (about how it is too long) but how can i fully believe your review if it could just be made up as it hasn’t been released yet?

How and where did you see TDK?

By now your probably guessing that i am very jealous that you have seen it. Its so close yet so far. =[

The review seems to take an objective approach with both the first two hours followed by the final thirty minutes with a subjective preference as to where it should have ended, which I respect. As much as Ang Lee’s HULK was a bad movie and certainly doesn’t merit comparison, I felt it could have stood as an average psychological portrait- then they brought the “father” back in for a final battle scene and the movie went from, IMO, a 5/10 to a 2/10 due to how unnecessary the ending scenes were.

In this case, the reviewer knocks it 0.5 but still rewards an excellent score. Whether some choose to see it in the same subjective way as John does is up to them, but at the very least he justifies his position and explains. No matter the circumstance though:

This reaffirms my unhealthy anticipation (almost nervous anticipation) for “The Dark Knight!” Can’t wait!

IF it is as good as I hope and expect….see it multiple times to bump up the revenue for it! Make this the biggest grossing movie ever! Shitty Spidey 3

heres 2 more positive reviews that showed up on Rotten tomatoes this weekend

http://movies.ign.com/articles/884/884876p1.html

http://emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=10176

Damn they both loved it…July 18th can’t come soon enough

I’m thinking 100-110 million opening weekend :)

Defiantly, no question about it. I’m going to see it. 3 and a half stars!!!!! I can’t believe it!!!!!! Gotta see it!

Hey John, I assuming we are supposed to get chills from Heath’s performance? I’ve seen a couple of clips from the movie and, though they definitely weren’t enough to say anything about the acting cause they were so short, they certainly gave me some goose pimples.

And I have a question that goes along with Paul’s question from a couple of days ago. What under what age would you recommend not taking a child? I’m just a little concerned for my 10 year old sister, who, obviously, hasn’t built up a tolerance for disturbing images, though she did do OK with the hallucination scenes of Begins.

Thanks, Lauren

John How was it in Imax with the 6 scenes shot with the Imax Camera and John Is The Dark Knight In 3-D? Thank Mark P.S Great Review John you rule.

Oh. Sorry if i was mistaken, but that’s what I got from your review.

Whay are you supposed to feel empathy for the joker??? He’s a maniac!

This from MovieWeb.com …

“While conducting interviews with the cast of The Dark Knight this afternoon, I got a chance to chat with director Christopher Nolan and Gary Oldman about the proposed third segment of their supposed Batman trilogy… When asked if he thought they should recast Ledger for the third film, or just not include the character, Gary thought it was a good idea…

Oldman then took a moment to think about it some more, “Maybe we don’t need the Joker. Because we’ll have The Riddler.” Yes, Oldman alluded to the fact that The Riddler may in fact be the next on-screen Batman villain.”

I personally got this information from WE ARE MOVIE GEEKS.com and you can view the full post with a cool “fan made” poster for the film HERE!

all i need to know is twoface good and not a waste of time

You think any Batman sidekick will ever appear in THIS Batman franchise?

So Joker is killed and we are left with 30-40 minutes of Two-Face development so we can have a full out war with him on the next film. Sounds alright with me.

I’m curious to know what rating you would of given this movie if it didn’t have the 30-40 minutues of which you felt were unneeded.

So you’ve addressed 2 of my concerns with TDK: – a) over-hype of Ledger – b) duration

I have one more that perhaps you could shed some light on: – c) Batman being over-shadowed performance-wise, hence making Batman ‘less’ cool than he was in Batman Begins.

I never said I expected him NOT to do a good job.

Hey John, I enjoyed your review and do agree with you that when certain movies run too long it does kill there potential, example: pirates movies. loved those movies (yes even the third one) but obviously they were too long, but my question to you is, i agree that some people definitely jumped on the “heath ledger is awesome” bandwagon after he passed away, but why go into the movie not expecting him to do a good of a job as everyone thought?

I was wondering how was Christian Bale’s performance, does he make the batman role his own, or was he better in begins.

Since this movie is being compared to HEAT in some ways, do we get to see 2 great performances from bale and ledger( like pacino and de niro) or is it all about the joker.

F_ck_ng tw_at is pretty harsh man. That’s all.

(i cant belive u think wanted is better than the dark knight and yes ive seen bothType your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so)

790 Nixon has a opinion about a movie thats not even out yet and on top of that he is judging John for his opinion.

yes Wall-E was amazing…give it a 10 already.

Where’s the Wall-E review? That movie was awesome!

First, thanks Larry for that perspective. I can relate to your pov. I’ll still see it, but interesting POV non the less. (Btw, I hope your wrong). ;-)

sahil, Nixon has an opinion, why don’t you go suck your thumb bra?

Hello John,

Im new here, just have one question for you: When is The Dark Knight releasing in INDIA ??

This movie is so awesome ive seen it

I did think of a question…..

Would this be a movie that you would watch more than once in theaters?….that is if you had to pay for your tickets.

I have a bet going with a few friends for $700 that Indy4 will make more money than The Dark Knight. When I made that bet back in April I was 100% confident that I was right but now I am not so confident and after reading some of the early reviews I feel like Batman actually has a shot. So what do you think John? Was I stupid for making that bet?

hahaha, u r a tool. how’d you go giving your mates that $700… shoulda given em more. u lost that bet soooooo badly lol

Nixon “the dumbest review ever, you all should be shame for not giving 10 !!!!”

I dont have any questions but I do have to say that Nixon is a fucking twat.

How do you figure that this movie gets a 10? All you have seen is about 5 mins of a movie that is 2 hrs and 30 mins long.

I just saw it.

I’m older than most of you so my perspective is no doubt different. Bottom line: I hated it. If you’re expecting Batman Begins, you’re in for a completely different experience.

Agreed; it’s too long. Should have been 1/2 hour shorter.

Story is ok, but way too many tangents and characters which simply disappear. This contributes to the bloated extra 30 minutes.

Ledger gives a fine performance, but this character is so heartless that you just lose empathy for him.

The violence was over the top. For me, this was a “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” scenario. The movie didn’t feel like a comic book brought to the screen; rather, an action/drama with characters in wild costumes.

No chemistry at all between Bale/Gyllenhall/Eckhart.

Most of you will think I’m out of my mind for hating it. I hope you have a wonderful time with it. If you’ve already decided you’re going to love it, then you’ll pick it as your number one film of the summer. For the rest of us….yawn.

One last thing. Not a spoiler, but…you’ll LOVE the origin of the Batcycle!

Enjoy the popcorn

Wow Larry… you’re entitled to your opinion, but I couldn’t disagree more with your comment. I thought the Dark Knight out-did Batman Begins by far, and was one of the best movies I’ve ever seen.

Firstly, you’re not supposed to empathise with the Jker, because he’s the protaganist in the story. the empathy is intended for bruce/ batman, harvey, rachael etc. reguardless, Heath Ledger was AMAZING, and had no trouble keeping my attention.

I loved the story and how all the characters tied into it. And it’s clear by the way the audience is tied to the fate of the characters, that all the actors on the screen had a great chemistry.

But hey, I’m only 21, so you’re right, an old fella like yourself would have a different perspective (judging by the $1 billion the movie made, a different perspective than most).

sorry buddy, but your comment gets 2 thumbs down

hey John I haven’t heard much about Two-Face and you didn’t even mention him in the review. I’m assuming he becomes two-face in those last 30 minutes your talking about. So I get u can’t talk about that. But i’d like to know how well the Dent character plays out.

Because if I remember Nolan stated that “The Joker wasn’t really the main villian just a force of nature that occurs throughout the film”. If you could elaborate a bit it would be great, without revealing any spoilers of course.

I don’t see how the movie can be *over* 2.5 hours long since IMAX reels are limited to 2.5 hours worth of film. How much over are you talking?

If this thread is any indication on how TDK will do opening weekend I’d say its about to break the 100 mil mark / post mark.

So John are you flat out saying that the Riddler is NOT in the film? (Hope you expected all these questions). ;-)

Also, there were stories of Heath delivering an Oscar worthy performance before he died, so yeah I think he will get nominated and I think he’s going to win. He will also prob win The Peoples Choice, Mtv award and possibly a Golden Globe. Just a vibe.

I remember when the first Batman came out it was the same thing. Nicolson stole the film and made more of an impression than Keaton.

I was wonderin if the transformation from Harvey Dent to Two-Face worked at all in the movie, if u can try to explain without spoilers, and was the look of Two-Face even more gruesome than you thought.

Great review John, can’t wait until this film comes out I’ve already purchased my tickets and am counting down the days.

July 18th get here soon.

You just made the “I hate People that saw TDK before me” list.

Hey John, I enjoyed youre review and do agree with you that when certain movies run too long it does kill there potential, example: pirates movies. loved those movies (yes even the third one) but obviously they were too long, but my question to you is, i agree that some people definitely jumped on the “heath ledger is awesome” bandwagon after he passed away, but why go into the movie not expecting him to do a good of a job as everyone thought?

John your one lucky son of a bitch for seeing this so soon…I’ve already pre-ordered my imax tickets and am absolutley dying to see this thing mainly for Heath Ledger’s preformance.. great review by the way

(Type your comment here. Make sure you’ve read the commenting rules before doing so) Thanks for the review John! Keep up the good (great!) work! Can’t wait for this movie to come out in Sweden …

Would you rate Heath’s performance better than Jack’s or not. I’ve always thought Jack was good, but he didn’t make Joker that scary, just awkward and kind of weird. Heath seems to have that, but also the violence and creepiness.

Hey, I saw what you said about Anthony Micheal Hall earlier, but do you think that he was good enough in the film to stand out at all. I’m a big “The Dead Zone” fan and with a little bit of talk about a possible movie to wrap up the series correctly I was hoping that he could get some notice in this film and like you said have a major resurgence.

I’m not really sure if anyone else here has addressed this yet, and I’m really in a pinch for time and can’t scroll through all 87 comments to make sure so…

Anyway, I’ve always thought that the score for BB was vastly underrated… I thought that it fit the tone of that movie perfectly. Being somewhat of a lover of movie scores, what I’m curious about is what you thought of the score for TDK. Was it about the same as BB, was it better, or was it not as good?

Interesting you brought up Rolling Stone. If nothing else, Peter Travers also thinks Ledger should be in the running for a posthumous Oscar.

Now, I just got back from ‘Wanted’. It was better than I thought it would be…and, to each his own I guess, but if ‘Wanted’ is more satisfying than ‘Dark Knight’, we are royally fucked.

When a studio asks you in advance not to print a review until a certain date, that’s called an “embargo” and you should honor that.

I knew Nolan was gonna botch it on the runtime of the film. I felt the same way about the MOST of the last 20 minutes of Begins. He can’t help himself. It’s why Insomnia sucked elephant balls. Thanks for confirming this,Campea. Iron Man is still at the top of the mountain. Only Hellboy II might still match or outdo it this year.

John, just a quick administrative question. I do reviews for the Herald Journal in Logan, Utah, about 90 miles north of Salt Lake City. When I go to screenings, they specifically tell us not to publish our reviews until the day of release. I’m not seeing this until July 16th. Doesn’t the studio get huffy when you do the review a few weeks early, or do they give you permission. Just wondering.

BTW, I totally agree with your “Wanted” review. I’m excited to see “The Dark Knight” now too.

Hmmm I had a pretty good source confirm the Riddler would be at the end ???

I know you harped on the length of the movie. Yet, without giving any spoilers away, could it be construed that the movie was extended to bridge the gap between this and the next movie, due to Ledger’s death? We all know that Nolan wanted to use Ledger in the third movie. Unfortunately, those ideas were shattered due to Heath’s untimely death. Now obviously I have not seen the movie yet; but the extra 30 minutes could have been added to give the studio the new direction they needed. Nolan has repeatedly gone on record saying that they were looking for a way to bridge the gap and fill the void. If that were the case, then the first two hours could be considered pre-Ledger and the last 30-40 minutes could be considered post-Ledger.

This is all speculation on my part obviously, since I have not seen the movie yet. Yet, one has to wonder if the last part of the movie was not added in response to his death.

I can’t wait to see what you give Wall-E a true classic.

Hey John, I don’t Believe you’ve actually watched this movie. Tell Me Something to prove me wrong!

I dont think u understand the last 30min. this movie isnt about the joker(villain wise yes its about batman but) its about the rise and downfall of Harvey Dent. his transformation into two face in the final 30(not exactly just the final 30) is def needed in this movie. i understand that u think it should stop after the transformation and lead into the 3rd with that but it imp. that it goes on and show the things it did. like the scene with gordon and two face, which is a powerful scene. i respect ur opinion but maybe u should watch the movie again and try to understand y nolan(a genius) put it in this movie….or maybe when u see the 3rd movie u’ll reconsider the last 30

Joey…

Judge Anthony Michael Hall for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1hc5iFPpSQ

AMH is an actor I’d love to see make a major resurgence, so I was pretty pumped about him being in the flick. Unfortunately he just there. Nothing good nor bad to say about him… he was just there. Small role, nothing significant.

great review. i just was curious what you thought of Anthony Michael Hall’s perfomance in the movie. I don’t want you to give anything away about the character or anything, just curious about your opinion of their performance.

Nice review, I like a honst review even is there is negitive aspects towards the film (last half hour).

My question for you is: Was it THAT good? I mean was it a very dark movie? Also I am a fan of crime films, so I know that TDK is a superhero movie, but the crime aspect of the film, how does it stack up against others? And one more thing, how was Erron Eckheart, thats the one character I’m sceptical of. I just want to know if his performance is good and did two face seem kind of forced? I mean I want to see two face be givin a decent comic to film translation.

Again thank you for your review and help.

Hey George,

I see what you’re saying… but why not then make Dark Knight 4 hours long instead of just 2.5? Longer doesn’t mean “more complete”.

The movie (once you see it, you’ll know what I mean) was very complete after 2 hours.

Once again, it’s not that the last 30-40 minutes were bad… not at all… they were just unneeded excess that didn’t add to the film, and thus made it feel stretched out.

Better than Donner’s Superman movie? You’ve got to be kidding me. Granted Batman Begins is brilliant and from what you’ve told us the same can be said about The Dark Knight. BUT I wouldn’t go so far and say it’s better than Donner’s masterpiece. I think the hype is clouding your judgement, not that I would blame you – it’s happened to me. But when things die down, watch Donner’s Superman film and remember.

Great review – keep up the good work!

One thing Nolan has said is that he wanted to make The Dark Knight as complete of a film as possible. Thus I think that is why the last 30 minutes were included in the film and not saved for a sequel.

I understand what you’re saying… but…

No. I gave Wanted a 9 and The Dark Knight an 8.5 (both are excellent movies) because I just slightly enjoyed Wanted more. It’s a fantastic movie. My expectations or lack thereof had nothing to do with it.

On that point… I wasn’t expecting either movie to be as good as they turned out to be. I knew they’d both be “good”… but I didn’t think THIS good.

excellent review John!! you had all the references posted that i hoped you would mention. I’m very surprised to hear that character Daws is actually important. however, i’ve been peeing my pants with every whisper of this movie and when i get to see it i dont ever want it to end so i’m not so sure the extra half hour is going to lower my enjoyment so i give your review an 8.5 out of 10. LoL! looking forward to dougs reveiew too!

Overall the numbers don’t really matter since they are arbitrary assigned in relation to your opinion, and we are all going to see the movie anyways, but…

Would you say you gave “Wanted” a 9 because it was a fresh surprise and you didn’t expect it? And TDK an 8.5 because you had high expectations and it just barely didn’t hit the same mark as you wished?

I find that when I see movies I know nothing about and are blown away by them I give them higher “scores” (ex. The Matrix, Fifth Element). But when I see a movie that I have been anticipating for a long time I am much harder score-wise since it failed to fully meet my (absurd) expectations, even if it is a “better” movie than those that surprised me.

Hype and expectations are the bane of score-base opinions.

Every film is different as to when they should end… but I’ll say this…

Yes, the last 30 minutes do kinda set up for the next batman film… BUT…

If they ended the movie 30 minutes sooner, it would have been set up for the next film even BETTER.

