Finally saw Dark Knight.

Frank Miller is dead, long live Christopher Nolan.

Was awesome wasn't it? This version of the Joker was really the best. His psychosis was actually scary where Jack Nicholson's was just cartoony and...wierd. No offense to Jack....great actor there.

Heath Ledger owned that role.

No one else should touch Joker for at least a decade.

Oh yeah. Hell I saw the first trailer showing the Joker and I had no idea who it was! When I found tou, I went back and watched again....still couldn't tell.....ok so part of that was make-up, but still.....

Finally saw it not too long ago myself, I think I was a victim of impossible expectations. Everyone went on and on about the movies awesomeness, the tragedy of Heath Ledger's brilliant final performance, how it's a mind blowing tour de force....

So when I watched I was ready, no I was expecting a movie that would cause my TV to explode with its inability to properly convey the earth shattering next levelness of cinematic ecstasy that is The Dark Knight.

Imagine my disappointment when I discovered it was in fact a movie. A good action movie, with Mr. Ledger doing a fine job as the Joker and loads of solid special effects. But all and all just another movie, a movie that ran on way too long.

I remember leaving that movie struck with the elegance of the Joker's character and plan.

Ledger's performance certainly elevates the movie. Without him, it would be just another Batman movie - quite good but mostly if you're a fan already. Personally, I'm not but still enjoyed it. But it's not the Second Coming or anything.

It is so! You lie!

I prefer the 1989 "Batman".

I shall now rank all Batman adaptations!

1. Batman: TAS
2. Justice League/ Justice League Unlimited
3. The Dark Knight
4. Batman Begins
5. Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm
6. Batman (1989)
7. Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker
8. Batman Beyond
9. New Batman Adventures
10. Batman: Sub-Zero
11. Batman: Gotham Knight
12. Batman: Mystery Of The Batwoman
13. The Batman
14. Batman Forever
15. Batman (1966)
16. Superfriends
17. Batman & Robin

I'm sure I'm missing some stuff that I've never seen...

I hope that everyone can agree that that monstrosity goes on the bottom of the list.

Batman and Robin is still ranked too high.

You forgot Batman Returns.

I'd rank it higher than Batman (1989), and squeeze the animateds in between them.

Here's my top 10.

1. The Dark Knight
2. Batman Begins
3. Batman Returns
5. Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm
6. Batman: Gotham Knight
8. Batman Beyond: Return Of The Joker
9. Batman: Mystery Of The Batwoman
10. Batman (1989)

I'd have to put Batman Returns above Batman, and Batman Begins above The Dark Knight. Not much above, but measurably so. Don't get me wrong, Dark Knight was a fine movie, and Ledger was a great Joker... but the movie wasn't about him.

Oh... Batman Returns... forgot that one. I guess that'd be about smack in the middle.

There are some things about the movie that work really well (Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman) and other things that just don't work.

Not to knock Christian Bale, but they really needed a Batman/Wayne who was up to the level of Ledger's Joker.

(Or even up to the level of Caine and Freeman...)

Eh. Heath Ledger was no Cesar Romero.

Or Mark Hamill either.

Thank God.

Batman Returns was absolute crap. Worst rendition of the Penguin possible, suffered from three different villains, none of them sufficiently realized.

I mean, c'mon, Penguins with Rockets? Oh no! LOL.

Give me Adam West over Michael Keaton any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I thought Keaton was a great actor but he just physically didn't fit the part. I remember one scene in Batman where he was running side by side with Kim Basinger and she towered over him.

Hell, I could kick the shit out of Michael Keaton!

Tim Burton's movies don't hold up well, seems every story is secondary to the setting in which all of his movies take place. A gothic land filled with campy satire of all things emo with a sprinkle of generic steam punk tech thrown in.

Yawn.

I agree the Penguin was disgusting and assinine, but Michelle Pfeiffer deserved a fucking Academy Award for her Catwoman performance!

I loved Batman Returns.

Agreed - she should have been the villain by herself. That would have made a much better movie.

^The too-many-villians syndrome. Spidey 3 suffered seriously from that.

When will they learn?

Never.
Too many villains comes down to Burger King wants to sell more cups, and Kenner/Playmates/Mattel wants to sell more figures, so they lobby the studio.
Akiva Goldsman revealed this was exactly what was behind the Batman & Robin debacle.

The Tim Burton movies haven't aged well. Their art direction, though refreshing and original at the time, now makes them seem almost as unrealistic and otherworldly as the 1960s Batman series.

Yah, I appreciated that Dark Knight was just filmed on the almost-unenhanced streets of Chicago.