As promised, there is The Movie Blog’s DVD commentary for The Dark Knight. I’m joined in this special “production” by Soul Video and Kristopher Tapley (Robert Sanchez got held up and we had to do it without him).
Now remember… this isn’t like a Director’s commentary. We don’t dish all the inside information on the film or how they made it… it’s just s couple of guys sitting around talking about their thoughts and opinions on the film as we’re watching it… and hopefully as you watch it with us (make sure you have your DVD of The Dark Knight ready).
So go ahead and download the commentary here.
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I’m pretty sure Maroney dies in the car crash because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. I think it would be nice if ever once in a while throughout the movie you woudl stick one of the mics near the TV for a little bit like every time no one at all is talking.
Um, when I downloaded this it only downloaded 20 seconds of it…?
Uh, yeah, he would have seen “monster” Batman because he was being held by the friggin’ throat. And later, the cops took him into custody. No access to whatever antidote he might have.
You are STRETCHING, my friend. These arguments, going round in circles, they don’t compute. Let…it…go.
John, no offense to you, but when you talk about the implausibility of Batman bending the shotgun, it gets on my nerves! Batman does NOT bend the barrel of the shotgun with his bare hand! He uses the pneumatic mangling device. The device is a high pressurized cutting device. He uses this same device to cut through the van. It does NOT bend the shotgun, it CUTS it, giving the illusion that the BATMAN is strong enough to bend it. There is an artilce on this device in one of the previous Entertainment Weekly magazines.
If that were the case, Kristopher, that would have been a point in Batman Begins. Crane would have not seen “monster” Bat-Man (although he did have some frame of mind to control his own fears over his own hallucination)
Surely you understand that Scarecrow would have an antidote to his own poison, Darren.
you know john nolan could have purposley have eckhart release false information on two-face’s fate knowingly completely we would believe it, and i remember michael bay doing this exact same concept concerning transformers 2 except nolan just isnt informing us on what hes planning.
That’s even worse, Kristopher- because if it was a few months, Scarecrow would still be a bit more nuts than he was- and that still doesn’t hide the fact that Scarecrow was (thought to be) the last Arkham escapee from Begins.
Where do I get “years”? I stand corrected. Looking through cast & crew interviews, the timeline between films is roughly six months.
In doing some quick work on finding that answer- my heart sank a little when I found out another. How did Alfred and Bruce Wayne and Fox set all of ‘Batman’s shit up’? It’s explained in the novelization of Gotham Knights, and I’ll apply it here since it makes sense:
The damage caused by the riots/Ghul’s plan had left various buildings damaged. This included the Wayne Tower and the building that has Wayne’s penthouse apartment. Hence during “repairs”, modifications were done. This -and the six month timeline- would also explain why Wayne Manor wasn’t entirely rebuilt yet. The city rebuilding (or remodification) came first.
So why does it bug me a tad? Because those answers are given in/connected to the animated tie-in spinoff prequel. If that’s considered canon, then Batman has already faced Killer Croc and Deadshot, as well came close to re-capturing Scarecrow :(
Thank God SOMEBODY did a commentary for this movie:)
Kris’s mike was either not hooked up or he wasn’t close enough to it near the end of the movie because I could barely hear him at times. Other than that, it was fun, especially your running joke about Alfred having to set all of Batman’s shit up.
COuldn’t disagree more? There is nothing — NOTHING subtle about the dialogue I’m talking about. Unless you have some other definition of subtle.
Also, The Dark Knight is not “a few years” after the event. A few months at best, but hardly a few years. I’d say it’s maybe a month later.
great commentary you guys :) 2 thumbs up listening to this commentary is the and watching the movie make the experiance a lot better. hey john when is the next movie commentary going to be and what movie will it be?
Aside from a few static glitches I found… the static glitches and occasional faded out voices to be more entertaining. No, I’m joking.
It was a bit more painful than that. I actually turned it off just before the ferry sequence, and simply watched the rest of the film (again).
But there was at least one surprise for me. It’s when John said the (faked) Gordon death caught him by surprise and he actually thought that Nolan & co. took a bold leap and killed off Gordon. I know myself and a few other folks was sold for a good ten minutes on the idea (about the time they let the audience off the hook) but it was the first time I heard John actually say that too.