Thanks for the response, John. I guess i’ll have to leave the kids at home for this one, and take my wife to see it. I have to say, this site is the best movie site out there, in my opinion. You guys are damn entertaining, and you guys are also extremely accessible. LOVE IT! Also, will we get Doug’s reaction to this movie as well???

So far, the reviews stack up as follows:

Movieblog 8.5/10

Rolling Stone 3.5/4

Hey John…

Great review – can’t wait to see it.

One question: you and Doug often talk about movies running too long or how once they reach a certain point (either in time or in plot), that the movie should end.

How to you determine that? I’m certain there isn’t a scientific formula, but is there something that you notice or feel in films that tell you that it’s time to wrap it up?

One last question – you said that the last 30-40 minutes weren’t needed. But (without giving spoilers) do you feel that they built something in that last segment to start the third film from? Or better yet, do you think that there will even be a third film?

Thanks again. Love the Movie Blog.

Sorry man, I can’t confirm nor deny the death of any character in the movie… that would be a spoiler.

John, could you help me out here? I’ve been reading on multiple sites from multiple people who have seen the movie that a certain baddie bites it at the end. You’ve seemingly confirmed it in your review. What I want– nay, NEED– to know is, is the death concrete, or is it left open? Like, do we see a corpse? Or do the characters just THINK he’s dead? Great review, btw.

YES! I would certainly say this movie is too disturbing for most children. I wouldn’t recommend taking your kids to it

Hey, John! Love the review! Had a question. Is it too disturbing to take kids to see it? I remember when Batman Begins came out, some parents complained that it was too disturbing.

(The past decade has been this Movie Addicted 37 year old Comic Book Geek’s idea of Heaven on Earth!! And hell, as a kid I had SuperMan 2!!! 1 was cool but #2 set the bar at that time. “Kneel before ZOD!!” We all know how that worked out for him… Fast Forward several years………. Burton’s BatMan blew my mind by treating my beloved Comics and in particular the most interesting and complicated hero (well actually he’s more of an angry as hell, revenge filled, psychotic vigillante that enjoys brutalizing Bad Guy’s) with a measure of respect and Jack was Jack, and that’s always fun! My expectations were raised far too high as I walked out of the theatre at 3 a.m. opening KNIGHT!! Sadly, Bat Nipples were what were on the way instead of the Bad Guys getting a share of the Darkest Dread. It was Comic Book fans who got that instead, thanks HollyWood!! It’s the thought that counts, right? Actually… Then from out of the shadows of cult obscurity “Somebody” actually put some darn “Thought” into a crazy idea for a Comic Book/G.Nov based movie and what can only be described as “Divine Intervention” for casting the main character came together and what resulted is; in my oppinion “THE” reason Comic Book fans have been having a blast since 2002. And though “THE CROW” has remained relevant all these years just becase they did it right in every possible way, Brandon Lee defined the entire experience. He Rocked and “Martial Arts” had nothing to do with it!! Since Heath’s passing I have “To a lesser degree” been feeling the return of that “Glorious, Excited, Hollow feeling Sorrow” I felt for some time before & after “The Crows” much delayed release and having my suspicions that Brandon Lee was very special and left us just after giving a “Legendary” performance verified with undeniable talent and a passion that I just knew was going to be matched by Heath Ledger before he passed away, then the irony. Why did we have to lose them so sudenly, tragically? I guess there job here was done maybe. They played the role they were born to play with perfection. Stunning you said, Stunning! I believe you! So, to John I say Thank You for your earlier than expected review and your honesty and what sounded like fairness! Now it’s Dejavu man!!For the second time that I can remember the anticipation of a film fills me with (At this moment) such excitement, anticipation, sorrow and sense of loss!! Brandon Lee’s “Eric Draven” haunts me “IN A GOOD WAY” even still, it appears that Heath Ledgers “Joker” is going to haunt us all now. Brilliantly!!! My point to all this? If Brandon& Heath and any like minded fans out there can “Feel Me” right now; I say “ROCK and ROLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Let’s go to the movies, I’ll buy the PopCorn cuz it’s gonna be a Dark Knight!!)

Maybe I missed it, but did John even mention Christian Bale once in his video review?

I think the more film savvy people out here knew the edgier, psychotic Joker that Ledger would play was going to be brilliant. But Bale was fantastic as Batman in the first movie so his lack of praise makes me feel like he got overshadowed.

I hope he is just arrested because I really liked the Scarecrow. I don’t want to see him get killed off.

Were there any cheesy parts? And was the story as well explained as Begins?

Oh thank Crom, that’s all i have to say.

My only concern was that the fight scenes would not have moved on from ‘shake ‘n confuso-vision’ that was in the first film but it looks like they have so i’m over the moon. That’s a shame about Scarecrow but i loved the character so much in Begins and what Cillian Murphy did with it, and was hungry for more of him by the end that i’ll probably just be happy to see him on screen again in this one, wasted or not; we’ll see.

John didn’t say Scarecrow got killed off. It might happen but John didn’t say that. He said ‘taken down’, he might just get arrested.

Great review john, cant wait to see it, one thing thought, is there anyway u could tell us about the look of Two-Face without going into any spoilers, i simply must know, and an 8.5 is a great score and should be enough for anyone to go see the movie

The Dark Knight could be 6hrs long and still not long enough for me, if the last 30mins is simply Bruce sitting in a chair dreaming about the Joker I would be fine with that. Just give me Dark Knight!!!

Someone said 85% is an A- well where I’m from that’s a B+ at best.

Thank you for proving my point.

I don’t think you understand what a “blog” is. Also, I don’t write academic reviews… I’m a film fan… and so I like to give context when I give my opinion on something.

the dumbest review ever, you all should be shame for not giving 10 !!!!

Im glad scarecrow goes down easy, he was a pussy, without that gas he was just a weak pathetic psychiatrist.

I read a little of the review but I want to keep myself pumped for it and not read it all and get spoiled going into it, though I did notice the 8.5 rating out of 10. And hey I can live with it, I certainly stand by your rating as I have many other ratings you have for other flicks in the past.

I cannot wait though to see this myself :)

Stop giving the reviewer here a hard timem about DK’s 8.5 and Wanted’s 9.0..didn’t you guys know this website is “the official home of correct movie opinions”. He must be right.

In reality, his review was as awkward as his websites tagline. Half the review was about how we was afraid of the backlash he was going to get if he didn’t say he liked Ledger. Reminds me of a Harry Knowles review in which Hary spends half the review describing his wheelchair ride to the theater.

It’s a review, review the movie in confidence. If you are aware a review is just an opinion why worry about any backlash and why feel the need to address it.

Hey John, Did Christian Bale’s physical size take away anything or did it not matter?

I tried to find out but there’s no information about its release…. I would love to watch this this movie first day after reading your REVIEW.

Thanks a lot,really appreciate your work & opinions.

Hey John, did you hear another early review of TDK compared it to the Godfather 2 and Heat?

What do you think of that comparison?

this suit looks amazing- waaay beter then any other batman suit ever used in a movie.

i wonder if theyll be bringing in a robin in the next one? hey.. why not?

some of your responses to that question might be “batman forever” but i think that it wouldnt be such a bad idea.

as long as they stay away from mr freeze and the ridler this time

“Was Ledger better than Downey Jr. was in Iron Man In my opinion yes”

An apple to an orange. It would be a better comparison if Downey was a bad guy. A better comparison is “Heath better than Jack”. I should note that when you say “the mark so purely that even Batman himself is made to feel like a secondary character” it does ring a slight alarm bell with me because that was one of the main criticisms (not mine) of the 1989 Tim Burton film, in that the Nicolson Joker made the Keaton Batman look like a secondary character.

As for Scarecrow, if that’s the screen time, shit. I would rather like him to be in a jail cell next to Joker or one of Joker’s crew at least. Then again, Dawes took the dude out with a stun gun…

…the IMAX comment is a good one. Indeed, perhaps when ‘Dark Knight’ comes to a regular screening, let’s see if your opinion is changed any.

…and that’s where I have to stop. Because I cannot disagree or agree with you on the film at this time. As with most of the masses, I haven’t seen the film yet. But I *will* say this:

Whether or not I wind up agreeing with you, it is an excellent review. Hardly any spoilers, you focus on the actors, cinematography, script, second unit action (stunts), and the only spoiler you do give away indirectly (I’m not pointing it out if anyone missed it) is something that most of us had already suspected.

As for the rumors of “the third villain”. I always thought it was a nod to Scarecrow or a character like BB’s Zasz, or Gator is a codename for Croc, or something like that. But since there was discussion a few months ago about Deathstroke, I could have sworn I seen the character….

…in an ad for The Gotham Knight .

Great review John, July 18th can’t come soon enough. It looks like The Dark Knight will make up for how much Indy 4 sucked.

First off, great review. I enjoy not only hearing positive reviews but CRITICAL reviews, so this was really refreshing. However, you said that the movie went on for about 30 minutes “too long” after Joker’s story had been wrapped. I have a good guess as to what that additional 30 mins is about, and though I haven’t seen the film yet, Nolan has been quoted saying that TDK is Harvey Dent’s story, and that the Joker just cuts through the film like the shark in Jaws. While I’m not a critic and my opinion may/may not change after I watch the film, don’t you think you might have been just a little harsh on that assessment?

John, About how long do you fully see Two Face on screen?

John answers the question: 1) Did the new Bat suit work? Yes. Actually the new design of the suit is a part of the story and is worked in well.

…Hmmm. It’s interesting that they chose to make the new design an actual part of the story. I am actually happier about it now. Look forward to it and thanks for your response.

I can’t believe that they killed off the Scarecrow. That fucking sucks. =(

John – Thanks for the review and I’m stoked that you enjoyed the film so much.

I’m anxious for July 18th….I tell you the days are getting longer as my anticipation grows.

Ok, to answer some questions:

1) Did the new Bat suit work? Yes. Actually the new design of the suit is a part of the story and is worked in well.

2) Is it better than Batman Begins? In my opinion yes.

3) Was Ledger better than Downey Jr. was in Iron Man In my opinion yes.

4) Is there another Super Villain introduced besides Two Face and The Joker? No. Not that I noticed.

5) Was Ledgers performance better than Anton in No Country? In my opinion… yes… just slightly.

John you lucky bastard :)

words cant explain how much i want to see this….21 days and counting…

FROM Rob Forest Sorry. I actually do have a question of interest for you. In your opinion, John, how does the new batsuit come accross in action and movement on the screen in TDK?

THE NEW “BOBBAFETT”BATSUIT AND THE “SLIMER” BALE.

How they looked in the scream? Its something you can note while seeing the movie?

Can you give us your opinion ? it worked well?

I’m going to avoid this until I see it. :)

Man… sorry, but I can’t help but giggle a little bit when people say “How can you give it a lower score than Wanted?” When they haven’t even seen Dark Knight yet.

Yes, I gave Wanted a 0.5 higher score than The Dark Knight… because… I enjoyed it 0.5 more. What can I say… the last 30 minutes really sucked a little steam out of my enjoyment.

NOW REMEMBER… I’m NOT saying the last 30 minutes were “bad”… there’s some good stuff in there… but it was unnecessary and made the movie start to drag after the first two hours. Some will disagree, but that’s my opinion and I’m not afraid to say regardless.

Still… AWESOME movie, Loved it, and I think you will too.

Sorry. I actually do have a question of interest for you. In your opinion, John, how does the new batsuit come accross in action and movement on the screen in TDK?

I have always had a problem with the way the fashion designers feel the need to “outdo” the last batsuit. For me the batsuit that the makers of “BATMAN: DEAD END” use is the best batsuit that can possibly be made. If you don’t know what I’m talking about here is a link to it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUdG0VFFNSU . I just don’t get why they always have to make it so fancy. It’s a simply costume design. It’s a classic costume design. That’s just me. So, yeah… What do you think about the outfit and how it comes accross on the screen.

NOT THAT THE WAY THE SUIT LOOKS IS GOING TO RUIN THE MOVIE FOR ME, IT IS JUST A MATTER OF PERSONAL TASTE AFTER ALL.

great review.. though i havent seen the film, i have to say that i like the idea of Scarecrow being brought down easily….it kinda makes it seem more realistic—not every criminal gets taken down it a dramatic scenario….take real life serial killers–sometimes cops just get lucky and there it is. I am hoping that it makes the film seem more realistic……like i said i havent seen it yet but thanks for the review and getting me geeked for the next three weeks to pass.

I dont care what John scored the film. Numbers and Letters are so unreliable when reviewing diffrent media. I like just to know what was good about the film and what was not good about the film. Im happy overall that the troubles with BB were fixed in this film. However John forgot to mention about the fighting in this Batman. He talk alot about how he didnt like most of the fighting in BB so i like to know if its much better in this film. So when your fist date with Ling?

Hey john great review…got me soo pumped..but i just one small questions..which is a greater movie overall Ironman or TDK, since you did rate both of them the same. and Wanted is better than both?!?!..

So numerically, Dark Knight is just as good as Iron Man, and not as good as Wanted.

My biggest complaint about “The Dark Knight Review” is one that no one will agree with at first… but if you think about it after a while I think you’ll change your mind… at over 7min. 50sec. the review was too long. Sorry, it just was. At about the 5min. 20sec. mark I was ready to call “The Dark Knight Review” the best film review of the year so far… and maybe one of the top 5 movie reviews of the last 3 or 4 years. Yeah… THAT GOOD. Now, I have to be careful here to not give any spoilers away… so if some of this doesn’t make sense to you… it will after you see the review. After about the 5min. 20sec. mark, the major components of the movie review gets finished… and it was the PERFECT time to stop the movie review and move on to the next film review. PERFECT. But instead John felt the need to blabber on and on about how bad the last 30-40min. of the movie was… that was a big mistake in my opinion. All that energy, perfect pacing and focus that the movie review had for the first 5min. 20sec. got lost. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that the last 2min. 23sec. were bad… they just were very redundant for this movie review. Something significant happens near the end (I can’t say what) that I believe was a total waste, and ultimately made the last 2min. 23sec. seem like an overstated and redundant waste of time.

Johns words were WASTED… and I don’t mean he was on drugs. He’s on screen for about 8min. After the first 5min. and 20 sec. he just starts to yammer on and on with no seemingly apparent rhyme or reason of where he is trying to go. Wheee… thanks for putting that out there. This may sound like a little bit of a spoiler, but it’s so redundant in the movie review that it really doesn’t matter. John can’t even end the review like a true super film reviewer. No no no… he gets too caught up in his own blah, blah, blah and yimmer-yammer really. There was no need for John’s words to be used in that capacity… you could have had the same review and had it be just about 2min. 23sec. shorter and it would have been exactly the same. Such a waste

Sorry John. No disrespect. Just feeling the need to point out the redundant nature of the end of your review.

i understand you didnt like the last 30 or 40 minutes of the film. or thought it was unnecessary, but you gave wanted a 9. you gave it a 9 after you said there were some scenes that were laughably unbelievable. Just a little thrown, potential oscar performance, one of the best youve seen in the last 3 or 4 years and it gets an 8.5? it is your opinion, but shouldnt you have some sort of scale with which you grade things? a measure of standard?

Love the blog, honestly i do. checked it everyday when i was in afghanistan. THanks brother.

I can’t believe Wanted would get a better score than this.

I gotta say that I was also surprised to see your score after reading the review – I expected to see a 9 or 9.5.

Been reading this blog for a long time and I hardly ever comment – just thought this deserved it.

Love the site – love the podcasts – keep up the good work, guys!

Hey John, One of the things I loved about Batman Begins is that “explains” a lot of things. Do they do that in this film?

who gave a better performance as a villain; Heath Ledger as The Joker or Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh?

HI JOHN! Thanks a lot for the review.

9 FOR WANTED 8,5 FOR DARK KNIGHT?? WELL ITS YOUR OPINION ANIWAY

Why the lenght would have so much weight in the ”MOVIEBLOG”movie score,after all looks like its a hell of a movie.

30/7 IN NAGOYA … TAKING A DAY OFF…IM THERE,FIRST SESSION!!!

If you care to anwer me this:

THE NEW “BOBBAFETT”BATSUIT AND THE “SLIMER” BALE.

