The Dark Knight teaser

If you search youtube you'll find some awful "cam" versions. Pretty sure the Warner monkeys will have those down soon.

 

Ya the only people who could be worse for batman than Keaton would be Val Kilmer or George Clooney. Those 2 managed to make Keaton's performance look oscar worthy by comparison.

Keaton did a passable job with the material (and costume) he was given imo.

 

Actually they released what is called The Dark Knight Prologue in IMAX only attached to IMAX versions of I Am Legend. The prologue is the first 7 or so minutes of the movie. It's all about the rise of The Joker. The L.A. Times got the first screenshot from it here:



Read about it here.

Tommy McClain

 

Give Kilmer and Clooney a little credit they had an ass-tastic director and horrible screenplay/script. Batman Forever could have been really well done had it not been for the over-top Jim Carrey, cheesy Tommy Lee Jones and crybaby Chris O'donnell. Personnally I think Vilmer did rather well even though he didn't look much like the Bruce Wayne we expected. Clooney had the best Bruce Wayne look, but all the rest of the crap in the movie completely overshadowed. He could have been a great choice with a much better script and director. The fault lies with Schumacher, and him alone.

Tommy McClain

 

Lets just say I disagree that Clooney or Kilmer brought anything to the part. I fully admit there was nothing any one man could have done to save those movies (perhaps aside from a man on a grassy knoll with a bead on schumacher), but there was nothing remotely good about any of the acting performances.

ps you can find that 6 minute clip (ala shakycam) on gametrailers for those who are interested here is the link

 

You're the first person I know who isn't a dumbass that liked a Schumacher Batman movie better than one from Burton. Are you kidding me?

3 and 4 are a complete joke compared to the first two. Burton's trademark artsy touch alone is enough to shame #3, let alone the myriad of other factors.

 

Batman 1-4 movies have never claimed to anything but entertainment, folks

Are some of you guys for real with this debate about the quality of the Batman movies from a dramatic and acting style standpoint? I mean, seriously?

We are talking about PG-13 B-movies, targeting pubescent kids, their parents and B-movie crowds, about a billionnaire in a bat themed latex jumpsuit who acts as a vigilante in the mean streets of a megalopolis, fighting super villains dressed as clowns, pinguins, green question marks things, flowers or even ice cubes.

It's impossible for the actors, the script or the direction, of any of the movies, to be inaccurate or over-the-top because the premise of the whole thing is already so high you can't see any top from there.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of Forever and Batman & Robin because of the fast pacing of the movies, the inclusion of too many supportive characters and the colourful take on the photography and the lighting of the sets. But none of the Batman are hardly cinema vérité masterpieces, but they were never publicised as that, so I never judged them with any other benchmark than: was it a fun action B-movie?

Between the spoiler tags is an off-topic reply about the Batman character and the "serious version of it" some folks seem to crave for:

Spoiler

The comics have never been about hard hitting social commentary or deep psychological analysis (no matter what grown-up comics fans with too much time on their hand read "between-the-lines"). It's just all about some super detective, with a questionnable fashion sense, who kicks the butts of some villains, who also happen to have a quite puzzling fetish for tacky, garish and gimmicky outfits.

I don't know why people always expect the translation of by-the-book comics characters and mythos to the silver screen must imply some sort of "serious" take on the character development and a strong emphasis on deep, quality and believable story...

And this whole "I grew-up with [some comics character], so I'm enjoying seeing him evolve into something more mature" phenomenon rings no bell in me. I understand it, from a social and psychological point of view, but it's definitely not on my line of thoughts. Some people love the Dark Knight from Miller, but personally all I see is some awkward and watered down mature take on the Batman character.

Why awkward and watered down? Because for me to take the Batman character seriously, you'd have to depict him as plain bat-shit insane (pun obviously intended). Only a completely crazy character, who would be filthy rich, would dress as a bat and do what he'd consider vigilante work. And in this case, it would be impossible for him to be a good-doer, or be surrounded by other maniacs, who also dress crazy, but happen to be his ennemies. A "serious" take on Batman would be the story of a visibly mentally instable billionnaire, who thinks he has to serve quick and very violent justice for some crazy reasons, if not homicidal and bloodthirsty motives. No good-doer stuff, no friendliness with the authority, no kid friendly character, just a crazy billionnaire who will try to get away with murders of people he and only he deemed guilty of capital punishment. But you know what? That would kill the Batman franchise, and the end result might just as well be a disappointing adult-themed graphic novel or movie.

