What I didn't like about The Dark Knight:
Batman's voice: I don't understand what the hell Milky and the 1up FM guys had against it in the first film (SWEAR TO ME! was one of my favorite parts, I thought that was an awesome display of symbolic dominance) but they're right about its overuse here. There's a couple "uncanny valley" scenes where Nolan's mostly believable world is compromised by two government officials conversing with a guy in a batsuit.
Ok, that sounds unfair, and it is considering it's a movie about a guy in said batsuit fighting a clown, but does he really need to use that gravelly voice to plan things with the good guys? I think it makes perfect sense when he's fighting baddies, and you have to admit it's more intimidating than Keaton's take, but can't he chill every now and then?
The "Tumbler"? Another aspect I was totally willing to embrace in the first film, this time for its practicality and difference, but once you're over that you remember how goddam ugly the tank version of the Batmobile is. I quite honestly preffered it as a wall-climbing phallus, but on the bright side the sweet action sequence involving the batcycle more than makes up for it (especially when the ugly tank explodes).
Length: Now remember I did see this at a midnight screening, and meant every word when I said it flows far better than the overlong Lord of the Rings but you do still feel its length as the 1up FM guys pointed out. However, while you're aware of it, and at first I'd have agreed at smashbro that it could have ended at its middle portion, I felt the plot, Joker schemes and "holy shit" revelations more than made it worth the effort to stay awake. Shane Bettenhausen is an asshole for praising a plot like Metal Gear Solid 4 yet saying this greatness should be cut 20-30 minutes short?! The thing is the characters in this film are more than interesting enough to merit the extra screen time where LotR dialogue bored me to tears when it was dragged out. If you haven't understood this yet, I never gave a shit about Rings' story and only watched it for elephant-riding sword fights. Dark Knight has a much more compelling story to tell.
Still, you will be aware of its length if you're not prepared. Yeah, that was long and ambiguos, but so was the subject matter in that paragraph right? Right.
Action sequences: weren't bad by any means but aside from the amazing stunt work with the batcycle, I felt much of it could have been made more satisfying. Of course, that's getting quite nitpicky considering one of the reasons for this is the dialogue might just be overshadowing these bits.
Questions:
Was there a funeral procession for Rachel Dawes? I honestly don't remember one, and it worries me regarding everyone's apparent acceptance that the miraculous ressurection we were all expecting never happened. I know it's plausible they may have never found a body considering the way she died, but there's no mention of it other than Harvey Dent's anger over it. Speaking of that guy
Do you really think Two-Face is dead? I dunno... if Batman can survive that fall... of course unlike Dawes he gets a procession (by the way don't you think Gotham had a few too many of these considering its near-Anarchy state? You kind of expected what wasn't actually Gordon to get shot.) I think this is probably the most questioned part so far.
So then, how the hell do they top this?: It really does seem like they wanted to bring Joker back, if not only for a role akin to Scarecrow's reprisal here, but of course we'd all hate Nolan if he attempted this with a different actor after this iconic performance.
Catwoman could work, but I don't know if they can ground the storyline in reality as well as they have if they go that direction. And of course, villans I can think of off the top of my head like Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, Riddler etc. (yes, my knowledge of Batman villans is limited to Hollywood, I'm sorry) are quite a bit campy by nature and therefore at odds with the Kevin Smith-described "Nolanverse" of this series.
Then again, the Phantasm might just work.... Bi-Beast Spammer, your thoughts?
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