The Dark Knight: News, Reviews, your Views. "SPOILERS" welcome!

[Ellemeno]

Meryl, I agree with everything you say except one thing - surely The Joker had it in him to cadge the nurse's uniform? 


A couple of moments I really liked in the movie - when Harvey Dent asked Alfred if he had known Rachel her whole life, he said something like, "Not yet."  I liked that.  And when the big, menacing prisoner said, "Give me the remote detonation device and I'll do what you should have already done," and then surprises us by throwing it out the window.  I liked that.

[Mandy21]

Meryl, dead on with your comments.  That's exactly how I felt, having watched it yesterday morning.  Heath was out-of-this-world magnificent in his portrayal.  I wish it would have been nothing BUT him, he was so mesmerizing.  In a million years, you wouldn't have guessed it was our darling Heath.  I found the whole story to be gigantically farfetched and implausible.  It was almost a distraction from just watching The Joker.  I wonder if like the shirt inside the shirt moment in BBM, how much of TDK did Heath have a say in?  Does anyone know?

[MaineWriter]

Thanks Meryl for that very articulate commentary. You said it so well!

Like you said, it is all so implausible--which is what really drove home the comic book aspect of the movie to me. In fact, there were many scenes that felt like the frames from a comic book: close up of Batman; close up of Joker; big sweeping aerial shot. All that was missing was the dialog bubbles over their heads.

And talk about no chemistry between Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent! LOL. Last time I saw that much erotic tension was watching Anakin Skywalker and Padme!

One little scene that I keep thinking back to: the Joker riding in a car, sticking is head out in the wind and whoo-wooing, just like a happy dog.

L

[southendmd]

Meryl, thanks for the expert review.  I knew we could count on our resident director!

[optom3]

Meryl, dead on with your comments.  That's exactly how I felt, having watched it yesterday morning.  Heath was out-of-this-world magnificent in his portrayal.  I wish it would have been nothing BUT him, he was so mesmerizing.  In a million years, you wouldn't have guessed it was our darling Heath.  I found the whole story to be gigantically farfetched and implausible.  It was almost a distraction from just watching The Joker.  I wonder if like the shirt inside the shirt moment in BBM, how much of TDK did Heath have a say in?  Does anyone know?

In all the interviews I have read, particularly those with Nolan, they all commented on how much Heath brought to the role.There was always a little something extra on each take.I like you could easily have just watched a whole film of the joker.It was however an ongoing reminder of the terrible loss.
Every time I watch another ofhis movies, I get the most overwhelming sense of loss. I know some people compare itto River phoenixand James Dean. To me it seems worse though, because he left his lovely daughter.
She will one day realise that incredible man was her father. That is going to be I suspect, a very heavy load to carry.

[Meryl]

Meryl, I agree with everything you say except one thing - surely The Joker had it in him to cadge the nurse's uniform? 

A couple of moments I really liked in the movie - when Harvey Dent asked Alfred if he had known Rachel her whole life, he said something like, "Not yet."  I liked that.  And when the big, menacing prisoner said, "Give me the remote detonation device and I'll do what you should have already done," and then surprises us by throwing it out the window.  I liked that.

Ha!  I agree he had it in him to cadge the nurse's uniform, but when you add it to the list of everything else he was engineering, it's a marvel that he could spare the time. 

I liked those small moments, too. 

I found the whole story to be gigantically farfetched and implausible.

The best capsule review ever! 

Like you said, it is all so implausible--which is what really drove home the comic book aspect of the movie to me. In fact, there were many scenes that felt like the frames from a comic book: close up of Batman; close up of Joker; big sweeping aerial shot. All that was missing was the dialog bubbles over their heads.

I know, it seemed so comic-y.  I wonder what those reviewers who saw so much more in it were thinking.  Really, if Heath hadn't been so good, I don't think the "something more" discussion could have arisen at all.

And talk about no chemistry between Rachel Dawes and Harvey Dent! LOL. Last time I saw that much erotic tension was watching Anakin Skywalker and Padme!

Haha!  There really should be an awards category for these ho-hum pairings.

