Quoted from Michael Myers It's 250 material. Believe me.

I'm gonna need you to go ahead and explain this to me.  Why is this 250 material?  Seriously, I really want to know, since it obviously has enough going for it to make you paint your face like The Joker.

This is something that's kind of sitting on my mind at the moment.  Obviously it's not better than the two movies you mentioned, but I highly doubt it's even worthy of a 30-40 spot.

Actually, I don't even know why I'm arguing this point cause fucking WALL-E is ranked 23.

The list is a joke.

How many superhero films have won Oscars for acting and performances? Why should this one be any different?

If he was still alive today this film would have got an 8 and no Oscar buzz.

Maybe they will implement a new award "Best Villain in a Superhero Movie" because every other month is a new superhero movie anyway.

Quoted from Shelton I'm gonna need you to go ahead and explain this to me.  Why is this 250 material?  Seriously, I really want to know, since it obviously has enough going for it to make you paint your face like The Joker. This is something that's kind of sitting on my mind at the moment.  Obviously it's not better than the two movies you mentioned, but I highly doubt it's even worthy of a 30-40 spot. Actually, I don't even know why I'm arguing this point cause fucking WALL-E is ranked 23. The list is a joke.

I didn't paint my face like the joker just for a picture. I'm not THAT weird. It was for one of our youtube videos when I spoofed it.
Well, it's top 250 material because the experience at the theater was so great. This isn't like any other summer blockbuster. It has something about it that is very hard to explain. If you go see it in the theaters, you'd know what I am trying to tell you.
The acting is pretty good, minus Bale's Batman preformance kind or wasn't great.
I don't know how to explain why it's top 250 material. But you are right, the list is a huge joke. And like someone else said, it's not a list of the top 250 greatest movies, it's a list of the top 250 most popular movies by a vote.
I don't pay attention to the list like it's God, but it's worth being on that list. And it is definately in my top 100 favorite movies at the moment.

I saw this at the Danish premiere last night and went in expecting something absolutely stunning, yet I was ready for a sore disappointment (all hype considered).

Amazingly this film doesn't disappoint. It really IS amazing. Some people complain the film was too long. I say it was too short. It could've used 10-15 more minutes to bolster the two-face plot and more importantly to give the film some down time.

That's really my only real gripe with the film. It never slows down, not even when it should. First after Gordon is "killed", but especially after Rachel dies, the movie really need to take it easy and show some grief. Bruce has one scene where he's kinda sad, but I never got the impression his best friend/love of his life was just taken from him. I think only 5-6 minutes later he's up and about joking about lamborghinis and shit. That sort of lessened the emotional impact for me, and I'm hoping for a 3 hour director's cut with more characterization.

Other than that, this movie really works on so many levels. While it doesn't transcend its comic book origins it does push the boundaries fo what is possible to do with a comic.

Oh and Heath Ledger is one of the 3 best villains of all time. His performance does deserve an Oscar and is comparable to last year's Daniel Plainview or Anton Chigurgh.

Minor annoyances are the sub-par acting smong some of the lesser parts such as various gangsters, but overall this is a solid 9/10 for me. Not quite the masterpiece, but a truly thrilling and cathartic experience that absolutely deserves to be in the top 250. Maybe even the top 50.

For me it was underwhelming.

What the hell was with the CREAKY dialogue in the opening scene ?

Thug A : gee this Joker we work for sure is creepy!
Thug B : Yeah, i hear he wears makeup to scare people...

OMG...I almost choked on my popcorn. If someone here started out a Batman fan script with that dialogue...I can imagine how it'd be ripped to shreds.

I will say it's better than Batman Begins, which was maybe my least favorite superhero movie ever. It's a good movie but not a great one. Harvey Dent's fall from grace worked very well, mainly due to the fabulous Eckhart. But - Joker refers to himself as an "agent of chaos" with no plans, yet...everything he does would require tremendous planning.

Bale's funny Batmask-Is-Too-Tight voice is still awful. But overall I do admire the effort to make a crime movie that just happened to have Batman as a character. Ledger was good, MUCH better than Nicholson. The movie was solid but a victim of hype. It's flagged as The Second Coming, but falls short of the mark for me. On a 1-10 scale, give it a 7.

Quoted from mikep For me it was underwhelming. What the hell was with the CREAKY dialogue in the opening scene ? Thug A : gee this Joker we work for sure is creepy! Thug B : Yeah, i hear he wears makeup to scare people... OMG...I almost choked on my popcorn. If someone here started out a Batman fan script with that dialogue...I can imagine how it'd be ripped to shreds. I will say it's better than Batman Begins, which was maybe my least favorite superhero movie ever. It's a good movie but not a great one. Harvey Dent's fall from grace worked very well, mainly due to the fabulous Eckhart. But - Joker refers to himself as an "agent of chaos" with no plans, yet...everything he does would require tremendous planning. Bale's funny Batmask-Is-Too-Tight voice is still awful. But overall I do admire the effort to make a crime movie that just happened to have Batman as a character. Ledger was good, MUCH better than Nicholson. The movie was solid but a victim of hype. It's flagged as The Second Coming, but falls short of the mark for me. On a 1-10 scale, give it a 7.

