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The Dark Knight: Overrated?

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View Poll Results: Is the Dark Knight Overrated?
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The Dark Knight: Overrated?

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Old 07-23-08, 10:55 PM
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I just took my brother to see the film this afternoon. He's still a fan of Batman 89 and thought that Begins was the right way to take Batman after how bad the squeals to the first series were. As for Dark Knight when we walked out of the theater, this is what he said-
Spoiler:
Worst sqeual I've ever seen. The movie was so slow after how they set up the first one. I cared about Batman and everyone in Begins and I couldn't have given a shit about them in this one. Ledger's role as The Joker was a neisence. There was nothing to him at all, and was pretty much a one note charactor. It was played like BOO I'm The Joker. No good one liners like he has in the comics, nothing that made him what he could have been. People get all over Jack about that it was just Jack playing him in Batman, but sorry Jack still OWNS THE ROLE. Never once was a scared of him. If fact the only thing that scared me about was him having yellow teeth. I can't belive people are saying that he would make Hannibal piss his pants, it's the other way around, Hannibal would have this guy for dinner. If they give him a nod or an award for this it's just cause the poor guy is dead and they want to give him something because of how good he was in Brokeback. Maggie had no chemistry at all with anyone at all. I know that Kattie wasn't that great in the role in the first film, but at least you somewhat belived that Bruce would be into her in someway. If Maggie had been cast in the first film I'd be like wtf is Bruce thinking by wanting to be with her? The Two-Face coda should have been saved to for the next film, and they should have went with someone else to have played Dent. Every film I've seen Eckhart is in he's just a tool. This was no diferent. I know people say that Godfather Part 3 is one of the worst sequels in an otherwise great series. I can forgive parts of it because overall it isn't that bad. Well now I'm going to be prob one of the most hated people because I know you liked this film, you have seen it twice, and my co-workers have liked it. But come on, this is the worst sequel to an otherwise great first film."
Old 07-23-08, 10:57 PM
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Your brother is ignorant.
Old 07-23-08, 11:28 PM
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Your brother has the intellectual capacity of a sump pump.
Old 07-23-08, 11:53 PM
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He's not that bad. He does have some good taste. He's hoping that the new Bond film can live up to what they set up with Casino, which I hope it does also.
Old 07-24-08, 12:32 AM
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If you're going off of the IMDB ranking, then yes, it is overrated. If you are going off of what pretty much everybody is saying about it, then no, it's not overrated.

As someone else stated, I don't have much desire to see anything else in the theater for the foreseeable future. I'll see TDK a couple more times before I go see another movie.
Old 07-24-08, 12:41 AM
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There is certainly going to be a generation that probably considers this the greatest movie of all time, and i really can't say I have a problem with that, and i think thats where alot of these IMDB votes are coming from.

The movie is brilliant, and yes, a certain age group is going to say this is better than The Godfather. Is that so wrong? Times change. Of course i believe The Godfather to be the better all around film, and much more an achievement than The Dark Knight. But again, i believe The Dark Knight deserves every bit of praise it has gotten.
Old 07-24-08, 12:44 AM
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Originally Posted by mndtrp
If you're going off of the IMDB ranking, then yes, it is overrated. If you are going off of what pretty much everybody is saying about it, then no, it's not overrated.

As someone else stated, I don't have much desire to see anything else in the theater for the foreseeable future. I'll see TDK a couple more times before I go see another movie.
Me? If so...

K
Old 07-24-08, 01:06 AM
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Here's the way I feel:

God created the heavens, then man, then "The Dark Knight."

Everything before and after that simply isn't as important.

So no, I don't think it's over-rated.

j/k
Old 07-24-08, 01:11 AM
  #59  
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The Dark Knight isn't even in my top 50 movies.
Old 07-24-08, 01:28 AM
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Originally Posted by B5Erik
The Dark Knight isn't even in my top 50 movies.
It could be your 51st top movie and it would still be deserving of the response it has gotten.
Old 07-24-08, 01:34 AM
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While it isn't the greatest movie ever made, it's this year's best (really tied with Wall*E) and deserves all the praise and B.O. numbers its recieving.

As a crime drama it's top notch. There's plenty of themes and ideas to chew on long after seeing the film. On repeated viewings, it works better. I find it better than Departed, and I'm a huge Scorsese fan.

I love Dark Knight.
Old 07-24-08, 01:38 AM
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here's how i see it:

the departed
no country for old men
there will be blood
the dark knight

those four beat the shit out of any other movie from the last 3 years. actually those are probably the best four of the decade.
Old 07-24-08, 02:04 AM
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Originally Posted by B5Erik
The Dark Knight isn't even in my top 50 movies.
Oh, please. Judging from your posts, you had it in for this movie before you even saw it. I'm not alone in this assessment.

Right?

K
Old 07-24-08, 06:25 AM
  #64  
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Yes it is, but that's not a bad thing. The movie is really good and I can understand the praise it recieves.

But I still find quite a few faults with the film. I don't think Harvey Dent's arc is all that believeable, and Eckhart goes down a notch in his acting in his descent into Two-Face (thematically it is wonderful and I can't see the film without it, but it wasn't well executed). I think the Batvoice is incredibly silly, and it took me out of quite a few scenes, it was much worse in this film than BB. Nolan's fight scenes, while better than BB, still are poor. He's so good at creating dramatic tension, though so it's esay to overlook. And finally, the character of Rachel Dawes stinks (which hurts Dent's arc), she is poorly written and neither actress gave a good performance as her, merely serviceable.

