I loved (loved!) Batman Begins. Never was a fan of the previous Batman movies (Keaton, Clooney, Kilmer... phooey). Too campy and cartoonish for me. But Christian Bale's performance as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins -- and the way that story was told, less gadgets and more psychology -- was absolutely riveting to me; the true portrayal of a darkly, deeply disturbed man who is not quite a good guy but who leans that way most of the time.

I have tickets for The Dark Knight in an hour... I'm so stoked. Rarely do I go out for a movie, usually not that interested and just put it in the Blockbuster queue... but watching the trailers, seeing Heath Ledger's portrayal in glimpses, and reading the reviews... I can't wait!

I'll post again once it's in the brain. Anybody else seen it yet??

Oh, here's the trailer. AWESOME.

I haven't heard about this movie.

Just kidding.

Let us know how it was.

We saw it this afternoon. It was great. Heath Ledger was astounding. I hope he is recognized posthumously for a great performance. Fantastic chase scenes and special effects...especially the facial work on Aaron Eckert. Wow.

Karen and I just got home from the theater. Wow! Definitely my favorite of the series. A real shame Heath Ledger isn't alive to get his Oscar.

I had gone to a midnight showing and am ready to see it again.

I love Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Heath Ledger's performance was amazingly creepy and funny.

Astounding performances. I know many will say that Heath Ledger is just getting attention because of his untimely death, but this performance stands on its own whether he's alive or not. Wow. And that the writers/director in these last two films have been willing to bypass the cartoon mindset for this depth of cerebral engagement is impressive as well. To that end, both Ledger and Bale seriously pack the one-two punch in this flick. The Batman and the Joker are two deeply disturbed, conflicted characters with amazing charisma and unrelenting focus on their respective beliefs. I found myself pulling for and hating both of them at the same time.

If bad guys could be that bad, and good guys could be that bad, too... then I think crime would be a lot more interesting. Top marks on this film, go see it!

OK folks, here's a movie that Troy and I are both actually giving a thumbs up! Y'all better go check it out.

Ok....saw it, loved it, blah blah blah. Even gave it 4.5 stars on my movie blog. But let me ask everyone this. Why did everyone like Heath Ledger as the Joker so much? He seemed a bit two dimensional to me. Granted, the entire charachter of the Joker was pretty two dimensional in this film, but I just wasn't impressed with Ledger. So, why is everyone else saying he did such a good job? I am honestly asking here.

EDIT:
Ok, I think my main problem was the joker seemed like a real person. Like "what if he was real. Where as in the comic, he never seems real. He's always seemed a bit cartoonish. And if this is the direction the DC films are going, well the upcoming justice league movie might not work so well. Sorry, I'm kind of a comic book Geek here.

Oh, wait. Keith likes it? Maybe I'm thinking of some other film....

**********SPOILERS ALERT*************

Not sure what "two dimensional" means in this context? The reason I'm gushing over Heath Ledger's performance is because he made it real. The cartoonish version has been done and, imho, can be done a lot more easily than what he did. He made the joker into a real person, and in fact someone that I actually agreed with in a couple of his ramblings-ons. The bit about (paraphrasing) "we freak out when a mayor is killed, but when troops are killed or convicts die, it's all according to plan and we're ok with it" had me nodding my head... and I realize that the script writers made that happen, but Ledger made me believe it. When he spoke, to himself or to others, I didn't get the feeling he was showing off... I got the feeling he was being himself, being The Joker. To me, that's a good feat of acting, to take a character like that, as sinister as that and who has never existed in that extreme or with that intelligence (and will never, gladly), and make him real and believable.

What else can I say about it? FWIW, I think Christian Bale does the same as Batman... easy to believe that this obsessive billionaire wakes up thinking the same thing he goes to sleep thinking. He puts on the airs as the playboy, w/ women on his arm, and playing dumb to city events, but when no one's looking he dumps his champagne, because even that indulgence is "not in the plan." Diametric opposite of The Joker, and well-played.

Re-reading this, I guess I like this movie much more than any I've seen in a while. Hope you kids enjoy it!

Agreed. The writers knew there was no sense in trying to out-camp Jack Nicholson's portrayal, and that version of the character isn't very well suited to the "new" more complex Batman that made his debut in Batman Begins anyway. Heath Ledger was up to the challenge of convincingly portraying a Joker (i.e., wild card) as opposed to a Jokester, and I also found his performance wonderfully natural. It's true that his character bears little resemblance to the original DC comics version, but then neither does this Batman/Bruce Wayne.

