Batman: The Dark Knight

[Port]

SAVIOUR OF THE UNIVERSE

[Dyne]

Flash Gordon is so awesome.

FLASH! AHHH AHHHHHH!

i can't argue with this.

[nixhex311]

That's the whole thing, he's a great, A-list, immediately recognizable actor... playing the butler. It's a part for a less noticable character actor.

That and he didn't really seem to even try to play Alfred, he just played himself. Alfred's supposed to be sort of cynical and almost oblivious to the whole Batman thing; Caine was giving grandstanding motivational speeches and acting the part almost like a brother-in-arms.

That sort of thing really bugged me about Begins, you've got A-list veteran actors playing roles like the butler and the tech guy, filling screentime with their unneeded warm fatherly bullcrap filler, while really important roles from Year One like Flass and Falcone were filled by nobodies and treated like afterthoughts.

I really wish they would have done the Gordon/Flass plotline in Begins, Gordon, unarmed, taking out Flass really impressed upon you how awesome Gordan really is.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

That's the whole thing, he's a great, A-list, immediately recognizable actor... playing the butler. It's a part for a less noticable character actor.

Alfred's not just The Butler, though. He's The Main Character's Surrogate Father. Is that not a role for an A-lister?

[YellerDog]

Fuck that. No. Go watch that coke commercial I posted.

That dude is perfect, and is not "A-list".

[Taito]

That sort of thing really bugged me about Begins, you've got A-list veteran actors playing roles like the butler and the tech guy, filling screentime with their unneeded warm fatherly bullcrap filler, while really important roles from Year One like Flass and Falcone were filled by nobodies and treated like afterthoughts.

Begins' casting didn't bother me as much as you did, but I did wonder why a capable and accomplished actor like Rutger Hauer was assigned a role of an inconsequential glass-ceiling annoyance. Looking at William Fitchner's casting as an extra in the TDK prologue, it seems like the trend of recognizeable actors wasted on small roles will continue.

[Drewbacca]

And what's with all the hate for Michael Caine? I was actually excited when he was originally cast as Alfred, he's a great actor and I think he plays the part wonderfully.

I thought he was great too. He smoked one of the body guards and rescued Batman all while cracking a light joke about the fire brigade. Nothing he did overstated the fact that he was Alfred (except for that fire rescue, but it was a pretty dire situation but I think Alfred would have risked his own ass to save Bruce), a typically understated and peripheral character behind Batman's excellence. I guess some of the speeches could have been left out, but isn't Alfred always the one to keep Bruce grounded when he's getting ahead of himself?

[Taito]

Caine's Alfred is a little too direct and fatherly. I looked at Alfred as Bruce's conscience that he didn't immediately pay attention to. In past iterations of Batman, Alfred offers words for Bruce that lead him to the right answers.. in this series, he's doing the thinking for Bruce and telling him exactly what to do.

It's different, but it didn't bother me. Caine was barely acting in Begins though.

[g0zen]

That second trailer won me over on the Ledger Joker. Just the way he delivers that line "Let's put a smile on that FACE" followed by the insane laughter, that gave me chills.

[Nirvana]

Saw the Why so serious? poster in-person today. There's an added "message" at the bottom, from the looks of it. I took a pic with my cellphone in case anyone is interested.



A Taste For The Theatrical