The Dark Knight: Record Breaking Midnight Showings

[Woochifer]

Joel Schumacher's entire career is a waste of electricity.

Couldn't agree more, although in his defense, I read that the turn in direction with the Batman series beginning with Batman Forever was basically forced on Schumacher by the studio bosses who wanted a more campy and kid-friendly movie than the decidedly dark and bizarre Batman Returns (which is one of those movies that I appreciate a lot more than I like or enjoy). Even so, he chose to keep the batnipples, so that pretty much cements his infamy in my book!

I caught The Dark Knight yesterday. That's one seriously dense, complex storyline that never let's up for 2 1/2 hours. It will definitely take repeated viewings to catch all the implications. Ledger was priceless. The Pencil Scene was one the funniest, coolest things I've seen in years. At that moment I totally accepted Ledger as The Joker. This was better than Batman Begins but Tim Burton's 1989 Batman is still my favorite of the lot. By far.

Because my wife and I couldn't get out this weekend, I rewatched Batman and Batman Begins. Those two visions of the Batman saga are about as decidedly different as you can get!

Kind of a paradox because the Tim Burton movie was drawn up in a gothic comic book world yet very much rooted in late-80s pop culture and strongly reflected the sensibility of that era. For that movie, the style and flair was every bit as important as the story and the action, and that very much reflected the times. In contrast, the Nolan movie was rooted in more of a real world setting but the Batman character was presented more as a mythic presence.

I like both movies, but I think Batman Begins holds up a lot better through repeat viewings. As RGA points out, the Nolan film simply has a much stronger script.

Btw, can we officially call Bob Kane a genius after all those brilliant archetypes he created? Look how many different ways they lend themselves to interpretation in various hands. Amazing.

Yep, I would agree there. I think that in a way, the times caught up with Kane's comic book depiction. He created Batman during a time before serial killers wearing clown make-up became the stuff of reality, and before you had debates on the TV news about vigilantes patrolling city streets. Batman speaks to today's world much more than other comic book heroes from the golden era like Superman, Captain America, et al.

Also have to remember though that a lot of comic book heroes had to pull back on their creative arc during the 50s and 60s because of the Comics Code.

Unfortunately for me the original Batman(1989) was let down by pretty poor acting (except Nicholson) and that includes Keaton. I respect ideas in films as I respect it in music but you have to be able to communicate it well.

I kinda have the opposite opinion here. Every successive time I've seen the original Batman, the less I like Nicholson's Joker. It seems more like I was watching Nicholson in clown makeup, than actually seeing him create a standalone character. Looking forward to seeing Heath Ledger's version of the Joker, because I've yet to see a live action Joker that matches the outright nightmarish and evil villian that he is in the comics (at least the more recent and original depictions).

In that respect, I liked Keaton's low key portrayal of Batman. Where he fell short was when he had to resort to Bruce Wayne (and this is where I think Christian Bale's more multidimensional portrayal wins out overall).

The Batman 1989 comes across more as a comic book which depending how you view things could be a good thing. Nolan's Batman is ultimately more believable - virtually everything that happens in both movies is somewhat of a believable future including the stunt work.

But, I think that was the whole point of the Burton movie. He was trying to create a grandiose gothic comic book world that's not rooted in reality (Warren Beatty would take it to the next level the following year with Dick Tracy). Yet, it strangely epitomized the pop cultural sensibility of the late-80s in how the visual style and general feel of that world was perhaps more important than the dialog. Burton is a very visual director, and this movie very much fit with his particular approach to storytelling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but in this case I thought it worked more often than not.

I think I've seen all of Chris Nolan's movies now and can safely say that he's the most over-rated, unsubtle director working today.

Couldn't disagree more. With Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige and now The Dark Knight under his belt, I find Nolan to be the most interesting and versatile director out there right now. With The Prestige he actually made a Hugh Jackman character interesting, and that's saying a lot. Have yet to see TDK, but the consensus from critics and audiences alike on this and Nolan's other films seems to disagree with you.

How many Batman movies can Americans sit through? What is this, the 7th or 8th? Enough already!

There hasn't been a single one that's been better than 3 stars.

Well, with $158 million in domestic ticket sales over the weekend, apparently the public's appetite for Batman hasn't let up, and more Batman movies are on the way. Yet, despite being disappointed time after time by the Batman movies, you still ponied up and braved the crowds on opening weekend for The Dark Knight? Maybe you need to sit the next one out ...