Hellboy or Dark Knight ?

[drg]

The Contenders:

Hellboy II

Batman: Dark Knight

Comments welcome, but which one wins for you?

[Asylum Steve]

which one wins for you?..

I haven't seen either new film, and the first in each series only on tv...

I liked both of the originals. Batman Begins was a very fresh take on a very tired franchise. And with me, the darker the better, and boy was the imagery dark.

I did think Bale was a bit too Clint Eastwood-like in his character, almost to the point of being campy, but he held it in check just enough so it didn't detract from the film for me.

Hellboy is a totally different story. I had never seen the comic, and started watching the movie one night. I missed the beginning, and as the weird story unfolded, I kept saying to myself, what the hell is this?!? (pun intended).

I loved it! Love Ron Perlman in everything he does, and his character in this is just so damn funny!

I'm not normally a fan of films that seem like comic books (I like a lot of movies based on comic books, just like them to be like normal action-adventure movies). Hellboy was the exception.

So, to answer your question: I will probably like both films, but have a definite fondness for Hellboy. From what I've read, I won't be disapointed...

[mwfanelli2]

The Contenders:

Hellboy II

Batman: Dark Knight

Comments welcome, but which one wins for you?

What happened to the choice "Who gives a cr**?"

[Asylum Steve]

What happened to the choice "Who gives a cr**?"

Now Michael, you know full well that that choice is always available. :thumbsup:

It's just that most people who feel that way don't go to the trouble of particiapting (however briefly) in the discussion...

[walterick]

I haven't seen the Hellboy films, but caught The Dark Night last weekend and was very impressed. The film was very good in itself with just enough action and special effects without making it seem like we're watching a photoshop expo. But the story of the day was Heath Ledger. I am an enormous fan of Nicholson's portrayal of the Joker back in the original film, and never thought he could be matched. I thought Ledger would receive a lot of accolades for this film given people's fondness for him and their tendency to want to heap praise on people posthumously. Holy cow. The man outdid himself and every other actor on the planet this year. I won't say anything else other than I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat in every scene he was in - especially the ones without a single bit of action going on. Amazing.

See the movie for the Joker, but be entertained by everything else.

[Canuck935]

Holy cow. The man outdid himself and every other actor on the planet this year. I won't say anything else other than I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat in every scene he was in - especially the ones without a single bit of action going on. Amazing.

See the movie for the Joker, but be entertained by everything else.

You got that right! That was the most incredible piece of acting I have witnessed. He totally put to shame all of the top actors out there. This just can't be matched. Not even close. I saw it last weekend and I am still in awe. WOW!!!!

Go see it for Heaths performance of Joker, it is out of this world..

[drg]

Dark Knight has made over $300 Million through this past weekend.

I would imagine more than 7 PR members/viewers have seen Batman at least!

You don't have to comment, but did you see one or both of these comics come to life?

Spoiler Alert for Dark Knight follows:


I am currently of the belief that Batman will/should win one or more Academy Awards, but not for what most might initially consider.

Cinematography yes! Art Direction, no!

Director yes! Picture, no!

Best supporting actor Gary Oldman as Commisioner Gordon.

Editing, definitely! This is one of the best edited films I've seen in a long time that is not all CGI.

Other than that, probably not anything unless it would be for sound or ome lesser technical awards

What about Heath Ledger as the Joker you ask? A very good final presentation and performance, but much of the strength is based on the simple actor's trick of, wait for it, . . . he is in a mask. This frees any actor from certain restraints and necessities and to do things that otherwise won't work.

Second, the power of the character is as much the editing and camera work as in his presentation. The work Ledger does is very consistent and certain business and mannerisms he blends into the character are well done, but these are tools any actor must be able to bring to such a role.

If you look at how he is framed, it is the starkness or chaos of the background in his solo/closeups that provide a subconscious shock effect, and here is the strength of the Joker visually.

Bob Kane's introduction of the Joker to the comic world had him kicking the crap out of the Batman, but the Batman finally saving him from certain death atop a bridge. The final cell of that story has the Joker vowing 'he'll be back' from behind the cell bars, centered in the frame. Hmmmm . . .

The Joker has the best lines (for the most part) in the script. But are they original? I kept thinking of different films and speeches and rants and more importantly 'themes' from film after film. The psycho from the original Dirty Harry movie kept coming to mind. Gary Oldman portrayed a bent cop in 'The Professional' a few years back and his manners and business you can see on occaision in Ledgers hand mannerisms as the Joker. Christian Bale certainly contributed to the 'power' of Joker's presentation with this sociopathic attitude and appearance of his work in American Psycho. Lots of little stuff, but I feel the best physical thing Ledger 'did' was he had a good shoulder slump going.

Now I really think this is a good film, just has some flaws including establishing shots that are not fully utilized. The opening bank sequence is stylistically all but unrelated to the rest of the film. It too reminds me of other films (and I can't decide which one of two more so, so I won't say at this time) and of course the buses at the end of the robbery are too much like the parade of dump trucks in Die Hard With a Vengeance.

I will refrain from say much about the exteriors in this movie other than it is so obviously Chicago in places as to be distracting.

Still, go see it. It's a good ride, even if the ending is a bit ambiguous (intentionally) and even possibly weak. Doesn't end with the same bang that it starts out promising to deliver.

[drg]

I am going to try to resurrect, briefly perhaps, this thread/poll as the Summer Blockbuster has pulled in lots o' money!
( See CNN story here )

Surely more than 9 of us have seen this or in my case more than once. I went again to look for details and all that important stuff in the corners

You can skip the Hellboy portion of this, now I'm curious as to how many have contributed to 1/8th!! of the Summer film revenue!

Hope you had a great Labor Day Weekend ! !

[deckcadet]

I saw Hellboy the night before the iPhone 3G was released because I needed to see a midnight movie to stay in the mall. I thought it was pretty good, funny and a bit interesting...
Then I saw The Dark Knight on opening day.
And again two days later
I have now seen it 8 times, 3 of which were IMAX, which, incidentally, I think TDK has made a truly viable medium for distribution of fiction films.

I'd dare say it's the best film I've had the fortune to see in the theaters in my lifetime.

[GB1]

Some friends dragged me to Hellboy. It was OK, good acting, interesting story, above average script. Still kind of silly, but OK. I'd give it 2.5 stars.

I did see The Dark Knight about 2 weeks ago. It was OK also, but I think I was expecting more. This one was sooooooo serious. The Joker was good, but there was just so many other characters, many of which senselessly die (no problem - they just introduce two more), so many subplots. It was also too long. Still a good movie, but not as good as Batman Begins. I'd give it 2.5 stars also.