Batman: Gotham Knight (2008)
Explore Bruce Wayne's transition from his beginning as a tormented vigilantee to The Dark Knight of a crumbling metropolis with six distinct chapters but intended to be viewed as a whole.
The Dark Knight to begin has an unbelievable all star cast with Heath Ledger, Christan Bale, Morgan Freeman,and Michael Cain. These actors put together a great action film filled with great suspense. This was Heath Ledgers best movie that I know about, this was a great way for him to end his career as well as his extrodanary life. Christan Bale as Batman was perfect for the role, I think he played the best Batman of all and was great at the fighting scenes. Back to Heath Ledger now, I think Heath Ledger played the best Joker of all even over Jack Nicholson. I didnt know that Heath Ledger had it in him to play the Joker. Morgan Freeman play Lucius Fox who a lot like most characters that Morgan Freeman plays is a wise kind good guy. Morgan Freeman played the guy that helped Bruce Wayne(Batman) invent his equiment like his Batmobile and he would help plan out Batmans missions. Michael Cain plays Bruce Wayne's assistant and best friend Alfred. Michael Cain was a key supporting actor and helped keep the film alive. I couldn't find any flaw in this movie so for that it gets a five star rating.
With "Batman Begins," director Christopher Nolan remade the Batman mythos for the big screen, bringing the often lighthearted hero back to the shadows, figuratively and literally. Now, with the origin story out of the way and the obsessive hero established, Nolan delivers with "The Dark Knight," a pulp epic with mythic overtones for the darkest of comic book heroes.
The Batman ( Christian Bale ) has cast an aura of fear across the Mob of Gotham City, a modern metropolis that evokes the gangster thrillers like the Godfather, with a rotten foundation under its magnificent cityscape. He doesn't trust many people in the corruption-riddled halls of justice, but he takes a chance on the man called Gotham's White Knight: crusading new District Attorney Harvey Dent ( Aaron Eckhart ).
Right into the battle comes the Joker ( Heath Ledger ). With stringy hair, greasy makeup over the smile carved into his cheeks and a garish, street-battered suit, Ledger portrays a volatile psychotic nothing like the Joker of Jack Nicholson's showboating exhibitionist in Tim Burton's "Batman." His dialogue is filled of expressions of a scytzophrenic patient full of Vicodine, his tongue darting in and out like a lizard, his posture so at ease in the chaos of his capers it's disturbing.
Nolan delivers the expected plot of a big-screen superhero spectacle, from a sharp bank heist executed (in every sense of the word) with impersonal efficiency by a masked gang, to a high-speed ambush in an underground tunnel, to a nearly incomprehensible rescue operation where the good guys are working at cross-purposes. But "The Dark Knight" is also a tighter, smarter, more focused film than "Batman Begins," and Nolan has become a more effective director since his Memento days.
A number of action scenes were photographed with large-format IMAX cameras so the film could be release in select IMAX theaters. The shift is subtle but effective, filling the enormous IMAX screens with floor-to-ceiling images that take advantage of the size, clarity and visual effect of the format.
Either way, the film's details and grace notes fill the outsize tale with defining moments that ground the characters and elevate the conflicts. There's the cocky attitude of Bruce Wayne at a fundraiser, followed by Wayne's discreetly dumping a glass of champagne like a prop no longer necessary. Or the Joker's lumpy stumble, like a distracted kid trying to get a broken toy to work, while explosions erupt around him. And just when the film seems to wrap itself up, Nolan upends expectations and escalates the stakes and the sacrifices, making the film a little to long but still interesting.
Superhero films have been getting increasingly sophisticated and decidedly darker as they become (for better or worse) a full-fledged genre. With "The Dark Knight," the cinematic superhero spectacle comes closest to becoming modern myth, a pulp tragedy with costumed players and elevated stakes and terrible sacrifices. It's the new gold standard for superhero genre.
Movie Mind Says: Buy It
If You Like This You Should Watch: Batman Begins, Iron Man
Better Than: Spiderman, Superman, X-Men, Blade, Indiana Jones…
Worse Than: No movie from 2008
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine
It’s been a very long time since The Movie Mind has left a movie theater giddy like a little kid and grinning ear to ear. It has been even longer since I left a theater and wanted to go right back in and watch the movie again. That is exactly how I felt after happily playing a part in making The Dark Knight the fastest movie ever to gross over $300 million (10 days, to be exact). This was one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time, and should be a shoe-in for Best Picture at the Oscars. I simply can’t imagine what a better film would look like, and how it could possibly surpass what The Dark Knight was able to accomplish.