No, it wasn’t better than Superman (1978). It was very good, but it lacked the epic scope, wit, and excitement of Superman.

I don’t want to knock Batman Begins, but I have to defend Superman. It’s a classic.

It seems the one thing i was worried about actually happens. But as long as the the rest of the movie is great it’s okay

my dear jhon…it can’t be possible that Wanted is a better film than THIS Batman movie..you talk about Batman fantastically..but why..WHY?? 9 out 10 to Wanted an “only” 8.5 out 10 to batman…?? WHY?? ’cause the last bad 30-40 minutes are not a very good explanation..

your blog is my second bible..

bye davide..

Hey man, my only question I hope you answer is do you think is-aight it’s a 2 parter-

a) is it better than Batman Begins? b) best comic book film ever?

So you thought that Ledger’s perf was better than Downey in Iron Man?

ok, so IronMan wasn’t 2.5 hours long… but the action was indeed 5 minutes long, I really enjoyed it, but really… only 2 action scenes… is there a better balance in TDK?

Yeah… but Iron Man wasn’t 2.5 hours long… 30 minutes of which were really unnecessary.

Thanks for the reply.

I dunno, it just seems like your review is slightly incongruous with your score especially because Iron Man got an 8.5 from you as well. Oh and 85% is an A- so it’s not that great :)

Awesome. Can’t wait.

Hey there Eric,

Yes, I said that FOR THE FIRST TWO HOURS of the film… then the film went too long (about a full 30 minutes too long), which reduced my enjoyment a touch.

But dude… how can you say “ONLY” an 8.5? That’s a great score!

You said that TDK would have been one of the best movies in the past 3-4 years and you also said that it’s one of the best movies (not just comic book movies) this year yet you only gave it 8.5/10. In fact, you gave Iron Man 8.5/10 and surely you don’t think that Iron Man is one of the “best overall films” this year?

2 questions. You probably can’t answer this one.

#1. Is there another popular villian introduced in this movie? I heard there was. I don’t want to know who though.

#2. I hear The Heat being brought into discussion a lot, and that this movie inspired Nolan with some of his heist scenes. Do you get that feeling watching it?

You already saw this you lucky bastard

Excellent review. Holy timesink batman, that runtime is crazy for a comic book movie. Glad to hear that Heath Ledgers last performance will not disappoint. Now to wait 2 weeks…

Well damn… Can’t wait til the 25th when its out in Sweden.

Hey Ginger,

No, it’s not absolutely necessary to see it in IMAX. I saw no issues at all with it…. but hot damn did it ever look great on IMAX.

Fantastic review. I cannot wait, holy cow fuck, I need the phone booth now to travel in time to the future.

Hey John, good review…Just wondering, do you think it is totally necessary to see the movie in Imax? I want to, but I’m just hoping that the scenes filmed normally won’t llook distorted or out of place when viewed with the scenes filmed in Imax, and vice versa…any issues with it?

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DVD & Streaming

The Dark Knight

Action/Adventure , Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Heath Ledger as The Joker; Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent; Michael Caine as Alfred; Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes; Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon; Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox

Home Release Date

Christopher Nolan

Distributor

Warner Bros.

Movie Review

Sometimes folks look for trouble. And sometimes trouble comes a callin’, all on its own.

For a while, it seemed as though life in Gotham City was looking up. Gotham’s finest, led by straight-arrow Lt. Gordon, was squeezing the city’s crime syndicates. Harvey Dent, a new and fearless district attorney, stalked the courtrooms. Batman prowled the city’s darkest alleys. Mob bosses stopped meeting at night, afraid they’d be pinched.

What? A city where crime kingpins are afraid of the dark?

Then—like the flu, like a hailstorm, like a crowbar to the side of the head—comes the Joker. No baggage. No backstory. No greedy motive. Just a leering, cackling demon of chaos. He crashes a high-level mob meeting and offers his services as the city’s very own bat exterminator. What does he want? Nothing. Everything. What does he ask for? Half the mob’s money.

“If you’re good at something,” the Joker wheezes, “you never do it for free.”

So begins perhaps the deepest, bleakest summer blockbuster ever, an explosion-riddled saga about order and anarchy, about good and evil, and about the line we draw between the two.

[ Note: To explore this film’s philosophical and spiritual underpinnings, the following sections contain plot spoilers. ]

Positive Elements

The Dark Knight is a complex film with a myriad of messages. But at its most basic, the question it poses is this: To what lengths do good people go in order to conquer the worst sort of evil? Must they become a little evil themselves along the way?

“You got rules!” a broken mob boss tells Batman. “The Joker—he’s got no rules!”

It’s a pesky truism our heroes struggle with from the get-go. None of them escape unsullied. “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” says Dent. But it’s when they refuse to compromise that the movie soars.

Dent starts as a bright knight—a blond, bold DA who aims to clean up Gotham’s streets for good. Though there are ever-so-slight indications that he’s not altogether wonderful (the boys at the station call him “Two Face”), he’s sincere about his crime-fighting calling—a sincerity that wins over even billionaire-celebutant Bruce Wayne. “Gotham needs a hero with a face,” Wayne says. One might say Dent and Batman are two sides of the same coin, Dent the unsullied face of incorruptibility and Batman the black-caped heavy. Dent even sacrifices his career and good name at one point to keep Batman out on the streets—a favor Batman returns.

Lt. Gordon, once Gotham’s only honest police officer, has a wee bit of company nowadays, but he’s still arguably the film’s finest, prepared to sacrifice his own life for both his city and family.

Lucius Fox, head honcho at Wayne Enterprises, continues to play Q to Batman’s Bond, keeping him supplied with a host of critical gizmos and gadgets. But while he’s willing to cook the books to keep Batman’s identity a secret, there are ethical places he won’t go—at least not for very long. When the Dark Knight creates a gigantic sonar net by tapping into all of Gotham’s cell phones (a hefty invasion of privacy), Fox tells him that either the machine goes or he does. “Spying on 30 million people isn’t in my job description,” he says—though he acquiesces to use it for one specialized mission.

The most heroic guy of the bunch (go figure) is Batman himself, willing to sacrifice everything that’s precious to him for the sake of the city. He never, ever kills, and he rigidly keeps this special vow even when the Joker more than deserves death.

The citizens of Gotham also show a bit of gumption. When the Joker pits average Joes and Janes against convicted killers and thieves in a deathmatch of sorts, they manage to resist their selfish urges and risk everything to do the right thing. Humanity and its higher conscience survives even as the world burns down around it—much to the Joker’s dismay.

Spiritual Elements

The Dark Knight is loaded with pseudo-spiritual themes and philosophical musings (which I’ll explore in my conclusion), but it’s devoid of overt references to faith.

Sexual Content

Bruce Wayne lives up to his pampered playboy rep. Groupies wear low-cut evening gowns, and ballet dancers wear bikinis when Wayne spirits away the entire Russian Ballet to his private yacht. We see a couple straightening their clothes when they’re startled during a secret tryst.

The Joker leers at Rachel—who is, incidentally, a former paramour of Bruce Wayne and current main squeeze of Harvey Dent. This love triangle adds a bit of sexual tension to the film, but only a bit.

Violent Content

Harvey Dent loses half of his pretty face just as the action climaxes. What remains is a charred, horrific visage of sinew and bone: His left eye is lidless and the left side of his mouth is lipless, exposing the teeth beneath.

This is the film’s most overt display of graphic ickiness. Truth be told, The Dark Knight is not gory, though. The carnage here is felt, not seen.

But oh, how we feel it.

The Joker is as horrific a villain as I’ve ever seen onscreen—an embodiment of nihilism, a manifestation of pure, unapologetic evil. The camera may blink, but your mind’s eye doesn’t. The Joker forces us to imagine every cut and tear. He makes Jigsaw from the torture-porn Saw flicks look positively ethical, and frankly, I think I squirmed more through Knight than through the splatter-happy Saw IV . Why? The violence here feels more real, visceral … painful.

We watch as the Joker impales a man’s face with a pencil, as he burns a sky-high pyramid of cash with a financier imprisoned at the apex, as he shoots and stabs and burns his way through the movie. He plants a bomb in the stomach of one of his imprisoned henchmen, setting it off to escape from jail. He joyfully blows up a hospital, poisons a police officer, bazookas a police vehicle and guns down his own henchmen.

Forget the big bangs, though. This Joker’s weapon of choice is the knife: He carries several, one of which he sticks in his victims’ mouths as he tells them stories (all, apparently, lies) of how he got his own “smiling” scars before slicing their faces open. We never see him cut, but the stories—the brutal, mesmerizing stories—are enough. They are more than enough.

That said, I’m not going to detail every bit of violence seen onscreen in this not-really PG-13 movie. Batman pummels dozens of folks, but you knew that would be the case before you started reading. There are car chases, crashes and explosions aplenty, but you knew that, too.

What you might not know is that the Joker kills scores of folks, and all the death that surrounds him only seems to brighten his mood. Counting casualties doesn’t convey how you might feel as you watch, and how you’ll feel walking out when it’s over. So I’ll put things this way: The Dark Knight is not Iron Man , not Hancock , not even Hellboy II . This is a movie about a cartoon hero. But there’s nothing cartoonish about it.

Crude or Profane Language

Characters abuse Jesus’ name three times, God’s name a half-dozen times (once, pairing it with “d–n”). They lob a handful of other curses, including “h—” and “a–.”

Drug and Alcohol Content

Bruce’s party guests drink champagne. Alfred offers Harvey a glass, calling it “liquid courage.” A cop sips a drink in a bar. Whiskey is downed.

Other Negative Elements

The Dark Knight refers, of course, to Batman. But all of the film’s good guys dabble in the gray areas of life, and none (well, maybe one) escape(s) this film with a clean ethical bill of health.

Batman purposefully breaks the legs of a would-be informant to make him talk. And he pummels the Joker in a police holding cell—going so far as to bar the door with a chair so the police won’t interfere. Gordon is reticent to communicate with his supervisors and deceives even his own family. Fox develops all of Batman’s cool weaponry off the books, circumventing financial transparency at every turn. Dent, even before he goes bad, flips a coin to determine a course of action. Turns out it’s a two-headed coin—an act of duplicity that foreshadows his fall.

None of these actions are directly lauded by the film, though its makers do take pains to show why these less-than-ethical dealings could be justified. Instead, these scenarios are designed to stir questions in the audience, not provide it with answers. In this Dark Knight , evil is absolute. Good? Not so much.

The Dark Knight poses and plays with ethical conundrums, most of which seem designed to push Batman, his allies and all of Gotham over the brink. “Madness, as you know, is like gravity,” the Joker says. “All it takes is a little push.”

The Joker succeeds in transforming Dent into a vicious villain with (quite literally) a two-sided face, and then sits back as his pet project flips that coin (one side now charred and scarred) to determine who dies and who lives. “The only morality in an amoral world is chance,” Dent says.

Batman argues that the world’s not governed by chance, but by choices. And when Dent dies, Batman makes the movie’s most interesting choice of all: He takes the blame for the people Dent killed. He becomes, unjustly, a fugitive hated by the very people he’s protecting.

“Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough,” Batman says. “Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”

The decision, like Dent himself, shows us two faces.

On one side of it, Batman creates a lie—a flat-out fabrication that patronizingly presumes he knows what’s best for Gotham’s citizens, and that they’re too fragile or shortsighted to accept the truth. In an age when we are all wary of lies, deceptions and governmental cover-ups, this kind of fabrication (well-meaning though it may be) feels especially wrong and, in any case, always violates one of God’s core commandments: Don’t lie.

On the other, Batman takes Dent’s sin on his own shoulders, leaving the DA, in Gotham’s eyes, pure and spotless and clean. Sound familiar? It can be read, at some level, as an echo of the sacrifice Christ—utterly innocent, yet humiliated and judged on our behalf—made for us.

One more thing to chew on: Batman, in Bruce Wayne’s mind, is not a hero, but an ideal—a symbol for something greater. People, he muses in Batman Begins , are corruptible. Ideals are not. It stands to reason, then, that he would want to push Dent from corruptible man to incorruptible ideal—a symbol of something greater. “Gotham needs a hero with a face,” Wayne says. And so he gives that hero to the city, willingly destroying his own reputation in the process.

Without a doubt, then, The Dark Knight is mesmerizing and thought-provoking. It’s guaranteed to become a critical darling while scooping up a bazillion dollars at the box office. But its dark side cannot be ignored. The Chicago Tribune leads its review with this warning: “Sensational, grandly sinister and not for the kids.” The New York Daily News tells us, “The PG-13 rating seems tame; this sucker is rough.” You’re seeing it advertised on everything from cereal boxes to candy bars, but that doesn’t make Knight ‘s violence, it’s aura of menace, any more digestible. It’s not just kids who’ll walk out of the film shaken.

When you see Harvey Dent’s new look for the first time, you barely notice his still pretty-boy right side. The left side—charred, unblinking, horrific—seems to fill the screen. And the same could be said for this movie. Yes, it’s undeniably well-crafted. But it’s a harsh creation, and by all rights shouldn’t have been named after the good guy. The Dark Knight is the Joker’s court, and he’s not looking for a laugh.

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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Movie Review: The Dark Knight (2008)

TheAbsoluteJay
Movie Reviews
24 responses
--> July 16, 2008

Most movies surrounded by as much hype as The Dark Knight usually don’t live up to it. This is one rare and shining example of something that I would call close to cinematic perfection. This summer’s blockbuster is a direct sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins , picking up right where it left off, with a new villain starting to stir up trouble in Gotham City. Along with a new villain comes a new hero in the form of Gotham’s new District Attorney, Harvey Dent. With Dent, Lieutenant Gordon, and Batman, the crime in Gotham City has to now find its own self proclaimed savior — the mysterious and strange criminal who calls himself The Joker.

In this film, we see the kind of improvements you would expect from a sequel. Batman gets a new suit and some new toys, the movie gets a little more substance (some thought the development in Batman Begins was a bit too slow), as well as gets a little longer in run time. What I think wasn’t expected, was how big the improvements were.

For those of you who know some things about the production of the first film and the underpinnings of the ideals – not just with the themes of the story itself, but what Christopher Nolan and the producers of the film had in mind for what they were showing the audience – you will notice how they built on just that. The music, while almost vague in the first film is huge and integral in this one, becoming a gripping part of The Dark Knight . Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard deliver a score that was so incredibly vital to the movie that you couldn’t help but feel like it would have been playing had all the events onscreen been occurring in real life.

Speaking for the production of the film next, I again cannot say enough. Nolan decided to film a few of what he felt were important scenes, in the 70mm film format. I was fortunate enough to see the film in IMAX as well, and it’s a sight to behold. For the most part, you don’t particularly notice, but that’s not a bad thing, that’s just how this movie grabs you and doesn’t let go. Wally Pfister (the director of photography on all of Nolan’s films) takes the cityscape of Gotham to another level. In addition to the shooting of just the sprawling metropolis, there was new action to shoot, new suspense, and with that came over 700 effects shots that needed to be done, which was a substantial amount more than the previous. None of it disappoints. The mystique of Batman is upheld with the realism that Nolan has strived to build, with pretty much everything in the movie played about as close to the fringe of fact and fiction as you can get.

But beauty is only skin deep. What about the script? What about the actors? Can you make a movie where a main character is replaced by another actress? Yes, yes, and yes. I can’t say enough that this movie delivers in every way. There was some dismay over the script of Batman Begins ; some scenes felt drawn out, unnecessary and/or hokey. The Dark Knight delivers something new: a gripping story that not only stands on its own merits, but stands out in a remarkable way. You’ll forget that you are watching a movie about a comic book character. Even when saying that, fans of the comic books will notice the story elements from the acclaimed 1996-1997 limited series The Long Halloween , as well as others. The kind of depth that was brought to this production is almost otherworldly. The themes of Batman have always been imbued to the specific characters, and this film is no different. It’s as if Nolan was able to reach out through these characters and tell the audience what they mean, stand for and what’s on their minds. It almost appears that the screenwriters (Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan) had read every piece of Batman fiction there is as their understanding of the characters and more importantly, how the characters interact with the world is phenomenal. Each character has multiple deep emotional moments. Even the characters with small roles are three dimensional, with their own motives, decisions, actions and reactions. The story is expertly crafted to grab on and not let go, lending screen time for all the characters to arc in a complete way. The beginning grabs you, the middle is the meaning of the word climax, and the ending is complete in a big way.

