The Dark Knight to be multiple AR on Blu-ray

[George Bellefontaine]

a sequel with Nolan/Bale is coming.

Oh, my, and Nolan will probably want to do a changing AR again, only this time he will switch between 4:3 and 2:40...

just kidding :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Race Car Driver]

There's definitely going to be a Batman 3. When a studio stands to make as much money as Warner is now making off the Batman franchise, it's a foregone conclusion that a sequel with Nolan/Bale is coming. Just a matter of when.

Oh I agree, while a 3rd may not top number 2, I would have a hard time seeing them NOT do a 3rd. Dollar is king!

[wettou]

Oh, my, and Nolan will probably want to do a changing AR again, only this time he will switch between 4:3 and 2:40.

YES! probably it's more artistic :B

[Ovation]

Actually, if Nolan could have exactly what he wants, there would be no shifting AR. However, his vision would limit screenings to ONLY IMAX cinemas as that is how, in a perfect world as he considers it, he would have liked to have filmed TDK. On the one hand, those who want a fixed AR would get it--on the other, only people who could travel to an IMAX cinema would see it in its first run.

I suspect the next one will be like this one, if Nolan has anything to do with it (as much IMAX as is feasible with a variable AR for the BD).

[wettou]

Actually, if Nolan could have exactly what he wants, there would be no shifting AR. However, his vision would limit screenings to ONLY IMAX cinemas as that is how, in a perfect world as he considers it, he would have liked to have filmed TDK. On the one hand, those who want a fixed AR would get it--on the other, only people who could travel to an IMAX cinema would see it in its first run. I suspect the next one will be like this one, if Nolan has anything to do with it (as much IMAX as is feasible with a variable AR for the BD).

Sure Warner will limit it to IMAX!!!! Nolan needs to wake up this is a movie not a documentary :rofl:

[Ovation]

Sure Warner will limit it to IMAX!!!! Nolan needs to wake up this is a movie not a documentary :rofl:

He knows it won't be limited to IMAX. But I was describing what Nolan considers the ideal, not what he considers feasible.

[Race Car Driver]

While all you guys were talking about how the BD was gonna suck or not I decided to watch it.

It was amazing, the flipping of the AR didnt bother me at all, I even missed it the first time it happend. It was amazing, I am glad it actually did it.

I think if most were actually just watching it without even knowing that the AR switched they wouldnt even notice. My gf and my buddy didnt notice until i even pointed it out.

Anyways, if you feel so inclined, check it out, great movie and the BD was well done!

[Russ L]

They were very different movies. Batman Begins focused on Bruce Wayne's character development and motivation to fight evil. TDK focused on what it takes to fight evil in the modern world and the main character development was spent on Harvey Dent/Two-Face and how he was influenced by good and evil.

There's definitely going to be a Batman 3. When a studio stands to make as much money as Warner is now making off the Batman franchise, it's a foregone conclusion that a sequel with Nolan/Bale is coming. Just a matter of when.

TDK showed the importance of the villian. Needless to say Heath Ledger proved that. For Batman 3 to do as well as TDK the villian's character must developed as well and must be played by a brilliant actor. Maybe we should start a thread with nominations for the "Best Actor to Play the Villian in Batman 3"

[Russ L]

While all you guys were talking about how the BD was gonna suck or not I decided to watch it.

It was amazing, the flipping of the AR didnt bother me at all, I even missed it the first time it happend. It was amazing, I am glad it actually did it.

I think if most were actually just watching it without even knowing that the AR switched they wouldnt even notice. My gf and my buddy didnt notice until i even pointed it out.

Anyways, if you feel so inclined, check it out, great movie and the BD was well done!

Thanks, thats a relief. Now I can buy it without worry. h:

[Hdale85]

Well.... they've already developed a rather good story for 2-face? Imagine he'd probably be one of the main characters in the 3rd one.

