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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Batman: The Dark Knight

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11:11 / 02.07.08

Has anyone else read anything about this on the Internet?

Here!

11:59 / 02.07.08

hey, I'm posting stuff on-topic and not writing about fictional moles burrowing into someone's backyard. I've also held off posting much in the past few days unless it was relevant (like the Renee Montoya concern above) - and the movie comes out in just under 16 days so I think we all can chill out here.

ONLY NICE THINGS

12:14 / 02.07.08

Agreed. Let's all...

mrfreeze_180

mrfreeze_180

CHILL OUT.

12:18 / 02.07.08

LOL

13:23 / 02.07.08

Anyone else want to rent The Dark Knight at some point in the next week and do an annotations thread? I hear they've got Mark Hammill on the commentary track... in character, no less!

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:46 / 02.07.08

ok, can we get back on track here, please...? (topic-wise) I say this good-naturedly, of course.

But why on earth are you still saying this good-naturedly, big man, after all these years of abuse? After all the times you've been treated like... well, like a wee jobbie. If I were you I'd feel like the Police Commissioner of Gotham, the one before Gordo, watching in horror as demented lunatics tore your city apart while you were just trying to do your job.

In actual fact, however, starting this thread more than three weeks before the release of the film, after all the complaints about this kind of nonsense, was a crime, and I will see you brought to justice.

19:27 / 02.07.08

Justice

19:33 / 02.07.08

JUST ICE

20:41 / 02.07.08

FW would get a light sentence though, surely? Or possibly community service. Three weeks isn't that long to wait, and, let's face it, if it's anything like 'Begins', TDK is only going to be all right. Just good enough to justify the price of admission, plus coke, several beers and a bag of popcorn. Three stars out of five.

I'll be off to the cinema to watch it, of course, but I'll be surprised if I don't regret it a bit afterwards. TDK should be great, given the talent involved, but, honestly, what are the chances? Of it being anything other than the cinematic equivalent of The Verve's new album, which I gather, depressingly, isn't all that terrific.

I'd love to be proved wrong though. On both fronts.

23:25 / 02.07.08

I'd be as happy as Mr Freeze's slippers.

01:17 / 03.07.08

2008 Oscar Winner for Best Movie Not Yet Seen.

And when I say that, I include Popefucker.

Phex: Dorset Doom

08:38 / 03.07.08

So, Christian 'Phex's Man-Crush' Bale has said "If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I'll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work", which makes me heart him slightly less than usual (though still a whole lot). I've always liked the various Robins but I honestly can't see even a heavily reimagined Grayson, Todd or Drake (or Brown) working in Nolan's Batfilms. Anybody think different?

08:59 / 03.07.08

I will not face it, Grandma. I'm very keen on Batman Begins despite it's faults (notably: it's gonna BLOW!), and feel that if Nolan builds on the movies strengths he could have a real winner on his hands. That said, I don't really want to continue this discussion as I haven't seen the fucker yet.

Nah, Phex, I've thought about it and I have to agree, I just can't see how Robin could work in the Nolanverse, at least at this stage in the game.

15:28 / 03.07.08

Another thumbs down for Robin. It's difficult enough to make the teenage sidekick thing work in contemporary comics - Brubaker has just about managed it in Captain America, but he's had years to develop the idea; I don't know how you'd go about doing the same thing in a two hour movie, without introducing sexual elements to the franchise that Warner Brothers might not, for whatever reason, be interested in pursuing.

If the script had Bruce Wayne mumbling 'That kid's got a tight ass' or related, at the circus, prior to the fall, then it might make sense, but otherwise the concept of Robin seems too complicated to fit into a film that, after all, has to involve at least one supervillian also.

Phex: Dorset Doom

17:37 / 03.07.08

I'm of two minds about it:

For the prosecution, my virtuous unblemished side says that, yes, Robin would be a terrible idea. He was a creation of a time when only young children read comics and as such was necessary to give a pre-adolescent male reader an 'in' to the plot, somebody to identify with. Nolan's Batman no longer requires this. Also, getting audiences to accept a character so tarnished by 'Biff! Pow!' and three and a half mostly awful Batfilms was already an uphill struggle so there's no need to begin that again by bringing in a character most audience members regard as a holy-pun-spouting joke in revealing undies.