When you have a cast like the one in The Dark Knight , it’s to be expected that you get good performances. Good performances are what you got from Batman Begins. The Dark Knight boasts some amazing performances from its cast. There is no interaction between characters wasted in the film and they all have a deep kinetic connection that drives the film with an ethereal force. You’ll also see a variety of old and new faces, further adding to the world created by Christopher Nolan.

Reprising his role as billionaire turned vigilante Bruce Wayne/Batman is Christian Bale. First thing I’d like to point out is how Bale speaks. He is Welsh, and he masks it quite well. His voice and manners as Bruce Wayne are nothing like that of his alter ego, Batman. Bale gained a deep understanding of this character and his dual personalities from day one and has built on the foundation that he made in Batman Begins . In The Dark Knight , we see more of Batman, a striking difference from the first film, where he was portrayed more as a shadow. It’s to say, now that we know Batman, and we get to see Bruce Wayne when he’s inside Batman and vice versa. What comes with seeing more of Bruce and his double life in full swing, we begin to feel more for him.

Also coming back is Michael Caine as the loyal butler and confidant to Bruce/Batman, Alfred Pennyworth and Gary Oldman as Lieutenant James Gordon, head of a special unit to fight organized crime called the Major Crimes Unit. Caine’s part isn’t large, but every line of dialogue given is deep and filled with love and support for Bruce. In a way, you could liken Alfred’s role to that of Yoda from the Star Wars trilogy. Easily, the role would be nothing if it weren’t for Michael Caine, whose classical background and dry English wit bring the character to life and keep up with the charismatic Bale with no problems. Oldman on the other hand, brings the purity and hope in James Gordon’s heart to life, which is important, as his character is incredibly deep and unfathomably important to the story (he appears to be the only cop in Gotham who isn’t corrupt).

The two newcomers to the series are Aaron Eckhart, playing Harvey Dent, and Maggie Gyllenhaal who plays the returning character, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Dawes (originally played by Katie Holmes). I personally thought that Dawes’ role in Batman Begins was too small to merit any huff about a change in actresses. The expanded role of Dawes here was played very well by Gyllenhaal, whose natural abilities played well to the love interest of not only Bruce Wayne, but also to Harvey Dent.

Aaron Echart plays the hardnosed D.A., Harvey Dent. Harvey’s noble attitude works well with Eckhart’s physical appearance as well as his charismatic and acting qualities. If you’ve been following the viral marketing surrounding Harvey Dent’s “campaign” to become Gotham City’s new District Attorney, you have either come to love him or hate him. I, for one, believe in Harvey Dent, as the slogan goes. I became engrossed with this character that was built by the mythos and portrayed by Aaron Eckhart. His call to arms of the citizens of Gotham to help him rid the city of scum the right way had me convinced. Eckhart’s commitment to Harvey Dent was as strong as Dent’s bond to Gotham.

Finally, we all know the tragedy that befell the young Heath Ledger, who plays the villainously insane Joker. With all the praise he’s been handed and the words “Oscar nomination” being used, there’s much speculation that it’s, well, sympathy for a good young actor who passed much before his time. I can say that, without sympathy, dead or alive, this is one of the best performances given by an actor. I didn’t watch a lot of the trailers and clips from the film, I tried to save myself. What I did read about was what Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Michael Caine, and many, many others had to say about Heath: That he was a brilliant actor; dedicated, energetic, and most of all, talented. It was more than apparent when watching him onscreen as the Joker. You didn’t want to take your eyes off him; you hung on every word, even when he was scaring you or one of the other characters. I watched with a mouth wide open as he spoke each line of dialogue. Mind, body, and soul, Heath Ledger became the Joker.

It’s easy to say that this is the best movie of the summer. I personally think that is one of the best movies of the year. From the production to the marketing to the film itself, The Dark Knight delivers in a way that other filmmakers dream about. The world of Batman that Christopher Nolan has created is a sight to behold, by anyone, at least once. I would say that this movie is going to be in the theaters for a while, so brave the crowds for this film; I promise it’ll be worth it.

Contempt for the ignorant is bliss. At least that is what I'm told!

Movie Review: Sex Drive (2008)

'Movie Review: The Dark Knight (2008)' have 24 comments

July 16, 2008 @ 7:26 pm Jeffrey

Hells yeah! This movie is gonna kick ass! I got my ticket for the midnight showing and I can’t wait. Thanks for not spilling out any spoilers to..

July 16, 2008 @ 7:35 pm Pluto

Good review. Can I get a condensed version of it next time!? :D

July 16, 2008 @ 9:46 pm Rob

All I’m going to say is, “This ain’t your grandpa’s Batman no more.”

Be ready for a very twisted, very dark tale.

July 17, 2008 @ 9:03 pm Yor

Ledger is spectacular as Joker. Its a damn shame that he died because he definately took it to another level with this portrayal.

July 17, 2008 @ 11:01 pm Jonathon

I haven’t seen it the movie yet, but I read that playing the Joker really put him into a depression…

July 18, 2008 @ 6:33 am Brian

I think now that he’s dead people are trying to connect the dots back to this performance.

I also think his dying is propping up his performance more than it would have otherwise deserved..

July 18, 2008 @ 9:09 am Sam I Am

Your review is a little long-winded but otherwise good.

July 18, 2008 @ 10:38 am TheAbsoluteJay

@Brian: “I also think his dying is propping up his performance more than it would have otherwise deserved..”

July 19, 2008 @ 5:56 am Nary

Your second line sums it all up – “This is one rare and shining example of something that I would call close to cinematic perfection.”

This is truly a great movie and it deserves all the praise its getting. I’m still awestruck!!

July 20, 2008 @ 2:26 am Marvin Marks

Great review.

I saw the movie today and I thought it was fantastic. The best superhero movie I’ve ever seen in fact.

And I think Ledger deserves the accolades he’s receiving. It’s sad that some people will say that people are only saying he gave a great performance because of his untimely death. I don’t think it’s that. I really think people would be talking about his performance in an awestruck manner even if he were still alive.

July 22, 2008 @ 8:48 pm Celina Buy

Hi there. Great review. Looking forward to seeing this one. Hoping to see a review for the new X-Files film on here soon, but anticipating that it will not be good :(

July 25, 2008 @ 3:54 pm Haiku Girl

I enjoyed the Dark Knight, but not nearly as much as most. I thought the story was good, the acting was good to great, but the editing of the film was brutal! The scene with Bruce and Alfred having a coversation in the Bat Garage (just doen’t have the same ring as Bat Cave), was on of the worst edited scenes I have seen this year. Again I liked the film, but the “greatest film ever” hype is totally insane. If you think The Dark Knight is one of the greatest films ever made, you seriously need to expand your cinematic knowledge.

July 25, 2008 @ 4:34 pm TheAbsoluteJay

Do you have a couple examples on how you felt the editing was so bad? I thought the editing, if anything, was a little basic, letting more of the camerawork do the job.

While I don’t think it’s the greatest film ever, I still think it’s lived up to it’s hype, especially compared to some of the other over-hyped movies in the past 2 years.

Your last sentence is a bit harsh, especially considering you review movies in haiku form without much supplemental review/reasoning (not saying you’re one of those awful people that compare really new movies to really old ones or movies that aren’t in the same genre as each other or anything). Some people think Ingmar Bergman’s work is the best filmmaking ever and it still to this day makes me say “WTF?” I’ve seen countless movies and I would consider my knowledge to be somewhat large (don’t particularly want to brag about or have a gauge or way to prove it). I mean my favorite movies are Collateral, The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner, and two of my favorite filmmakers are John Carpenter and Michael Bay, so how can I be a proper judge of what’s good, right?

My point is that it’s 2008. You’re not going to get Lawrence of Arabia, or Citizen Kane. Modern cinema is worlds apart from classic cinema in terms of style and sometimes quality, as unfortunate as that may sound. At this point you can balk about decreasing standards, birth of CGI, or any number of things. I personally think it’s about a transitioning period of media and how it’s determined based on our social evolution, which is a whole issue in itself not suited for a comments section.

August 9, 2008 @ 5:55 am Rich

Betcha Katie Holmes is kicking herself in the ass right now. She had the opportunity to be in the biggest movie of the year (maybe ever) and she chose to listen to her Scientology asshole husband!! I see divorce papers in the near future..

August 12, 2008 @ 3:18 am Jason

The movie was okay but didn’t live up to the hype in my opinion. The best scene of the whole movie was the disappearing pencil.

November 7, 2008 @ 11:04 am Design Company Manager

I have not seen the film yet! Is it so great? I want to buy a dvd to watch.

November 7, 2008 @ 4:46 pm Kathy

I don’t like such kind of movies but your review made me watch it and I’m really impressed. Thanks a lot!

December 10, 2008 @ 11:51 pm J

Good review….I agree, this movie is incredible. Your grammar is a little bit off in some places, maybe a little tuning up on your sentence structures and the way you say things will go a long way. You have a lot of potential to be a great critic. Keep doing these reviews, I’m enjoying them a lot :)

April 10, 2009 @ 11:00 pm The Massie Twins

Dark Knight is highly over-rated, but still entertaining. The biggest crime was to force The Joker to share the spotlight with Two-Face.

May 15, 2009 @ 4:49 am Self Improver

To make it short, It was the best film of the year 2008. This isn’t just the best Batman movie ever made, this is one of the best movie ever made. Not one piece of annoyance. This Joker is not like the other renditions; he is the best. Downright evil, corrupt, insane, psychotic, terrifying. Also as a serious soundtrack fan I have to say James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer did a great job to keep the atmosphere dark and moody during all the scenes.

May 16, 2009 @ 5:28 am Mircea

Spot on! The movie was a masterpiece..but the reason is not the story but ledger’s superb acting of the joker. May he rest in peace! :(

October 25, 2009 @ 4:52 am Jesse

Thanks for the informative review

February 15, 2010 @ 8:25 am Kate The Portrait Artist

Ledger is awesome in this film as the Joker, can’t see how you can say otherwise. May be this was not the best Batman Film ever made and it will always be a victim to its enevitable hype. A very indepth review – well done in my opinion. Thanks

September 22, 2010 @ 3:20 am James Kerry

What I really liked about this movie is it is sweet and touching without ever trying.

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The Dark Knight

By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies. The Dark Knight , director Christopher Nolan’s absolute stunner of a follow-up to 2005’s Batman Begins , is a potent provocation decked out as a comic-book movie. Feverish action? Check. Dazzling spectacle? Check. Devilish fun? Check. But Nolan is just warming up. There’s something raw and elemental at work in this artfully imagined universe. Striking out from his Batman origin story, Nolan cuts through to a deeper dimension. Huh? Wha? How can a conflicted guy in a bat suit and a villain with a cracked, painted-on clown smile speak to the essentials of the human condition? Just hang on for a shock to the system. The Dark Knight creates a place where good and evil — expected to do battle — decide instead to get it on and dance. “I don’t want to kill you,” Heath Ledger’s psycho Joker tells Christian Bale’s stalwart Batman. “You complete me.” Don’t buy the tease. He means it.

The trouble is that Batman, a.k.a. playboy Bruce Wayne, has had it up to here with being the white knight. He’s pissed that the public sees him as a vigilante. He’ll leave the hero stuff to district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and stop the DA from moving in on Rachel Dawes (feisty Maggie Gyllenhaal, in for sweetie Katie Holmes), the lady love who is Batman’s only hope for a normal life.

Everything gleams like sin in Gotham City (cinematographer Wally Pfister shot on location in Chicago, bringing a gritty reality to a cartoon fantasy). And the bad guys seem jazzed by their evildoing. Take the Joker, who treats a stunningly staged bank robbery like his private video game with accomplices in Joker masks, blood spurting and only one winner. Nolan shot this sequence, and three others, for the IMAX screen and with a finesse for choreographing action that rivals Michael Mann’s Heat . But it’s what’s going on inside the Bathead that pulls us in. Bale is electrifying as a fallibly human crusader at war with his own conscience.

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I can only speak superlatives of Ledger, who is mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker. Miles from Jack Nicholson’s broadly funny take on the role in Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman , Ledger takes the role to the shadows, where even what’s comic is hardly a relief. No plastic mask for Ledger; his face is caked with moldy makeup that highlights the red scar of a grin, the grungy hair and the yellowing teeth of a hound fresh out of hell. To the clown prince of crime, a knife is preferable to a gun, the better to “savor the moment.”

The deft script, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, taking note of Bob Kane’s original Batman and Frank Miller’s bleak rethink, refuses to explain the Joker with pop psychology. Forget Freudian hints about a dad who carved a smile into his son’s face with a razor. As the Joker says, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stranger .”

The Joker represents the last completed role for Ledger, who died in January at 28 before finishing work on Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus . It’s typical of Ledger’s total commitment to films as diverse as Brokeback Mountain and I’m Not There that he does nothing out of vanity or the need to be liked. If there’s a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976’s Network , sign me up. Ledger’s Joker has no gray areas — he’s all rampaging id. Watch him crash a party and circle Rachel, a woman torn between Bale’s Bruce (she knows he’s Batman) and Eckhart’s DA, another lover she has to share with his civic duty. “Hello, beautiful,” says the Joker, sniffing Rachel like a feral beast. He’s right when he compares himself to a dog chasing a car: The chase is all. The Joker’s sadism is limitless, and the masochistic delight he takes in being punched and bloodied to a pulp would shame the Marquis de Sade. “I choose chaos,” says the Joker, and those words sum up what’s at stake in The Dark Knight .

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The Joker wants Batman to choose chaos as well. He knows humanity is what you lose while you’re busy making plans to gain power. Every actor brings his A game to show the lure of the dark side. Michael Caine purrs with sarcastic wit as Bruce’s butler, Alfred, who harbors a secret that could crush his boss’s spirit. Morgan Freeman radiates tough wisdom as Lucius Fox, the scientist who designs those wonderful toys — wait till you get a load of the Batpod — but who finds his own standards being compromised. Gary Oldman is so skilled that he makes virtue exciting as Jim Gordon, the ultimate good cop and as such a prime target for the Joker. As Harvey tells the Caped Crusader, “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” Eckhart earns major props for scarily and movingly portraying the DA’s transformation into the dreaded Harvey Two-Face, an event sparked by the brutal murder of a major character.

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No fair giving away the mysteries of The Dark Knight . It’s enough to marvel at the way Nolan — a world-class filmmaker, be it Memento , Insomnia or The Prestige — brings pop escapism whisper-close to enduring art. It’s enough to watch Bale chillingly render Batman as a lost warrior, evoking Al Pacino in The Godfather II in his delusion and desolation. It’s enough to see Ledger conjure up the anarchy of the Sex Pistols and A Clockwork Orange as he creates a Joker for the ages. Go ahead, bitch about the movie being too long, at two and a half hours, for short attention spans (it is), too somber for the Hulk crowd (it is), too smart for its own good (it isn’t). The haunting and visionary Dark Knight soars on the wings of untamed imagination. It’s full of surprises you don’t see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams.

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Dark Knight, The (United States, 2008)

Consequences. In real life, these ramifications emanate from every action like ripples from a stone thrown into a pond. Often in movies, especially those that feature characters who don't play by the rules, such penalties are suspended. However, in Christopher Nolan's Batman universe, decisions and actions have consequences. The Dark Knight , arguably the moodiest and most adult superhero motion picture ever to reach the screen, illustrates this lesson in ways that are startling and painful. This is a tough, uncompromising motion picture - one that defies the common notions of what is expected from a "superhero" film. While there are plenty of action sequences and instances of derring-do, The Dark Knight 's subtext has a tragic underpinning that would intrigue Shakespeare or the Greeks. It's about power and impotence, sanity and madness, image and reality, selfishness and sacrifice, and - yes - consequences.