 

The reviews are starting to dribble out... I'm bouncing off the walls for this one. I reckon it's going to be a straight box-office cage-match between this and WALL-E for the $$$ this summer.

 

I just loved the first movie.
In fact I never read the comics and would likely not, I've seen the other movies and regret it, it damaged my image of Batman.
The Batman I like is Tim Burton's Batman played by Mickael Keaton.

But really I think it's all about taste.

I like the new Batman, Batman Begins, it wasn't as good as the original Burton's one, but it was good.

 

That was my favorite as well, but this sounds pretty darn good. I am quite excited about it.

 

John I watched indy 1-3 a week or so before seeing indy 4, and from that perspective it was ok IMO. I think fond childhood memories can cloud this sort of thing (well at least for me ) Same is true of Batman and Keaton, perhaps I was younger so it informed my opinion of later films, but I thought him and Nicholson were great.

 

I Cant....wai....for....this....movie.....

 

I was there opening night for the 1st Batman, same for Batman Forever and Batman Begins. Batman Begins is still by far my favorite ever. I didn't get started reading Batman comics till between Returns and Forever during the Knightfall storyline. So although the first one was good, it got enough stuff wrong that makes it inferior to Begins in my eyes. Anyway, I could be there first for Dark Knight but I've decided to wait a day or so. This way I can drive to a larger city and watch it at an Imax with my son and brother-in-law.

BTW, look what I got in the mail today...



Just another set of swag to add my already large collection. Wished I got the Batman cowl or the Joker goon mask though. Hopefully the next stage of the viral ARG game(July 7, 2008) will give me a chance to see an early showing at an Imax for free.

Also, for those Xbox 360 fans, download the free dashboard theme and gamer pics on Live Marketplace. Plus, order Domino's Pizza online by going to http://www.dominos.com/ and you'll get a chance to win a free Dark Knight-themed Xbox 360, $10,000 and other prizes and movie content.

Tommy McClain

 

Whoa, that's pretty hip... did you get that from sending messages over Live and whatnot? I received a few from you and wondered what you were up to. Wish I got in on the party now.

 

I got it as part of the Alternate Reality Game. 42 Entertainment is doing it for Warner Brothers. They are same company responsible for the I Love Bees Halo 2 viral game.

I'm not exactly sure what I did to get this latest swag. I've been participating since last summer and with each "trail" of the game I get on new email and snail mail lists. The first stuff I got was from last November when the Joker asked us to dress up like him and post pictures of ourselves on his site. I got 25 copies of The Gotham Times newspaper for doing that. It's a real paper with 4 pages of news articles about a variety of things going on Gotham City between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight timeline. My next set of swag was from this past March when I asked by Harvey Dent to help him campaign for his run for D.A.(he's already elected D.A. before the movie starts). I had to post pictures or video of me in the public showing off his "I Believe in Harvey Dent" campaign materials printed from his web site. I got 6 copies of the 2nd issue The Gotham Times for posting a picture. I also got "I Believe in Harvey Dent" buttons, bumper stickers, yard signs, window clings and City of Gotham Voter Registration card. I then got a Harvey Dent campaign button from an anti-Dent group(mob) where half of his face was burnt off. My next big swag score was claiming a package intended for a corrupt officer trying to flee the city. I was a confidential informant for Gordon and he asked me call Gotham Hotel concierge to claim it. The package was put together by the mob. It included a pre-paid Nokia/Verizon camera phone, fake Gotham City Driver's License, $25,000 in Wayne Enterprises bearer bonds, Kinsly Travel's flight itinerary, real prop Joker card, Spanish dictionary(I was flying to Bogota). LOL I recently got 3 copies of the 3rd issue of The Gotham Times and now the Citizens for Batman swag shown above. It's been a great ride. By far the most fun I've had participating in any game in a long time. It's not too late to play, but it might be too late to get a lot of free stuff. I'm sure there will be at least one more package sent out before it's all over with.

Tommy McClain