But, dare I say, Kristopher Tapley kept good on his promise “You and I are going to go into the night with a bottle on this film” but this was still a letdown. I lost count over how many times you and SoulVid rambled on and on without commenting on the scene. When you started talking about Aaron Eckhart, you couldn’t recall his name…and then there was that insane, ludicrious comment about the actor who in the film, suggesting he ‘is intimidated’ by Bale and Ledger or something along those lines, and I said aloud, simply, what the hell? A double what the hell to Tapley when he said some of the dialog was nearly ‘on the nose’ (I could not disagree more) I will give props to John that the late Ledger was hit and miss- although I thought he was fine in The Brothers Grimm myself.
As you know I had agreed on the “waste” of The Scarecow. There’s something else, however, that escaped me the first time I saw Dark Knight, and now, after seeing it again, I equally was disappointed that John, Kristopher nor Soul commented on it. I’ll give the edge to John because Scarecrow wasn’t needed, but here’s the thing, and John or Kristopher chime in on this thought of mine if you please:
At the end of Begins, Crane, having had a bad reaction to his own drug, became more insane and (despite being zapped) a bit more threatening (aside from the Kid’s POV) it seemed to me that he is operating under a “normal, average” street thug-dealer. Yet it took *this* long for Batman to catch him a few years after the events from the first film.
Are there any other LOS guys hanging around Gotham? It never was addressed in the film.
Again, I’m sorry int’l friends.
I was disappointed in this commentary overall.
I miss Doug. Oh how I miss Doug.
Hi John,
I’m probably mistaken but didn’t you once stated that if a big blockbuster movie got nominated for Best Pic, more people will tune into the Oscars.
So my question is, if the Dark Knight do get nominated, or just the fact that Heath Ledger would get nominated, do you think those factors would pull in big ratings?
I’ve just listened to it and it was fantastic so thanks once again. Plus thanks to Soul for giving me a shout out. I knew he would :)
Good point, Dan.
Susan: I think John was talking about the guy to the right of the “what’s the difference” guy, the one with his mask off. That’s who I was talking about anyway, and he’s hanging his head, looking dazed, etc. As for being high, tough to combat such an intelligent retort as that, so I’ll leave you to your world.
As for the loose cannon going by “SOMEONE,” uh, sorry. I didn’t see the Jokerized trailer. Sue me. But I’ve seen it now, and my life feels much more complete.
Thanks a hell of a lot guys. This is lovely. You’re not giving us the option to donate though John? Cause I will y’know. For a SoulVideo commentary track, i’ll give you some dollars.
LOVED the commentary! Thank you so much John, Kris and Soul/other John!
I cant get it to download, I click on the link, and then it just loads forever and never pops anything up….
The filmmaking in the dark knight is on another level compared to X-Men 2. If you think X-Men 2 is better, you’re probably high.
…for being a couple of guyz running a movie website and shit…some times you make yourself look like a complete ignorants…there is a jokerized freeking trailer and yes it exist…also when I read your first reviews and comments of the movie, you were talking shit about how batman can cut open metal…wtf?! are u sure u watched the movie?!
still I visit your site and check your reviews :) but seriously…do your job…
the dvd commentary is good and hilarious! (dent is a pussy!, remember when I shocked out in my own party?!) haha
Let me make some corrections, John.
The Batman that gets sprayed in the face is not the same Batman that says “What’s the difference between you and me?”
The Armenian gangster you described is not Armenian. He’s Chechnian.
Hey John
great commentary but i have to say
“about same amount of force it takes to bend barrell of a gun”
Noo! he uses a piece of equipment in his hand,m you can hear the sound of it, same logic as the van ripping bit
anyway grat com.
“Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I’m a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just… do things.”
The Joker isn’t being hypocritical, he’s lying to Harvey. Remember, he is trying to turn Harvey into someone evil and he will do anything possible to do that.
“I took Gotham’s white knight and I brought him down our level. It wasn’t hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!”
Thanks, John. Really enjoyed the transformers commentary… Hoped you would do one for the Dark Knight.
good stuff
fyi, there actually IS a deleted scene that was filmed concerning what happened to the Joker post-partycrashing. theres some stills floating around and the script has it included (very short scene with the joker and his getaway driver)
That was really enjoyable guys. Thanks so much. It felt like you guys were in the room with us watching the flick and eating those Doritos. Please do more!
here is the Jokerized trailer you don’t remember….
https://www.themovieblog.com/2008/04/joker-defaced-dark-knight-trailer-surprise
I think he has a machine in his hand that bends the gun barrel for him.
Can’t wait to hear your guys’s commentary. Too bad you can’t live conference Doug into the commentary. First I need to get a copy of Dark Knight though.
Dennis
I can’t find the main Commentary page where I can download your other ones. Where can I find that page? There used to be a link to it but not anymore.