It has often been said that Tim Burton's vision of Batman was the darkest representation we were ever likely to see of a superhero. Compared to how Nolan sees the character, Burton's version was a pantomime. For many long-running franchises, Burton's included, the second volume stands tallest. Nolan has followed up on his gritty and successful Batman Begins with one of the best all-time sequels, and perhaps the most impressive mainstream entertainment experience since 2003's The Return of the King . The Dark Knight builds upon the themes and premises founded three years ago. With the introductions and origins dispensed with in Batman Begins , Nolan uses this opportunity to expand upon his portrait of Batman as a haunted individual who, driven by forces rooted deep in his psyche, must dispense justice according to his own strict code.

Following his defeat of Ra's Al Ghul at the end of Batman Begins , Batman (Christian Bale) has become a mythical figure in Gotham City. The Caped Crusader, as he is now known, is the city's great hope, although the debate rages as to whether he is more hero or menace. There are copycat "Batmen," as well - vigilantes who wear similar costumes but whose methods are crude. Batman's nocturnal activities are taking a heavy toll on Gotham's organized crime syndicates, and things take a turn for the worse when the new D.A., Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), decides to take them on rather than turn a blind eye or take a payment. Abetted by incorruptible police lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), Dent meets with Batman and the two come to an understanding about how to proceed in this war against crime. But a new threat is rising in the form of a sadistic lunatic called The Joker (Heath Ledger), who offers to become the mob's enforcer in the pursuit of a single goal: chaos. And this brings him squarely into conflict with the city's black-costumed guardian. To Batman, he makes one demand: remove the mask and turn himself in or the streets will run red with blood. When Bruce Wayne's identity remains secret, The Joker makes good on his word.

Often in superhero movies, there's a sense that, no matter what challenges the protagonist must face, all will be right in the end. That certainty is missing here, and its absence may represent Nolan's most impressive accomplishment. Batman is fallible and his world is dangerous. No character, no matter how well-established in Batman lore, is safe. This director's Gotham City may be less garish and gothic than Burton's, but it is in many ways a bleaker and more oppressive place. It's a joyless venue and the hero takes his demeanor from his city. Batman is a grim, brooding superhero. He rarely speaks while in costume and, when he does, his voice quivers with menace and his words are devoid of the quips and one-liners audiences have come to associate with action heroes.

The survivors of Batman Begins are all back. Christian Bale has become the first Batman where it matters which actor is under the cowl. Keaton, Kilmer, and Clooney were all interchangeable when wearing the Bat-suit. Not so with Bale, who owns the role. His presence in the costume is forceful in a way that none of his predecessors achieved. Michael Caine's Alfred acts not only as Bruce Wayne's butler but as his conscience. Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) is Batman's version of "Q." Indeed, there's a scene in The Dark Knight that could have been lifted from one of many James Bond films. Gary Oldman's Jim Gordon, who wasn't too sure about Batman for much of the first film, is now fully on board as his unofficial liaison to the police force. Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes remains the girl who got away, the woman whose promise of a normal, happy life provides Wayne with hope for the future. For The Dark Knight , Maggie Gyllenhaal has replaced Katie Holmes, but the change in actress isn't a detriment. Gyllenhaal is a better actress and makes the character her own from her first scene.

Of the newcomers, the Joker is the biggest addition. One could argue that it's impossible to make a Batman series without facing the main character against the Joker at some point. No superhero and villain are more inextricably linked. Yet this Joker is unlike any we have previously encountered. Cesar Romero's interpretation of the character (in the '60s TV series) was that of a deadly prankster. Jack Nicholson's over-the-top performance made 1989's Batman all about the bad guy. The late Heath Ledger, however, gives us something darker and more twisted - a role that would have been no less memorable had it not been his last and most grueling. There's nothing humorous about this freak. No flowery lines like "You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?" This is no caricature - The Joker is a frighteningly vicious and intelligent monster who represents a legitimate match for the title character.

The other major character to join the ensemble is Aaron Eckhart as Gotham's charismatic, photogenic D.A. Harvey Dent is Gotham's Knight in Shining Armor, and that's how Eckhart plays him - an individual with a pure heart who makes his own luck. Those even passingly familiar with Batman lore know Dent's fate, and it plays out here as one might suspect, although Nolan puts a different spin on things than did Joel Schumacher.

For all of the heavy lifting done by the movie's screenplay, dealing as it does with substantive issues and existential questions, there's still plenty of the meat-and-potatoes content of any superhero movie: action sequences. There are numerous fights, chases, and races. The Batmobile gets its share of screen time as does a new Bat-cycle. Batman takes on bad guys singly and in bunches. And there's a heart-pounding sequence in which the Caped Crusader must race against time to save a life, where the price is almost as terrible if he succeeds as if he fails. Nolan's inherent sense of how to transform a relatively mundane fight scene into something involving is in evidence here, much as was the case in Batman Begins . He avoids flash editing and allows the action to evolve in a coherent manner, drawing the viewer in rather than keeping him guessing what's going on.

2008 may be the year that the superhero movie comes of age. Iron Man represents the best screen adventure of a Marvel hero. Now, D.C. has answered with The Dark Knight , a film so impressive in every significant facet that it makes one wonder why it took so long for the genre to reach this high level. Christopher Nolan has provided movie-goers with the best superhero movie to-date, outclassing previous titles both mediocre and excellent, and giving this franchise its The Empire Strikes Back .

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Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003)
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Batman Begins (2005)
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Dark Knight Rises Sequel: Why Nolan Never Made A 4th Batman Movie

Heath ledger's joker costume was originally going to exclude 2 key elements in the dark knight, you'd never guess all 5 of the dark knight's original joker design inspirations.

According to Rotten Tomatoes ' "300 Best Movies Of All Time" list, The Dark Knight remains DC's best movie ever with a 94% Tomatometer and Audience Score rating, being the only DC movie on the ranking.
The only superhero movie to beat The Dark Knight on Rotten Tomatoes ' list is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse .
Christopher Nolan's vision, Heath Ledger's iconic performance, Hans Zimmer's score, and Wally Pfister's cinematography all contribute to The Dark Knight 's timeless success.

Rotten Tomatoes ' updated list of "300 Best Movies Of All Time" reveals which Marvel and DC movies have been the best reviewed, confirming why Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight continues to be so popular to this day. All live-action Batman movies have played a key role in the superhero movie genre's success. From Adam West's in 1966 Batman to Robert Pattinson's in The Batman and the yet-to-be-cast Caped Crusader in the DCU's The Brave and the Bold , every live-action Batman movie actor brings with him a new take on the hero, yet all of them only make Batman more popular.

In Rotten Tomatoes ' "300 Best Movies Of All Time" list, films are ranked depending on each movie’s "Tomatometer rating with assistance from its Audience Score." Some divisive movies may have a higher Tomatometer score than the ones above them, but the general audience's reviews may pull them down. In other cases, audiences and critics are in complete agreement, as is the case with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight . While Marvel has taken the lead over DC in recent years, Christopher Nolan's highest-rated movie isn't losing its credit as the best film in DC movie history.

The Dark Knight Is DC's Best Movie Ever According To RT

Christopher nolan's dc crown jewel retains its best dc movie status.

Rotten Tomatoes ' "300 Best Movies Of All Time" list places Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight at #51 , below Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 thriller Psycho , the 2017 family comedy Paddington 2 , and the 1995 romance Before Sunrise , and above the 1941 noir The Maltese Falcon , the 1934 romantic comedy It Happened One Night , and the 1953 thriller The Wages of War . The Dark Knight holds a Tomatometer of 94% with 347 reviews and an Audience Score of 94% with more than 250,000 ratings. And naturally, Christopher Nolan's 2018 action thriller is Certified Fresh.

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is among the best trilogies and superhero movies ever, but why didn't he make a fourth Batman movie?

The Dark Knight Is The Second Best Superhero Movie Ever

The dark knight isn't losing any ground within the superhero movie genre.

According to Rotten Tomatoes ' "300 Best Movies Of All Time" list, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is the best superhero movie ever , landing at the 21st spot. This might be surprising considering how Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight has commonly held that title in other lists and rankings since 2008. Still, The Dark Knight beats recent hits such as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse , Spider-Man: No Way Home , and Avengers: Endgame . In fact, The Dark Knight is the only DC movie in Rotten Tomatoes ' top 300 movies, and the only superhero film on the list released before 2012.

Had other DC movies managed to land a spot on the list, Richard Donner's 1976 Superman: The Movie would have followed The Dark Knight with a Tomatometer rating of 94% and an Audience Score of 86% . The first DCEU movie would be next on the list, as Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman holds a 93% Tomatometer and an 83% Audience Score. David F. Sandberg's Shazam and James Gunn's The Suicide Squad would have closed the top five, with 90% Tomatometer and 82% Audience Score for both. Then, The Lego Batman Movie and Teen Titans Go! To The Movies would have followed.

Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises and Batman Begins would rank right after Teen Titans Go! To The Movies , directly preceding Matt Reeves' The Batman .

Why The Dark Knight Is DC's Best Movie Ever

The dark knight works perfectly as a standalone thriller.

Sixteen years after its release, The Dark Knight still ranks among the best superhero movies of all time. Despite not being part of an extensive cinematic universe or paying direct homage to previous iterations of the character, The Dark Knight made an indelible impact on the genre. In fact, it's The Dark Knight 's focus on its premise and characters over the genre's tropes that make it stand out . Christopher Nolan prioritizes Batman's conflicted detective persona rather than his vigilante antics, and prioritizes Joker's anarchic philosophy over the villain's more eccentric aspects.

The Dark Knight wouldn't be as timeless without Heath Ledger's performance, Hans Zimmer's score, and Wally Pfister's cinematography. Each of these elements was essential to The Dark Knight 's success on their own, but created a modern classic when combined. Ensuring that everything worked together was Christopher Nolan, whose grounded vision of Batman proved to be revolutionary in Batman Begins , but was taken to the next level in The Dark Knight . With a bold approach and a talented cast and crew, The Dark Knight divided superhero movie history into two and left the bar high for all following comic book adaptations.