[George Bellefontaine]

Well I bought the dvd with its constant 2:40 AR so that's the end of the discussion for me. Some time I may rent the Blu-ray just for curiosity sake. But there's no way in hell that I wouldn't notice and be irritated by the shifting AR on my 7 foot wide screen.

As for another Nolan artistic endeavour as far as the Dark Knight is concerned... well this time neither he or Warner will get my money if it's another variable aspect ratio thing. Make it all Imax or make it all 2:40.

Anyway, it's nice to see some discussion on controversy. Everyone has different tastes and tolerances and it is always nice to hear both sides of the argument. So even though I've made up my mind which version I want to own, please keep the discussion going.

[Ovation]

Well I bought the dvd with its constant 2:40 AR so that's the end of the discussion for me. Some time I may rent the Blu-ray just for curiosity sake. But there's no way in hell that I wouldn't notice and be irritated by the shifting AR on my 7 foot wide screen.

As for another Nolan artistic endeavour as far as the Dark Knight is concerned... well this time neither he or Warner will get my money if it's another variable aspect ratio thing. Make it all Imax or make it all 2:40.

Anyway, it's nice to see some discussion on controversy. Everyone has different tastes and tolerances and it is always nice to hear both sides of the argument. So even though I've made up my mind which version I want to own, please keep the discussion going.

Unless IMAX cameras shrink considerably in size in the next 5 or fewer years, I don't think we'll see an all IMAX Batman movie from Nolan (or anyone else--well, unless it took place entirely outdoors). So we'll probably get the same we have now. An IMAX version with variable AR and a scope release because there are so few IMAX theatres. And, unless BD sales are disappointingly low, I suspect the same variable AR will make its way to the next BD release of the next Nolan Batman movie.

Ah well, as they say in French: le gout ne se discute pas. :T

[George Bellefontaine]

I believe the Blu-ray sales will go well. However, some who are not aware of the variable ARs may be wondering "WTF's going on ".

[dyazdani]

I picked up the BluRay version yesterday, I haven't watched it yet but I'll report on how annoying the AR changes are...

[George Bellefontaine]

I picked up the BluRay version yesterday, I haven't watched it yet but I'll report on how annoying the AR changes are...

I've read in other forums that most who have seen the Blu version didn't have a problem with the variable AR. I suspect most of them do not have front projection and don't notice it much on a 40 to 60" screen, or if they do have a FP system, they probably don't use masking on their 16:9 screens and therefore the black bars when the image changes to 2:40 are not bothersome to them. And , of course, I read where many did find the variable AR irritating.

[David Meek]

My copy arrived today, so the plans are to give it a spin tomorrow night. Comments forthcoming....

[RobP]

We picked this one up yesterday and I watched bits and pieces of it, from the parts I did see the change did not really bother me, I could see where it would get annoying, but when you get involved in the movie, you really dont notice it.

[Chris D]

Maybe we should start a thread with nominations for the "Best Actor to Play the Villian in Batman 3"

Very well. I submit "The Porker".

[George Bellefontaine]

Very well. I submit "The Porker".

Chris, you slay me.. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[RobP]

[wettou]

Dark NightBlu Ray

Cool movie, but Tons of problems with the disc!

The switching from IMAX to 2:40 is a huge problem for people like me who have a 2:35 screen!! Great sound and image to bad it has this funky switch that is very distracting:M

Also with that switching that screws-up the HDMi transmission for some reason Disc stopped at chapter 37? Also had to turn off automatic lense.

I sure hope WB will release a special edition with only 2:40 aspect ratio until then I will re-rent it from Blockbuster hope the new disc is better?

[Race Car Driver]

I had no issues with HDMI transmission, going right out of the PS3 through 12 meters of audioquest cable.

*shrug*

Watched it again last night, still good as ever :T

[PewterTA]

I do have to admit the IMAX sequences are amazing! I definitely wish the whole movie was shot like that. It's just spectacular how much better it looks.

