THE DARK KNIGHT RISES HIRES THE SPECIAL FORCES

nice. I really dug this guys stuff on Rescue Me and the one or two episodes of Law and Order he was in.

It's not like he's going to have more than three lines. 

yeah it's probably a background roll but Nolan always casts well, even for those.

Burn Gorman's a pretty great performer.

Daniel Sunjata < Nicky Katt, and look where that got us, people.

Has anyone ever spotlighted how terrible Katt and his dialogue are in that film? I guess it's supposed to be a bit of levity, but it's all bird-related idioms. "We'll be like sitting ducks" "We'll be like turkeys on Thanksgiving!" "We should run like a flock of seagulls!" Okay, I made the last one up, but you get my point. It was so corny hearing that shit. He didn't have a single decent line.

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Originally Posted by JacknifeJohnny 

Has anyone ever spotlighted how terrible Katt and his dialogue are in that film? I guess it's supposed to be a bit of levity, but it's all bird-related idioms. "We'll be like sitting ducks" "We'll be like turkeys on Thanksgiving!" "We should run like a flock of seagulls!" Okay, I made the last one up, but you get my point. It was so corny hearing that shit. He didn't have a single decent line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must be the only soul on earth who didn't mind it at all. Maybe it's just because I actually know people who would earnestly be that guy in that situation.

I get that, and I'm kind of having a laugh. I know you can't have Katt saying in a Batman movie: "Aaaahhh! Fuck! Fuck! Oh, God, I'm gonna fuckin' die! Jesus!" Which would be my response in that situation, but the bird thing just kills me.

I'm pretty sure a discussion about Katt's awful lines (meaning the lines were awful, not his delivery) has popped up around here, and not in the terribly distant past.

I'll admit to being a bit worried by this flurry of casting - this film needs to be firmly centered on Bruce/Bats to bring it to a solid conclusion (more BEGINS than TDK).

I'm not worried. Nolan's Batman is about how that character has affected the city and its inhabitants and I think you need those relatable, human frames of reference to make things feel a little more macro. The reverb Bruce's whole arc has had kind of calls for that.

I'm anxious for the official release from WB for the start of shooting and the cast list; that and the kickoff of the presumed viral/ARG stuff will help settle or distract from my concerns.

I trust Nolan, but we're dealing with the third film curse here. It has strong mojo.

I hope the police officer who yelled "NO MORE DEAD COPS!" during the press conference where Dent turned himself in as the Bat makes another appearance.

In the battle between shitty dialogue and no dialogue, no dialogue always wins in my book, which is why those scenes with Katt bug me so much. Not only are they bad lines, but they're bad lines in an otherwise great, tense sequence. Add in the fact he's been such a bit part scene-stealer over the years working with almost nothing(aside from some clever lines), from Strange Days to Grindhouse, and it's a bit of a shame.

It's probably not fair at all, but I tend to blame every bad line in the Nolan Batflicks on Goyer. Okay, maybe it's fair.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken Savage 

yeah it's probably a background roll but Nolan always casts well, even for those.

His two Batmovies have the worst bit-part actors I've ever seen in my life.

The bit at the party where the lady sees Bruce Wayne enter his Batcave, and then says something to the effect of "HEY COOL A PANIC ROOM!", combines both Nolan's awful casting and Nolan's awful sense of humour. The scene with Nicky Katt that JacknifeJohnny described above? I felt that the whole movie was like that. I seriously cannot picture an adult sitting through THE DARK KNIGHT and not cringing.

A lot of adults did just that. You're trapped in a world you never made!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus-7 

 

 

It's probably not fair at all, but I tend to blame every bad line in the Nolan Batflicks on Goyer. Okay, maybe it's fair.

Did INCEPTION have any similarly stomach-puckering lines? Memory says no, but I haven't seen it since last summer. I think blaming Goyer for every bad line is fair.

Goyer didn't work on the screenplay for TDK.

Yeah, but the whole "story by" thing could just be code for "submitted first draft" (which is my guess about what happened).  It's possible some of those lines were left over in the Nolan draft.  That said, I don't think it's really fair to blame Goyer for all the cheesy lines.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul McCartney 

His two Batmovies have the worst bit-part actors I've ever seen in my life.

The bit at the party where the lady sees Bruce Wayne enter his Batcave, and then says something to the effect of "HEY COOL A PANIC ROOM!", combines both Nolan's awful casting and Nolan's awful sense of humour. The scene with Nicky Katt that JacknifeJohnny described above? I felt that the whole movie was like that. I seriously cannot picture an adult sitting through THE DARK KNIGHT and not cringing.

It's a genre tradition. Literally EVERY superhero movie has TERRIBLE performances from extras and bit players.

Spider-Man (You mess with one of us, you mess with ALL OF US).

Batman Begins (Iiiiiiiii think they should give Batman a metal!)

X-Men: The Last Stand  (Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!)

etc.

My favorite is during the "hostages dressed as henchmen" scene at the construction site:

SWAT TEAM CAPTAIN: [radio static squawk] "Sir, we've got CLEAR SHOTS on FIVE CLOWNS". [Radio Static Squawk]

It's true that they did have clear shots on five clowns, but something like "CLEAR SHOTS on FIVE CLOWNS" shouldn't be said so matter-of-fact.