Speaking for the defense, my scarred psychotic side says that Robin is an integral part of the Batman mythos, just like Alfred, the Joker and Commissioner Gordon. There must be a way to make him part of what Nolan is doing without jumping the Bat Shark-repellent. It will mean changing the character and perhaps his origins considerably to fit the films tone but could still retain what has made Robin an important character both for Batman and the books themselves for the past seventy years.

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:01 / 03.07.08

NEW THREAD!

18:12 / 03.07.08

I'm also totally against the concept of a child in colorfull costume fighting crime alongside the Batman, but it would be perfectly in-character for Bruce Wayne to adopt a pre-teen who's been turn into an orphan right in front of his eyes. It could make an interesting - albeit not very necessary - secondary plot.

18:34 / 03.07.08

I have a screening copy, if anybody wants to see it, PM me. You will have to sign an affidavit stating that you haven't shat in a policeman's helmet, though.

18:35 / 03.07.08

So when the second film actually gets released, will you all start talking about the fourth?

Because that'd be excellent.

ONLY NICE THINGS

19:17 / 03.07.08

Way ahead of you, Bunky.

Haus of Mystery

20:13 / 03.07.08

Is Iron Man supposed to be good?
Or Dick Tracy - was that any good?
What about Tron is that good?
Has anyone seen Wizard of Oz? I heard that's good.
Is it good?

20:25 / 03.07.08

The real irony is that all of the unnecessary posts mocking this thread & taking the piss have comprised 3/4 of the thread. Individuals intent on making sure that the thread was proven to be silly and unnecessary did their best to prove their point by mocking it relentlessly. Interesting how that works. I do appreciate that some feel a thread with any discussion or speculation at all prior to a film's release is unecessary, but it was my understanding that that wasn't a unanimous Barbelith rule as long as such threads were rare and were handled reasonably.

(I know the matter has been the subject of some debate/discussion previously, and I am aware of the sensitive nature of the circumstances under which the previous thread about this film was locked. I thought we could simply move on from that unfortunate incident.) I had figured Barbelith's Film division was a bit quiet lately and thought posts would be kept on the reasonable end, not endless posts mocking the very nature of a pre-release thread a whopping 3 weeks before opening. Reductio ad absurdum.

I will note that Boboss posted, you know, reasonable posts.

Anyway, lesson learned. I shall not commit the egregious sin of beginning a thread soo incredibly early before a film's opening. Done. Even my requests to stay on topic (of course, I am not a moderator, admittedly) were met with Mr. Freeze mockery (although rest assured, I appreciate the playful tone in which it was meant). I'm going back to radio silence in this thread until the film's opening.

Let's move on.

20:28 / 03.07.08

I'm not sure I understand what's happening here. Yeah, okay, pre-release threads can be problematic in that a lot of bollocks inevitably gets talked, but I don't really see what's wrong with linking to reviews, and, I dunno, warming up to the movie. Many of us are big geeks afterall.

I appreciate that we have the Coming Soon thread for that, but, c'mon, three weeks in advance isn't ridiculous. If shit starts to get talked there's always lockage.

I'm the first to admit that a lot of the silly nonsense herein has been very funny, and that it could be argued that a bit of rib-tickling helps to reinforce/stimulate a vigilant culture over here in Film, but I think it's got a little excessive. Frankly if I were Finder I'd be hurt by Flyboy's post.

20:28 / 03.07.08

Weird

x-post

20:41 / 03.07.08

I think a lot of this might be to do with Hector hectoring Policy to re-open the original, then using this new one to say "I'm so excited!" and not a huge amount more.

Truth is, at this point I can see this getting locked once somebody has seen the film and posted about it, and that post will be reposted as the opener for a thread proper.

ONLY NICE THINGS

20:51 / 03.07.08

I think the other thing might be that there isn't any gristle. There's no there there. This is not Finderwolf's fault, by any means, but the fact remains that, because Finderwolf is a very kind and trusting man, there's a certain lack of critical examination of materials. This film is going to be the best film ever, but then every film is going to be the best film ever. I think this - and the easy acceptance of the line that exonerates the creators in any situation (lesbians, fat people, questing beasts) - leads to a sort of abreaction.

