Not debating the film so much as debating bizarre reasoning.

But the movie is still really, really, really damn good.

I really wish I loved it as much as everyone else.

+1

Post of the year?

delete

No matter what becomes of internet film chatrooms, we'll always have The Dark Knight. What a victory for film buffs the movie and it's box office performance was. Just tremendous art worshiped at the highest level.

It actually feels like people are starting to get over their Dark Knight love, or a least grow out of it. Thank God.

But not Excel. lol

WB is investing billions on the idea that people are not over their Dark Knight love lol.

It's disappointing that your absence was so short.

Everything about this movie is unreal. Hasn't aged a second in 8 years.

True.

Well, eight years is not much time at all. Some films from 2000 haven't aged either.

If anything the current DCU films make this trilogy (and especially this film) all the more special.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice makes Batman Begins and The Dark Knight look like masterpieces. I was less wowed by The Dark Knight Rises. Not seen Suicide Squad yet. But Man of Steel tops them all.

The Dark Knight is really good. By far the best Batman film I've seen.

The best one, for me, is Batman. Then probably Batman Begins, followed by Batman Forever. The rest, in order, are The Dark Knight, Batman & Robin, Batman Returns, The Dark Knight Rises, and finally Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

None of the Batman films are awful. But one is close; BvS gets a C- (might be a D+ now), though that could rise to a respectable grade after a re-watch or the director's cut. Batman is probably an A.

I've not seen Begins, Returns or Forever. Not a fan of the 1989 one though. Don't like the storyline.

Not really a Batman fan though so even TDK will never be one of my favorite films.

Batman Begins is the best of the modern live action Batman movies, and it's not a particularly great movie itself.

Some films from 1990 haven't either.

Truth

Well, this film was a good bit better having watched it with the context of Batman Begins. I certainly felt more for the characters, and the Joker and Harvey Dent are amazing. Every scene they are in are standouts. I don't think Maggie was any better than Katie, the role isn't that complex anyway. Should have just kept her for consistency. But the action scenes are great, and it's very emotional and thought provoking. I'm against the death penalty, but I really wanted Batman to kill the Joker, and it made me question my own morals. Does everyone deserve a chance to live, or are there some people just too dangerous to be kept alive? The parts that bring this movie down though are the bits with the mafia, and it's far too long.

For now I'll raise the grade to A-, but I'm definitely liking this movie better now.

Batman killing The Joker wouldn't have been the death penalty. Batman is a vigilante. If he had killed him, you could chalk it up as a gangland murder.

The Dark Knight is so different to Batman Begins. I really get the sense that it is set in a real city, like a New York. Whereas with Begins, it never felt real. It always felt like comic-book city #1 (or in other words, Gotham).

This would be a B+ for me. Very entertaining and compelling watch, taking a lot of its maturity from films like Heat and Point Break. The hand-to-hand combat, while improved, is still badly choreographed and annoyingly shot. And I just cannot like Aaron Eckhart in the role of Dent. Maybe that's the point. But I just want to fast-forward every scene he is in. Not a fan of Gyllenhaal over Holmes either. Don't remember why they didn't bring Holmes back, but that was a mistake. The best character in the film is Gordon. Oldman is fantastic. I feel he is underappreciated. Ledger takes all the credit. He is brilliant, I admit. I get why it is easy for his performance to take over, but I am just that bit more engaged when Oldman (or Bale for that matter) is on screen. There are many plot conveniences that I didn't go for. Things like the route the armoured truck takes with Dent in the back. It is not a planned route. The drivers make a decision there and then to get out in the open and so they make a right turn out of the underpass. And conveniently enough, The Joker's goons are in opposite windows on that exact street with wires to take out the helicopter. How would they possibly know they would have to wait in THAT street, out of all the streets in Gotham? So, it is things like that that irked me. There are other examples which stop this from being in the A region.

So, yeah, a good film. Not as good as Begins. And I'm not sure how good of a Batman film it is, but it is a good crime thriller.

Batman Begins A-
The Dark Knight B+

One thing I love about this franchise is that it is never super easy to defeat that movie's threat. This is one of the biggest gripes for me about The Avengers and other such movies. The threat lands and within a few hours of battle, the threat that was supposed to be such an unstoppable Goliath, is defeated. Whereas in this franchise things take weeks or months. Hoops have to be jumped through before progress can be made. It is never clear exactly how long, but it is not solely to overpower the threat and you win, there are politics and other factors to consider, and the film makes it feel as though some considerable time is passing. And even when the threat is eliminated, it's not. Because Batman is now on the run, not looking like the hero that he should.