So far all the reviews on Ain't Cool News are talking 'Oscar' worthy, and that would be the case if Heath Ledger was still with us.

I think it would be possible for someone to win an oscar after being passed away. They allow it for Medal of Honor winners.

The First Posthumous Oscar Winner:. Sidney Howard, for the screenplay of Gone With The Wind (1939)

Saw it yesterday and while it started out with a "HOLY CRAP THIS IS AWESOME" it dudded out at the end. Heath Ledgers portail of the Joker is consitant through out the movie.

Saw it last night with Denny and crew.

Heath was good. Bale was good. The movie was...good.

Certainly not the best superhero movie I've seen, I have a hard time comparing it to Batman Begins because that film was wrecked by my having to watch it 200 freakin' times when I worked at the IMAX.

I am ashamed I saw it on lowly 35mm, however the print quality was superior. Many times if a studio is not confident about a film they will release it on crappy film stock, DK got the royal treatment. Cinematography was top-notch as well.

Beefs:

Too much story, not on the level of the two awful Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, but still it felt like they were cramming a lot into it. My attention was wandering after a while.

Maggie Gyllenhaal. Wow, she was annoying, not a good actress at all. And what's up with her weird pig-nose??? It's all I could see after a while, glad she was blown up.

Once again Bats has to SAVE GOTHAM. Can't he just beat up muggers or something??

The Bat-Voice was almost parody, sooo gravelly.

Loose plot threads, what happened to the people on the ferries. Sure, they didn't blow up, but what then?

What happened to the money-laundering asian guy?

Bat-pod was dopey, looked flimsy and barely rideable.

Tumbler batmobile. It's awful, the front tires would burst as soon a it hits something. And you see it punching through walls!

Barbara Gordon is his daughter, not wife!!!

The Good:

Good to see Bats traveling to Hong Kong, that was cool.

Nice fight scenes, minimum use of "shakey-cam". See Transformers for how NOT to do fight scenes.

Hey a Grumman Mallard. or is it a goose?

Watchmen trailer! I am kind of warming to this.

Good small parts, like the cop in the secure van: "That's not good".

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And what is my fave rave superhero movie?? I think it's still the 1979 Superman. YOU WILL BELIEVE A MAN CAN FLY.

Now with spoilers...

I edited the topic title, since not everyone (including me) caught it yet... I had to move over the weekend.

I enjoyed it. Some of the things which initially bothered me are now sinking in and adding flavor. Heath was fantastic, if anything bothered me ultimately it was that the story deviates from him somewhat to deal with other issues (mind you it wasn't in a messy way). His little intonations and voice acting were just incredible.

I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10. Certainly worth seeing in the theater and putting on your DVD shelf.

Ah, yes, the money pile. Didn't see him, though musta missed it.

Nolan: Ok, Bale, we need a gravelly voice. Gargle with this whiskey spiked with barbed wire, and this is your new vocal coach:



Wife and daughter? I see.

Yeah, they talked about how to make Christian Bale's Batman voice less growly and more Batman, but in the end, they decided to make it more believable - in that it was Bale's (Bruce's) voice and not some weird overlay or trained growl thing.

Some people have been bitching about Joker's talk with Harvey Dent in the hospital - about how they never pictured Joker to be an "agent of Chaos" or a "catalyst to another villain." So this was my reply on another forum:

"That's what Joker is -

"All talk, then the action is entirely different than what he taunted Batman or other people with. Sort of a BAM! I GOTCHA! type chaos that comes out of left field.

"See, like The Riddler's inability to give anyone a straight answer without a riddle involved, the Joker is almost unable to tell anyone the truth unless it suits a higher plan to kill someone. Even when Joker's telling the "truth," he's not telling the entire truth. He can't. It's beyond him to not be the dramatic, theatrical villain who deals in half-truths and pure distraction on a level of logic beyond even Batman's capability to understand it. What he told Batman was only half true (so Dawes was killed). What he told Dent (so he'd turn bad) was half true. What he told the mob (so he could use them) was half true. Everything else was a bold lie or deception meant to cover up his true intentions - upsetting and destroying any progress made by the Batman and the law since Batman Begins.

"He's the WILDCARD in the deck. He's the Joker, FFS. "

It reminds me of an old movie, 80s?, with kids playing gangsters and they had marshmallow guns...

I won't going into tons of detail, but my wife and I really enjoyed this movie. Yes, we both found his growling to be really annoying and wanted him to clear his throat on occassion, but it didn't detract from the movie... just made us bitch a bit afterwards.

The film was a bit long, but was good enough that it was really hard sitting through those end credits... we both really needed the restrooms. For me, it was a movie I just didn't want to miss any part of.

I salute Heath Ledger as Joker... and can't imagine it ever being done any better than that. This was the same actor who played the pretty boy wanna be knight in A Knight's Tale. Who knew he could act so well. If only the Gelfling hadn't poisoned him...

I was a bit miffed that Two-Face had such a short time in the film, but the story flowed well. I wonder which villains we will see in the next film... scarecrow no doubt, but with Joker dead (in RL), Two-Face dead, I wonder if we'll see Danny DeVito back as Penguin or Arnie as Mr. Freeze *cringe* I hope not.

Arabin