The Dark Knight Review

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?

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…

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?

Hi John,

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 :)

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?

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?

Thanks

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

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.

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

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?

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

THE BAD

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.

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?!?!..

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.

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?

FROM ME

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

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

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.

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

Hello John,

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

@krazie835

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.

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

(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!!)

Aw, weak.

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???

John,

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.

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!

Hey John,

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.

John,

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

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

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

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.

@Paul

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.

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.

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Thanks for the review John! Keep up the good (great!) work! Can’t wait for this movie to come out in Sweden …

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

This movie is so awesome ive seen it

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?

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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. =[

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

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.

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………………………………………………….

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…

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’?

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!

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.

you have a good point

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

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!

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

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.

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

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.