I'm not quite as enthusiastic about Christian Bale, but I think he's as good as anyone else has been in the Batman role (and way better than Kilmer). The villians have been the main attraction for me in all the Batman movies.

Well, this movie is about the Dark Knight, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller in the late 80s. This Batman is a whole different animal than the original, and the movie was very true to that concept.

On the film itself, I thought overall, it was success. It did seem a bit longish for about 45 minutes of the last 60, and Heath Ledger was good, however, he was not Oscar good. If anyone was the star of this film, it was Johnathan and Christopher Nolan, because it was the plot that ultimately carried it. Without a good script, this movie would have been all style at the cost of substance, IMO. The Nolans succeeded at bringing all the necessary elements together, and that was what really made the movie good.

Yeah, that's Tim Burton for yah (movies 1 & 2)

But I do agree with you concerning Bale's rendition of Batman. He was very good, and this one is just as good, or so I've heard.

Troy, I find this an interesting statement. If I remember correctly from a History Channel series about the origins of comics, Batman's beginnings were quite dark and not cartoonish at all. The story lines were, as I said, quite dark and often tip-toeing on the line. It wasn't until the 60's when TV made it into camp that things really changed. Again, I THINK that's what this program outlined. It's been a while since I saw it.

I didn't expect to like Batman Begins, but I do like Christian Bale, so I rented it one evening and was astounded by the depth of it and just how much I liked it. I wasn't planning on seeing TDK until rental time (I'm waiting for the new X-Files), but I may just have to catch it sometime this week after the crowds die down. It looked like the place was packed yesterday afternoon.

Speaking of Bale, the first movie of his that I remember seeing was The Machinist. If you haven't seen it, add it to your NetFlix list or rent it elsewhere. His performance is outstanding! If I remember right, he had to loose lots of weight throughout the film because of his character's issue/s and then had to regain quickly for Batman Begins.

Cher

Interesting how the very reason I thought the joker was done badly was the very reason why many of you liked him. I will say this, I don't see this Joker as a resemblance of the late 80's joker. Then again, its been a while since I've read "The Killing Joke" and "A death in the family." Maybe I'll have to check them out from the library and read them before I see the movie again.

Oh, and don't worry. I wasn't hoping for a Joker like in the 80's film or the 60's tv series (shudders). I do think a little bit of the Joker from Batman: The Animated series might of given me a bit more satisfaction though.

Really? What about Empire of the Sun? WWII flick, early Spielberg directing, Bale was a child (12-ish years old). John Malcovich was a nobody, many other names you'll be suprised to see. Bale was the main character, and absolutely nailed it (he won several young artist awards for it in fact). Epic, gorgeous, important, horrific movie... if you haven't seen it, then do so.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092965/

I just saw this movie this afternoon. A very worthy successor to Batman Begins IMO. Once again, excellent acting, excellent cinematography, and really really cool toys. What sets this current Batman apart from the one in the original 4 movies is that we get to see him wrestle with his choices. He isn't just a psychotic in a suit, he's a thinking and caring man as well. So this movie and the last allow us to see him and how he deals with the choices he is faced with. I'm already looking forward to the next film.

As far as the Joker is concerned, I thought Ledger did a good job. I wasn't sure he was the right actor to be cast in the role quite frankly when I originally heard that he was cast in the role of the Joker. But he did a good job of making the Joker human, and yet chillingly inhuman. A truly worthy antagonist for Batman. I don't know whether Heath Ledger's performance was Oscar worthy. But, as his last one, its certainly one he and his children can be proud of.

Aaron, I've seen the Animated series and quite frankly I think this was the appropriate way to go as far as what Ledger did with his character. Making him more human and yet not made his character more effective than trying to imitate an animated character. They already made one horrible movie in which they tried to make all the characters imitate Batman the TV show(Batman IV). That failed miserably. Ledger took the role and made it his own, as did the director Chris Nolan and the writers.

Oh, yeah, I had TOTALLY forgotten that one. Thanks for the reminder, Troy. I'll have to find a copy and watch it again.

Wow. Just saw this. Couple observations, fwiw...