The switching didn't bother me at all, then again I'm only on a 56" DLP Samsung TV...but I do only sit (currently) 6' away, so I notice EVERY little thing.

It is almost like the IMAX shots are Blu-Ray and the regular AR is SD-DVD. I'm not saying it looks like it, but it just gives you that feel that you're missing quality. ha ha.

All in all, one of my favorite Blu-Rays and they did a heck of a job.

[Ovation]

Mine arrived from Amazon today and I hope to get a chance to watch it tonight (otherwise, it'll be next week as I have a busy schedule until Tuesday).

[Russ L]

Very well. I submit "The Porker".

:roflmao: Nefarious! :E Batman has finally met his match!

[audioqueso]

Well.... they've already developed a rather good story for 2-face? Imagine he'd probably be one of the main characters in the 3rd one.

Not really possible since Two-Face died in the Dark Knight. 8O

[Ovation]

Watched it last night. Heath Ledger's performance loses none of its power upon repeat viewings, the variable AR was not at all a bother and it looked and sounded great. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy the score. This will be getting a lot of repeat viewing.

[Gremal]

Not really possible since Two-Face died in the Dark Knight.

Did he? I thought the ending left things totally open-ended--just hammering home the fact that Batman had won this round but at a cost to his popularity/public standing. I could see a sequel involving any of the villains previously appearing in the two Nolan/Bales episodes. In superhero comics/movies, villains have a way of reappearing, even after you THINK they're dead (and I don't think the ending of TDK made that clear for any villain). That said, I also wouldn't be surprised to see Nolan take the saga in a totally new direction, as folks are noting the new look for catwoman. :

We'll have to wait and see.

[emig5m]

When I first watched the BD I had thought it was a software glitch with TotalMedia Theatre expanding and compressing the aspect...lol. Then I thought that there where two separate aspect versions on the disc and since the movie was so new Totalmedia Theatre just didn't fully support it yet and was glitching back and forth between the two. I actually went into the menu to see if I could manually select one or the other, lol.

I do have to say it was distracting on my 42" plasma having it change back and forth. I did like the scenes that filled the screen entirely much better than black bars. Not only do I hate black bars to begin with, but the full screen scenes looked like you where viewing real life through a window - so much more immersive. I don't remember this happening when I went to the movies and seen it in a theater (that had much crappier sound and video quality than my home system - after seeing it in the movies, I COULDN'T wait for the BD release so I could watch it with higher quality sound/video that I'm used to at home!)

To me it doesn't make sense to release video for home playback with black bars that doesn't fit the entire screen turning your 42" into a 37" screen. Black bars are annoying, makes your screen smaller (I paid for 42" of HD bliss I want my 42" and not chop off nearly 1/4 of my screen!) If you want to be really artsy fartsy, why not make the viewing angle 1 inch high but 360 degree around!? Surely that would be more artful than these narrow and tall aspect ratios they use now! :rofl: If they can film a certain width to the sides, why cant they can film that same width vertically and just crop it for each release so everyone gets a proper fit to their display? Now begs the question of what is possible... If they could film certain parts of the film one way, why didn't they do it for the full movie?

I just read that the IMAX actually does the same as the BD. Wow... now does that make total sense to have switching aspect ratios or what? Film the entire thing whatever is the best and leave it! Why not do some scenes 4:3? I'm sure three different aspect ratios would of been more artful than just two! :roll:

Anyway, after seeing it in the theater that had crappy sound and not so much better video quality (very washed out and dull compared to my plasma - heck, even in comparison to a good CRT) I felt that I still liked the first movie much better. Begins was a perfect blend of a immersive/dark story and not overdone continuous action slowly building with each action scene until the climatic ending. The Dark Knight wore my concentration with a little too much action from the get-go and seemed like a bunch of mini-stories compressed into one movie.