The Dark Knight

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The Dark Knight

When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.
Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins (2005), Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new District Attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City, until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against The Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent, and Rachel Dawes. — Leon Lombardi
Following the events of Batman Begins (2005) , mighty Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and District Attorney Harvey Dent plan to arrest shady mob accountant Lau to bring down the mob. But Lau's detailed disclosures threaten Gotham's organised crime. As a result, the city's desperate mob bosses turn to The Joker, a sadistic, green-haired psychopath in a purple suit with a flair for crime. As the unstoppable criminal mastermind wreaks havoc, bringing Gotham to its knees with widespread anarchy and chaos, Batman must face his greatest challenge to battle injustice. However, is the Dark Knight prepared to walk the fine line between defender and avenger, hero and vigilante? — Nick Riganas
Gotham's new District Attorney has been elected. His name is Harvey Dent, and he has a radical new agenda that threatens to take down Gotham's organized crime underworld once and for all with an iron fist. But the emergence of the rogue vigilante known as Batman has caused problems for Dent and his agenda. A new criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" has arrived and aims to take Gotham out from under Harvey Dent's iron fist. The Joker stages a masterfully planned bank robbery and robs the Gotham mob blind. He uses this money to stage a series of horrific and strategic attacks against the city and its people, each one carefully planned and aimed at Dent and Batman, while causing the rest of the city to enter panic mode. Meanwhile, Batman thinks he might have found a lead to The Joker thanks to Wayne Enterprises' dealings with a shady Chinese banker, and that takes Batman and Alfred to Hong Kong. The Joker has no rules, but Batman has only one, and the Joker aims to make Batman break his only rule. But who will be the one to take him out, will it be rogue vigilante Batman, or will it be elected official Harvey Dent, the new hero with a face? — halo1k
The movie begins with a gang of men with clown masks breaking into the bank where the mob has a large portion of their money stashed. It begins with five clowns, each getting a cut of the spoils. They suggest that a sixth member of the gang - nicknamed 'The Joker' - who did the planning, but sat out the robbery, doesn't deserve a cut. As the robbery goes on, the clowns begin to kill each other in order to get a larger cut, until a school bus crashes through the wall of the bank, killing another clown. A mob bank manager, who was himself shot with an automatic weapon after he tried to take out the clowns with a shotgun, tells the remaining clown that he doesn't know who he is dealing with. The clown kneels down and tells the banker, "I believe whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you...stranger..." then removes his mask to reveal that he himself is The Joker. Joker puts a grenade into the banker's mouth and boards the bus, leaving a cord attached to the pin. The bus pulls out with all of the bank's cash and the pin pops out. It is just a gas grenade. The Joker joins a long line of school buses leaving the scene as the police arrive. Gotham is then seen at night with criminals afraid to commit crimes under the watchful sign of the batsignal projected onto the clouds. We see Lt. James Gordon manning the batsignal, waiting for Batman with Det. Anna Ramirez, who asks if he's coming. Gordon explains that it is okay if he is not, hoping that he is busy elsewhere. He asks about Ramirez' mother, who's in the hospital. Meanwhile, in a parking garage, the Scarecrow, still at-large after escaping Arkham Asylum, is negotiating with the Russian mob members, led by The Chechen, over the sale of some of his fear-inducing drugs. The sale is interrupted when some of Gotham's citizens dressed as Batmen wanna-be's begin shooting at the men. As he gases one of the fake Batmen with his mind-altering drugs from his cuff, the Scarecrow notes that they are not the real Batman, because Batman would never use a gun. Suddenly the Batmobile/Tumbler crashes through a barricade and Scarecrow notes, "That's more like it!" The Batmobile, pre-programmed to "LOITER" and then "INTIMIDATE", fires rockets into a nearby office, sending the remaining mobsters running. The real Batman arrives on the scene and bends the rifle barrel of one of the wanna-be Batmen before knocking him out. The Chechen sends his rottweilers to attack the Batmen, and as Batman saves them he takes the dogs out after being badly bitten in the arm. The Scarecrow attempts to flee in a white van but Batman jumps onto the van and begins cutting into the side with his device called the mangler. Scarecrow swerves into a support which sends Batman to the ground. As Scarecrow gets away down a spiraling passageway, Batman leaps onto the roof of his van, smashing it to a halt. He leaves the fake Batmen and the Scarecrow along with some of the mobsters tied up together for the police to eventually round up. When one of the impostors says he's trying to help, Batman harshly tells him he doesn't need any help. Gordon arrives at the bank the Joker held up earlier with Ramirez who shows him the Joker's picture from a security camera. Batman arrives to inspect the scene, noting that they have irradiated the drug money to make it easier to trace. When Gordon asks him if the Joker is a threat, Batman informs him that he cannot worry about one man when there is an entire mob to bring down. The next day, as Bruce Wayne stitches himself up from the dog bite, Alfred offers his concerns, warning Bruce to 'know his limits'. He notices Bruce keeping a close watch on newly appointed district attorney Harvey Dent via some computer screens, as Bruce is trying to decide whether or not Dent can be trusted. Alfred wonders if he is really spying on the relationship that Rachel Dawes has developed with Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent arrives in court to join Rachel Dawes in prosecuting mobster Salvatore Maroni, the alleged new leader of the Falcone crime family. One of Maroni's men takes the fall in court, and attempts to shoot Dent from the witness stand. The gun doesn't go off and Dent punches the man before he is hauled off to jail. Maroni is eventually set free, to the dismay of Dent. Dent meets Lt. Gordon, and after a short exchange of words, they both express their distrust for those that are working in each other's offices. Harvey interrogates Gordon over his involvement with the Batman and Harvey tells him he wants to meet him. Gordon requests search warrants for five banks that are believed to be holding the remainder of the mobs money. Dent agrees to back Gordon's search warrants, forming a tenuous trust with the honest Gordon, who in turn hails Dent as Gotham's "White Knight" while Dent questions Gordon about another nickname they had for him when he was at I.A.D., a nickname Gordon claims to have no knowledge of. Lucius Fox holds a board meeting at Wayne Enterprises, negotiating an joint venture with Lau, the head of Lau Security Investments, based in Hong Kong. After the meeting with Lau, Wayne expresses his reservations with Lucius Fox about Lau's business operation, apparently illegal based on their profits. After agreeing to cancel the deal, Wayne asks Fox for a new suit. He explains that he needs to be lighter, and faster, in case he runs into any more guard dogs and that he wants to be able to turn his head. That night, Harvey dines out with Rachel. Harvey tells Rachel he had to make a reservation weeks earlier, and even then needed to exercised his influence to get a table at the very fashionable restaurant. Bruce and his date, the prima ballerina for the Russian ballet, encounter Rachel and Harvey. Bruce has them pull a table together so they can dine together, informing Harvey that he owns the restaurant. At first, Bruce seems jealous and threatened by Harvey, based on the fact that he is dating his own love interest, but Harvey explains how he supports the work of Batman and appreciates his help. Bruce changes his tune and informs Harvey that he intends to throw a massive fund-raiser for him. Meanwhile, all of the top mob members are having a private meeting in a restaurant kitchen. Because of their inside sources in the police, they were aware that the banks that their money was stashed in were going to be searched. Lau appears to them on a television monitor from his plane on his way back to Hong Kong. He informs the mob that all of their money has already been moved to a single secure location, just as Lt. Gordon and company are searching the banks, finding nothing but the irradiated trace money. When the Chechen expresses concern over the man with the clown makeup stealing $68 million from one of their banks, Maroni dismisses him as nothing but a nobody. The Joker suddenly enters in the room, and after killing a hostile mob member's crony by way of a 'magic trick', sits down and talks with the mob about how pathetic they've become since Batman came around. He tells them their one solution is to 'Kill the Batman', and offers to do so for half the mob's money. He warns them about Lau, saying he knows a "squealer when he sees one", prompting Lau to turn off his monitor. The mob laughs, and as one of the mobsters, Gambol, rises from his seat and threatens the Joker, the Joker opens his coat, exposing grenades. Gambol tells the Joker that he's putting a price out on his head. The Joker tells the mob that when they plan to take things a little more seriously, give him a call, and presents them with 'his card', a joker playing card. And with that, he exits. But not before warning that Batman will come for Lau. Harvey Dent, with Gordon, lights the batsignal to meet with Batman, who appears. As Dent and Gordon blame one another for the money's disappearance due to leaks from corrupt officers in the other's departments, they explain to Batman that they need Lau back, realizing that Batman is under no one's jurisdiction. They want to make him talk, and give up all the mob members' names. Batman agrees and disappears. Fox shows Wayne his new suit, and Wayne begins planning an impromptu trip to Hong Kong. Fox will accompany him, making it look like the only reason for his visit was to cancel the negotiations with Lau's company. Gambol is playing pool with some of his associates until one of them informs him that a group of hoodlums have killed the Joker, and has the body. The body is brought in covered in a bag, and as Gambol is about to pay, the Joker rises up and holds a knife to his face while his men hold guns to his associates' heads. The Joker tells a story about how he got his scars from his father, and then kills Gambol. He offers the three surviving associates an opportunity to join his team, but he has only one opening. He leave the three with the halves of a broken, sharp pool stick and no choice but to fight each other for their lives. Meanwhile, Fox arrives in Hong Kong to meet with Lau. He checks in his mobile phone at the front desk at Lau's building, as there are no cell phones allowed on the premises. Fox meets with Lau, and informs him of Wayne Enterprises' plans to cancel negotiations with his company. However, he secretly keeps one cell phone in his pocket, which has been adapted to produce a sonar map of the surrounding area. Upon leaving the building, he does not pick up the phone he dropped off, and he produces the map of the building to Bruce Wayne. That night, the phone that Fox left at the front desk emits a high frequency that shuts down all power in the building. Batman crashes in through a window in Lau's office, and after a vicious fight with some of his guards, grabs Lau and escapes by sending a balloon attached to a cable to a plane he has chartered flying over Lau's building. Back in Gotham, Lau is interrogated by Rachel with Dent and Gordon looking on. Rachel presses him to give them the money Lau has taken, but Lau will not give in. After she threatens to have him moved to the County lock-up, Lau tells her that he can give them the names of the mobsters and their pooled investments. Dent then realizes that they will have the leverage they need in a RICO case of conspiracy to link all of the mob members together. Gordon decides to keep Lau in his holding cell at the Major Case Unit building and Lau agrees to cooperate with the police, and give the names of the mob members. Gordon appears at Maroni's restaurant as the police rush in to arrest all of the mob members in attendance. As all of the mob members that Lau informed the police are rounded up for arraignment, Judge Janet Surrillo finds a Joker card in the middle of the stack of conviction papers. Dent gives a televised impromptu interview denying Batman's involvement while expressing gratitude for the police work in bringing the mob members to justice. Dent, Gordon, and Commissioner Loeb meet with the mayor to tell him that Dent's rash indictment of the mob members will give the mayor clean streets for 18 months. The mayor informs Dent that his brash actions will bring down the full might of Gotham's underworld and corrupt citizens solely upon him. When the mayor asks if Dent is ready to be the city's target the dead body of a Batman wanna-be hanging by a noose slams against the mayor's window dressed up in a Batman suit, with makeup on his face like the Joker's - complete with the sides of the mouth sliced into a grin - and with a Joker card pinned to him reading 'Will the real Batman please stand up?'. Bruce and Alfred watch on as a video tape is played on the news of the Joker tormenting the wanna-be before killing him. He then promises that until Batman takes off his mask and shows everyone who he really is, people will die every day. As Harvey Dent's fund-raiser at Wayne's penthouse gets underway, Rachel and a nervous Dent arrive and mingle. Wayne arrives with three models via helicopter and seeks out Harvey, whom he applauds and throws his full support behind claiming, "I believe in Harvey Dent." Minutes later, Rachel meets with Bruce on the balcony upset that Bruce is making fun at Dent but Bruce tells her that he truly believes in Harvey and that he could be the White Knight that will allow him to hang up his mantle as Batman so they can be together. Dent joins them to thank Bruce and retrieve Rachel. Meanwhile Gordon discovers that there are 3 traces of DNA on the Joker card, from Commissioner Loeb, Harvey Dent, and Judge Surrillo, the Judge that is trying all of the mob members and found the card among the paperwork. Gordon takes this as a threat on their lives, and begins preparations to protect them. In the case of the Judge and Commissioner Loeb, however, this fails. The Judge's car blows up when the police arrive to take her into protective custody and Commissioner Loeb dies of severe poisoning from his liquor bottle before Gordon can stop him from drinking. Dent takes Rachel aside to ask her to marry him, but she is torn and cannot give him an answer. Bruce subdues Dent and locks him in a closet while Rachel watches in shock. Bruce tells Rachel that they (the Joker and his goons) have come for Harvey and to stay hidden from sight. The Joker and his goons burst in telling the guests that they are tonight's 'entertainment." The Joker scans the room seeking out Harvey Dent when Rachel steps forward. He grabs her and pulls a knife on her telling her a different version of the story about how he got his scars, claiming that his wife was scarred by loan sharks and that he took a razor to himself to "make her smile," but that she left him over it. Rachel kicks him away and he comes after her saying that he likes that "little fight" in her, when Batman shows up and sends him reeling. A fight breaks out between Batman, the Joker, and his goons with the Joker and the goons beating on Batman pretty well. When Batman gains the upper hand he sees the Joker holding a gun at Rachel's head as he dangles her out of a shot out window. Batman demands he let her go, to which the Joker replies "Very poor choice of words" and lets her fall. Batman dives out the window and saves her using his cape to slow their fall as they crash into the roof of a car on the street. The Joker apparently vanishes from the scene. The next day, Wayne tries to figure out what the Joker is after. Alfred relates a story of when he was in Burma with friends attempting to nullify the local criminals by bribing them with jewels. One thief however, tossed these bribes away and continued to raid the local convoys. When Bruce seems confused over this behavior Alfred informs him that some men can't be reasoned with, they don't want anything in particular, that they kill for sport. Alfred observes that they just want to watch the world burn, as Bruce fixates on the Joker's face on a monitor. Batman is seen on the edge of a rooftop listening in to cell phone frequencies when he overhears a plot against Harvey Dent. Gordon rushes to the apartment with Ramirez and Batman to find two policemen murdered, with the last names "Harvey" and "Dent." Ramirez begins to blame Batman, but Gordon cuts her off. As Batman removes a piece of concrete wall that contains a bullet used in the murders in hopes of finding evidence, Gordon notes that the Joker has left an advance copy of tomorrow's newspaper indicating the death of the mayor. At Wayne Enterprises, Fox meets with Wayne's accountant Coleman Reese, who claims to know about certain problems with Wayne's funding in research and development, claiming that Wayne has some sort of government project with cell phones for the army underway. He also uncovers Fox's designs for the Batmobile/Tumbler. He tells Fox that he wants $10 million per year for the rest of his life to keep this a secret. Fox smiles and says, "Let me get this straight. You think that your client, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the world is a secretly a vigilante who spends his nights beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands, and your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck." Fox helps Wayne reconstruct the bullet taken from the murder scene and produces a fingerprint. Fox asks him if he has reassigned the R&D department. Bruce acknowledges that he has, claiming he is playing this one "close to the chest." Wayne traces the bullet fingerprint's owner to an apartment overlooking the funeral speeches for Commissioner Loeb and takes off on motorcycle. As the ceremony continues on the street below, Wayne inspects a room where he believes the Joker might be, and he finds several men tied up. They tell Wayne that their guns and uniforms were stolen. Wayne inspects binoculars pointed out of a blinded window. The window blind is connected to a timer. As the timer reaches zero, the blinds quickly raise, and the police snipers positioned around the area all shoot in that direction. At the same time, the Joker, who had removed his makeup and played himself off as a member of the honor guard for the ceremony, turns and takes a shot at the mayor, but Lt. Gordon dives in the way, getting shot in the back and falling. Everyone panics and runs, but the police shoot one member of the honor guard in the leg and haul him into a truck. Dent himself climbs in the truck, and upon inspecting the criminal, sees that the name-tag on his uniform reads 'Officer Rachel Dawes'. He calls Rachel and informs her that she's been targeted, and to get to the safest place she can, which in her case is Bruce's penthouse. He tells her he loves her, but there is no answer from Rachel. Gordon's family is visited at home, to inform them of the death of Gordon at the funeral ceremony. Gordon's wife, Barbara, shouts out at the empty sky to Batman that he has brought this craziness upon Gotham. Gordon's young son catches a brief glimpse of Batman mournfully watching the scene. Meanwhile, Batman enters a club and grabs Maroni after beating on his men. He interrogates Maroni on the Joker's whereabouts, who claims that he should have held him from a higher location. Batman drops him off the ledge, injuring his legs and learns that Maroni has no idea where the Joker is. Maroni explains that the Joker has no friends and no one will give him up because unlike Batman, he plays by no rules. As Dent is interrogating the captured so-called honor guard member about what he knows about the Joker, he is enraged and holds a gun to his head. He flips his father's lucky silver dollar for his life, coming up on heads. As he flips the coin again, Batman shows up and snatches the coin in midair, asking if Dent would really leave a thug's life up to chance, to which Dent answers, "Not exactly." He informs Harvey that this criminal - Thomas Schiff - is a paranoid schizophrenic patient from Arkham Asylum and that he won't learn anything from him. He also tells Harvey that if anyone saw this unjust way of interrogating someone, all that good work that Dent's done for Gotham would be lost. He tells Harvey to hold a press conference the following day, because he wants to use that opportunity to turn himself in. As Batman leaves, Harvey yells at him that he can't give in. Bruce arrives back in his penthouse to find Rachel waiting. She tells him that turning himself in will not stop the Joker's murderous rampage, but Bruce says he has enough blood on his hands already. He reminds her that she promised him that they would be together if and when he hung up the mantle of Batman. She tells Bruce not to make her his only hope for a normal life and they share a kiss. She tells Bruce that if he turns himself in as Batman that the city will never let them be together. Back at Wayne's secret base of operations for Batman, he and Alfred begin destroying everything that might tie Lucius Fox or Rachel to Batman. Alfred tries to talk Bruce out of it, asking him to endure these trying times and allow Batman to make the right choice that nobody else can for the good of the city. Bruce explains that Batman cannot endure the responsibility for innocents dying, especially where Rachel is concerned. At the press conference, Harvey attempts to reason with the assembled press and police to not give in to the fear that the Joker has unleashed upon the city. He agrees that Batman is a vigilante but that the people of Gotham should hold him accountable, and not give in to the whims of this terrorist known as the Joker. However, the people are overcome with fear, crying out "No more dead cops," to applause indicating that Harvey will not be able to sway them. Upon his failure, Harvey announces that HE is the Batman, and gets handcuffed and taken away. Bruce Wayne is shown with a look of confusion on his face. Rachel, watching the news conference at Bruce Wayne's penthouse, confronts Alfred over Bruce's seeming cowardice in allowing Harvey to take the fall when he claims to be Batman. Alfred explains to Rachel that Batman is instead allowing himself to be something else besides a hero, mainly a figure outside of the system that the people can both turn to or blame in times of need, that Batman can 'take it". Rachel gives Alfred a letter for Bruce and tells him to give it to Bruce when the time is right. When Alfred asks what it is, she tells him it is open and hugs him before departing to see Harvey as he is being transported to the County lock-up. While being taken to a convoy that will transport him to a county, Harvey explains to Rachel that this is Batman's chance. He then pulls out the coin and says "Heads: I go through with this," and flips it, landing on heads. When Rachel tells him that he can't leave something like that to chance, he tosses her the coin, revealing that it is a two-headed coin. During this transport, he's planning on getting attacked by the Joker, and he's planning on Batman to come and save him, and to capture the Joker. The convoy takes off. While transporting Harvey, the Joker and some goons start taking out the police cars in a large semi truck. He pulls out an RPG and begins firing at the armored truck carrying Dent. The Tumbler arrives and attempts to stop the Joker, and is hit by one of the Joker's RPGs. His car takes 'catastrophic' damage, and he's forced to eject. However, the ejection in this car is a bike, the Batpod, that deploys out the front of the car. Batman chases down the Joker on his Batpod, and after firing some cables at the truck and weaving them through some light poles and buildings, flips the truck completely over. The Joker emerges with a Smith & Wesson M76 Submachine gun and shoots at Batman, who speeds towards him on his Batpod, all the while screaming at Batman to hit him. Batman honors his own non-lethal code and swerves around the Joker then crashes into the flipped truck, falling to the ground. As the Joker jumps on him with a knife, one of the SWAT officers holds a shotgun to the back of his head, and upon removing his helmet and mask, shows that it was Lt. Gordon, who faked his death to protect his family. The Joker is hauled away to the MCU. Harvey gets out of the truck and into a cruiser, stating he is off to see a worried girlfriend. At Gordon's Major Crimes Unit building, Gordon is promoted to Commissioner by the Mayor. The Joker shares a cell with a large man who complains about his insides hurting. Commissioner Gordon, after reuniting with his family, gets a call explaining that Harvey never made it home. He returns to the prison to interrogate the Joker. During the interrogation, Batman appears and starts beating on the Joker, trying to find out where Harvey is. The Joker gets under Batman's skin telling him that they are both freaks and that when the people of Gotham no longer view Batman as a necessity, they will turn on him. Batman becomes enraged and puts a chair under the door and beats the Joker savagely, but The Joker just laughs and defiantly tells Batman that there is nothing he can do to him to hurt him and that he actually enjoys the beatings. The Joker sadistically reveals that not just Harvey, but Rachel are in separate locations, both tied up and strapped to explosives that will explode in a short amount of time. He gives the locations of the two, saying that he only has time to save one of them and that he must make a choice that will violate Batman's "code" of non-lethal means...that one of them will die since Batman cannot save them both. Batman heads off, telling Gordon that he's going after Rachel. Gordon gets some men ready and heads off after Harvey. As Batman and the police are rushing towards the two prisoners, Harvey awakens to hear Rachel's voice. Whoever captured them set up an intercom system so that the two can communicate. Harvey tells Rachel that everything will be OK, and Rachel tells Harvey that she wants to marry him. While Dent tries to move in his chair to find something sharp to cut his ropes with, he falls over and knocks an oil drum down, and gasoline spills all over half of his face. Meanwhile, back at the jail, the Joker tricks a cop and holds him hostage, and he tells the other cops he just wants his phone call. Upon getting a cell phone and dialing a number, the large man that was in the cell with him blows up. The Joker had cut him open and implanted a cell phone-triggered device inside of him. The Joker grabs Lau and flees the jail. Batman arrives at the address that the Joker had told him Rachel was at, but when he opens the door, he finds Harvey Dent instead, who screams in despair at having been found instead of Rachel. Gordon arrives at the supposed location for Dent but the warehouse explodes and Rachel is killed. As Batman saves Dent by carrying him out of the warehouse, the explosion ignites the gas that saturated Dent's face, horribly burning it. Dent is taken to Gotham General Hospital. Batman visits Dent in the hospital, and leaves him the two-headed coin that they found at the site where Rachel died. One side of the coin is still shiny, while the other side is scraped and burnt. Alfred reads Rachel's letter. She explains that she is going to marry Harvey Dent and that when she told him that she would be with him when he no longer need to be Batman that she meant it. However, she realizes that he will always be Batman so she will always be there as his friend. Bruce expresses to Alfred his devastation behind losing Rachel and that he feels responsible for inspiring madness and death. he tells Alfred that she was going to wait for him. Alfred chooses not to give him her letter, saying the time is not right and that with Harvey Dent hospitalized, it will be up to him alone to fight the crime in Gotham City. Meanwhile, Harvey wakes up in the hospital with a large bandage over half of his face, finds his now scarred two-headed coin, and screams out in anguish over losing the one person he loved. Commissioner Gordon visits Dent and tries to tell him how sorry he is for what has transpired, questioning why Dent refused skin grafts and painkillers and how he can stand to be in unrelenting agony over his disfigurement. Harvey is filled with rage for Gordon not listening to him when he warned Gordon not to trust the corrupt officers that Dent investigated during his time in Internal Affairs which has resulted in Dent's disfigurement and ultimately Rachel's death. Dent demands Gordon tell him the nickname they had for him when he was in I.A., which Gordon ashamedly replies "Harvey Two-Face," while being forced to stare at the extensive burns and scarred tissue that cover half of Harvey's face. As Gordon leaves an emotionally devastated Harvey, he runs into Maroni in the hallway who tells him that the Joker has gone too far and that if Gordon wants the clown, he knows where he will be. Wayne's accountant Reese appears on a news show claiming to be able to tell the world who Batman is. He tells Gotham that he is going to reveal Batman's identity, but before he can, the Joker calls in to the show saying that he doesn't want this lawyer to ruin his fun. He says that if the lawyer is not killed within 60 minutes, he is going to blow up a hospital. This triggers the police to rush in and protect the lawyer, and try to carry him to safety. At the same time, other police are evacuating all of the hospitals in Gotham City. When they get to Gotham General, a police officer attempts to evacuate a nurse in Harvey Dent's room, which then turns out to be the Joker, and he kills the cop. He then explains to Two-Face how he needs to introduce a little anarchy and chaos, how easy it is to bring down all the good people in the world and how it's all fair. Joker unties Two-Face and hands him a pistol. Two-Face, bent on revenge and now believing everything in the world should be decided by chance, flips the double-headed coin to decide whether or not to shoot Joker which Joker agrees is only fair. Though we don't see it, the coin obviously lands on the clean side since the next scene shows Joker leaving Gotham General Hospital as it blows up in the background. Afterwards, the Joker appears on TV again, forcing kidnapped GCN reporter Mike Engle to read out his plans. He reads that Gotham City now belongs to the Joker, starting that very evening. Anyone that doesn't want to be a part of his game should leave now, but they are going to have a hard time leaving the city by the bridges. He alludes to the fact that something big was going to happen that very night. During which, Two-Face enters a local bar where Detective Wuertz - the 'dirty' cop that had picked him up after the Joker was captured - hangs out. After questioning him, he flips the coin which lands on the dirty side and he kills Wuertz. At the same time, Batman uses Fox's 'cell phone sonar' technology to turn every single cell phone in Gotham into a sonar device, giving him the opportunity to spy on everyone in Gotham. He calls Fox in, and tells him to monitor the screens, and give him updates on the Joker's location when he sees him. Fox is appalled that Batman would use his technology to spy on the citizens of Gotham and reluctantly agrees to help, stating that the machine must be destroyed after the Joker is captured or he will have to retire. Batman tells Fox to enter his name into the console when the mission is over. Two-Face continues to question mob members, trying to uncover the identity of the dirty cop that kidnapped Rachel. When confronting Maroni in Maroni's car, he learns that the other cop is Ramirez. He then flips the coin for Maroni, which lands on the clean side. "Lucky man," he remarks before he flips it again. It lands on the dirty side and he buckles up and states, "But he's not" as he shoots Maroni's driver, causing the car to veer off the road and crash into the dockyards. Meanwhile, two large ferries leave Gotham due to the Joker's threats. One is inhabited by criminals that Harvey and Gordon helped put away, the other is packed with innocent citizens - the city's bridges apparently being wired with explosives. While sailing off, the two boats completely lose all power and their engines die. Both ships eventually realize that there are explosives strewn all about the boat, and they both find detonators. It is at this time that the Joker's voice is heard over the loudspeaker of both ferries, and he informs them that they are part of a social experiment. The detonator on each boat is for the other boat. One ferry must press the button and destroy the other boat by midnight, or else the Joker will destroy both boats. This brings about much chaos in both boats, and a lot of soul searching about morality and about if anyone could actually do such a thing. Fox finds the Joker, who is holed up in a building still being constructed with many clown guards. Batman notifies Gordon of the location, and speeds off towards the building. Meanwhile, Two-Face forces a frightened Ramirez to call Gordon's family and tell his wife and children to meet her at the exact spot where Rachel was killed. They believe her because they trust her. Afterwards, Two-Face, angered with Ramirez's pleas to spare her life for the sake of her sick mother, flips for Ramirez's life. The coin lands on heads, so he just knocks her out, telling her that she "lives to fight another day." As Gordon arrives at the building where the Joker is, he gets a call from his family telling him they are being held captive by Two-Face in the place where Rachel was killed. Gordon rushes off to save his family as Batman breaks in to the building. After realizing that the clown guards are the actual hostages and the doctors/hostages are the Joker's goons, he beats down some SWAT members in order to prevent them from killing the clown guards, and he disables the goons as he makes his way up to the Joker's location. When he finally confronts the Joker, the Joker sends the Chechen's rottweilers after him, and while Batman fights them off, the Joker beats him brutally with a blunt metal object, and eventually throws him close to the edge of the building, trapping him under a metal beam. At the same time, the two boats are still debating what to do with the detonators. On the 'criminal ferry', one of the largest and meanest-looking convicts makes a speech about the warden holding the trigger not knowing how to take life, then goes up to the warden and asks to take the trigger so he himself can do what the warden should have done ten minutes ago. The warden hands the convict the trigger and the convict promptly throws it out of the ferry, making it impossible for anyone on the convict ferry to blow up the 'innocent' ferry. On the innocent ferry, after having voted to use their detonator, the officials can't bring themselves to act out the decision. A man stands up, takes the detonator but is unable to press the button. The Joker, on top of Batman while holding him down, shows signs of disappointment when neither of the ferries' passengers will stoop to his level. As he's about to destroy the two boats, Batman fires his gauntlet darts at him, knocking the detonator out of his hands, and throws him over the edge of the building. Before he can hit the ground, however, Batman fires one of his grappling gun tools at him and saves him. While hanging in front of Batman, the Joker tells him that the two of them are destined to fight forever, and how Batman really IS incorruptible. The Joker reveals to him, however, that his real plan was to engineer the fall of Gotham's White Knight, Harvey Dent, since that would introduce much more chaos when a good man like Dent is shown descending into chaos and evil. Batman heads off to find Harvey, while the SWAT team captures the Joker. At 250 52nd St, Gordon arrives to see Two-Face holding his family hostage. Two-Face knocks him to the ground and tells him that he's going to make him suffer just as he did, as he grabs his young son Jimmy and prepares to flip the coin for his fate. Batman arrives and tells him to stop, and to blame the people responsible for Rachel's death. So then Two-Face flips the coin for Batman, which lands on the dirty, scarred side, and Two-Face shoots him. He then flips the coin for himself and it lands on the clean side. As he's flipping the coin for Gordon's son, he tells Gordon to lie to the boy and tell him that everything will be alright, just as Dent himself had to tell Rachel earlier, seconds before she was killed. Batman gets up and tackles him and they fall off of the building together. Unseen by them, the coin lands on the clean side. Batman hands Jimmy up to Gordon as Batman himself falls to the ground next to Two-Face, who lies motionless. As Gordon climbs down to check on Batman, Batman laments that, in the end, the Joker won. By corrupting Harvey Dent and turning him evil, he tore down the best of them. If Gotham were to find out about Dent's murders, then the symbol of hope and faith he had given Gotham would diminish and all the prisoners he helped put back in jail would be let out, thus creating chaos. Batman explains that Gotham can never find out about the murders, and takes the blame of them on himself, so that the Joker wouldn't win and the city's peace would remain. We see a montage of Commissioner Gordon and other members of the Gotham City Police Department gathered at a memorial to Harvey Dent. It is unclear whether he was killed or not. Gordon then smashes the Bat Signal above the MCU Building, while Alfred burns Rachel's note and Lucius shuts down the sonar machine with a pleased look. Batman, in the background, continues to explain that by taking the blame of the killings, the faith that the people of Gotham had in Harvey Dent can be rewarded, and they can feel justified. Batman then runs from Gordon as the cops begin to chase him, and Gordon tells his son that while Harvey Dent was the hero Gotham needed, Batman is the hero that Gotham deserved. The bat-signal is destroyed and a manhunt is issued for Batman. Batman gets on his Batpod and speeds away, while Gordon declares: "He's a silent Guardian. A watchful protector. A Dark Knight."