Allow me to temper my reaction with my expectations going into this film. I intentionally boycotted the opening weekend due to my 2-hour rule for films; The Dark Knight surpassed that by an easy 30 minutes. I was initially dreading having to sit in a theater for yet another director’s overindulgent, drawn-out feature. While I can say that this movie was definitely 20 minutes too long, it clearly did not spoil my taste for it. The other component to my being skeptical of the raves and high praise for this film billed as the second-coming had to do with the Heath Ledger tragedy. I was uncomfortable from the beginning about how the film was marketed and promoted, no matter how many times the studio talked about “class†and “good tasteâ€Â. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t even sure that Batman was actually in this film until I sat in the theater and saw him for myself. It was just creepy to me how people ogled over Ledger’s last living testament and propped him up on a pedestal, since that’s how they rationalized their sheer morbid curiousity. No matter how much people claim they went to see this in Ledger’s honor, I am saddened to believe the vast majority had a more selfish motivation. Nonetheless, I feel completely comfortable saying that he deserves all the praise he gets…and then some. I can only hope to say he would have still received the same amount of applause if he was still with us. He would have from The Movie Mind.
We return to the streets of Gotham, in better shape than ever thanks to a fear in the eyes of the underworld, provided courtesy of Batman. Christian Bale is stellar once again as the crass socialite Bruce Wayne, and more convincing than ever as the city’s hero of the night. Batman’s lone soldier in the war against Gotham’s underbelly is Lt. James Gordon (Gary Oldman), who has already earned the trust of the hero. They have made real progress cleaning out the crooked cops, politicians, and bad guys but they feel like they can rid Gotham of these criminals for good thanks in large part to hard-hitting District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart). Batman is not sure just yet about Dent’s intentions and trustworthiness, but he will soon find him to be another ally in his small army. Dent’s no nonsense approach to taking down organized crime has made the criminals resort to hiring some “outside help†they didn’t think they wanted, nor were they aware they needed it. Their only hope, as they are so told, is to hire someone who does not believe in honor or rules. A person who only believes in mayhem for the sake of inflicting pain. Aptly put by The Joker himself, he is the “better class of criminal this city deservesâ€Â. While these crime syndicates resort to “outsourcing†their money laundering scheme overseas, they forget Batman has no jurisdiction. He has put their operation in shambles, which leaves a big opening for the wise-cracking madman in makeup to make a forceful statement.
The reason The Joker comes out so successful can be attributed to a brilliant performance by Ledger, clever writing, and the creation of a new breed of bad guy. Ledger takes the fictional character and turns him into a real-life psychopath that relies less on typical comic-book villain tactics, and more on the methods of your modern day serial killers. And somehow he manages to do it with a memorable grin and sadistic wit. I for one do not believe that Ledger’s performance will erase the thought of a smiling Jack Nicholson in the original Batman. While both managed to be thoroughly entertaining and quite witty and funny for bad guys, I just don’t think it’s fair to compare the two. Nicholson played a cartoon character who was as loud a personality as the man himself, while Ledger took the comic-book villain and created a living nightmare. He turned The Joker into the worst combination of criminal and killer and convinced us that he could actually exist in today’s society. In fact, this is what made The Dark Night a great movie. Batman no longer lives in a superhero fantasyland that thrives on an audience of Trekkies. He is a living, breathing, flesh and blood man doing battle with the worst kind of man there is. We believe the story as if it was real, and that is difficult to do in a film based in this genre. It is an even more challenging feat when characters such as Batman and The Joker have been so deeply imbedded in our minds as cartoon characters.
As always, there are a few things that could have been slightly better. I already mentioned the length of the film, and while I wasn’t bored at the least, the story could have ended at the 2-hour mark with the added bonus of a nice leave behind for the next film. I thought the last 30 minutes of the film could have been expanded into a brand new feature down the road, but kudos to the writers for at least attempting to wrap it all up. The biggest mishap was the casting of Maggie Gyllenhaal as duel-love interest Rachel Dawes. I hate to say Katie Holmes outshined anybody, but in this case it was true. Other than that, there was a small error that even IMDB’s goofs section didn’t catch (that noise is The Movie Mind patting himself on the back) where we get a clear shot of Bruce Wayne’s Lamborghini donning an Illinois license plate. Apparently Gotham City moved out to the Midwest. I hear land is much cheaper there. Still, I’m picking at straws here. This was an amazing film that should stand the test of time. Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Prestige) may have maintained a fairly ambiguous profile as a director prior to The Dark Night, but something tells me come Oscar time we might see a lot more of him. You would be crazy for missing this one on the first pass. If it is fortunate enough to break the $600 million record set by Titanic, it will mark a milestone for a film’s financial success matching its cinematic value.
