who's going to see the Joker???

[Sassy1natl 0]

It wasn't just Ledger's performance - the screenplay gave him a lot to work with. In fact there was nothing in it that was redundant or superficial.

Usually in superhero movies the villain is pretty one dimensional - usually either after money or just plain crazy (which is usually an excuse for illogical behaviour or continuity errors) and are shoehorned into the script without any regard any thematic elements that the story should convey. The Joker in this certainly was crazy - but he had an ideology which set him apart and made pretty much everything he did make sense, especially after you hear Alfred's speech about

"some men just wanting to see the world burn"

. It also made sense in relation to Harvey Dent's character development

and transformation into Two-Face. The ending is amazing when you realise that the Joker's whole plan was to corrupt Dent.

There was a standing ovation

...when Gary Oldman came back from the dead.

What a tease.

[chris-lei 1]

It wasn't just Ledger's performance - the screenplay gave him a lot to work with. In fact there was nothing in it that was redundant or superficial.

Usually in superhero movies the villain is pretty one dimensional - usually either after money or just plain crazy (which is usually an excuse for illogical behaviour or continuity errors) and are shoehorned into the script without any regard any thematic elements that the story should convey. The Joker in this certainly was crazy - but he had an ideology which set him apart and made pretty much everything he did make sense, especially after you hear Alfred's speech about

"some men just wanting to see the world burn"

. It also made sense in relation to Harvey Dent's character development

and transformation into Two-Face. The ending is amazing when you realise that the Joker's whole plan was to corrupt Dent.

There was a standing ovation

...when Gary Oldman came back from the dead.

What a tease.

Bad!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

It wasn't just Ledger's performance - the screenplay gave him a lot to work with. In fact there was nothing in it that was redundant or superficial.

Usually in superhero movies the villain is pretty one dimensional - usually either after money or just plain crazy (which is usually an excuse for illogical behaviour or continuity errors) and are shoehorned into the script without any regard any thematic elements that the story should convey. The Joker in this certainly was crazy - but he had an ideology which set him apart and made pretty much everything he did make sense, especially after you hear Alfred's speech about

"some men just wanting to see the world burn"

. It also made sense in relation to Harvey Dent's character development

and transformation into Two-Face. The ending is amazing when you realise that the Joker's whole plan was to corrupt Dent.

There was a standing ovation

...when Gary Oldman came back from the dead.

I really enjoyed how Oldman played Gordon - his personality compliments Batman's persona perfectly. Even the guy who played Harvey Dent did a great job. This is one of those few movies that I would actually want to see more than once and I'm already looking forward to the next movie.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It wasn't just Ledger's performance - the screenplay gave him a lot to work with. In fact there was nothing in it that was redundant or superficial.

Usually in superhero movies the villain is pretty one dimensional - usually either after money or just plain crazy (which is usually an excuse for illogical behaviour or continuity errors) and are shoehorned into the script without any regard any thematic elements that the story should convey. The Joker in this certainly was crazy - but he had an ideology which set him apart and made pretty much everything he did make sense, especially after you hear Alfred's speech about

"some men just wanting to see the world burn"

. It also made sense in relation to Harvey Dent's character development

and transformation into Two-Face. The ending is amazing when you realise that the Joker's whole plan was to corrupt Dent.

There was a standing ovation

...when Gary Oldman came back from the dead.

I really enjoyed how Oldman played Gordon - his personality compliments Batman's persona perfectly. Even the guy who played Harvey Dent did a great job. This is one of those few movies that I would actually want to see more than once and I'm already looking forward to the next movie.

Yeah - so much better than the old Batman movies where the film-makers just inserted villains willy-nilly and didn't bother to think about how or even whether they fitted into the story they were telling.

Bale signed up for 3 Batman movies so there's definitely going to be a sequel. The question is whether Christopher Nolan is going to direct. I hope he does... given what happened to X-Men after Bryan Singer pissed off to do that mediocre Superman film.

Nolan is turning into the sort of director that I'd expected David Fincher to be. I don't think I've seen any movie of his that hasn't been excellent.

Edited July 21, 2008 by Number 6

[Sassy1natl 0]

The way things are going, I won't see it untill it comes out on DVD. #######. Summer semester will be over in 2 weeks. Maybe then I can go.

[Chrissy25 0]

hubby and i watched it today, it was absolutly fantastic!!! I loved it, Heath Ledger was phenomenal, hands down the best joker ever. No question......i was hooked the whole 2 1/2 hrs....fantastic, will definatly buy when it comes out on dvd

[eric&gen 0]

The joker is one of the actors from broke back mountain i forget his name.

[chris-lei 1]

The joker is one of the actors from broke back mountain i forget his name.

Heath Ledger (R.I.P.)

[SteveLaura 0]

Heath's performance was well-worth the price of the ticket, and the film has a much more modern and realistic tone than the over-the-top, cartoonish style of the Tim Burton films. I liked the topical themes - terrorism & spying of civilians - and the opening sequence was very well done. However, what's with the 'superhero growl' when Wayne becomes Batman? And

Dent's transformation to Two-Face, for me, was too slick & pat

. Lastly, I like Maggie Gyllenhall but

she really isn't attractive enough to have two handsome men fighting over her, I'd say

.

[SteveLaura 0]

As an aside, they previewed the 'Watchmen' film before the movie. It's out next year. I'd heard - years ago - that Terry Gilliam was making it into a film, but nothing seemed to come of that. It seems the same director as '300' has a shot at it this time, which I haven't seen. 'Watchmen' is an excellent series/book. Should be interesting.

Edited July 21, 2008 by SteveLaura

[eric&gen 0]

How did Heath Ledger kick the bucket? He was a good actor but not my style in broke back mountain.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

He died of a prescription drug overdose.

Shame that it was only his recent films that showed what a good actor he really was.

[Amby 490]

my sister saw it in imax on Friday night and she said it was amazing. I don't have any real interest in seeing it so we'll wait until its out on video since Neil wants to see it.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

As an aside, they previewed the 'Watchmen' film before the movie. It's out next year. I'd heard - years ago - that Terry Gilliam was making it into a film, but nothing seemed to come of that. It seems the same director as '300' has a shot at it this time, which I haven't seen. 'Watchmen' is an excellent series/book. Should be interesting.

Yeah I saw that - I wonder how they're going to do that. In a sense that book is almost unfilmable in a conventional narrative sense - given the sheer number of characters and all the stuff going on (flashbacks, stories within stories etc). I read on one site that there's a DVD release planned to coincide with the movie that will have several short films on it to flesh out the stuff they had to drop from the actual movie.

The thing with a lot of Alan Moore's major works is that they were written during the 80's and reflect the themes of that time (Cold War, Thatcherism etc). It looks like they kept that context in place for Watchmen (as opposed to V For Vendetta which was changed quite a bit).

I hope its good - Moore has had more than his fair share of atrocious film adaptations of his work...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

my sister saw it in imax on Friday night and she said it was amazing. I don't have any real interest in seeing it so we'll wait until its out on video since Neil wants to see it.

I wouldn't mind seeing it on IMAX - they did a lot of the major set piece stunts the old fashioned way without CGI.

Apparently one of the stunt people also died during the filming - I think trying to drive that Batpod motorbike you see in the trailer. When you see it moving - its not really surprising. It doesn't look at all stable cornering on those fat 2' thick wheels.