While disagree vastly withn your final assessment of the film, I actually do concede certain points.

Yes, the dialogue in the beginning was incredibly on the nose. IN fact there were several places where I thought they could've trusted the audience a bit more to get the gist of what's going on without having to turn to a "holy exposition, Batman!" line.

As for the Joker having plans. I took his agent of chaos as meaning basically he has no agenda, he's not furthering any cause, not that he just woke up this morning and thought "I'm gonna put on make-up and rob a bank today."

The best example of his planning is when he breaks out of jail. An intricate plan. But all his plans never lead anywhere. He robs the bank to...well no reason really. As Alfred says "Just to watch the world burn." I thought one of the strokes of genius in the film was his repeated explanation for how he came to be this twisted maniac. The first time I though "oh great, another villain forged by childhood trauma" but then when he changes the story the next time it dawns on the audience that there is no why. There is no causation, no motivation, no end to justify the means. For the joker the means justify the means.

To me that makes him infinitely more fascinating than any comic book villain in any other movie.

The film is definitely not without its flaws, it's not perfect in anyway, but I think maybe your disposition towards the franchise in general (seeing BB as the worst superhero movie, which, all things considered, is a rather controversial statement) might make this an almost impossible liking for you.

Well, not actually impossible for me to like it, my post reads. a bit harsh, but yeah for two years I had zero interest in seeing TDK, but the wild hype on this sold me, and MOST of the things I felt were wrong with BB weren't present here. I went in really wanting to like it, and Nolan's comments about being inspired by Mann's HEAT were what finally made me go.

It's not like, after the first Shrek I refuse to submit to any more of that torture lol.

It was encouraging that despite the comments and whisperings about this capturing the spirit of Frank Miller's Batman, in fact I found it quite the opposite, to be thoughtful and layered for the most part. 7 of 10 might be a bit low, let's say 8 of 10 in all honesty. The Batman voice thing won't go away after all. The opening and some of Joker's end speech were  a bit much and really the only false notes.  Two Face was great, I liked the bait and switch with Dent and Rachel ( wasn't that her name?) , for me that worked well. Batman's brutality came off nicely.

haha yeah the Batman voice is kinda...jarring.

If it wasn't for the fact that this was obviously a mainstream film I would've wanted the film to go much darker in places. I would like to have seen the joker be right about human nature. I thought the two boats were wired so that if any of them pushed the button they would blow themselves up. I would also maybe have liked to see Harvey Dent actually killing Gordon's son haha. That would make Gordon's character really interesting for the next film.

I'm still waiting for the extended NC17 cut.

Another really cool thing to do for nr. 3, although purists will hate it, is actually make Batman semi-villainous. At the end of this one he sees himself become the villain as Dent predicted (who died a hero) so obviously he will be a hated figure in the next film, he will be hunted. What if he finally stops caring about the people of Gotham and starts to use his alter-ego for his own gains, personal vendettas and such, but not for Gotham anymore which he has come to despise. What if the villain in the next film actually starts out as someone who sees Batman as the villain?

That could be an incredibly dark and alienating film. I love it.

I got to see the film today. I was blown away. Heath's performance was  outstanding. It got me interested in reading the magazines Heath used as a source for the character. He's really a tough opponent. The opening sequence at the bank charactizes the joker. Too bad he won't reprise the role for the sequel. It would be good to see the joker come back in the 3.  

The story was really good. I liked the interesting developments between Two Face, Gordon, Fox. I'm surprised that the joker and two-face talked to each other. Joker as a mentor, lol.

But I do agree with Death Monkey that it should have went a bit slower. It was too much information to cram into a single film. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

If their is a sequel, I can't wait to see it. Hopefully, they bring Two Face back. I'm curious with which villain though. Some say, the Riddler. I'm interested in how they can turn him dark.  
  
Gabe

Quoted from Mr.Ripley Too bad he won't reprise the role for the sequel. It would be good to see the joker come back in the 3.

I was thinking about that, and I really hope they include a joker in the third, and that people will let them recast it.  Ledger did an amazing job, but it's not like he's the only one that would be able to do it.  I think that most people would go crazy at the idea of recasting the joker, but, I mean, come on.  Why so serious?

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's too great a character to simply throw away due to a tragedy....  

Quoted from Mr.Ripley If their is a sequel, I can't wait to see it. Hopefully, they bring Two Face back. I'm curious with which villain though. Some say, the Riddler. I'm interested in how they can turn him dark.

I'd be interested to know if there's any truth to that... But the riddler could TOTALLY be dark.  They'd just have to play up his horrible OCD and reference his troubled past.  The Riddler, under Nolan's direction, I think could make another fantastic villain.

Oh well... so many reviews and everyone is right somehow

here's what i think:

This is the best superhero movie to this date, and of course the best Batman movie. I loved the way Heath Ledger portrayed Joker, telling the stories of how he got the scars.

The voice of Bale when his dressed with the Batsuit is strange, and even harder than it was in Batman Begins.

