The Dark Knight review thread

[mista_mo]

No way is it justified as #1 at IMDB!!! he's the goddamn batman

[bassman]

If I recall he did it in front of the smaller pirotechnics? Certainly not the main ones that nuked the entire building (that was a cut away)? But that whole crosswalk came down didn't it in his take/scene? Nope....he did the entire thing. By the time the "money shot" went off, the bus he was in was just within a "safe distance". The building that stood in for the hospital was actually an old candy factory in Chicago. All the chicago news crews were there filming the explosion and you can see ledger(from a distance of course) walk out, stand there for a minute, hop in the bus and as it's driving off.... boom. The reason it cuts to the "money shot" is because the film crew obviously had many cameras in many different angles for the single explosion. But I've seen home videos and news videos.....it was all done in one go. I'll see if I can find one of them. EDIT: Here's one. You'll see a small figure walking away from the building on the left side of the screen as the smaller explosions are going off. Then as the big explosion happens....that bus driving in front of it? That's the one the Joker got into. There are better and clearer videos out there...but this is the only one I can seem to find right now.

[Neil]

So it was all done in one take??? Holy **** on a stick! But why!!!!

[bassman]

So it was all done in one take??? Holy **** on a stick! But why!!!! From what I read, apparently Ledger wanted to do it himself. Same with Bale, actually. Bale was the one standing on top of the Sears tower and that tower in Hong Kong. No CGI. I guess Nolan likes to let his actors play around a bit. I bet their insurance companies were freaking out.

[AcesandEights]

From what I read, apparently Ledger wanted to do it himself. Same with Bale, actually. Bale was the one standing on top of the Sears tower and that tower in Hong Kong. No CGI. I guess Nolan likes to let his actors play around a bit. Well, that's pretty frikkin' cool!

[MinionZombie]

Well, that's pretty frikkin' cool! You're damn straight! Another reason why The Dark Knight is super f*ckin' awesome! I hope there's a featurette on the DVD all about that explosion, surely there will be, cos I'd really love to see how they did it all, because that whole bit was superb, especially The Joker fussing over the detonator, that just cracked me up. I guess we're so used to CGI fakery, that when something is done for real properly - like this sequence - it's more of a "woah" factor, although even though - it's STILL a "woah" sequence regardless. I mean really woah.

[Neil]

especially The Joker fussing over the detonator, that just cracked me up. Would be great to find out the explosions were actually no working properly (timing wise), and Heath was basically just making the best of a bad situation by improvising!

[MinionZombie]

Would be great to find out the explosions were actually no working properly (timing wise), and Heath was basically just making the best of a bad situation by improvising! Ah man, that would have been crazy mad if that had been the case. But even so, he was so locked into that moment, nailing it in one take (although they'll have done rehearsals of course), but still, it's a one take deal and you're surrounded by explosives and so on - even emerging from a building which is ready to blow any minute ... kinda scary when you think about it like that. The amount of pressure on him at that moment to nail that take must have been huge, but he knocked it out of the park, pulling off one of the best Joker moments in the movie. Man alive I have to see this flick again.

[bassman]

I've seen the film several times now, but this is one thing that really bothers me about it...   When Joker pushes Rachel out the window of Wayne's penthouse, batman jumps to save her. They fall many stories and slam into the hood of a car. Maybe i'm missing it, but does batman deploy his cape into a parachute or shoot is grapling gun or something? There's no way they could survive that fall. And then Batman does it again at the end. After he saves Gordon's kid, he falls to the ground next to Harvey. The same fall that killed Harvey, didn't kill Batman. I know his suit is supposed to be strong, but I don't think it's THAT strong. Minor gripes, really. I still love the movie. The Hospital scene is a great part of the movie, but I'm now thinking my favorite scene has to go to the interrogation room scenes? That was incredible. Everytime I see it, I pick up on something that I didn't notice the times before. "I don't wanna kill you! Where would I be without you?!? You see...you complete me." How is it that line didn't come across cheesy?

[Neil]

Ah man, that would have been crazy mad if that had been the case. But even so, he was so locked into that moment, nailing it in one take (although they'll have done rehearsals of course), but still, it's a one take deal and you're surrounded by explosives and so on - even emerging from a building which is ready to blow any minute ... kinda scary when you think about it like that. The amount of pressure on him at that moment to nail that take must have been huge, but he knocked it out of the park, pulling off one of the best Joker moments in the movie. Man alive I have to see this flick again. I look forward to seeing that scene again now... I suspect given his level of dedication, he even had a wax when he went nursey!

[MinionZombie]

Ah man, the Joker in nurse uniform was fantastic, and when he says "hi" to Dent - f*ckin' hilarious. Anyway - MY ACTUAL REVIEW IS BELOW: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2008/07/dark-knight.html Well, more my thoughts, rather than a review...it is a blog after all, not Total Film or something official and awesome.