1. I am with Jim on the whole "I wasn't sure he was the right actor to be cast in the role quite frankly when I originally heard that he was cast in the role of the Joker" thing...

2. I figured that Ledger would get more love for his performance than he perhaps deserved because of his sad and untimely death.

Whatever, I'm an idiot (on both counts). This was a great, great performance in a very good movie, IMHO.

As far as whether his joker was better or worse than others... All I know is he scared the crap out of me and my daughters. I found his portrayal to be unsettling and unpredictable. Exactly what I was hoping for out of his role.

3. And, as Keith said, gonna be a shame he's not alive to claim his Oscar.

Quote of the night: "I'm officially afraid of clowns" - Rachael (my 12 year old).

Reading thru these posts, a couple of comments:

******* SPOILERS************

• I agree the movie was about 20-30 minz too long. On the other hand, there were by-stories that didn't get resolved... so I anticipate the director's cut being longer still. And that's very welcome, thanks.
• The two-face character was the chink in the armor, to me. Not a bad story, not badly acted, and GREAT make-up... but I think I didn't "feel" that character nearly as much. Maybe some of the character development was edited for time, dunno... but it could have been more believable, how all that progressed, imho.
• Regarding Oscars.... who cares? I mean, Marisa Tomei got an Oscar for My Cousin Vinny. Denzel Washington got passed over in Glory, and Courage Under Fire, and then gets it for Training Day??? It's a glam award, from people who vote from some other pool than pure talent or even pure performance. Whether or not Ledger gets an Oscar neither adds to nor diminishes from this performance for me. He became The Joker. For my money, he is The Joker, henceforth. 'Nuff said.

It's a rare thing that a movie that has such expectations built up over months and months actually delivers. This movie didn't simply live up to the buzz, but far surpassed any and all expectations I had of it. Even more so, it was not just an adaptation, another comic book or graphic novel movie, but a film that stands on the merits of its own creation.

It was a piece of art, and it was beautifully done.

I shied away from the more blatant press clips about the movie, but did participate in some of the gorilla advertisings on the internets. I've been excited for the movie since Batman Begins, but the intensity of my anticipation sky-rocketed when the first clips of Heath Ledger's performance were broadcast across the 'nets. And honestly, what made the movie more than any other aspect was Ledger's complete possession of the Joker. Like Troy said, he was the Joker and forever will be in my mind.

It's also quite refreshing to see an adaptation in the hands of a capable writer and director. Kudos to Christopher and Jonathan Nolan - for making a couple of great films. To do so with such an iconic character as Batman must add to the fervor and intensity that they've had to work through. You're never going to please everyone, especially when there's an already established "fan base" to please, but I've heard nearly nothing but praise for the work they've done on the Batman films, and IMO they deserve every bit of it.

I can't wait to watch it again.

editz cuz I caint spellz

Maybe not... but you sure can write. VERY well said (and not just because I agree). You should team up with Ebert!

awww shucks, thanks Troy! heh.

Last night ... woah! Ledger was fabulous. Hopefully, the Nolans will respect the role and the character, and they'll move on to other villains, in the future. What a movie!

You know, that didn't occur to me.... seems obvious now that Joker was left open-ended for Ledger's reprisal, but I agree: I hope it stops there.

I liked the movie. However, I found myself getting bored with "yet another bomb" at various points throughout the film. I also thought it was surprisingly unrealistic and campy when the joker was in the nurse's white dress in the hospital. Was the assumption that he stopped off at a Halloween costume store before arriving at the hospital, or that there'd been a time warp back 50 years before all nurses wore scrubs?

Well, he is the Joker, and he does wear costumes 24/7, so it wasn't too far removed for me to accept. I did think the entire Dent/Two Face subplot was a bit peripheral though. For anyone reading the comics/graphic novels, you already know who Harvey Dent is the first time you see him, so you spend the whole movie waiting for Two Face to "reveal himself," and by the time it happens, it's just this after thought tacked on to the end of an already strong main plot. I wonder what the movie would have been like if they had saved the Two Face material for the next movie?

i just saw it on an iMax screen and thought it was fan-f**king-tastic. i liked it in every way, great storyline, very well acted (i think ledger was incredible and yes, deserves oscar consideration), amazingly photographed and cool special effects. my only complaint is that it was that it felt a little long, but as i told zach, not sure what i would have cut so i guess that's not really a very valid complaint. i really enjoyed it.