ThreadBare said:

I'm with you ...I did like the movie quite a bit, but I didn't think it was THAT good. Christian Bale is a bit boring in my opinion, and his voice while speaking as Batman started to get irritating lol...the fight scenes could have been done better: you rarely see a full shot of Batman fighting any of the bad guys...instead you get closer shots with little lighting and rapid editing so that half the time I didn't know who was getting hit by who until someone fell on the ground ...I didn't sense any real romantic chemistry between Maggie Gyllenhaallallalal's character and either Harvey Dent or Bruce Wayne. She could have been their sister for all I could tell. And the ending was a bit anti-climatic.

On the plus side, though, I thought Heath Ledger did a great job as the Joker (althought they have him giving self-important speeches a little too often...very few of his ramblings ended up being enlightening). When he was dressed as a nurse and walked out of the hospital as it started exploding, I was cracking up lol...that was a GREAT scene. He was very creepy and menacing, especially during the first half of the movie (before all the speeches lol). The street chase was DAMN exhilerating, especially when the truck flipped and Batman rode the motorcycle up the wall to turn it around ...the audience clapped after that lol...and yeah, Dent's face after the fire creeped me out big time...just bizarre looking.

BATMAN IS THE BEST COMICBOOK HERO EVER! I saw it yesterday and very much enjoyed it. Some great action scenes with some extremely good acting on all parts. Really wish they would have brought Katie Holmes back to reprise her role and saved Maggie Gylennhal (sp?) for the next installment because she's 10 times better than Katie was...can't really say why I wish Katie had comeback without spoiling the film.

I've been a Batman fan since I was a kid. Used to watch the old TV show everyday on FX after school and watched the old animated series constantly.
Personally, I liked Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (he's okay as Batman, when you can understand what he's saying), but still think Micheal Keaton is the best all-around Batman/Bruce Wayne ever...Christian comes in second though, then Val Kilmer follows close behind him. The only things I didn't like about this film was that:

(1) They didn't explain the Joker's origins like they did in the original Batman. This didn't take a whole lot away from my viewing enjoyment, but I found it just a slight bit annoying. I'm supposed to believe that he's just some disfigured crazy guy who just appears with no criminal background and no medical history sportin' that face...unless he did like Jack Nicholson did in the original Batman and paid some corrupt doctor to fix him up...maybe that's it. No real backstory about the guy and that was always my favorite part of the original Batman was that he supposedly was the guy who killed Bruce's parents, so revenge came into play...now, he's just some untraceable, rabid dog psychopath with no priors and no medical records...uh, okay. He's just basically evil personified. Heath was very good though, something I totally wasn't expecting ever since I heard he was going to play the character...I was pretty surprised because at points he was one scary mofo.

(2) Two-Face has always been my favorite male villain...Harley Quinn is my favorite female willain and I really hope she's in the next installment. I was soo happy to see him appear in this film. His make-up was phenomenal but I wanted to see more of him. In the original story Harvey Dent becomes Two Face after having acid poured on him during a trial, so the whole time I was watching this film, I was telling myself that I really need to read these novels because many of the backstories on the villians are different from what I remember from the other Batman films. Aaron Eckhart was very good in the role and even to this day, I still think of how Billy Dee Williams was originally Two-Face in the very first Batman and how he amazingly became Tommy Lee Jones in the 3rd installment still gives me a chuckle, but loved Two-Face and wished they had spent more time on him than on Harvey Dent.

My favorite parts were the 'magic trick'... , the high speed chase, the hospital explosion scene, and the unveiling of Two-Face..really wasn't expecting him to looked that amazingly fucked up, but it was magnificent really, truly superb ...my friend was like DAMN!"

All in all, a very good movie and I can't wait for the next installment to come out. Batman is one of the only film franchises that I would ever happily stand in line to watch; and boy, were there some lines when I went yesterday. I've just always loved the idea that a man with no super human powers can still make a difference. It gets (2)

Byron said:

BYRON!?!?! Did you just give away the best scenes!?!?