Submitted 7-28-08
Interesting Cameo Appearance: Tommy “Tiny†Lister aka “Zeus†(better known as Debo, the massive bald-headed bully from Ice Cube’s Friday and sequel Next Friday) as a prisoner realizing his fate and making a noble, if unpopular, choice.
Memorable Quotes:
Bruce Wayne: I knew the mob wouldn’t go down without a fight. But this is different. They crossed the line.
Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them, you hammered them. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand.
Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Harvey Dent: The famous Bruce Wayne. Rachel’s told me everything about you.
Bruce Wayne: I certainly hope not.
The Joker: If you’re good at something, never do it for free.
Gotham National Bank Manager: The criminals in this town used to believe in things. Honor. Respect. Look at you! What do you believe in? What do you believe in!
The Joker: I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you… stranger.
The Joker: This town deserves a better class of criminal… and I’m gonna give it to them.
Harvey Dent: You’re Alfred, right?
Alfred Pennyworth: That’s right, sir.
Harvey Dent: You’ve known Rachel her entire life.
Alfred Pennyworth: Not yet, sir.
Harvey Dent: Any psychotic ex-boyfriends I should be aware of?
Alfred Pennyworth: Oh, you have no idea!
Bruce Wayne: You know that day you once told me about, when Gotham would no longer need Batman? It’s coming.
The Joker: And I thought my jokes were bad…
Batman: What did you do?
The Joker: I took Gotham’s white knight, and lowered him to our level. It wasn’t hard. Y’see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little…push.
The Joker: Do I look like a guy with a plan?
Lt. James Gordon: Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.
The Joker: We really should stop fighting, we’ll miss the fireworks!
The Joker: The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules!
The Joker: Wanna know how I got these scars?
The Joker: You’ll see, I’ll show you, that when the chips are down, these uh… civilized people, they’ll eat each other.
The Joker: You see, nobody panics when things go according to plan. Even if the plan is horrifying. If I told people that a gangbanger was going to get shot, or a busload of soldiers was going to get blown up, nobody would panic. Because it’s all part of the plan. But tell people that one tiny little mayor is going to die and everyone loses their minds!
Alfred Pennyworth: I suppose they’ll lock me up as well. As your accomplice…
Bruce Wayne: Accomplice? I’m going to tell them the whole thing was your idea.
James Gordon Jr.: Did Batman save you?
Lt. James Gordon: Actually this time I saved him.
Batman: Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.
Lt. James Gordon: We’ll have to hunt you.
Batman: You’ll hunt me. You’ll condemn me, you’ll set the dogs on me. But that’s what has to happen.
Bruce Wayne: What about getting back into the plane?
Lucius Fox: I would recommend you find a good travel agent.
Bruce Wayne: Without it landing.
Lucius Fox: Now that’s more like it, Mr. Wayne.
Alfred Pennyworth: Know your limits, Master Wayne.
Bruce Wayne: Batman has no limits.
Alfred Pennyworth: But you do, sir.
Bruce Wayne: Well, can’t afford to know them.
The Joker: You just couldn’t let me go could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible aren’t you? You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, and I won’t kill you, because you’re just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
Batman: You’ll be in a padded cell forever.
The Joker: Maybe we can share one. Then we’ll be doubling up the rate this city’s inhabitants are losing their minds.
Bruce Wayne: I need a new suit.
Lucius Fox: Yes, three buttons is a little ’90’s, Mr. Wayne.
Lucius Fox: I’m not talking fashion, so much as function.
Bruce Wayne: Why don’t we put some tables together?
Harvey Dent: I don’t think they’ll let us.
Bruce Wayne: They should…I own the place.
Salvatore Maroni: If you’re trying to intimidate someone, you should pick a better spot. From here, the fall wouldn’t kill me.
Batman: I’m counting on it.
Harvey Dent: The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.
Lucius Fox: Let me get this straight. You think that your employer, one of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world, is spending his nights running around the city beating criminals to a pulp with his bare hands. And your plan is to blackmail this person? Good luck.
Batman: Why do you want to kill me?
The Joker: Kill you? I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No, no, you… you complete me.
Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They’ll hate you for it. But that’s the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.
The Joker: Let’s turn the clocks back. A year ago, these cops and lawyers wouldn’t dare cross any of you. I mean, what happened? Did your - did your balls drop off? Hmm?
