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The Dark Knight

Saw the The Dark Knight yesterday. Heath Ledger’s performance lived up to the hype, arguably the best movie villain since Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, but Ledger made an otherwise strong cast look weak by comparison, except for Gary Oldman’s understated, just an honest cop, rendition of Commissioner Gordon.

While having the Joker as the point of origin was a nice touch, I thought that the character of Twoface, one of Batman’s major villains, might have been handled better by compacting the story and leaving a full exploration of Dent’s mad descent for the next movie in the series.

9 Responses to “The Dark Knight”

  1. Eddie Says:

    Great point about Twoface, because its hard imagining another villain nearly as compelling as he would have been for the third movie.
    How viable is the cell/sonar tech Fox designed? I thought I read about something very similar in a sci-fi short story a while ago.
    Ledger’s physical acting really stuck out to me.  I guess having to take 2 communications classes this year emphasized the value of non-verbal comms in my mind.

  2. Lexington Green Says:

    I am not convinced Twoface is really dead, fwiw. 

    Ledger stole the show, though everyone else was solid.

    A brilliant movie.  

  3. purpleslog Says:

    Ack!!!!!Spoiler alert please!!!!!

  4. patrick Says:

    kudos to the makers Dark Knight for their record breaking opening weekend… it’s no wonder there’s talk of another one coming out ASAP

  5. zen Says:

    Hi eddie,
    .
    Hmmm. I’m not a tech guy. I assume this "sonar" would have to be based on electromagnetic fields emitted by cell phones with some way to make that distinct from all the other electromagnetic fields in the environment ( or maybe not) so that the field can be "read" and then translated into a spatial image. Triangulating cell phone positions we do already.
    .
    Shane?  Dr.Von?  Any other tech ppl ? How likely is this ?

  6. Eddie Says:

    I see. Thank you Mark.

  7. Sean Meade Says:

    amazing movie! you’re probably right about Two-Face, but i’d call that a minor quibble.

    so awesome!

    trying to put together a road trip to the nearest IMAX…

  8. zen Says:

    I have to IMAX it as well ( sold out by me – reg theaters had long lines and full theaters even at the matinee).
    .
    Hopefully, Ledger’s little kid will get their fare share of this $$$ bonanza as the heir to his estate.

  9. NYkrinDC Says:

    I partially agree with Mark on Two face, though it did give an interesting turn to the Joker’s character and mind. Without Two Face running around killing cops, the Joker’s main ploy would have been only the two bomb laden ferries. Having Two Face running around destroying all Dent worked to showcase the Joker’s intelligence. That said, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001173/news#ni0265713">Two Face will must assuredly be back in the third film.</a> The main question on my mind is who, if anyone will replace Ledger as the Joker.
    That said, it was an awesome movie. I’m heading back out this weekend to see it in IMAX…


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