THE DARK KNIGHT
July 18
(Warner Bros. Pictures / Legendary Pictures)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer
Producers: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan
Executive Producers: Kevin De La Noy, Benjamin Melniker, Michael Uslan

Cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman

Christian Bale once again embodies the man behind the mask in "The Dark Knight." The film reunites Bale with director Christopher Nolan and takes Batman across the world in his quest to fight a growing criminal threat. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman has been making headway against local crime...until a rising criminal mastermind known as The Joker (Heath Ledger) unleashes a fresh reign of chaos across Gotham City. To stop this devious new menace--Batman's most personal and vicious enemy yet--he will have to use every high-tech weapon in his arsenal and confront everything he believes.

Official Sites

WWW.THEDARKKNIGHT.COM

The Dark Knight on Comcast

Why So Serious?

The Gotham Times

Teaser Poster

Theatrical Trailers

"Half" Film Clip Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow

WB Heath Ledger Memorial Page

I figured, with the full trailer released in theaters (attached to prints of I Am Legend) and the web, not to mention the six minute opening sequence (attached to IMAX prints of Legend, only), it was time to create this thread. Hype is at an all time high, and we still have seven more months until the film is released.

For fans of Chris Nolan's first foray into superheroics (2005's Batman Begins), this new entry is like the second coming. Even those who could barely feign interest in the first one are taking notice.

Burton fans can rest easy: this film is NOT a remake of the 1989 original. The brothers Nolan have a new plot that stems directly from the events of the previous reboot.

International Posters

Click any of the above for bigger

the trailer from I am Legend is pretty good.

BUT more interesting, in the movie I AM LEGEND, at the beginning, there's a large poster on a building for what looks to be a Superman/Batman movie coming in 09. Not sure if it's a real teaser or not but there's been rumors for years.

the trailer from I am Legend is pretty good.

BUT more interesting, in the movie I AM LEGEND, at the beginning, there's a large poster on a building for what looks to be a Superman/Batman movie coming in 09. Not sure if it's a real teaser or not but there's been rumors for years.

I went to IAL this evening for the express purpose of seeing the trailer on the big screen... my mother got the time wrong and we missed it by twenty minutes. But anyway...

EDIT: I finally sat down and watched the trailer (burning it to DVD and putting it in my home theater system first). As far as the editing goes, it's not quite as atmospheric and exhilarating as the one for Begins. Too many fades to black, I guess. But the whole point is the new footage, and that is exciting.

It's highly unlikely that we will see a Batman/Superman team-up movie in 2009... because the Justice League movie is aiming for release that year. This is more likely just an in-joke by the fanboy director.

The IMAX prologue (depicting a Joker bank heist) can be found in pirated form on yarious televisual bevices. If you know where to look. It's pretty nifty, even if the cell phone it was recorded on starts to drift toward the ceiling midway through.

This looks much better than the last one, which had some cool parts, but was ultimately an overheated, overwritten mess without any real storyline or plot (the Tim Burton films did have a similar problem, but they were really dark action/comedies, so plot didn't matter much), and way too many pointless diversions; however it was nice to see Batman in a decent film again and Christian Bale is the first actor to totally embody the character.... this one looks like it will be much more focused and actually have an antagonist. I also love that Maggie Gylenhall is replacing Katie Holmes, and Heath Ledger's Joker looks surprisingly good, I don't recognize him at all. I'm actually getting kind of excited about this now.

I'm really looking forward to both I Am Legend and the Dark Knight. I want to see both at the IMAX. Does Maggie Gyllenhaal actually replace the Katie Holmes character?

Does Maggie Gyllenhaal actually replace the Katie Holmes character?

Yes, she takes over as Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes. Which makes more sense than shoehorning in a new love interest.

Lwapom, while I can understand many of the critiques of Begins, yours made no sense to me. It's overwritten, but there's no story or plot? What were the pointless diversions (besides the lukewarm "romance")?

2003: Kill Bill: Vol. 1, dir. Quentin Tarantino

Does Maggie Gyllenhaal actually replace the Katie Holmes character?

Yes, she takes over as Assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes. Which makes more sense than shoehorning in a new love interest.

I caught Batman Begins on the IMAX, you can expect me to do the same with Dark Knight!  

Can you really tell me the plot of that movie Logichat? The only real connecting strand was Bruce Wayne's developement into Batman. The Ra's Al Ghul thing seems like it's gonna go somewhere, stops dead, and is reintroduced in the last second. The whole film is subplots, and after the first half of the film they (sort of) pull a new plot out of nowhere, and then suddenly tie them together at the last second. There's no compelling, driving central plot strand, there's no main, menacing villain. There's just a lot of subplots, none of which are very compelling. The menace to Gotham isn't clear for a very long time. None of that stuff with Scarecrow really added anything to the storyline, it was all just a diversion, apparently to make the film longer. Ironically it was far more enjoyable and interesting than the climax (mainly due to Cillian Murphy's performance)... Many characters existed for no particular reason, especially Morgan Freeman and Tom Wilkinson's characters, resulting in a lot of cameos and characters that went nowhere: the end result was very unsatisfying. I can't even say all this stuff was just set up for the sequel, as they suddenly wrap it all up quickly and start a new storyline for the sequel. I got the impression the script had been through the mill way too many times, that way too many ideas and characters were being put into it. At least that's how I see it. I'm hoping this one will have a lot more focus and less meandering; also it will hopefully develop the characters a little more, as the first was so busy they didn't have much time to do so.