I had the similer feeling with The Matrix vs the sequels. More immersive story with the perfect blend of action that keeps building along with the story until the end. The only difference is The Dark Knight isn't horrible like the Matrix sequels where to the original, just not as immersive to me and slightly over done action over the first. I like the movie, but just think the first one is much better balanced. I'd like to see the third one if they make it try not to top the action of the second one (at least not from the start) and be more story/paced like the first one was. And I don't see all the hype about this Heath Ledger guy. Wow... He's an actor acting... did a good job but way, way too much wanking and praise over him to the point I get sick of hearing his name.

[wettou]

I am with you WB please release the disc in 2:35 aspect ratio or 16:9 with one single format for the entire movie. They did that for DVDs why not Blu Ray

[Ovation]

I am with you WB please release the disc in 2:35 aspect ratio or 16:9 with one single format for the entire movie. They did that for DVDs why not Blu Ray

Because it's in Nolan's contract that HE gets to decide the release format on BD--NOT Warner. It's really that simple. The director negotiated the right and he exercised it. If you want a different release, I would suggest petitioning Nolan rather than Warner as he has the final say on the matter.

[impala454]

Just got finished watching the BD, and must say I barely even noticed the AR switching. The BD looked great, and sounded great. A+

FWIW I am in the camp of people who think 16:9 is what all movies should be released in. Just my $0.02.

ps, the hospital explosion scene was awesome for bass!

[Gump]

Rented the BluRay version via Netflix and watched it lastnight. Enjoyed it enough that I decided to purchase the BR version today for my "library".

I kinda wish I had been able to watch it before I read about the "controversy" in this thread so that I wasn't paying attention to that aspect consciously. Though, I really can't say that it bothered me at all. The actual moments of switching were done so fast and subtley that they were not even noticeable to me due to being immersed in the action/story. They're were simply moments that I was aware the screen was full and other times I realized there were the "evil" black bars present.

I found it to be more intriguing than annoying. However, I had never seen the movie before. So, as I mentioned above, I was quite immersed in the story. Had I seen the movie a few times and was more familiar with the events taking place, perhaps I'd be more inclined to pay attention to the switching distraction.

I'll let you know....

The movie itself was good. Picture/sound were both outstanding. What impressed me about Heath Ledger's Joker was the ominous creepy evil that he conveyed with the character; contrary to prior portrayals of the Joker that just seemed kind of crazy in a cartoonish sorta way.

Grade: A-

[George Bellefontaine]

I really didn't think the switching ARs would bother most people. For me the problem was watching the greater part of the movie in the 2:40 ratio with black bars. I am just not use to that because I always mask off Scope movies. Sorry if I started a controversy that perhaps may make viewers look for something that wouldn't have bothered them otherwise had they not been looking for it.

As far as petitioning Nolan, I really doubt if that would do much good. I tend to think he is the type of artist who would remain true to his vision even if it meant less money in his pocket.

Everyone please enjoy the Blu-ray version and if it bothers you too much, do the same as I did and go for the standard dvd which is entirely 2:40.

[PewterTA]

Well if you watched the extras, the whole film was not filmed in IMAX. The reason for this the the weight of the cameras and the fact that the "focus" point on Imax is more difficult to use. So action sequences are a lot tougher to do.

They even say this was a turning point for the IMAX format because no one thought they could do what they did with the cameras.

So if they released it in a standard format it'd be with the black bars, not the full IMAX presentation.

However, saying that, I do think they should've put the shots in both formats and let you choose from the beginning of the movie which way you wanted to watch it. Though after seeing the IMAX detail... WOW I think everyone should leave them alone and watch it that way!

[sikoniko]

I watched the movie two nights ago. I've not heard more bass in my system than from this movie. Simply awesome! I felt the IMAX AR was fine and fit the scenes well that used it.

