The Dark Knight (2008)

When the menace known as the Joker wreaks havoc and chaos on the people of Gotham, Batman must accept one of the greatest psychological and physical tests of his ability to fight injustice.

Director:

Christopher Nolan

Writers:

Jonathan Nolan (screenplay), Christopher Nolan (screenplay)

Stars:

Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart

Top Rated Movies #4 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 153 wins & 159 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Christian Bale	...	Bruce Wayne
Heath Ledger	...	Joker
Aaron Eckhart	...	Harvey Dent
Michael Caine	...	Alfred
Maggie Gyllenhaal	...	Rachel
Gary Oldman	...	Gordon
Morgan Freeman	...	Lucius Fox
Monique Gabriela Curnen	...	Ramirez
Ron Dean	...	Wuertz
Cillian Murphy	...	Scarecrow
Chin Han	...	Lau
Nestor Carbonell	...	Mayor
Eric Roberts	...	Maroni
Ritchie Coster	...	Chechen
Anthony Michael Hall	...	Mike Engel

Storyline

Set within a year after the events of Batman Begins (2005), Batman, Lieutenant James Gordon, and new District Attorney Harvey Dent successfully begin to round up the criminals that plague Gotham City, until a mysterious and sadistic criminal mastermind known only as "The Joker" appears in Gotham, creating a new wave of chaos. Batman's struggle against The Joker becomes deeply personal, forcing him to "confront everything he believes" and improve his technology to stop him. A love triangle develops between Bruce Wayne, Dent, and Rachel Dawes.

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Plot Keywords:

dc comics | joker | psychopath | clown | criminal mastermind | 

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Taglines:

The night is darkest before the dawn.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

The final confrontation between Batman and the Joker similar to the end of Steve Engleharts story "Strange Apparitions". Where Batman and Joker fight each other on top of a construction building.

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Goofs

(at around 2h 5 mins) Near the end of the Pruitt building sequence, there are 6 SWAT members connected by a cord surrounding Batman, but only 5 go over the edge of the building.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Grumpy: [with Chuckles, picks up Bozo on the street] Three of a kind, let's do this!
Chuckles: That's it? Three guys?
Grumpy: Two guys on the roof. Every guy gets a share. Five shares is plenty.
Chuckles: *Six* shares. Don't forget the guy who planned the job.
Grumpy: He thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice?
Dopey: [up on the roof] I know why they call him "The Joker".
Happy: [breaking open the alarm box with Dopey] So why do they call him "the Joker"?
Dopey: I hear he wears makeup.
Happy: Makeup?
[...]

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Crazy Credits

The DC logo contains two comic-book images: a shot of the Riddler, and picture of Batman punching him out.

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Alternate Versions

The Blu-ray version of the movie has several of the big action scenes and high altitude photography scenes in ordinary 16:9 (1.78:1) widescreen ratio while the rest of the movie preserves the "scope" format (2.39:1). This is because these scenes were filmed in IMAX, whose format is 1.43:1, thus attempting to recreate the effect witnessed in IMAX theaters, as well as preserving as much of these shots as possible.

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Connections

Referenced in Sean Bradley Reviews: IT (Part 1 - The Losers' Club) (2017)

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Soundtracks

Andante from String Quartet in a minor D. 804, 'Rosamunde'
(1824) (uncredited)
Written by Franz Schubert

User Reviews

KNOW YOUR LIMITS MASTER WAYNE

THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy continues & THE JOKER takes center stage as GOTHAM suffers by the hand of a psychotic menacing clown who cares not for the proceeds of crime but only the mayhem & destruction he can entertain himself with , played brilliantly in a premature SWAN SONG by HEATH LEDGER , THE JOKER is hell bent on destroying THE BATMAN as he sees him as the only thing standing in his way , THE JOKER infiltrates the underworld & gains power in a coup d'tat as he tears GOTHAM apart in explosive and reckless fashion , meanwhile BRUCE WAYNE is contemplating how his alter ego is received by the public & whether or not he is a hero or criminal & a new hero is emerging in GOTHAM through the justice system as HARVEY DENT puts the criminals away for fun as GOTHAM'S D.A....THE JOKER uses every resource he can muster to turn GOTHAM against each other and RACHEL DAWES provides him with leverage as the love interest of both HARVEY & BRUCE...soon BATMAN is compromised & he is forced to make an impossible decision ,one that will ultimately turn hero's into villains & law into crime in a role reversal finale....PARALLEL SEQUEL that does not disappoint with a special performance from LEDGER ...RECOMMENDED.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Why So Serious

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

18 July 2008 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Le chevalier noir

Filming Locations:

Times Square, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

Box Office

Budget:

$185,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$158,411,483, 20 July 2008

Gross USA:

$535,234,033

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,099,094,480

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Legendary Entertainment, Syncopy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

152 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS IMAX 6-Track

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1