Dark Knight

[hubbie]

epic huh. saw it last wednesday.

 

[PINT of Stella. mate!]

Looks good but harmful for the children (won't somebody think of the children!)

from The Age

Batman's latest caped crusade is no joke for kids
July 20, 2008


VIOLENCE, menacing themes and Heath Ledger's flesh-creeping Joker push The Dark Knight into adults-only territory that could seriously disturb children, child experts warn.

While Batman's latest big-screen battle looks set to top Spiderman as the highest-grossing comic book film, parents have been advised to keep children away.

"Parents who take their kids along to this film are under-rating the kind of impact it will have," says children's media analyst Lee Burton.

"The dilemma for parents is that every other child at school is going to see it, but really they have to be firm and simply say no. It's not so much the violence, it's the impact of watching someone like the Joker who obviously is immoral, who glories in evil and loves cruelty. That's what children remember and worry about and have nightmares about."

Rated "M" by the Classifications Board, which noted the film's "frequent action violence", The Dark Knight is not recommended for children under 15.

Directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale as Batman and the late Ledger as the Joker, it is the darkest of the Batman films and a long way from Adam West's camp caped crusader of the 1960s TV series.

In one gruesome scene, the Joker kills a man by impaling his head on an upright pencil. In another, a hanged body wearing a clown mask is slammed against an office window. The Classifications Board also noted the disturbing impact of having a main character with a grotesquely disfigured face.

Despite its concerns, the board opted for an advisory M rating rather than the tougher MA15+, which restricts children from seeing the film except in the company of a parent or guardian.

"Throughout the film there are frequent action sequences which include explosions, car chases and crashes, machine-gun and shot-gun fire and stylised fight sequences," the board's report states. "In the board's view the stylised and implicit nature of the visuals and the 'fantasy' storyline serve to mitigate the viewing impact of the violence."

Classifications Operations Branch project officer Claire Bowdler said an M rating indicated violence that was moderate in viewing impact. "The consumer advice for Dark Knight indicates the element that pushed this film into that next category was violence," she said.

"That tells you that all the other elements in the film like sex, language and nudity are PG, but it was the action violence that pushed it up into the M level. We say it's not suitable for people under 15; however, it's up to the parents' discretion."

The Dark Knight is the latest in a big-screen trend that transforms stories traditionally aimed at children into darker, adult narratives.

This year the M-rated The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was criticised for being too dark and frightening for its target audience, as was Harry Potter: The Order of the Phoenix, the first in the Harry Potter series to receive an M rating.

Warren Cann, executive director of the Parenting Research Centre, said M-rated sequels made it harder for parents to keep away children who had already seen earlier PG instalments.

Dr Cann also criticised the marketing strategy of selling merchandise aimed at children for such films. Already, parents can buy The Dark Knight-themed sticker activity book and Batman Saves the Day children's book.

"Batman does pose a real dilemma for parents because he is thought of as a child's character in a comic book," Dr Cann said.

"Making it harder for parents is the way these experiences are directly marketed at children, from toys to memorabilia, so the challenge is on for parents."

Ms Burton, a former education manager at the Australian Children's Television Foundation, calls such marketing "commercially immoral".

She disagreed with the assumption that violence in a "fantasy" setting was less harmful to children. She said young children often could not differentiate between reality and fantasy.

"I don't wear the argument that they know it's all fantasy," she said. "When you go to see a film, you've got the large screen, surround-sound, the audience all around and for children it becomes very real.

"Children don't have the story-making ability to string together complex plot points and instead they remember isolated incidents, mostly violent or disturbing. To say a child of six or seven can sit through The Dark Knight is just a nonsense."

Dear Lord! Won't somebody stop this evil mess from corrupting our little ones!!?!?!!

Seriously, what f***ing planet are these 'experts'* on? Shielding a kid from fantasy violence sounds like a perfect way to prepare them for the trials of life FFS, 100 years ago we'd have had the little bastards climbing up chimneys and acting as gas detectors for the canaries in the mines before sending them off to get slaughtered in the trenches as soon as they turned 16! In many parts of the world they're still arming the little shits!

We're supposed to be preparing the younger generation to cope with a life that can throw all manner of nasties at us from tsunamis to disease to famine to murder via environmental catastrophe, alcohol fuelled violence, poverty and Australian Idol! Shielding them from the away from world is about as useful as Anne Franke's dad buying her a drumkit.

Having said all that, I can't wait to see the film when I get back to dry land. I just hope there aren't any screaming brats in the audience...



*from the latin: Ex def: a has-been and Spurt def: an ejaculation

 

[Z100]

Disappearing pencil trick, thats all Im going to say.

 

[Spike-X]

I really liked the film. but as a recovering comic nerd, i wish they'd at least saved the title 'dark knight' for something a little closer to frank's original series

As a recovering comic nerd, you should realise Batman was being called 'The Dark Knight' a long time before Miller came along.

 

[Spike-X]

Seriously, what f***ing planet are these 'experts'* on? Shielding a kid from fantasy violence sounds like a perfect way to prepare them for the trials of life

I agree kids shouldn't be sheltered from every little thing that could possibly upset them, but you have to take it a bit easy.