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Planet of the Apes Is Straight-Up the Weirdest Sci-Fi Franchise Out There

The franchise has taken several bold steps in its multi-decade run.

The Big Picture

The Planet of the Apes franchise continues to stay relevant with its bold storytelling in every installment.
The original films focused on social commentary, while later ones explored character development and political themes.
Prequels like Rise of the Planet of the Apes interestingly turned audience sympathy against humans in favor of ape characters.

Hollywood sure loves to create franchises and crossover sagas, as many of the most anticipated upcoming films are connected to some form of previously established intellectual property. While reboots, remakes, and sequels are more common now than ever before, there’s only a select number of franchises that have retained the same level of critical acclaim and commercial viability as they did during their inception. Although audiences may now be growing tired of superhero films based on DC and Marvel characters , the Planet of the Apes franchise has shown no signs of slowing down. Between nine films, a strange television series, and an increasingly expansive continuity, the Planet of the Apes film series remains relevant because it continues to get weirder with every installment.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.

The Original Planet of the Apes Movies Used Its Wild Plot to Tackle Realistic Themes

While 1968’s Planet of the Apes was based on the novel of the same name by Pierre Boulle , the film diverged widely from the original source material. The novel served as a grounded morality piece that examined the improbability of two competing species ever reaching a peaceful solution to their arms race. The characterization of the planet was entirely different, and presented less endearing human characters. However, the original Planet of the Apes film used its iconic plot twist to serve as a warning about mankind’s growing irrelevance . The concept of talking apes was exciting enough, but the idea that they could reach a level of intelligence that rivaled mankind’s was certainly shocking. However, including the Statue of Liberty in the reveal made the film's ending and message even spookier.

While Planet of the Apes was rightfully acclaimed as one of the greatest science fiction films of all-time , the original novel did not provide a natural direction for the narrative to go in the aftermath of the major twist. Since 20th Century Fox wasn’t about to cut off a potentially viable franchise before it got the chance to begin, the Planet of the Apes sequels began to take more time to analyze the political and ethical ramifications of the central conceit . The commentary on how infrastructure is established often took unusual forms. 1970’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes centered around the new astronaut, Brent ( James Franciscus ), who searches for the original film’s protagonist, Taylor ( Charlton Heston ). He discovers that the remains of humanity have grown to worship a powerful missile, yes – a missile. This served as a grave warning about nuclear annihilation within an era when the message couldn't have been more relevant.

Why We Never Got Peter Jackson‘s 'Planet of the Apes'

Since actors like Heston and Franciscus didn’t return for multiple installments, the Planet of the Apes series never mapped out a consistent set of characters over the course of the sequels. The development of the world itself took greater precedence over any individual member of the human or ape societies. However, despite the focus on worldbuilding in the Planet of the Apes franchise , the overall story does not follow a cohesive structure. For instance, Escape From the Planet of the Apes introduced time travel, allowing the story to expand in unexpected directions, including bringing back Roddy McDowall ’s character Cornelius from the first film to tell a story set in the present-day United States that served as an allegory for racial conflict. Conquest of the Planet of the Apes continued these themes by mapping out the apes’ uprising in what was a clear allusion to the liberation of enslaved people.

While the early franchise tackled heavy topics, it walked the delicate fine line of not taking itself too seriously. Balancing the novelty of the idea and its more absurd elements with fun with equal parts grit and chaos. Only a franchise as bold as this can make an impactful cinematic moment out of the phrase, "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" Beyond introducing a world ruled by apes, most of the human characters featured in the first Planet of the Apes movies were rendered unable to speak after a widespread virus caused the devolution of humankind . This set up helped make the aforementioned phrase a gasp-worthy moment in a way few modern franchises have managed to replicate.

The Planet of the Apes Series Lived Beyond the Original Films

While the subject of these films may have proven a little too downbeat for audiences, the final film in the original series was certainly not lacking in spectacle; Battle for the Planet of the Apes featured an all-out war between human and apes, and surprisingly ended on a more optimistic note. Creatively, Battle for the Apes was significantly less ambitious than its predecessors, as it ditched the more nuanced social commentary in favor of spectacle. However, the popularity of the franchise allowed the Planet of the Apes TV series to take the saga in a bizarre new direction. With smaller scale action and more time to flesh out the unique ape and human subcultures, the Planet of the Apes series merged the films’ groundbreaking makeup effects with the freedom allotted by a 14 episode series.

Following the cancellation of the television series, the Planet of the Apes franchise remained dormant for nearly three decades. However, Tim Burton’s remake of the original film managed to become the weirdest Planet of the Apes film yet . Talented actors like Tim Roth, Paul Giamatti, and Helena Bonham Carter were forced to act behind ridiculous masks that were impossible to take seriously. Between the beguiling ending and the adverse critical reaction, all plans for a new Planet of the Apes series under Burton’s command evaporated. Burton’s film opted to recreate elements of the first film instead of setting a new path for the franchise.

The ‘Planet of the Apes’ Prequels Took a Gritty Tone

While there are very few legitimately great prequel movies, 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes paved a bold new direction for the franchise by exploring the origins of the apes’ intelligence. By chronicling this origin, the Planet of the Apes became an odd franchise in which the viewer was rooting against the human characters. After seeing the abuse that Andy Serkis ’ Caesar was put through by his human captors, the audience is forced to empathize with his quest to lead the apes into a revolution. The groundbreaking work that Serkis did with his motion capture performance only made Caesar’s character arc more empowering.

Despite the franchise’s popularity, Planet of the Apes has never been a strictly commercial series. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and War for the Planet of the Apes are among the bleakest summer blockbusters in recent memory. What's more, between the original film franchise, the TV show, Tim Burton's remake, and the ongoing reboot series, the lack of a cohesive timeline has been somewhat of a dent in the Planet of the Apes legacy. Nonetheless, the movies have empowered its audience to think creatively about the fragility of mankind’s institutions , proving to be an entertaining and thought-provoking film series. With 2024's release of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , there’s no sign that the saga is slowing down anytime soon.

Planet of the Apes is available to rent or buy on Prime Video in the U.S.

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All 8 Transformers Movies, Ranked by Rewatchability

It's no secret that the Transformers, the robots in disguise everyone knows and loves, haven't had the best track record in the film industry. Still, it would be a lie to say the franchise is devoid of good, if not great, products. While some Transformers movies don't want to be touched by people with a thousand-yard stick, there are some genuinely entertaining films that are more than worth revisiting .