When Batman was telling Gordon what the deal was, and Gordon wasn't having it,  I almost expected Gary Oldman to go into full "this is going to be the clip that they show at the Oscars" ham actor mode; yelling his lines as spit is just flying out of his mouth:

"LISTEN!!! WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!!!! WE GOT...CLEAR SHOTS[Gordon waves his hands frantically towards the construction site]....ON 5 CLOWNS!!!!!"

The desperately unfunny line from the homeless dude with dreads that happens upon a Gordon driven Batmobile in BB makes me want to punch a kitten.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul McCartney 

His two Batmovies have the worst bit-part actors I've ever seen in my life.

The bit at the party where the lady sees Bruce Wayne enter his Batcave, and then says something to the effect of "HEY COOL A PANIC ROOM!", combines both Nolan's awful casting and Nolan's awful sense of humour. The scene with Nicky Katt that JacknifeJohnny described above? I felt that the whole movie was like that. I seriously cannot picture an adult sitting through THE DARK KNIGHT and not cringing.

The panic room line isn't bad, it's read fine, and it's what you would think it was if you saw him entering it. The only thing that slightly bothers me about it is that the action the actress is up to, fixing up her dress, looks weird because she's clearly just sort of performing fixing it and unconvincingly at that (really look at it, you'll see what I'm talking about). Other than that, it's a fine little throwaway and nowhere near as tone-deaf as some of the stuff in Batman Begins. The rest of Nolan's films aren't really like that (though one or two lines in Inception sort of approach it), I think it's Nolan sort of fixing his ear to what he feels the genre calls for. I mean, look at his gangsters, like Wilkinson, and Roberts, and the dude in the courtroom in TDK, unless Nolan is under the impression that all criminals talk like Paul Muni, it's obvious he means it to be somewhat heightened. The fact that it isn't aggressively so, is probably why people find it difficult to track. Also, McCartney, I think you try too hard sometimes.

Edit: By the by, one more comment on the dialogue in TDK's armored car chase sequence. I hearby demand a moratorium on the phrase "lock and load!". I demanded it the first time I ever heard it, I demanded it the second time, and by God, before I die, I will see it stricken from the glossary of stupid action movie expressions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker 

Yeah, but the whole "story by" thing could just be code for "submitted first draft" (which is my guess about what happened).  It's possible some of those lines were left over in the Nolan draft.  That said, I don't think it's really fair to blame Goyer for all the cheesy lines.

Yeah that's my feeling too. Plus all the other films by the Nolans have generally lacked these types of lines, while Goyer's films are chock full of them.
 

Another thing is that Batman is just inherently ridiculous.

With the tone that Nolan is painfully putting in place for his movies kind of makes these sort of stupid lines unavoidable, I think. No matter who we said actually wrote them.

McCartney may seem like he's putting too much effort in his contraian stance, but he's got a point about the speechifying. Especially in regards to William Fichtner's "Criminals who believe in HONOR and RESPECT!" spiel. We can play semantics on this, but c'mon, that bit was truly illogical.

Thankfully, I enjoy moments like that for the very reasons I stated it was bad. It's kinda campy in a way, and I like camp.

Zzzzzap!

"Oh like when a clown dies!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gabe T 

Daniel Sunjata < Nicky Katt, and look where that got us, people.

I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!!!

(dat's wut I'm talkin'bout!)

This thread has been mega derailed already, but I just wanted to mention... the worst line in the Dark Knight is probably "Have a nice trip, see you next fall." which is said by a cop shoving someone into the back of a police cruiser. Makes no sense in that part whatsoever.

I truly, truly am a contrarian when it comes to this movie, but I feel like I need to be, because it's from the heart. In fact, this has been my favourite-ever DARK KNIGHT thread on these boards, because for the first time a lot of level-headed people seem to have the same issues with the movie as I do, and can make fun of it accordingly. One big happy family!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus-7 

This thread has been mega derailed already, but I just wanted to mention... the worst line in the Dark Knight is probably "Have a nice trip, see you next fall." which is said by a cop shoving someone into the back of a police cruiser. Makes no sense in that part whatsoever.

I don't remember this line, but LOL, and I've seen that dialogue before. It was in a TOXIC CRUSADERS colouring book I had when I was about six.
 

At this point, I fully expect that in THE DARK KNIGHT RISING, brooding intellectual maestro Christoper Nolan will include a scene where Batman sprays Tom Hardy with a fire hose and then calls him "Bubble Brain".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexus-7 

This thread has been mega derailed already, but I just wanted to mention... the worst line in the Dark Knight is probably "Have a nice trip, see you next fall." which is said by a cop shoving someone into the back of a police cruiser. Makes no sense in that part whatsoever.

Hahahahah.  That's the line that makes me go, "... Nice one, Bullock!"

I'm going to derail this some more by bringing up Tron Legacy.  Garret Hedlund had a couple of those lines.  Not as weird as "See you next fall!," but here's a sample:

During the light-cycle battle: "Another customer!!!"

During the light-dogfight: "Have a nice SWIM!!!"

Really... with a dry, quick wit like that, he should be an action hero!

"DIE, BAD ROBOTS!  DIE!!!"