Maggie G. seemed asleep, half the time, in the same league as Katie Holmes...

estelle81 said:

ARRGGH! I'm outta here!

ThreadBare said:

I'm with you ...I did like the movie quite a bit, but I didn't think it was THAT good. Christian Bale is a bit boring in my opinion, and his voice while speaking as Batman started to get irritating lol...the fight scenes could have been done better: you rarely see a full shot of Batman fighting any of the bad guys...instead you get closer shots with little lighting and rapid editing so that half the time I didn't know who was getting hit by who until someone fell on the ground ...I didn't sense any real romantic chemistry between Maggie Gyllenhaallallalal's character and either Harvey Dent or Bruce Wayne. She could have been their sister for all I could tell. And the ending was a bit anti-climatic.

On the plus side, though, I thought Heath Ledger did a great job as the Joker (althought they have him giving self-important speeches a little too often...very few of his ramblings ended up being enlightening). When he was dressed as a nurse and walked out of the hospital as it started exploding, I was cracking up lol...that was a GREAT scene. He was very creepy and menacing, especially during the first half of the movie (before all the speeches lol). The street chase was DAMN exhilerating, especially when the truck flipped and Batman rode the motorcycle up the wall to turn it around ...the audience clapped after that lol...and yeah, Dent's face after the fire creeped me out big time...just bizarre looking.

ThreadBare said:

THIS shocked me the most ...Maggie Gyllennhallelenehall is a very good actor, but she really wasn't very good in this movie, and she played a horrible district attorney lol.

i loved this movie one of the best movies i've ever seen. it's much more than a batman movie, it's a masterpiece.

i'm going to go see it again tomorrow.

Byron said:

I'd have to agree. She's pretty. And, I know women's roles in these movies generally leave something to be desired. But, she seemed stuck in giggling/adoring mode for most of the film.

ThreadBare said:

True, They didn't give her much to work with and it shows.

babynoz said:

Women in comic-book movies are never given anything to do. They're just there to introduce the notion of courtly love to the story and to show the superheroes aren't gay. Beyond that, there's really nothing for them to do.

Efan said:

Exactly. Sad part was, she was playing an assistant D.A., practically being coy and giggly with the D.A. and prisoners... Where's Gloria Steinhem's editorial pen on the important issues?

I keed, I keed.

ThreadBare said:

True, They didn't give her much to work with and it shows.

We went to the midnight showing last night - got home at 3:30 am

It was outside on a huge screen with around 500 people
Place all made up like Gotham city and actors all in costumes- preformed a show before the movie - that was so cool

during the movie a couple "Jokers" ran around laying Joker cards or Joker pez things in your lap

REAL bats flying in the air ( hey it's the mountians we have BATS !! )

Food service and drinks served by in costume people
Free "Joker" Face painting Jess had her's done

Was the most fun I have had at the movies in YRS !!

kaptainkrunk said:

You obviously have a terrible memory because the hype was HUGE way before he passed away. It simply increased as critics began to see it and the opening date drew closer.

The true performance was Bale's? Really? An imitation of a plank of wood?


I also had a problem with Bale. Whenever he was supposed to be conflicted, it never showed. His performances tended to be flat, even with Morgan Freeman. Maggie was there just so no one wondered if Batman or the D.A. were gay. Sadly she had nothing to do.
Heath Ledger should have won the Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. I don't know who the contenders may be yet but I wouldn't had him an Oscar yet. If he does win, he wins a Supporting Actor when he should have Best Actor. And no one believe, this wouldn't be a Sympathy Supporting Actor award.
Compared to Ledger freakin' locking himself in a hotel room and watching Clockwork Orange every day?
Just what Heath's performance reminded me of. Like he fell out of A Clockwork Orange.

Please.

Meh...I was vastly underwhelmed. Begins was much better, IMO Read my review @ chris-film.blogspot.com and post comments. I gave it a 2 out of 4.

Too long. Bale is like a cardboard cutout, I hate him as Batman.

The rest was awesome. Ledger was so freaking scary! And Two Face was AMAZING LOOKING!