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:

I Believe In Harvey Dent.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and some menace

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where the Joker (Heath Ledger) jeeringly yells at Batman (Christian Bale) to run him over in the Bat-pod is slightly reminiscent of a scene in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) where the Joker (Jack Nicholson) urges Batman (Michael Keaton) to hit him with the Batwing.

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Goofs

(at around 57 mins) Reese meets with Fox and shows him the Tumbler blueprints he's discovered. What is clearly the right side of the vehicle is marked on the print as the left elevation.

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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: Huh, that's it? Three guys?
Grumpy: Plus 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: If he thinks he can sit it out and still take a slice I know why they call him "The Joker".
Happy: [up on the roof, breaking open the alarm box with Dopey] So why do they call him "the Joker"?
Dopey: I hear he wears makeup.
Happy: Makeup?
Happy: Yeah, to scare people. You know, war paint.
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Large blue flames dissipate in the center to form the new Batman symbol. The film title does not appear until the the closing credits.

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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

Featured in WatchMojo: Top 20 Best Movies of the Century (So Far) (2020)

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Soundtracks

Scatterin' Monkey
(1998)
Written by Masayuki Nakano and Michiyuki Kawashima
Performed by Boom Boom Satellites
Courtesy of Epic Records & Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.
By Arrangement with Sony BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

The Most Realistic True to Heart Movie Based on Comic Books.

A brilliant tense movie from the beginning to the end in which tells the story of the rising new menace in Gotham city known only as the Joker and how the Dark Knight has to reach his limits trying to control the havoc he breaks in Gotham city.

The movie is an extraordinary piece of the filmmaking art in all its aspects, the plot is carefully and smartly written as a intricately wrought canvas, the character development is very satisfying, the movie was shot well and nicely directed, the epic score fits the scenes and add up to the whole visual experience, the acting was intense by all cast where each fit their role perfectly, specially Heath Ledger who managed after all these years of having the Joker around in comic books, animations, TV series and even movies to literally bring this complicated character with all its twisted, brilliant, sadistic, dark and sometimes funny personality to live on the big screen. This is the last movie that Heath Ledger filmed completely and I believe some how he saved the best for last as he managed to put an outstanding final act of a realistic Joker and managed to put a smile on our faces before death brings down the curtains on his talent.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Why So Serious

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Mandarin

Release Date:

18 July 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Batman Begins 2

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:

$1,004,934,033

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