I took my 7 1/2-year-old to see The Dark Knight, and I kinda wish I hadn't. There's a lot of stuff there that I think was a bit too full-on for him.

 

[pavey]

Dear Lord! Won't somebody stop this evil mess from corrupting our little ones!!?!?!!

Seriously, what f***ing planet are these 'experts'* on? Shielding a kid from fantasy violence sounds like a perfect way to prepare them for the trials of life FFS, 100 years ago we'd have had the little bastards climbing up chimneys and acting as gas detectors for the canaries in the mines before sending them off to get slaughtered in the trenches as soon as they turned 16! In many parts of the world they're still arming the little shits!

We're supposed to be preparing the younger generation to cope with a life that can throw all manner of nasties at us from tsunamis to disease to famine to murder via environmental catastrophe, alcohol fuelled violence, poverty and Australian Idol! Shielding them from the away from world is about as useful as Anne Franke's dad buying her a drumkit.

Having said all that, I can't wait to see the film when I get back to dry land. I just hope there aren't any screaming brats in the audience...



*from the latin: Ex def: a has-been and Spurt def: an ejaculation

Good luck with that! I went the other day with my girlfriend and a couple of mates and we were 2nd from the back... The back row was FULL of <15 y.o's who obviously thought gossiping about their day was better than watching the movie they'd payed $15 bucks to see! Even after being told to shut up a few times they still refused to watch the movie in silence -.-

 

[do-a-flip]

Good luck with that! I went the other day with my girlfriend and a couple of mates and we were 2nd from the back... The back row was FULL of <15 y.o's who obviously thought gossiping about their day was better than watching the movie they'd payed $15 bucks to see! Even after being told to shut up a few times they still refused to watch the movie in silence -.-

so fucking annoying!! i went to see the love guru (bloody funny and whovever says its wrecks mike myers rep your a joke) with my best mate and some 10 year old girls decide they would scream and yell during the movie. after being told numerous times to shut the fuck up they tried their luck at trying to pick us up(we are 16 btw). one of them came up and sat next to my mate and tried to grab his hand! like wtf! what happened to respecting you elders haha. when i was a kid i always kept away from the older kids but now there just freaking everywhere doing anything!
grrr end of rant
going to see batman on tuesday really wrapped from reading this thread

 

[Funky Frypan]

Heath Ledger was AMAZING. He plays the Joker soooo well. As has been said, there were a few stages when you thought it was going to end but kept going on.

As I've said Heath Ledger as the Joker was so good.
Go see it.

 

[Smacks]

I just got back from it. Definitely in my top 10 movies of all time. Heat Ledger's amazing.

Go see it now.

 

[tu plang]

Heath Ledger was AMAZING. He plays the Joker soooo well. As has been said, there were a few stages when you thought it was going to end but kept going on.

As I've said Heath Ledger as the Joker was so good.
Go see it.

Yeah... I got that feeling too. Really great movie but I'm undecided as to whether it was pushing the limits of length.

 

[bsx_comp_9]

sounds awesome, im going friday night

 

[Dicky]

Perhaps Harvey's transformation subplot could have been fleshed out a little...?
Tommy Lee Jones certainly got more screen time.

 

[S.]

Perhaps Harvey's transformation subplot could have been fleshed out a little...?
Tommy Lee Jones certainly got more screen time.

Yeah that whole thing totally contradicted the original story of how Two-Face came to be, which was the only thing that really annoyed me about the movie.

Ledger rocked as the Joker, one of the best characters I've seen in any movie for years.

 

[faceplant666]

Heath Ledger is Brilliant, I can not say how good his performance was, he was truly menacing.

 

[sxereturn]

Sweet movie, but the Hannibal comment was a bit over the top. Ledger absolutely dominated this role, but it was in a fantasty style movie which in itself doesn't allow him to meet the standards of Anthony Hopkins...Hannibal was a totally realistic, could-happen-to-anyone style movie and that's one of the reasons it is so legendary.

 

[slip]

Girlfriend suggested we go. She did not like it. Serves here right.

It had to be 2.5 hours to fit that much awesome in. A lot of it was exaggerated - like a comic book, which was good. Joker yelling "Look at me" with this evil, commanding, almost demonic voice was a memorable moment. You could see people who weren't fully paying attention immediately obey the command, their heads snapping straight toward the screen.

 

[Uber Speed]

Hey does anyone know how they make two-faces face like that it's pretty cool. The joker is awesome didn't Heath die while filming it?

 

[Ziggy]

Hey does anyone know how they make two-faces face like that it's pretty cool. The joker is awesome didn't Heath die while filming it?

They threw him in an oven.


He died of an over dose whilst filming the movie. I think it was sleeping pills? Tragedy none the less.

 

[Spike-X]

Filming had well and truly finished when Heath died. He was well into filming on his next movie.

 

[Spike-X]

Hey does anyone know how they make two-faces face like that it's pretty cool.

It looks like just some good old-fashioned makeup/prosthetic effects.

No doubt they'll have a segment about that on the DVD.