[Jack Gilvey]

Watched a BB rental a couple nights ago and loved it so much I bought it today. The movie itself was extremely well done, and Ledger's performance even transcended all the hype I'd read. I wanted to watch it again right away...but I'll wait.
I thought the AR changes were very effective, and I'm glad Nolan went with what he wanted the audience to see on BD. Shame it doesn't work well on some setups, though.
I've long had 2.35:1 screens, but my current room needs a pull-down so I'm back to 16:9. On a 92" screen from less than 9' away, all I saw was an image that sometimes got bigger to take in grand vistas, etc., rather than "black bars", and wasn't distracting in the least (I'd warned my wife, but she said she really hadn't noticed afterwards).

[emig5m]

Sorry if I started a controversy that perhaps may make viewers look for something that wouldn't have bothered them otherwise had they not been looking for it.

Hell no. I didn't see this post till yesterday and noticed the changing aspect ratios the first time through it. It's not that it bothers me that it changes, it bothers me if those scenes are so good and fills my screen at the same time, why not do the entire movie that way to begin with? That's what bothers me with it more than anything.

Everyone please enjoy the Blu-ray version and if it bothers you too much, do the same as I did and go for the standard dvd which is entirely 2:40.

Nah no thanks... For my favorite movies, the the ones I especially want to be the most immersed in, I want to do it at the highest quality possible. For the in between filler movies, DVD is just fine.

I watched the movie two nights ago. I've not heard more bass in my system than from this movie. Simply awesome! I felt the IMAX AR was fine and fit the scenes well that used it.

I think Transformers is comparable, if not more bass. There's a part in Transformers on the Dolby True-HD track where a machine gun fires off and it juggles my chest! I don't remember The Dark Knight doing anything like that, heh.

[wettou]

Because it's in Nolan's contract that HE gets to decide the release format on BD--NOT Warner. It's really that simple. The director negotiated the right and he exercised it. If you want a different release, I would suggest petitioning Nolan rather than Warner as he has the final say on the matter.

Good luck on that one, I guess I will rent the DVD and see what it looks like

[audioqueso]

Did he?

They confirmed it when they had the police ceremony the day after.

[dyazdani]

I finally got around to watching it last night. Surprisingly, I was not bothered one bit by the changing ARs.

[David Meek]

I didn't notice the CIH at all. I got sucked into the story immediately and didn't even think about it until I finished the movie.

[audioqueso]

I noticed the aspect change... but not in a bothersome way. I just keep picking it out because I KNEW it would be there. But everyone else that was watching it with me didn't notice until I said something.

Ok, a little off topic, but the blu-ray disk from Japan is freakin' retarded. I bought it the Japanese one because I wanted the option dub and subtitles in Japanese. It stated on amazon japan's website that has japanese dub and subtitles. I receive the package, and on the back of the case it shows that it has japanese dub and subtitles. Two Disks. Disc 1, the movie. Disk 2, special features. Special features doesn't have japanese at all. Disk 1 has 18 different languages... EIGHTEEN... but no Japanese. What's that all about??? Does the blu-ray sold in the US have Japanese? Does it have 18 languages as well?

[George Bellefontaine]

Watched TDK last night in standard def. Picture was excellent so I can imagine the Blu version really popped. As for the movie, well I do believe it was about 30 minutes longer than it should have been, still I quite enjoyed the storyline. But Bale is overdoing the Batman voice thing. Is Batman a chain smoker ? Now as for the sound, well I really must make a close inspection of my foundation because the LFE was downright scary.

[Ovation]

Watched TDK last night in standard def. Picture was excellent so I can imagine the Blu version really popped. As for the movie, well I do believe it was about 30 minutes longer than it should have been, still I quite enjoyed the storyline. But Bale is overdoing the Batman voice thing. Is Batman a chain smoker ? Now as for the sound, well I really must make a close inspection of my foundation because the LFE was downright scary.

The voice is electronically altered (in the movie--via an electronic device that is part of the cowl/mask; in real life, at the sound board) to disguise it--it's not Bale simply speaking in a forced guttural voice.