First Official 'Dark Knight' Review Arrives!
Filed under: Action, Fandom, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
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Well, the day has finally come. No, you can't go see The Dark Knight in theaters yet ... but you can start reading what the critics had to say about it. First one in the batting cage is Peter Travers from Rolling Stone, who opens his review with: "Heads up: a thunderbolt is about to rip into the blanket of bland we call summer movies." Yeah! Where's your exclamation point at the end of that sentence, Travers? Get those troops fired up, dammit! (Bored? Try saying "Peter Travers Travels to Transylvania" ten times fast. Bet ya can't do it ...) Anyway ...
He continues to say nothing but great things about the movie, calling Heath Ledger -- and this is my favorite quote of the year so far -- "mad-crazy-blazing brilliant as the Joker." Of course, if someone is "mad-crazy-blazing brilliant," only one word can follow something like that up: Oscar. Travers says, "If there's a movement to get him the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up." He gave the film itself three and a half stars out of four, and summed it all up by saying, "It's full of surprises you don't see coming. And just try to get it out of your dreams."
All kidding aside, I'm stoked to see a very, very positive review right out of the gate -- and I, for one, seriously hope The Dark Knight goes down as one of the best summer movies ever. But I do try not to hype it up too much, because that's always a bad thing. So forget we ever said anything. Dark Knight? What's that?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-26-2008 @ 10:08AM
kevjohn said...
Sooo.... he liked it?
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7-17-2008 @ 10:59AM
Evil Bob said...
Its flipin great! I saw it before all the Americans hahahahaha Muahhahahahha!
6-26-2008 @ 10:27AM
Rufus said...
No, no, no... if there we ever a film to out step the overhype syndome, it's going to be The Dark Knight. This film is going to be as good, if not better than the first.
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6-26-2008 @ 11:21AM
Brian said...
Peter Travers is an awful critic; he loves just about everything. He must like being quoted in papers, because he is extremely generous in his praise of plenty of bad movies.
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6-26-2008 @ 11:47AM
Jonathan said...
I truly expect the movie to be awesome. But would it hurt Christian Bale to bulk up a little bit? Batman is an imposing figure physically and Bale looks like he's in recovery mode from losing 63 lbs to make The Machinist.
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6-26-2008 @ 4:01PM
Robert Frenay said...
What? Bale made the Machinist in '05, before Batman Begins. Since then he's done The Prestige, Rescue Dawn, I'm Not There, and 3:10 to Yuma.
6-26-2008 @ 1:55PM
Riley Freeman said...
if its so good why didnt he give it 4 stars?
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6-26-2008 @ 4:09PM
Jonathan said...
Robert
I know that. My point is he looks very thin. Ok?
Reply
6-26-2008 @ 5:17PM
Gary said...
I probably would have preferred not to know that a major character is brutally murdered by the Joker. In the context of what was said in the review it does not take a genius to realize who it is.
Peter Travers is nothing but a hack if he cannot review a movie without spoiling the plot for everyone else.
If you have not read the review yet do yourself a favour and don't bother, am sure there will be plenty more coming soon.
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6-27-2008 @ 11:55AM
Clarence said...
Yes, I agree absolutley. Why would you even need to say that? He reminds me of my little sister showing off that she's seen the movie before me.
6-28-2008 @ 1:26PM
Larry said...
I just saw the movie.
Look guys, I'm probably older than you so I'm coming from a different perspective.
That having been said, I HATED it (and I loved the first). This movie is 180 degrees opposite from Batman Begins, so if you're expecting more of the same you're going to be very disappointed.
It's too long. Too many story tangents.
I know, what you're really wanting to know is about Heath Ledger. He's clearly a very good actor, but this character is so heartless that eventually you just don't care what happens to him (no, I won't spoil it for you).
This film is very violent. Sadly, in this day and age the violence is (potentially) all too real. It's not comic book violence. The bad things that happen in this film seem to have been inspired by real-life tragedies (home-made bombs leveling buildings, etc.)
Bale is good. As the title implies, he's conflicted, but his inner conflicts just didn't work for me. Ledger is good, but way too far over the top. And really no chemistry between Bale, Gyllenhall and Eckhart.
On a positive note (and sorry there aren't more) you'll love the origins of Batman's motorcycle. That was excellent.
Overall, be prepared for something completely different. I hope you love it. For me, it was a big zero. At two and one half hours it was WAYYYYYY too long.
Enjoy the popcorn!
L
Reply
7-03-2008 @ 4:54PM
Kenny Shumaker said...
2 and a 1/2 hours is too long?
I guess you gave 0 stars to The Lord of the Rings, The Godfather, Braveheart, Heat, Schindler's List, Forrest Gump, Apocalypse Now, JFK, Lawrence of Arabia, Titanic, Scarface, The Deer Hunter, Seven Samurai, Gone with the Wind, Dances with Wolves, Spartacus, and Doctor Zhivago.
All those movie must be horrible, because they are so loooooong.
7-21-2008 @ 1:48AM
Nick said...
I agree somewhat, but I know a few people who completely agree with Larry.
7-14-2008 @ 12:03AM
Steve said...
Well, I'll have to counter Larry's review. I just saw a special preview as well and the Dark Knight is every bit as good as Peter Travers says it is. And then some! Heath Ledget will definitely get an Oscar nomination for the film. His performance is beyond explanation. You'll just have to wait to see what he does with this character. It's a true masterpiece of acting. Bale was very good as well, but not up to par with Heath. Yes, it's a long movie, but it kept my attention the entire time. 3.5 out of 4 stars sounds accurate to me. Definitely one of the best comic based movies I have ever seen, and I've seen them all.
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7-17-2008 @ 6:17PM
DPac said...
for once hyping it up is not out of place
http://passionforcinema.com/heroes-in-the-dark/
Reply
7-21-2008 @ 1:43AM
Prima said...
I just saw The Dark Knight tonight. I have been wanting to see this movie. I loved Iron Man and I hoped this would be atleast as good if not better. I went in thinking I would like it but expecting to be mildly disappointed. No way could it live up to the hype.Well, let me tell you... It rocked! It wasn't too long. Everything in the movie was necessary. The acting was wonderful all around. Heath was just ....it's hard to come up with one word to sum up his amazing performance. The Dark Knight was action; it was drama; it was creepy (thx to Heath); it was moral vs. immoral; it was fantastic! Wonderfully written, acted, directed......just wonderful!
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