• Before you can add your own film to the site you will need to be a contributing member of our filmmaking community.

    Join the site and read more about How to Submit Film.

The Dark Knight

I'm very confused by this level of negativity. This is the ONLY place where I've seen any "film buffs" so against this film. It's not just the regular filmgoing audience that is excited about this film - practically everyone is. Every single film major I know went crazy last weekend. Yesterday I saw the film again, in a completely sold-out theater; that doesn't just happen unless the film has real merit. Even my parents, who are generally very docile and restrained in their appreciation and consideration of a movie after watching it, started to gush when exiting the theater. I was talking to someone at work about it, and 3 other people overheard and immediately jumped in, talking about how excited they were to go see it (this was the friday it opened).

I'm rambling, but here's my point: The Dark Knight is unarguably a monumental film. It has a vast range of people interested and excited in the medium to a degree that very, very few films inspire. Any movie that can invoke this level of fervor and universal enthusiasm, from fans, film-buffs, critics, and the general movie-watching public, should be celebrated. The movie is both ascendent and archetypal - it shatters the bonds of what we can expect from a blockbuster, and for years the public will look back and say, "that's how it's done."

We can all dislike good movies and like bad ones. But we shouldn't allow our opinions to cloud our analysis of a film's true merits. And the Dark Knight's merits are easy to see: just go to your nearest theater and stand outside the doors as a showing of the film lets out.
 
See for me, and I'm really truly not trying to be negative just for the sake of being negative, really don't understand how everyone is so incredibly into it. I can see why so many people went and saw it, it did have really good marketing. I can see why people enjoyed it, and talk about it, because it was entertaining. I really can't see how so many people can say that it's their favorite movie ever, and that it's so memorable. For me it was better than most blockbusters, that was expected, but really nothing that I will be rushing to return to see, even when it comes out on dvd.

It's just kinda baffling to me. I really liked the first one, and went into this one really wanting to like it a lot. But I felt cheated by so much in the movie (mind you I went opening night, and felt cheated as soon as I left before I had even heard anyone else utter a word about it). My friend that I went with felt the same way, but not quite to the extent that I did. I understand what it did at the box office and that so many people are into, and that's all cool by me. It's just kinda weird to me that it almost feels like I'm one of the only people that felt disappointed with it.
 
"it shatters the bonds of what we can expect from a blockbuster"

Wow, now that was just delusional. It's a cartoon. Sadly, without Ledgers death this movie doesn't hit this level of hysteria. Again a great performance in a flawed film.

"Even my parents, who are generally very docile and restrained in their appreciation and consideration of a movie after watching it, started to gush when exiting the theater."

So it's a great movie because your mom liked it? Yikes. Honestly if everyone likes it then you're playing it safe.

"And the Dark Knight's merits are easy to see: just go to your nearest theater and stand outside the doors as a showing of the film lets out."

Just cause everyone loves McDonald's fries doesn't mean it's a gourmet meal.

Don't get me wrong a filmmaker trying to get everyone in the world to see and love their movie probably has a bright future and a wonderful world view, but are also undoubtedly an azzhole with nothing to say.
 
No just trying to keep it in context that Batman is a great comic book hero but not exactly Citizen Kane. People are getting carried away with the whole deal and I just simply didn't think the film was that hot. Plus it's sad when the biggest weekend grossing film of all time is a sequel rehashing a character that's been done to death since the fifties. I was hoping at least youth culture would demand more originality but this is the American Idol Generation so we shouldn't be surprised. I guess performing bombastic renditions of standards will have to do for now.
 
A bit arrogant, no?

Batman is pretty damn important to this culture and to this generation. Comic books are the stories we've grown up with. These stories are essentially modern day mythology. Many of us spent hours playing with action figures. In a way, that helped advance us as artists as we learned to tell stories visually with the toys.

I was on track to being a law student until I added creative writing as a double major. I couldn't do law because there was no room for imagination. Creative Writing (screenwriting to be exact) allowed me to revel in my imagination.

I think that's what makes this Batman film so good. Nolan's imagined a Batman and Gotham city that we haven't seen before. In many ways, this is how it'd be if Batman were real.

So yeah, Batman isn't quite Citizen Kane, but he's still massively important in pop culture.

This isn't directed at you, but the reactions towards this film is how I'd react to something like "Gone in 60 Seconds" or "Wanted". Batman has been around for about 70 years. It's relevant and meaningful.
 
Batman just isn't a phenomenon that I can personally identify with. Its really hard for me to see it as anything special, and I would kind of hate to see it be the icon that defines this decade
icon_frown.gif


I'm sure that Dark Knight is immensely entertaining and suspenseful...but I think I've had enough with Marvelesque superheroes. Anyone familiar with the Law of Diminishing Returns?
 
Guys, really, enough with the personal attacks...Everything posted on this board is an opinion, not fact, but a lot of us are getting offended and defensive (or perhaps offensive) at people expressing how much they liked the movie.

I agree that this movie isn't completely without flaws, but have any of you ever seen a perfect movie, idependent or blockbuster? Because I certainly haven't...

Everyone is entitled to their own view on the movie, but please stop attacking other people like you're opinion is fact and that it is the ONLY WAY to look at the movie.

Regardless of what you mean by what you're saying, chances are you're ruining it for someone else.
 
Thanks for that, techie.

With a few exceptions, I think this conversation has stayed within boundaries. This blockbuster issue has a lot of zealous people on both sides. I hope that people will use their intense satisfaction or intense dissatisfaction to inspire and mold their own projects.
 
