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"Are you the real batman??"

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The Dark Knight is something else entirely from the trilogy it resides in. Batman Begins seems quite dull in comparison now, not a bad film by any means just completely lacking the energy of its sequel.

I can't stand The Dark Knight Rises. Most people seem okay with the film but I couldn't believe it was the same writers as TDK because there's such an insane drop of quality. I can feel my brain cells dying whenever I watch that opening plane scene.
 
inm8num2 said:
"You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength."

Best and most meaningful line in the movie that exhibits why he's the perfect antagonist to Batman. Turns every strength of the protagonist into a weakness.
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When people say Batfleck is too much of a beast compared to LetoJoker and it won't be a believable matchup... I always think of this line.
 
Closer Two said:
The Dark Knight is something else entirely from the trilogy it resides in. Batman Begins seems quite dull in comparison now, not a bad film by any means just completely lacking the energy of its sequel.

I can't stand The Dark Knight Rises. Most people seem okay with the film but I couldn't believe it was the same writers as TDK because there's such an insane drop of quality. I can feel my brain cells dying whenever I watch that opening plane scene.
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I was just going to say the same thing. I think Dark Knight towers above the other Nolan Batmans.

I actually don't think the other two are particularly good movies, while TDK is one of the greatest films of all time.
 
Closer Two said:
The Dark Knight is something else entirely from the trilogy it resides in. Batman Begins seems quite dull in comparison now, not a bad film by any means just completely lacking the energy of its sequel.

I can't stand The Dark Knight Rises. Most people seem okay with the film but I couldn't believe it was the same writers as TDK because there's such an insane drop of quality. I can feel my brain cells dying whenever I watch that opening plane scene.
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Yeah I wonder just what happened between those two movies.

Dark Knight was excellent in almost every way, and then came the movie that spawned baneposting.
 
BocoDragon said:
I have a theory that cinematic universes basically cockblock real superhero "films" like this from happening anymore.
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Yup. It's when directors get to be directors and screenwriters aren't juggling all kinds of connections. My favourite superhero films are not part of some cinematic universe. Blade, Hellboy, Punisher, TDK, Spiderman 2, Xmen 2, Deadpool, all get to form their own identity and self-contained story without needing some cute fanservice or sequel bait.
 
I feel Joker is the thing that makes TDK stand out, but a lot of people tend to ignore the really bad pacing and narrative issues the film has in the back half. From the point Joker gets captured and Two-Face emerges is pretty underwhelming.
 
RIses is just a bad Dark Knight. They are so similar but execution is horrific in Rises. They both jump from set piece to set piece, random coincidences and big leaps of logic. The Dark Knight just hides it better and Legder being so good elevates it much more. Rises is just a terribly sloppy film that would have easily been pretty good if they tightened it up. So much of it is just stupidity that should have been tweaked or removed and brush up the fighting and it's a great film. It reaks of nobody given a damn and wanting it over with sooner rather than later.
 
What's great about it is how raw it feels. With all its camera noises, shaking and odd framing. Suddenly the Joker feels a lot more real. Usually do movies make their "amateur videos" still look and sound rather good.
 
Kinyou said:
What's great about it is how raw it feels. With all its camera noises, shaking and odd framing. Suddenly the Joker feels a lot more real. Usually do movies make their "amateur videos" still look and sound rather good.
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I cringe whenever a webcam in a movie looks like a 4K non-shaky crystal clear display.
 
Wasn't there a poster who started sweating after this scene and had to go to the bathroom to wash his face and calm his nerves?

Maybe I'm thinking of the wrong forum but either way this scene cemented Ledger as the absolute best villain ever. Flawless performance all around
 
How I imagine TDKR if Ledger didn't passed away:

758ed59408d3d81783c41d5e84cfd8df.jpg
 
Watching this and Mark Hamill's work in the Animated Series and Arkham games as Joker just makes Jared Leto's work look like garbage.

Even with its faults, Rises was still better than the majority of MCU movies in my opinion. Chris Nolan truly made a fantastic realistic Batman trilogy. it's a shame no one appears to be getting the Animated Series or Arkham games feel in the DCU yet.

Best wishes.
 
BocoDragon said:
I have a theory that cinematic universes basically cockblock real superhero "films" like this from happening anymore.
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Yeah. It's put a ceiling of quality on this genre that is far below the real gems.

I don't even think Nolan could ever have gotten his TDK trilogy post-avengers.
 
Discotheque said:
Yeah. It's put a ceiling of quality on this genre that is far below the real gems.

I don't even think Nolan could ever have gotten his TDK trilogy post-avengers.
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Oh christ, this is the new excuse is it? It's not DC's fault for making shitty films, it's actually all on a company that had nothing to do with them?
 