The story was great. We have a plot twist in the middle of the movie, and then we see what drives Harvey Dent to seek revenge, this is so new to the Batman world.  
I never thought the movie would follow so much the line story of Gordon, but that was fine with me.

This was a dark, very dark movie so different from every other Batman movie.

As for the #1 on imdb i don't know what to say, maybe it deserves it, maybe it doesn't everybody got an opinion about that, my opinion is that it could stay on the best 10.

I loved the realistic way the film was portrayed, and i think Chris Nolan would have done every shot as real as he could, without doing them in CG. I guess he would have made Dent's face in prosthetic but after seeing Tommy Lee Jones as 2 face he might have went for the CG.

I like the way the movie ends, leaving for more. I mean why do the superheros have always to have a happy ending attached. TDK didn't.

9/10

cheers
Nik

It's funny how everyone mentions how dark the film was, but actually I thought it was much lighter than I expected, and not just in terms of tone when the joker was on screen, but a great many scenes, action scenes, took place in broad daylight. The initial heist, but also the hospital getting blown up and the assassination attempt on the mayor were day scenes.

Did BB have any major action scenes in daylight?

I think it's not the fact that the scenes are in daylight more than its darker tone as a story, and you know what i mean. One major character gets killed, and batman's world is going down even as Bruce Wayne.

Plus the ending of the movie shows how dark it is, the destroying of the bat-signal.

Cheeers

wow! Just back from seeing this and i'm just amazed at how good this movie actually is!! This film represents my greatest cinema experience to date.

I felt like there was too much hype surrounding this movie, and that because of that I would be left with a sense of dissapointment, but this was not the case. I think this movie suparses the hype. It's just excellent from start to finish!

Heath Ledger definitley steals the show as the Joker. The Joker is the best movie villian ever in my opinion after witnessing his chaotic antics. His pencil trick still has me cringing just thinking about it!

So, yeh, best movie of the year in my opinion.

I don't know if I'm the greatest critic in the world when it comes to movies. I always get all wooshy inside with the "human condition" scenes (is that what you call them?) and the whole critical bent goes out to sea.

It's different with books. They seem to be less forgiving. I guess because they don't move and flash about on screen like movies do. In movies it's easy to "forgive and forget". Like life.

On paper, I work a lot with detail. I notice everything. Sometimes, this seriously hinders my "larger picture" and I need to shelve things because I lose the grasp on "the big picture" and need a rest just to get a bird's eye view again.

So I was trying to conjure up some kind of crit on "The Dark Night". To be honest-- perfectly honest, I did want to see the movie more, simply because Heath Ledger wasn't around anymore. I felt like I wanted to grasp a little bit of his essence. (Not Joker essence-- but his journey to explore the dark side.) Forget about Batman, I was more interested in Heath.

Truthfully, I was never a comic reader, unless you want to count "Scamp", "Nancy" and "Family Circle".

What I felt this movie lacked, was character development and plot. Wow! Is there anything else left? This sounds really bad I know, but it doesn't mean I think the movie was bad. I just think that it could have been a lot better.

What I'm thinking now is that maybe this was done on purpose. Maybe they wanted the other characters to be a little more flat in order to play up the Joker. What do you all think about this possibility? I think that maybe it's reasonable. They're not stupid. They know what they're doing. It's likely it was intentional.

Personally, I like it when a movie manages to come from all angles. To showcase more than one character and to do it well. Even if it's a short bit of glory for a smaller role, I still think it's meaningful.

I want to mention Michael Prevette's comment about the lame line in the beginning. This is what makes Michael such a great up and coming writer. He hones in on this kind of thing really quickly. Michael has a great "bird's eye view" when it comes to movies and I've seen him take a book and script it really well.

Yes Michael, it was lame, but I never would have caught it at the movies. Had I wrote it, I would have said... EW!!!! Rewrite! It's easy to write "EWS". But it's the force of the "End of Writer's Salubriousness " that calls us out of that dreadful state where we write: "He's so bad he..." needs a character foil who SAVES A CAT. (Thinking of Death Monkey's comments slashing Blake Snyder.)

Are we going to write "paint by numbers?"

Blake Snyder is correct about the psychology, but if we're serious, we have to move beyond "the kid was treated badly so he grows up to be a criminal" mentality and he "saves a cat" so he's good mentality.

Yes-yes, I know, it happens all the time, but equally so, the opposite is true.

Just so you know, regarding "Save The Cat," I LOVE CATS-- I LOVE ALL ANIMALS, BUT...

The hard part about writing is getting to the nitty-gritty that truly causes our characters to tick the way they do.

I think "The Dark Night" made a point of showing The Joker's reasoning. Additionally, it spent time on "the effects" which of course, they wanted to play up.

How to mark it? I'll give Heath a ten. Writers I'll give a six together with the side actors and the director/producer.

I just felt like there were a lot of boring "talk scenes" that didn't capture me. It was always: "When is The Joker going to appear?"

Blake's review on this:

http://www.blakesnyder.com/

Despite any negativity, I'd say: Take your kids to see it. They'll love it!

Listen for the line Michael mentions, and have a laugh.

Sandra