[Neil]

I've seen the film several times now, but this is one thing that really bothers me about it...   When Joker pushes Rachel out the window of Wayne's penthouse, batman jumps to save her. They fall many stories and slam into the hood of a car. Maybe i'm missing it, but does batman deploy his cape into a parachute or shoot is grapling gun or something? There's no way they could survive that fall. And then Batman does it again at the end. After he saves Gordon's kid, he falls to the ground next to Harvey. The same fall that killed Harvey, didn't kill Batman. I know his suit is supposed to be strong, but I don't think it's THAT strong. Minor gripes, really. I still love the movie. The Hospital scene is a great part of the movie, but I'm now thinking my favorite scene has to go to the interrogation room scenes? That was incredible. Everytime I see it, I pick up on something that I didn't notice the times before. "I don't wanna kill you! Where would I be without you?!? You see...you complete me." How is it that line didn't come across cheesy? Yes, his cape partly deploys, slowing them down... My mani issues were (as listed before);- 1) Bruce somehow turning every phone into a 'sonar' - Come on now! Bit unbelievable! Just bugging them all for audio would have been enough! 2) When he went into the final building, PLEASE tell me the sonar system he was using through his vision wasn't from the mobile phones people were carrying... And instead was something just built into his suit? 3) The Joker's plans always just seemed to work just a little too well, no matter how much risk was involved in them, and how many variables... 4) Someone get Bale a throat lossenger - God his voice went strangely raspy/butch whenever he put that mask on... Ah man, the Joker in nurse uniform was fantastic, and when he says "hi" to Dent - f*ckin' hilarious. I laughed out loud in the cinema to that, and then realised no one else really was...

[MinionZombie]

Damn you Neil, stop focussing on the negatives (your negatives anyway ) and just enjoy the over all f*ckin' hard-rockin' awesomeness of it all! Anyway - MY ACTUAL REVIEW IS BELOW: http://deadshed.blogspot.com/2008/07/dark-knight.html Well, more my thoughts, rather than a review...it is a blog after all, not Total Film or something official and awesome.

[Neil]

Damn you Neil, stop focussing on the negatives (your negatives anyway ) and just enjoy the over all f*ckin' hard-rockin' awesomeness of it all! To put things into context, which I have to do with you over and over (and over and over and over.... and over), if those are the only major issues I have with the flick, then what does that tell you!? Maybe that's why I rated it so highly... Now, give me a break because it's starting to feel like I can't make any sort questioning comment about this film without you trying to hump it ps: Do you not think any of those comments had a leg to stand on?

[MinionZombie]

And I'll say again, calm down dear (or I'll tell you I think 300 "sucks"). My point really is, you seem to focus a lot more on the negatives which seem to niggle you a fair bit, more than focus on the positives ... I personally find that odd when you then say how much you liked the movie and scoring it so high ... to me, that's a bit confusing. To me, it never seems that your gripes are all that in context, because to me, it seems like you fixate on your issues with the film so much ... like your whole beef with Wanted, and you'd never even seen it! That's what I'm getting at, not saying you can't have an opinion, it's just to ME anyway, I'd think you're fixating on your downsides of a movie too closely/repeatedly ... because you do repeat your lists of negatives quite frequently, you have to admit. Not trying to piss you off ... ... or hump anything ... ya doirty basturd. And, you could say you take my japes too seriously/out of context ... so right backatcha. Otherwise, the points you listed ... nope, none of those bothered me. I mean, I noticed how Batman's voice was proper growly, but then again he couldn't just talk normal - cos someone would just go "hey, you sound like Bruce Wayne" - who is so famous 'you'd have to go a thousand miles to find someone who didn't know his name' ... also, it fits his dark, scary image, and I reckon it works well when he's proper pissed off asking "WHERE????!!!!" someone is. I dig it. At first, in Batman Begins, I was a bit "eh?" with his voice, but it ultimately didn't bother me anywhere near enough to continue pursuing my "eh?" vibe about it, so now I just dig it. I don't know what the statistics are on people buying new phones, but I assume a lot get bought all the time, and no doubt he was putting them in the new phones - it's Wayne Enterprises, if they can make a Tumbler, or a batsuit, then they can bug new phones before they leave the factory - in fact, it was a good element because it really raised the question about database culture, and essentially CCTV abuse - I thought Lucius' stance against it (even though he had to use it once) was really interesting too. Interestingly, with the sonar thing in his Bat-cowl, my initial observation was "damn, that wouldn't half gimme a headache"...all that flashing and pulsing and such. As for The Joker's plans, nope, again it didn't bother me one bit. If Batman can disappear and appear silently when someone's on a rooftop, or putting out the trash, or he can drive across rooftops in a multi-tonne, super-wide Tumbler, as well as control the Bat-cycle, then the Joker can pull off his hair-brained schemes - he's a villain for crying out loud, if he failed at stuff he'd be rubbish! He's the frickin' Joker! He's a formiddable opponent. Those comments, to me don't have a strong enough leg to stand on, especially as they're self-appointed "minor" gripes (which confuses me as to why you appear to fixate on them ... or at least, fixate on them more than I would with "minor" gripes). Then again, I'm the sort of person who'd rather focus on the awesome/good rather than the bad/hmmm ... unless something is (to me) completely sh*t, then anytime I do happen to talk about it, it'll be a long-winded list of bitching. ... That's all I'm saying ... calm down. Anyway - read my review, all your chat keeps bumping it out of view, ya schemer.