When I went in the theater to see this movie I had every belief that it was going to be made as well as Batman Begins and I was wrong. It surpassed Batman Begins by a long shot. The Dark Knight is the kind of movie that starts off fast paced and never lets up. Everything about this movie was on point with how it was supposed to be done from spectacular action sequences and stunts to the special effects. Even the performances from the power house cast never disappoints. The performance to be acknowledged the most is Heath Ledger and not because of the fact that he passed away earlier this year but because he stole every scene he was in with how he took on that role. For many parts of the movie I couldn't even recognize him through the darkness of the character and the makeup but thats what made it a great performance. He brought a darker edge to the role and made it work from his great dialogue that was written for him to his surprising twist to role itself. Quoting Richard Roeper and only because I agree with him a hundred percent "Epic...Heath Ledger creates a joker who is one of the most memorable screen characters of the decade." Then you have Christian Bale returning to the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman providing an even stronger performance for the part than in the prior Batman film. Also I cannot forget the veteran actors Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman who add more depth to the film and necessary dialogue to move the story on. Also definitely worth mentioning are Gary Oldman who plays Lt. Gordan and Aaron Eckhart who take their roles and make you feel for them and believe in them. Gary Oldman does such a good job acting that you forget he is acting and Aaron Eckhart playing Harvey Dent allows for you to see what happens to a person to change them from a person doing good to a person blinded by rage because of what has happened in his life.
Now the story is about the Joker and his plot to expose Batman's identity by murdering certain people everyday until he reveals himself. Now that is just a very small part as to what the story is really about but to tell you the story wouldn't do the film the justice it deserves. Lets just say that the movie's story goes into the psychological parts and shows that even by doing good bad will happen. It allows us to see that even superheroes are capable of feeling and dealing with the consequences of their actions. Now I want to stop because I am not one to spoil a movie for anyone so just go see it because if you are a fan of comic book made movies this is along the best. You won't be disappointed with it. This movie is probably the best three hours you will spend in the theaters this summer if not this year.
AhMazing! I seriously was not expecting this to be that good, considering i'm the person who gave "Batman Begins" only 2 stars. This movie was beyond fantastic! It's darker and more violent than the first, but better in every possible way. There are a lot of explosions and such in this film, but none of them are unnecessary- its all for a reason. While the first movie only really explains how he became Batman, the second is more a fight movie: good guy vs. bad guy. I think Christian Bale is a nice, clean-cut looking guy, who has the acting chops but not a whole lot of personality. Maybe it's because i'm comparing him to someone like Robert Downey Jr. in "Iron Man" which i recently saw, who has butt-loads of personality. Anywho, the main star and light is shown all on the Joker. And as we all know, this is played by Heath Ledger. I never really recognized his death with much importance, only for the fact i have never heard of him... until now. After seeing this movie, Heath Ledger has instantly jumped to one of my favorite actors. I now am anxious to see everything he has played in. He reminds me of Johnny Depp in how he gets absorbed into his characters, except he is in a young guy's body like say... Matt Damon. Anyway, he does a TERRIFIC job and it makes the joker creepy, mysterious, scary, and hilarious all in one. Other knock out performances come from Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and one other guy that i cannot come up with at the moment... my mind went blank.
Considering i hated the first movie, and absolutely loved this movie (one of my favorites) says alot. It's that good. The chase scenes are absolutely ecstatic to watch, the whole film is shot gorgeously and richly, their are many doses of humor throughout (something that the first film lacked), and the movie is so great at building the excitement. It may only be a tad bit too long, but by that i mean a "tad". Even though it is a "tad" long, you won't get bored... it's very exciting. And Scary! There were many times where i jumped out of my seat or covered my eyes. There are also some terrific visual scenes with the "Bat-pod" which makes your heart flutter because it's just that riveting. I didn't think there would be anything over the summer that would beat out the good superhero quality of"Iron Man", but this definitely is a competition now. It's a great film, and definitely going to be one of the biggest- if not hugest- movie of the summer.
But really my main point, is that this all should go to Ledger. He's fantastic, given the fact he was only 28 when he made this. His death is tragic. He's a huge talent. The trailers definitely built up the anticipation. Heath Ledger has been in the spotlight a TON lately- mostly for the fact, that this could be an Oscar worthy performance. They have been saying that he could get nominated for an Oscar, and i'm guessing the Oscar would go to his family. No matter what, Ledger must be recognized and remembered in some big way- he's a great actor, from what i've seen of this movie, and am totally excited to see his line up of previous movies.
YOU'RE THE MAN HEATH!!!