Regrettable Juvenilia

23:04 / 03.07.08

I'm not sure I understand what's happening here.

I can help! This thread is a pointless embarrassment, since we already had one "let's get excited and speculate about The Dark Knight months and months in advance" thread. It would certainly be a good idea to have a thread for discussing the actual film once people have the opportunity to see it. But this is not that thread. It is another thread to talk about hearsay and reviews and hype.

Now, to put this in context, I am more excited about The Dark Knight than I have been about a forthcoming movie in a long, long time. Let nobody my fanboy enthusiasm. But despite that, or maybe because of it, I find myself currently annoyed with the extent to which this film is being promoted weeks prior to its release. That, coupled with Barbelith's never-diminishing tendency to talk about this kind of film more before its release than after, had me exasperated with this thread. And so I declared war on it.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

00:53 / 04.07.08

Watched the trailer for it last week before Get Smart -- while I'm looking forward to viewing TDK, the trailer didn't really sell it for me and I'm hoping that Ledger's performance comes across a bit more overstated than the few pops of him in the trailer lead me to believe. I find the Joker creepier in technicolour. But, that said, I'm glad to hear that Maggie G. is onboard as the female lead because she actually has acting chops, and I would quite happily watch Gary Oldman do a whole Commissioner Gordon movie.

But the trailer made it feel a bit straight-laced, you know? With worrying drips of realism, which is something I can do without -- I'd rather the Joker played as the drag queen from Trick with a vendetta against Bruce Wayne the Go-Go-Bat-Boy, or Christian Bale returning to his Velvet Goldmine roots to redo Bruce Wayne as the tragic third act of Arthur Stuart, slamming glam makeup and form-fitting latex on before taking to the night in search of fetid meaning -- though that would lead to a rather different culmination of the story, up on the rooftops...

But, still, you never know what you're going to get, and we've got weeks to go before we sleep.

(And, honestly, is it the downfall of nations if the thread goes a bit goofy in the head while we wait?)

09:01 / 04.07.08

TAH, that's a really good point.

In the interest of self improvement and in an attempt to extinguish the flames of overhype, I will now endeavour to keep it in my pants until the 24th.

Fucking Americans and their non-simultaneous, early release date...

09:33 / 04.07.08

(And, honestly, is it the downfall of nations if the thread goes a bit goofy in the head while we wait?)

See the Doctor Who S4 thread for similar carefree silliness.

19:23 / 04.07.08

I thought I'd avoid all Doctor Who speculation by watching Batman Begins and Batman.

I still think Keaton out-Waynes Bale.

20:07 / 04.07.08

I still think Keaton out-Waynes Bale.

Like Reeve out-Kents Rough, or like Lundgreen out-Castles Jane*?

* before Stevenson becomes the ultimate Castler soon, of course....

20:56 / 04.07.08

I'm so excited about the new Batman film I broke my own back.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

21:33 / 04.07.08

I think, instead of introducing Robin and instead of the relentless hand-wringing that usually accompanies the female lead of whichever Bat-flick we happen to be watching as she discovers the sexy truth of Batman and her boyfriend Bruce Wayne, I'd like to see them pull a Kathy Kane (either lesbian or straight, not important) who is rather more turned on by the whole shebang, is inspired, and becomes a Batwoman much to his chagrin. "But you're not tragic enough," he'll mince while she's pulling on her latex against his wishes. And she'll flip him the bird and go about her business.

It comes close to Catwoman but she was a villain, and it's not unlike Alicia Silverstone's Batgirl, only under ideal conditions it would be played by someone competent and not written terribly, either. I actually like the idea of her being the romantic counterpart as well, simply because typically nothing's done with them after Selina (look at Nicole Kidman's Chase Meridian) or they come off as idiots (Katie Holmes).

Particularly if reference was made to Batwoman's old costume and there was some colour involved. You know. Birds of paradise bashing heads while Gotham cries gently into its pillow.

23:57 / 04.07.08

I'm so excited I had an evil doctor hit me up with smack.

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