Thanks to Wiki:

"See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... and one night... one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they’re going to escape! So like they get up on to the roof, and there, just across the narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in moon light... stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling... So then the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flash light with me. I will shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me." But the second guy just shakes his head. He says... he says "What do you think I am, crazy? You would turn it off when I was half way across.""

Have any of you read The Long Halloween, which inspired TDK? Cause I could definitely see the parallels.

I think that Joker's entire scheme was designed entirely from Long Halloween and Killing Joke.

Writers even mentioned that I think.

Yes, those who liked "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch" too. The less internet meme "humour" makes its way into the real world, the better for humanity.

On an entirely unrelated note,

fuck you.

The controversy sort of confuses me. I mean, the facts are pretty clear - he was getting almost no sleep ala tight scheduling, playing an obviously insane charecter, relationship problems, etc etc etc.

I have absolutely nothing against his choice in playing the charecter, and I was pretty disappointed to hear about his passing. There is just a tinge of irony that such a break role that could have propelled his career and the franchise, was also what led to his death.

Well, he was obviously distraught over losing Rachel. I got that (although more clarity on how close their relationship was would have helped nudge that aspect along). But it was his anger at Gordon... his rationale for becoming an agent of chaos. They had a conversation early in the movie disputing Gordon's employment of dirty cops knowingly. It was The Joker's scheme, of course, but Dent blames Gordon for his permissiveness... Dent was unwavering in his conviction, incorruptible. Which is probably why he was attracted to the idea of Batman but had a more difficult time trusting Gordon.

So don't get me wrong - the entire thing was awesomely played, but if you didn't catch that one conversation, Two-Face's actions and attitude seem contrived.

Too goofy, and the scene you mentioned could be replaced by almost any random person. However, I am seeing this a little more generously now. Probably not as bad as I thought. Still one of those stuttering openings though, made the whole first few minutes kinda disjointed.

Just one, but yeah I would've liked to see some interaction, maybe at Archam Asylum, between him and Joker.

To me it doesn't make sense to quit, because The Joker then runs unchecked. Yes there are causalities, but Batman should be smarter than to pin the guilt on himself rationally. I guess I can excuse this as an 'early in Batman's career' situation where he still wavers and is unsure if he should keep doing this or not, but to me Bruce shouldn't question the need for his presence and should be prepared for this to be a never ending battle.

Except every scene was built like an opening scene, instead of building on each other. All that set up could have been accomplished more smoothly.

Not short enough. The charecter dealt with there wasn't important enough to have that whole lunch-meeting... for a short scene it kinda dragged.

You know, I just came out of the film feeling kind of dissatisfied, and these things were all I could really identify as the cause. I think it was awesome, but I was expecting it to be as good as Iron Man, and at least as good as Batman Begins, and I don't think it was.

Oh I'm not saying the entire playing of the charecter went wrong. I liked that first scene quite a bit. Especially the grenades in his coat.

The Joker just taunted Batman after a beating that should've put him in a hospital. plus he is known for escaping so this scene didn't surprise me really.

That's okay Meister. It was sold out until Tuesday 'round here. So I've gotta wait too.

I think your saving grace is that you named two awesome movies as your expectation bar, so I'll forgive you. Having recent seen all three movies though, I must say I enjoyed Dark Knight more than Iron Man or Batman Begins.

Oh yeah, I saw it a second time, from farther back. Having absorbed all the points in this thread and taking them with me to the movie, I must say I didn't think anything in the movie was superfluous. You could maybe argue Scarecrow's cameo was unnecessary, but it was an entrance scene for Batman, and very short, and I like Scarecrow! Every scene makes a useful if not integral contribution to future scenes and/or the attitudes of characters (and the characters were the best damn thing in this movie, so...)

If I'm pissed about anything it's that there's so many good movies worth buying this summer, and this adds another one.

Tuesday's a hell of a lot closer than August 21st. :B

But yeah, I went out to see it last night. Had front row seats!

...

:(

Anyway, I loved it. And I'm going out to see it again today.

From what I understand they weren't actually working together, so his appearance was just a cameo and then it was over. So I'm a little more okay with that.
They went inside his body and found an overdose of sleeping medication that put him out permanently. It could have been an accident and it could have been suicide. We can't really tell, and acting like "playing the Joker killed him" is just unfair to him. We're gossiping at this point.
I don't think its justification for a 'problem in the movie' if the audience misses a scene. It wasn't hidden or slipped by the audience at all.
He was already running unchecked. To Bruce, Batman had failed to get the Joker. If he couldn't stop him using Batman, then Batman was useless in the one thing he was made to do. And if it would stop the Joker, then fine, so be it.

Well, the way I saw it was that when both he and Rachel were tied up, they went for Dent, that is what caused the hatred. Like, the scene where Batman tells him to shoot the people responsible instead, so he first shoots Batman, and then Gordon because he felt that they made the wrong choice since he pretty much lost everything because of who they decided to save.

Also, yeah, I just came back from watching the movie and the Joker was everything I expected and more.