The numerous characters helped present Gotham City as a world where many characters, all with their own agendas, coexisted even as they screwed each other over. Ra's used Crane for his evil moustache-twirling plot, then discarded him. Crane used mob boss Falcone to further his scientific interests, then drove him insane. All three contribute (directly and indirectly) to Bruce confronting his fears and becoming Batman, as he has to fight his way through each of them in turn.

It is nice to have that mano-a-mano feeling with Bats vs. Joker in the sequel, but there's quite a bit going on in this one, too. In addition to Mr. J, we have new District Attorney Harvey Dent, multiple gangs clamoring for dominance in the wake of Falcone's disappearance (including one lead by Sal Maroni, played by Eric Roberts), a gang of imitation Bat-vigilantes, and a jealous Bruce Wayne rival played by Anthony Michael Hall. But from what I've read, all these strands lead to the central plot as well. This intricacy lends itself to multiple viewings, if one is so inclined.

Smokey, I missed BB on the IMAX screen, but considering TDK features sequences filmed especially for the format, you can bet I'll try my best to catch it.
(I hope I don't sound too much like an advertisement or an apologist, or anything. I'm just an excited fan.)

The DENTMOBILE is coming to a city near you!

Check here for locations and dates!

If you're tired of all those two-faced politicians who promise change and don't deliver, choose Harvey Dent for Gotham District Attorney! Show him your support at www.ibelieveinharveydent.com!

Well, crap, I guess it's not coming to a city near me. Still cool, though.

 two-faced politicians

Ho ho, I get it! wink wink nudge nudge.

I'm glad I could lighten your day, Booth.

Harvey Dent is the change candidate.

Oh, you wrote that? In that case I withdraw my mocking tone.

Oh, you wrote that? In that case I withdraw my mocking tone.

Don't worry. I just noticed someone else using the same obvious joke. We gotta million of 'em!

Harvey Dent really is the change candidate. He used to be black!

Holy Underoos! Between this movie, the Hulk and Iron Man, I'm going to be geeking out big time this summer.

I don't have nightmares the way I did when I was a kid (on the rare occasion I do, I still retain some sense of power or authority in my nightmares). Except for the other day. I had a nightmare that the Joker & his thugs took Gotham's entire police headquarters hostage, holding dozens & dozens of cops in the building at gunpoint, slaughtering them one by one for fun (like having the cops play musical chairs, and killing every loser). It had a real Clockwork Orange kind of feel to the insanity and brutality, and it was the first dream I've had in a while that really scared me. It was the Joker that really put the fear in me. But of course, it made me want to see the movie that much more.

When are we going to see a third trailer go online?

Holy Underoos! Between this movie, Indiana Jones and Iron Man, I'm going to be geeking out big time this summer.

Fixed, and agreed. And add X-Files 2 to that list.

Now comes the election.

I am totally with you on Indiana Jones as everyone knowns. Dark Knight, definitely and after seeing the full trailer for Iron Man, I am really looking forward to it.. I am going to have to research this new X-Files movie. I am interested but since the last 3 seasons were practically unwatchable, I'll have to see where they are going to go with it before I make any kind of commitment. That being said, I thought the first X Files film was fantastic and they did an excellent job making an action packed flick for newbies to enjoy as well as enough mythology based plot devices to keep the dedicated fans happy.    

I am going to have to research this new X-Files movie.

Leaked teaser

Monster-of-the-week style, no mythos connection, straight-up horror/thriller. Sounds about right to me.

UPDATE: Slightly better quality version with music. 

Leaked Wondercon teaser

OMG OMG OMG OMG! Billy Connelly!

Also, Amanda Peet and Xzibit. It's a pretty weird (in a good way) supporting cast.

On the Dark Knight front, here's a cool article from the New York Times (with pictures! and a spoiler in the first paragraph!).

Thanks, buddy. That was a really good article and I think it's pretty cool the X Files film is of the monster-of-the-week quality; that style of the show brought some of the better (and funniest) episodes)! I'm sold.   

Okay, as I'm sure some of you know, I live in Hong Kong, which was one of the locations for the new Batman movie. I saw some really cool artwork the other day on the front of a soon-to-be opening Diesel shop so I took a photo of it on my camera phone. I don't know if it has anything to do with the movie or just a coincidence but it's pretty cool all the same.

Just thought I'd share...