Comments on: The Curious Case of The Dark Knight’s DVD Special Features

By: Mutant

Mutant — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:40:00 +0000

I was pretty disappointed at the lack of bloopers. I never really thought about it being discouraging to the actors, and I don't think it should be. I mean, if you have actors who are worried that their mess ups will end up on the blooper reels, and they act badly because of that, well…They're not very good actors, are they? I like the blooper reel cause you get to see the cast having some fun, and you get to see the actors being human, making mistakes. It's not like we'll think they never make mistakes if they don't put the blooper reel in. The real issue here is that Christopher Nolan wants his film to be taken seriously, and The Dark Knight is a film that in general takes itself too seriously. Its good, but at the end of the day, it's a Batman film. Nothing more, nothing less.
Though that being said, I have a feeling Christian Bale doesn't like blooper reels either. “F**k man, they're ammature!”

By: heath ledger

heath ledger — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:03:22 +0000

what a waste of DVD space. Its sugar coated bullshit and called gold, dont waste your money buying the two disc unless you have already. If I ever run into the director of this film, he will be shot, raped, mamed, and then murdered.

By: heath ledger

heath ledger — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 01:03:00 +0000

By: Uma

Uma — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:08:53 +0000

Gord, on the topic of Aaron Eckhart and Harvey Dent, I totally agree with you. Since he’s my favorite actor, I was pretty hyped to see how the whole Two-Face thing was done and I was so disappointed. Not even anything aside from the Gotham Tonight things had anything relevant to Harvey Dent.

I’m really hoping that they don’t ignore this matter if they come out with a new release of it. I dunno why but Aaron keeps getting pushed in the background of everyone else when it comes to this movie. He did just as well as everyone else and deserves to have some space on the platter too. Not to be a prude or anything, but without Harvey’s character, this movie would have been lacking in some kick ass stuff (not that I don’t appreciate Ledger’s Joker… I’m just saying).

By: Uma

Uma — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:08:00 +0000

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:07:43 +0000

It would be nice to have special features on par with the special features on the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition sets.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:07:00 +0000

It would be nice to have special features on par with the special features on the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition sets.

By: emonxie

emonxie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:57:43 +0000

Good read! I sent it out to my game team peers, even.

This bit, "I’m not saying that we should expect that from every single blockbuster, but it would be nice, wouldn’t it?"

At the inflated price of a blu-ray disc, the amount of hype I had to endure pre and post release, and the herculean effort of all involved with a massive production whom deserve to be celebrated, all those little people generally forgotten in all but the least marketing driven behind the scenes documentaries; so yes, yes I emphatically do believe every blockbuster should be stuffed to the gills on home release, at least in the "deluxe" version, for any fans willing to invest their money into helping ensure every principle contributor gets exotic vacations, rehabs, and / or wakes as case might be.

And there is an incredible 12" version of Two-Face from Hot Toys out of HK available through Sideshow or direct from Hot Toys or EBay. The Mattel toys were only worth openly sneering at while steering your wallets and kids away towards better made items from manufacturers other than Hasbro or Mattel. Like Lego, Medicom, Hot Toys, Kid Robot, or MacFarlane.

Keep fighting the good fight!

By: emonxie

emonxie — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:57:00 +0000

Good read! I sent it out to my game team peers, even.

This bit, "I’m not saying that we should expect that from every single blockbuster, but it would be nice, wouldn’t it?"

Keep fighting the good fight!

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:09:28 +0000

My guess is to either look for a double-dip Ultimate edition. But I would also guess that we might see some of that stuff pop up on the BD-Live stuff. I'm guessing that Nolan's commentary will get archived there, and who knows what other "archived" stuff might show up in the future.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 05:09:00 +0000

By: Mo-Mo

Mo-Mo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:52:02 +0000

the public at large doesn’t seem to really care. the Blu-Ray Disc sold 400,000 copies in THE FIRST DAY. that’s 100,000 more than Iron Man in it’s entire first week. The DVD sold 7 MILLION in its FIRST DAY. now i’m going to assume most of these people are casual movie fans, but the real cine-philes will be pissed when the “holy shit, 8 disc, super awesome edition” comes out in 2012.

By: Mo-Mo

Mo-Mo — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:52:00 +0000

By: Gord

Gord — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:36:12 +0000

I really feel bad for Aaron Eckhart. He definitely got the short end of the stick in terms of Two Face. I understand that they wanted to keep Two Face's look a secret, but did it have to be so big a secret that he's not in any TDK media at all? I mean, they don't even have a frickin' toy of him. I'm truly disappointed by this DVD.

By: Gord

Gord — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 04:36:00 +0000

By: CaptainReg0981

CaptainReg0981 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:36:52 +0000

I bought it, watched it, complained like some of you guys did for lack of commentary, and I still love it. Period.

By: CaptainReg0981

CaptainReg0981 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 03:36:00 +0000

I bought it, watched it, complained like some of you guys did for lack of commentary, and I still love it. Period.

By: Davebaxter1989

Davebaxter1989 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:00:51 +0000

It will have a super special edition when they can put winner of X Oscars. And you know what I'll buy it then as well because I'm a complete sucker.

By: Davebaxter1989

Davebaxter1989 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

It will have a super special edition when they can put winner of X Oscars. And you know what I'll buy it then as well because I'm a complete sucker.

By: Joshi

Joshi — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:59:33 +0000

So I wasn't the only one then. I blasted through the second DVD yesterday and have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed all of it, so much so I didn't realise that it was half five in the morning by the time I'd finished.

But I did find the bits that were missing to be a little odd. The Heath Ledger thing I figured could go either way. I did enjoy the small bit they said about him walking out of the hospital as it exploded and how he never looked back once at the explosion, but obviously that whole thing was more about the exploding building than him. Frankly, I was disappointed, but I didn't think it was wholly unexpected.

But I did expect at least a featurette on Harvey Dents make up and how they achieved that effect on the second half of his face. They talked for hours about how they wanted to keep as much of TDK as practical as possible and use very little CGI, so I thought it'd be interesting to see how they tackled Dent's face, but there wasn't even a mention.

I smell a special edition popping up in the coming months, or probably even one coming out right before the third film, so we'll be waiting a few years for it, but I do find it a shame that with such a huge film they did kind of hold back on the DVD extras. And I would lament over the absence of a commentary, but then I've grown used to it with high profile films like this, the disappointment dulls after a while.