Nolan's imagined a Batman and Gotham city that we haven't seen before.
Click to expand...

Actually I have seen this Gotham before, it's called Chicago. Chicago really doesn't double as that great of a Gotham (especially showing the El's and all).

Sorry just had to say it. That's all from me.
 
Originally posted by Heliotrope:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Nolan's imagined a Batman and Gotham city that we haven't seen before.
Click to expand...

Actually I have seen this Gotham before, it's called Chicago. Chicago really doesn't double as that great of a Gotham (especially showing the El's and all).

Sorry just had to say it. That's all from me. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Look beyond the architecture...look at the people. This is the first film that's branched out to show people outside of Batman and his villains. Guys like Dent, Lucious Fox, and even Gordon really couldn't exist in any of the old Batman film series. Some of them were around in name, but you didn't really get a sense that they were real people. They were tools living in Batman's world. In this version, I really felt that they were living in a terrible city that was getting just beat up by crime.
 
We can all dislike good movies and like bad ones. But we shouldn't allow our opinions to cloud our analysis of a film's true merits. And the Dark Knight's merits are easy to see: just go to your nearest theater and stand outside the doors as a showing of the film lets out.
Click to expand...

Once again, this is a bad way to look at things. Just because something breaks the box office doesn't mean it's better. I'll restate that I liked The Dark Knight and is probably the best done superhero film I've ever seen (I didn't care for Raimi's Spiderman films, sorry), but no, it's not one of the greatest films to happen in the past 5 years or anything.

See, here's my problem: You're all going nuts on this board about how real the characters were and how amazing the settings were- why doesn't anyone on here talk about how amazing the characters in Wild Strawberries are? Or how Charlie Chaplin's expression at the end of City Lights will make you tear up? I like all types of movies, and a big defense from people obsessed with this movie seems to be that. I don't go on these boards that much, but I don't see many discussions about subtle dramas or challenging films. To say something like 'Well look how many people loved it!" is ignorant and irrelevant. This is about people's opinions, yes, but if your criticism of film stops at that, then why bother? Opinions can be opinions but criticism can be debated. You can't enter a serious discussion of film and get away with these lame excuses like "To each his own!"

And as for my personal opinion: to me The Dark Knight is a very well crafted film, but it's never going to penetrate my soul like some films do. I know that's what some of the supposed "curmudgeons" are trying to get at on here, and I'm with them, but I also can't condemn The Dark Knight. It's a very good film (with some flaws that hinder it), but we need to all sit down and have a bit of perspective here. This isn't going on AFI's top 100- EVER- and shouldn't. If you can't understand why, then I don't know what to tell you. You'll always have IMDB's Top 250 I guess.
 
Hatts:

I appreciate your comment, but it's neither ignorant nor irrelevant to consider the favourable impact this film has had for all types of people. Personally, I couldn't stand any of the previous Batman movies and had no interest in seeing this one, either. Then, unanimously, EVERYBODY I heard from was blown away. This was a long movie and I never got bored or distracted. The last time I got so excited over a movie (for different reasons, obviously) was when I just had to stay for the second showing of Star Wars (now Episode 4). I rarely ever feel so much a part of a movie audience, where, collectively, the theatre is having a wonderful time, sharing their experience with hoots and hollers, while remaining intensely focused on the screen action.

Majority rules, neh?
 
I thought the film was good. I would find it difficult to call it bad, because I really don't think it was bad. What takes away from it is partly the massive hype around it and people calling it "great".

Let's not kid ourselves, though. The Dark Knight will never be as inspiring, gripping, new, or captivating as some movies really can be. I can think of half a dozen movies that aren't flashy action films that are infinitely more interesting than this movie. I was barely interested in the film while watching it.

I must admit I loved Heath Ledger's performance, but other than that, I zoned out.

It boils down to this: it's a movie about Batman. I repeat: Batman. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Batman, and I enjoyed the first Burton film a lot. But someone said it best, "...there are *limits* to how serious you can make this sort of film."

I believe in suspension of disbelief, but it's abusing that system to ask me to believe that in a world not different from our own (i.e. Chicago), this sort of thing could happen.

For a film about a *full grown man who dresses like a bat to fight crime*, this film takes itself way too seriously and tries too hard to have a message.

I will willingly listen to social commentary from a film about crusaders, Vietnam, crime families, Conquistadors, out-of-work English actors, but a millionaire vigilante who dresses like a bat? You've got to be kidding me.

I think it's important to know your limits and adjust the tone. The aforementioned subjects can be taken seriously because they actually exist and there's nothing inherently funny/weird about them. Batman does not have that.
 
I think it's important to know your limits and adjust the tone. The aforementioned subjects can be taken seriously because they actually exist and there's nothing inherently funny/weird about them. Batman does not have that.
Click to expand...

I could be a really big nerd and go into the debate of Batman is NOT a vigilante. Spiderman is. But Batman is not.
 
yah so my friend was overly stoked about this along with all of you crazy people and of course i think batman is dumb because its been done and the only good ones are the old tv show and even then its pretty ridicuelous the concept of those clothes, plus im just not a comic book fan....but beside that the onyl reason im saying something here is cause my friend showed me a clip from the film on youtube that he thought was just so cool and i watched it where the Joker slams that guys head into the pen and the whole scene all around was just ridiculeous

how many times are we gonna see nifty scenes like this and let them "take us away" ??? cause its not muc ha fantasy to me!
 

Latest posts

Best Reviewed Films

View more items
Back
Top