Still, the movie is easily a 9/10 production. I really look forward to seeing it again (although that won't be until DVD)
Old 07-24-08, 06:30 AM
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Originally Posted by NiCK Crush
It could be your 51st top movie and it would still be deserving of the response it has gotten.
Exactly. There are hundreds of films that deserve this hype.

Tastes are different.

Personally, I think it is the best film of the year so far, although I would guess that it will be topped before the year is out.

I also think it is the best "comic book" movie of all time, but it is a close contest with many others deserving consideration.

Right now, if I had to rate it, I'd have it in the top 100 films of all time, but then I like modern "popcorn" films.
Old 07-24-08, 07:01 AM
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Why is it every time a movie gets a ton of praise and is successful , the first thing people want to do is dismiss it as "overrated" ? Honestly, it is successful for a reason. It has struck a cord with people.

And I just don't get it. It falls into two crowds. The people who are not amazed by the film throw the word "overrated" out and the people who adore the film (myself, included) say it isn't overrated. You have a clear definition of overrated and even then, I think the whole thing is murky. It is clearly a product of one's personal opinion, but to say something is overrated or not is absurd.

Now underrated, I can understand. Things can go "underrated" due to lack of public knowledge, lack of marketing and so on.

And while we are talking about how successful 'The Dark Knight' has been - you have to look at why it has been that successful. This is truly the first comic book movie that is catering towards the adults who maybe grew up reading comics. It even caters to the usual person who just wants a drama, it has that. It has such a broad range of appeal thanks to Nolan's idea of basing it in a realistic (as much as possible) environment. Sure, it has fantasy elements (bat-sonar, tumbler,etc) - but those add to it for a reason. The basic premise tho', takes these fantasy elements, blends those in with a more realistic environment that you would see in a normal crime drama.

That is the key to the success. It didn't dumb down the material. It aimed for the comic geeks. It aimed for the adults who want a drama. It aimed for everyone except the little kids and that's fine. That works perfect to be honest. It was time for a superhero / comic film to come out that was deeper than the usual hero saves the world nonsense we get.

Last edited by LivingINClip; 07-24-08 at 07:09 AM.
Old 07-24-08, 07:06 AM
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Being successful is not a mark of greatness, although in this case, it is successful and a good to great movie. Its one of the best movies I have seen this year, but honestly that is not saying much.

Also there is a difference between "Praise" which is fine with me for this movie, and OMG this is the best movie EVER hype that seems to be surrounding this moive on the Interents. Thats OK, when I was 15, I thought Terminator 2 was the best movie ever and could never be topped by anything.
Old 07-24-08, 07:09 AM
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Originally Posted by B5Erik
The Dark Knight isn't even in my top 50 movies.
Yeah but you loved Spider-Man 3!
Old 07-24-08, 07:10 AM
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Right - that is true, but success is a measure of greatness. If the movie flat out sucked, we wouldn't see all this. The movie had a strong opening, due to great marketing, great early reviews and now it has a strong word of mouth. That goes along way in creating a successful theater run.
Old 07-24-08, 07:36 AM
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Very few people are saying the movie sucked though. They just aren't saying its the greatest movie EVER.

And success imay be a measure of greatness, it may not. A great movie can flop. Success is how many tickets people buy.

Honestly, my feeling is that this movie shows that an action/popcorn film can be smart...its something that has been lost in the last 15 years. Die Hard is a movie that is relatively smart and a great popcorn film. So is the Dark Knight. Does that make Dark Knight, the greatest film ever or does it deserve to be elevated in the "pantheon of films" - No. But it does deserve to be number 2 in my book in the genre of comic book adaptations.

Last edited by chanster; 07-24-08 at 07:38 AM.
Old 07-24-08, 07:45 AM
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In 1989, there was some lame critic who proclaimed Burton's BATMAN as "The Movie Of The Decade!".

In the case of THE DARK KNIGHT, it's actually true. I'm looking at a list of this decade's winners for Best Picture, and this movie is better than all of them.

Best movie of all time? No. But it certainly deserves a seat in the same room.
Old 07-24-08, 08:42 AM
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Originally Posted by B5Erik
The Dark Knight isn't even in my top 50 movies.
How can you even say that when you haven't seen it yet?

Originally Posted by B5Erik
I wish I didn't have to wait 2 weeks to see this movie so that I could start trashing Ledger's performance now.
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=106
Old 07-24-08, 08:49 AM
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Originally Posted by outcastja
How can you even say that when you haven't seen it yet?
Thus the fact that it isn't in my top 50!

(I wasn't exactly trying to hide the fact that I haven't seen it yet - there was more than a bit of sarcasm in my post.)

But I do think that the response to this movie is ridiculous. Better than The Godfather, Goodfellas, Die Hard, etc, etc, etc. #1 on IMDB over EVERY MOVIE EVER MADE. Come on, you HAVE to see how silly that is.

I'm sure it's a very good movie. But this response it just so over the top - just take a step back and look at it. Best movie of all time? IT'S A FREAKING BATMAN MOVIE!!

I might as well say that The Wrath of Khan is the best movie ever made. Hell, I'm sure I'll walk out of TDK and be able to honestly say, "It wasn't as good as The Wrath of Khan." So would that make The Wrath of Khan the best movie ever?
Old 07-24-08, 08:50 AM
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No - deserving of all its praise, imo.
Old 07-24-08, 08:51 AM
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Originally Posted by B5Erik
Wrath of Khan is the best movie ever made. Hell, I'm sure I'll walk out of TDK and be able to honestly say, "It wasn't as good as The Wrath of Khan." So would that make The Wrath of Khan the best movie ever?
Yes.

You heard it here folks, The Wrath of Khan is the best movie E V E R !

What I enjoy about that kind of hyperbole is it seems a lot of people have seen every movie ever made.


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