RubberJohnny said:
Oh christ, this is the new excuse is it? It's not DC's fault for making shitty films, it's actually all on a company that had nothing to do with them?
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Umm no, I'm talking about the genre as a whole since this whole cinematic universe idea gained steam. I don't think Mcu movies are as hot as some of the great standalones either. Some of you guys get so precious about this stuff lol
 
Such a fantastic movie.

It's a shame I haven't really loved Nolan's work since... TDKR, Inception and Interstellar are all merely okay. Hopefully he'll be able to top it one day.
 
When I saw this opening day, I'll never forget the moment where I realized his Joker was otherworldly.

The pencil scene. As he said "wanna see a magic trick?" my gut reaction was negative, in that I thought he was going to do some hokey thing. But in the moment that he slammed the guys head down on the pencil and yells "taaa daaaa, it's...it's gooone" I was freaking hooked. I wasn't prepared for the coldness of that moment.

Legendary tier performance. RIP Heath.
 
SpaceWolf said:
You imagine The Joker would have been played by Vincent D'Onofrio?
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You really see D'Onofrio? I don't...
I imagine a Arkham Asylum type of movie...Joker would raise hell locked up.
 
If Ledger hadn't passed away I imagine the 3rd movie might have drawn more from Dark Victory - a full city-wide conflict territory war between the mob and other villains (Joker, Scarecrow, etc.) or something to that effect. Might have been interesting to fit that into Bane and Talia's story - maybe the League fuels the mob war to distract people similarly to how they fuel the class warfare in TDKR.

In terms of fitting Joker into TDKR as is (which I absolutely love), hard not to think of this:

MsBVADm.jpg
 
The best part about this scene is that Bale and Caine hadn't seen Ledger's Joker yet, so Nolan was able to get a lot more believable reactions out of them. Ledger has this crazy ease about him that's so natural, and really reflects why Leto's comes off so faux.
 
The Dark Knight is still my favorite superhero movie of all time. Heath Ledger's performance was incredible. Really should give it another watch, it's been a minute.
 
And to think, Nolan wanted us to focus more on the Batman, Dent, and Gordon dynamic and how Dent becomes Two-Face. The Dark Knight could have ended at Two-Face's reveal when Gordon tells him, "I'm sorry," and Dent turns his head and says "No you're not. Not yet." Then everything after that could have been thrown into the next movie. TDK would have ended with the Joker escaping and Two-Face being set-up as the third movie's villain. Perfect cliff-hanger.
 
Rewatched the trilogy again recently and almost shat my pants at "LOOK AT ME".

I still like Begins better but Ledger's and Eckhart's performances really elevate the movie despite its shortcomings. The way he moves and talks... just
wow.png
 
Levito said:
This movie is honestly one of my most memorable experiences in a cinema. I saw it at a midnight showing and it was electric, people were so fucking into it. Everyone stood up and clapped at the end, I've only ever seen that happen once.
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Uhh that american clapping thing in cinemas is so cringe worthy
 
Napalm_Frank said:
Nothing has even gotten close too.
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I don't think any comicbook movie villain will ever top TDK's Joker. You're right that nothing has come even slightly close. I feel like a top 10 list should just be Joker with the other 9 spots empty and everything else on a separate 11-20 list on another page.
 
Mega said:
I don't think any comicbook movie villain will ever top TDK's Joker. You're right that nothing has come even slightly close. I feel like a top 10 list should just be Joker with the other 9 spots empty and everything else on a separate 11-20 list on another page.
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An advantage the Joker has is that "he just is." With almost every other villain, you have to humanize their motivation and reveal some of the reasons for their actions. When you do that, inevitably weaknesses in writing and loose ends creep in. But with the Joker, you just get to play around with chaos and no backstory that has to make sense.
 
One of my favorite, yet mostly overlooked, parts of the film is that the Joker was actually right at the end of the ferry scene. Batman was wrong. The only reason the 'citizen' boat didn't pull the trigger was cowardice - not 'good'. They voted overwhelming to blow up the criminals (like 4 to 1). The only reason Joker's plan didn't work out is because while almost everyone was perfectly willing to approve of killing others, no one on the boat wanted to be the one pulling the trigger.

Hell, in an earlier scene, people were absolutely willing to pull the trigger with a larger population sample size. Three different people, including a cop, tried to kill that Wayne Enterprises accountant motherfucker within like 5 minutes.

And that's even within its own contrived movie writing. In reality, there's basically zero chance no one on either ship attempts to escape or fire off the detonator.
 
I just wish the third act wasn't so terrible. Every time I rewatch TDK I can pinpoint the moment where the movie goes south for me and it's after the hospital blows up. I thought the boat thing was a hokey morality cliche. You can argue that the whole movie is but the rest of the movie does a better job of disguising the cliche.
 
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