Meryl, thanks for the expert review.  I knew we could count on our resident director!

Thanks, Paul.  Maybe being a director has its drawbacks, too.  I know how much organizing, pre-planning, budgeting, ordering and execution goes into just one prop list for a show.  The Joker was managing the equivalent of at least a hundred shows, all opening in one week! 

[Meryl]

Stephanie Zackarack (sp?) from Salon gave The Dark Knight a pretty nasty review. All the fanboys jumped all over her (and anyone else who happens to breathe a negative word for their precious Batman). LOL. She didn't like Brokeback Mountain, either. Does that woman like any movie at all?

I remember she wrote a very good review of "The Fellowship of the Ring," which endeared her to me, a Ring-lover.  I just read her TDK review and have to say I agreed with the bulk of it.  I'm no expert on Hitchcock, so can't comment on her comparison, but I agree with this:

There's no dramatic arc in "The Dark Knight" -- only a series of speed bumps. The moments in the movie that should be the most dramatic are glanced over so quickly that we barely have time to register what has happened.

And this, most of all:

But the finest moments in "The Dark Knight" belong to Ledger as the Joker. Bob Kane has acknowledged that the Joker was inspired by Conrad Veidt's character -- a gentle-spirited loner with a carved-in smile -- in the piercing 1928 silent "The Man Who Laughs." Ledger's performance, stylistically, is nothing like Veidt's, and the conception of the character is completely different. But Ledger, behind that smudged, chalky makeup, and with that cruel, scar-tissue leer, does channel some of Veidt's poignancy -- though he lets us see it only in flashes, like the flanks of a fish in a muddy pond. There's desperation beneath the Joker's cruelty, and Ledger shows it to us in his hunched-up walk, and in the slurry precision of his speech.

The performance is unsettling and difficult to watch, partly because it's impossible to remove it from the context of Ledger's death. But it's a fine performance regardless, and I wish the movie around it were more deserving.

[Meryl]

"You complete me", while very funny, sums up their relationship.

I found the Joker's line "Hit me" to be very chilling.  Batman had a few opportunities to off the Joker, but didn't.  They do need each other. 

I like the Joker's line when he's hanging off the building, something like, "I have a feeling we'll be doing this forever."

Faked deaths are par for the course in these films.  Never kill off a character, as you may want them in another film.

Agreed on all points.  One great thing about the Joker's character was his courage.  He put himself in the line of fire fearlessly, in fact reveled in it.  If Batman killed him, he won, because he would have made him break his code.  That was a huge turn-on for him.

[LauraGigs]

I couldn't believe the Joker had the chops to get all the stuff organized that he had to do throughout the movie: plan and execute a big bank heist, wire an entire hospital to explode, wire two huge ferries to do the same, as well as a number of crooks and Dent and Rachel, send out any number of teams of hoods to corrupt cops, kidnap people, and assassinate a judge and police commissioner, crash a party in a protected penthouse, arrange gangster summit talks...

I think they had arranged it, and he "crashed" it.  Remember the line, "I know why you have these group therapy sessions in broad daylight."

But you're right Meryl, it is odd — especially when he asks Dent, "Do I look like a guy with a plan?"  But I think here he means a purpose — an end goal.  As Janice said, he's an evil genius gifted at logistics, so I suspended my disbelief . . .

About the Joker's tongue thing.... I've been thinking to myself that maybe (Yes, I know it's a far shot) Heath took some very noticable trait like that, which can seem so *hot* and enticing and well, - cute, - and turned it upside down on purpose for the Joker

His wounds are around his mouth, so maybe he's compulsively licking at his wounds — like an animal.


Totally agree with Zacharek and Meryl about the relentless pacing.  Seems like the only time the film ever “breathed” was when the Joker skipped out of the hospital and fumbled with the detonator.   Hilarious — probably my favorite moment!

[Meryl]

I think they had arranged it, and he "crashed" it.  Remember the line, "I know why you have these group therapy sessions in broad daylight."

You're right about the crashing part.  But I think I was also remembering another scene where he meets up with that Russian-type guy and then sets the pile of money on fire.  Yes, suspension of belief was very necessary!