There are many reasons why a Transformers film would be deemed rewatchable. Some are simply quality films, while some have so much camp and ridiculousness that they're worth watching for the laughs alone. A few others have breathtaking action and set pieces that fans can't help but revisit. No matter what the reasoning may be, even if the franchise hasn't had a great track record in film, more than a couple of the Transformers movies are still worth revisiting every once in a while .

'Transformers: The Last Knight' (2017)

Directed by michael bay.

The final entry in the Michael Bay Transformers series, Transformers: The Last Knight , is a genuinely horrendous film and, simply put, not worth revisiting in the slightest. When Optimus Prime ( Peter Cullen ) is put under the evil Quintessa's spell and ordered to destroy Earth, the protagonists must seek out Merlin's staff to stop Optimus from bringing Cybertron to Earth (again).

There is nothing redeemable in Transformers: The Last Knight . It's a confusing mess that suffers from Bay being unable to not shove a million things into one film , resulting in cluttering the plot even more than it already is. Ironically, due to its connection to King Arthur's mythology, Transformers: The Last Knight served as the final sword in the heart of Bay's Transformers series, a fitting ending to an uneven saga. But if Bay could only deliver more of the same, most people would argue that was for the best.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Release Date June 16, 2017

Director Michael Bay

Cast Laura Haddock, Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Isabela Merced, Santiago Cabrera, Josh Duhamel

Rating PG-13

Runtime 149

Genres Superhero, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Action, Adventure

Writers Akiva Goldsman, Ken Nolan, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

'Transformers: Age of Extinction' (2014)

Unfortunately for Mark Wahlberg , neither of his Transformers bouts had anything going for them. Transformers: Age of Extinction just so happens to be the most problematic of the Transformers franchise . Mark Wahlberg's character, Cade, has a daughter, Tessa ( Nicola Peltz Beckham ), one of four women who have speaking roles and are essentially walking, talking stereotypes. To make matters worse, Tessa has a boyfriend who casually carries around a laminated card with the Romeo and Juliet law printed on it.

Unlike Transformers: The Last Knight , Transformers: Age of Extinction has something going for it: Lockdown ( Mark Ryan ). A bounty hunter pursuing Optimus Prime, Lockdown is actually a pretty cool villain. His entrance after shooting Optimus Prime in the chest is genuinely a really awesome moment that does a good job of setting him up as a villain to be feared. Even if the rest is disappointing, Age of Extinction is slightly redeemed by a great villain whose role makes the movie worthy of at least one rewatch.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Release Date June 27, 2014

Cast Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor

Runtime 165 minutes

Genres Action, Science Fiction

Writers Ehren Kruger

'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' (2009)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is terrible, and everyone knows it. Before Age of Extinction and The Last Knight , Revenge of the Fallen was the worst Transformers film . But there is no denying that the film actually has a few good qualities against all odds.

Although the filmmakers decided to go way harder on the goofy adult comedy this second time around, the film finds its positives where most Transformers films do: the set pieces. If there's anything Bay knows how to do, it's create a grand and epic action sequence. Notably, the fight between Optimus Prime and the group of Decepticons that "kill" him is a great battle. Plus, he also gets a jet wings upgrade for the final fight, and it's awesome. The plot and characters are unbearably annoying, but at least the action is loud enough to drown their voices.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Release Date June 19, 2009

Cast Ramon Rodriguez, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro

Runtime 147

Genres Sci-Fi, Thriller, Action, Adventure

Writers Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' (2011)

Coming off of 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen , Transformers: Dark of the Moon took people by surprise with a satirical tone that felt refreshing . The story still isn't great, but it's also not terrible, making it a lot more bearable than other Transformers films. Much like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen , this film also includes some really astounding set pieces, but far better in every way.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an epic, and the final act is innate proof of that. With this being arguably the darkest entry in the saga, Bay got a chance to really go all out when it came to putting together spectacles that could blow people away. The entire third act, when Earth is successfully taken over by the Decepticons and the protagonists are the only hope left for humanity, is nothing short of bombastic in all the best ways. There are Decepticons bringing down buildings, Optimus Prime fighting with only one arm, and so much more. Action this good is more than enough to make Transformers: Dark of the Moon a pretty enjoyable rewatch .

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Release Date June 28, 2011

Cast Shia LaBeouf, Tyrese Gibson, Julie White, Kevin Dunn, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel

Runtime 157

Genres Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

'Transformers' (2007)

The film that started the live-action Transformers franchise actually has a lot of rewatchability. Most fans agree that Transformers is actually a pretty decent film, some even calling it good. The script isn't horribly convoluted, the terrible immature humor from future films is far more toned back, the Sam ( Shia LaBeouf ) and Bumblebee relationship is compelling, and the action is absolutely thrilling and, at that point, genuinely groundbreaking.

While far from perfect, Transformers is a great start to a singular franchise with an intriguing mythology. Most Autobots actually feel like genuine characters and not giant action figures, balancing LaBeouf's frantic energy. It's a great film for a night when someone just wants to relax and have fun and not watch anything too mind-consuming. Its visual effects have aged like wine, and its formulaic but entertaining narrative makes it easy to revisit.

Transformers

Release Date July 3, 2007

Cast Rachael Taylor, Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Anderson

Runtime 144

Writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, John Rogers

'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' (2023)

Directed by steven caple jr..

When the Transformers franchise got the chance to break free from Bay's creative hold, the series took a considerable leap in quality and critical reception; the most recent entry, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , is a great example. Upon its release, it became one of the highest-rated Transformers films by audiences. While obviously not perfect, Rise of the Beasts is an incredibly fun watch. The film accomplishes something that the franchise had been struggling with for a long time: making the human characters worth the time. Played by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback , they actually add to the plot and have far more active roles.

The film also happens to just be a ton of fun. The introduction of the Beasts is a great addition to the universe, and they are played by some incredible actors, such as Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal and Michelle Yeoh as Maximal Airazor. Rise of the Beasts is unashamed of its cartoon roots and finds a ton of enjoyment in leaning into what makes Transformers so fun while still keeping a serious plot. Anyone looking to rewatch the film before the release of the sequel (crossing over with G.I. Joe ) will not be disappointed with this entertaining and suitably wild ride.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Release Date June 9, 2023

Director Steven Caple Jr.

Cast Domenic Di Rosa, Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback

Genres Sci-Fi, Action

Writers Josh Peters, Ken Nolan, Darnell Metayer, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Joby Harold

'The Transformers: The Movie' (1986)

Directed by nelson shin.

The original cartoon is commonly regarded as the best adaption of the robots in disguise, with fans constantly begging for the films to take more design and plot inspiration from it. Films like Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts garnered a plethora of praise for readjusting the designs to better reflect the cartoon. The Transformers: The Movie is the original Transformers theatrical release and is the most genuine and enjoyable adaptation of the Transformers characters and mythos to date.

It's well known as the best Transformers film, with incredible performances, stunning animation, a great soundtrack, and a compelling and engaging plot. Fans continue to revisit the film today, and it has not lost its luster in the slightest. If anything, its reputation has risen as more live-action films come out, especially now that they're beginning to take more inspiration from it. The Transformers: The Movie is simply the best adaption of the toy brand and is honest and enjoyable in every way .

The Transformers: The Movie

Release Date August 8, 1986

Director Nelson Shin

Cast Norman Alden, Jack Angel, Susan Blu, Arthur Burghardt, Michael Bell, Gregg Berger

Genres Family, Animation, Sci-Fi, Action, Adventure

Writers Ron Friedman

'Bumblebee' (2018)

Directed by travis knight.

Both fans and critics finally agreed on a Transformers film's quality with the release of Bumblebee , the highest reviewed Transformers film yet . To put it simply, Bumblebee is the best film in the Transformers franchise because of its wonderful performances, its independence from the franchise, heart, script quality, and stellar directing. It's not just a good Transformers film but a good film in general.

Bumblebee 's ability to be a standalone film keeps it feeling personal, intimate and honest. The relationship between Hailee Steinfeld 's Charlie and everyone's favorite yellow-clad robot is so endearing and full of soul that one can't help but love and cheer for them. Charlie doesn't hold the plot back in the slightest, making her and the surrounding cast the best human characters in the franchise. Bumblebee 's quality is palpably astounding , making it well worth a rewatch for both Transformers fans and general audiences alike. Thank you, Travis Knight , for redefining what a good Transformers film can be!

Release Date December 15, 2018

Director Travis Knight

Cast Hailee Steinfeld, Jason Drucker, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., Pamela Adlon, Stephen Schneider, John Cena

Runtime 114

Writers Christina Hodson

NEXT: The 10 Best Mecha Movies, Ranked

All 8 Transformers Movies, Ranked by Rewatchability

More From Forbes

Review: ‘kingdom of the planet of the apes’ delivers a glorious new chapter.

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The Fall Guy unfortunately stumbled last weekend, but this weekend Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes kicks off the 2024 summer movie season in grand style and potential blockbuster box office with a glorious new chapter.

Owen Teague and Neil Sandilands star in "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes."

The Financials

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is currently projected to finish somewhere between $130-140 million, which is fine, but that might hold it to $400 million range, plus or minus, and it really needs to play higher than that.

Premium formats have been overperforming — there just aren’t enough to meet enthusiastic audience demand — and should help raise Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to at least $50 million stateside this weekend, and after seeing it I think good word of mouth will carry it toward $55 million.

Overseas should be even more lucrative for Kingdom and could approach $100 million with its all-markets debut, but for now I’m expecting closer to $90 million territory. I won’t be surprised to see this opening number a bit higher or lower, but (based on having seen it) I will be surprised if it doesn’t have strong weekly holds and wind up legging out to at least $250 million and hopefully closer to $300 million.

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On the other hand, if previews and pre-sales wind up heavily front-loaded, that could result in a domestic weekend closer to $45 million territory, and similar international results would put it around $75 million in other markets, for a worldwide low-end outcome of about $120 million. In that situation, I’d expect a final gross closer to $350 million worldwide, a much softer performance than hoped.

So, the closer to $150 million the better, as that’s where the real indications would come that the franchise is ripe for a revival and can pull down $500 million or more. A performance under $400 million, meanwhile, would suggest Apes is yet another previously popular franchise for which audience interest has faded too much to expect modern blockbuster results (it took Ghostbusters a couple of films to get that message, and it’s still not clear the lesson has sank in yet).

Not that I expect Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes to flop like Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire did earlier this year (it’s still below $200 million globally as I write this). The point is, we still haven’t clearly identified where certain legacy franchises reside within broader public awareness and interest, and Apes is one of them.

The key ingredient is usually whether the films tell a good story and make the audience feel they got their money’s worth of entertainment. That’s why Dune: Part Two , Godzilla x Kong , and Kung Fu Panda 4 were rewarded and continue adding to their box office tally. And it’s why I think audiences will reward Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes as well.

I grew up watching and adoring Planet of the Apes movies, TV show, and animated series (all of which I own on home entertainment, even the cartoons). And I’ve especially been a big fan of the modern Planet of the Apes movies, as my coverage of Edgar Wright’s and Matt Reeves’ trilogy films demonstrate. You can read my past coverage of the making of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes here , and watch my previous interviews with Matt Reeves, Andy Serkis, and Toby Kebbell here .

My love for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is on par with my feelings for The Dark Knight , a film it mirrors in many ways — including qualitatively — and it’s among the worst Oscar snubs that this series (and particularly Dawn ) wasn’t awarded any statuettes for its revolutionary visual effects, or even nominated for the brilliant performances and directing.

So whomever took over and continued the series was going to have a high bar to cross. Wes Ball’s work on the Maze Runner trilogy earned him fans, and the first movie in that series stands out. When Ball was announced, I was willing to take a “wait and see” approach and wish him all the best, and I was simply happy to hear another film was coming.

That said, I was also frankly unsure what to expect from him taking over after Reeves’ powerful work on the series and the glorious gut-punch of War for the Planet of the Apes . Ball hadn’t yet demonstrated the expansive vision and deeper complexity with character arcs that drove previous modern Apes movies, and it was unclear where the story would go now that the main characters and conflicts were all completed.

With Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes , Ball has taken a big leap into a higher tier of directing and filmmaking, not just because of the franchise pedigree but because the filmmaker did the impossible — Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes isn’t just a worthy successor to the previous trilogy, it is a deeply moving, emotionally powerful, complicated examination of family, community, trust, and sharing this world together.

This isn’t just Ball’s best film by a wide margin, it’s as compelling, resonant, and thrilling as the rest of the modern franchise.

Screenwriter Josh Friedman has a tremendous résumé, including Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds , James Cameron's Avatar: The Way of Water , and creating/writing the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Here in Kingdom , Friedman takes time building up the world and relationships within each setting and for his various new characters. The story is a methodically paced combination of the road-trip aspects of War for the Planet of the Apes with the worldbuilding, intricate character motivations and conflicts of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , and a whole new set of elements and ideas for the growing tribes and cities built by different groups of apes slowly coming into increased contact — and conflict — with one another.

The cast are all excellent this time around again (although I won't deny that I miss Andy Serkis, Karin Konoval, and Terry Notary). Owen Teague does an admirable job taking over lead duties, and he give Noa his own sense of personality, doubts, and perception of his world (including plenty that's mistaken), while still embodying the essential goodness and intelligence of Caesar. He is young, but it's clear he will grow into his role in the tribe and become a leader.

Peter Macon steals every scene he’s in as Raka, an orangutan who follows the teachings of Caesar and wants to revive them among new generations, because those teachings are increasingly misunderstood and outright twisted to excuse and enable things Caesar would never have allowed or endorsed. Macon’s performance is funny, earnest, and plants many seeds in the mind and behavior of Teague’s Noa, the payoffs always feeling earned and often causing viewers at my press screening to applaud.

Freya Allan as Nova/Mae is an enigma, and neither we nor Noa can be certain of her intentions. Allan gives Mae a mix of trustworthiness and slyness that keep us off balance and add a lovely element of conflicted feelings and assumptions mirroring Teague's/Noa's.

Kevin Durand (whom you may have seen recently in the current horror film release Abigale ) is the main antagonist, and while his screen time is relatively limited in the nearly two-and-a-half hour film, he delivers a grand personality as a leader who wants to take Caesar’s place as ruler of apes. His is a more fascistic approach to the motto “Apes Together Strong.”

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is also a visual masterpiece, the WETA team having miraculously topped themselves yet again. You’ll easily forget you’re watching CGI, and you’ll take to heart the reality of the apes as real living characters. The movement, detail, mouth movements when speak, all of it is amazingly realized within a much larger portrayal of ape civilization than we’ve ever seen before in the Planet of the Apes .

Many fans (including me) expected Kingdom to hurry into the story from the original 1968 Planet of the Apes , in which human astronauts return to Earth to find the mind-bending changes, since Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes seemed to set up so much of the plotting for that story and even tried to introduce one of the female leads from that storyline.

However, that is simply not the case. But it turns out it works better, because having apes grow intelligent and then take over the world and successfully extinguish knowledge and evidence of prior human civilization all within a single generation or two would’ve felt rushed after all.

But worry not, dear readers — Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes dispenses with/”evolves” those previous setup bits easily and with a nice touch of humor that make the backstory and details even richer.

This is also the first film of the modern series to end in a way directly setting up the next chapter in the Apes saga. Whether that leads us into a retelling of the classic “astronauts return home” portion of the story, or some other unexpected series of events (there are several such moments and reveals in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes ), time will tell.

For now, fans can rejoice that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the sequel we all hoped for, not just carrying the series forward but building toward something even greater and more epic. Congratulations to everyone involved, and to audiences who have a summer tentpole more than worthy of their entertainment dollars and the price of admission to premium screens.

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The Dark Knight movie review & film summary (2008)
Christopher Nolan 's "The Dark Knight" is a haunted film that leaps beyond its origins and becomes an engrossing tragedy. It creates characters we come to care about. That's because of the performances, because of the direction, because of the writing, and because of the superlative technical quality of the entire production. This film ...
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New Rotten Tomatoes Data Confirms What We All Know About The Dark Knight
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