How is this darker? What comics are you reading man?

It's just a slightly darker style compared to the past movies and TV shows, and depending on the comic book series a bit darker. I mean, it's on par with The Darkest Knight and The Killing Joke for dark, but a lot of the older ones weren't very dark at all.

"wow this character sucks!"
"are you stupid it's supposed to suck it's not the batman if it doesn't suck read the comics!!"

"wow why did they do that *valid question and criticism*"
"are you stupid it was meant to be that way *convoluted explanation just to make the movie perfect*"

It's a very good action movie, nothing more. It fails the moment you require it to be read within some other context (comics) to make sense, because that was never a requirement. That's like saying Akira had a really good story but you have to read the manga, that's no excuse for the story of the film. Batman has always been hated, the Joker has always been unknown, X has always been Y. Aren't we allowed to question these rules in the context of the movie itself? I don't think Batman was interesting in this movie, he was in Begins, and being uninteresting on purpose sounds cheap to me. Dent's transformation wasn't believable unless you assume things you aren't shown. I didn't mind the Joker though, I just hoped he had more screen time instead of generally filler scarecrow and Hong Kong scenes.

you're right, Batman should wear a pink suit and be loved and be the hero of the story who saves the day all the time without a worry in the world and has nothing going wrong for him and everyone just loves him peachy even the corrupt Gotham Police, reveals his secret identity so he doesn't have to hide anymore and can act like Bruce Wayne instead of being 3 different people, the Joker should have a cliche past that miraculously explains his current situation in a way that totally doesn't make sense (because let's face it, falling into a vat of acid and becoming a clown, doesn't.) so that everyone can feel bad for him and not give a shit when he does anything.

sign me up i want that movie

You can only do stuff so much before it isn't BATMAN anymore. Nolan gets it, and he's sticking to the source material while giving his own twist to things (Gordon having a son but no daughter that I can see, the Joker's mannerisms and anarchy stand point, Rachel's character, etc....). It's an action movie (all comic book movies are...by nature of what they are filming) but it has a good story too. It's just a story that has to fit in the confines of the material. And it does a good job of that.

EDIT:
lol nice 25k post there DS.

Wow posts... i was editing... read again - -

Edit: I'm not saying it's a bad story, just that people have the right to complain because it still has flaws.
Edit 2:

No one said Joker is "supposed to suck", and he doesn't.

Nope, not directly. Basically if you try to argue that he was a good character, "that's the way he is in the comics" is a bad argument. When you explain why it's a good thing for the Joker to have no backstory and be an embodiment of chaos and not having the audience sympathize with him then it'd make some sense. Adding "batman was always that way" or "the joker was always that way" doesn't answer questions though. If the comics makes something clear, it doesn't have to automatically translate to the movie. It's like having an adaption of some novel that assumes the viewer has read the original novel. Saying that Batman is split between three different characters is cool, and was evident in Begins, but it's not in the Dark Knight. You don't just assume the viewer will get it. So to someone who hasn't seen Begins or read the comics (both aren't a requirement, or are they?), I could see why some characters would be weak and make no sense.

you're right, Batman should wear a pink suit and be loved and be the hero of the story who saves the day all the time without a worry in the world and has nothing going wrong for him and everyone just loves him peachy even the corrupt Gotham Police, reveals his secret identity so he doesn't have to hide anymore and can act like Bruce Wayne instead of being 3 different people, the Joker should have a cliche past that miraculously explains his current situation in a way that totally doesn't make sense (because let's face it, falling into a vat of acid and becoming a clown, doesn't.) so that everyone can feel bad for him and not give a shit when he does anything.

Cool, except your alternative characters simply suck. Sticking to the source material is never an excuse for what's 'bad' about the movie. You take the best, and fix what's bad. You could argue that a backstory would've hurt the Joker because you like him being random and chaotic and making no sense. But having a story wouldn't make it NOTBATMAN either, it all depends on execution. You said cliche past, but what if it was something really awesome and original? You can't know for sure!

i really like bruce wayne so i wish he wasnt such a jerk in this because i'd like the people of gotham to like him too

But you know everything about Bruce Wayne when the people of Gotham don't. I'd understand why people around Bruce Wayne have to hate him, but since the viewer also knows his real identity you are supposed to like or identify with him. You're supposed to care if he was in trouble or about to die. The Dark Knight doesn't try to make you like him, though. In the context of that movie alone, there are little reasons to care about the hero (or anti-hero if you like, who is still a hero). You care more about Gordon or maybe Dent, but why couldn't Bruce get some love too??

Should've been called Batman Begins 2, then. I thought The Dark Knight was generally standalone and could get away without assuming anything. I was just saying that you can't say "the first movie had character development so the second doesn't need it".

Even then there should be some amount of character development for the main character.

Should've been called Batman Begins 2, then. I thought The Dark Knight was generally standalone and could get away without assuming anything. I was just saying that you can't say "the first movie had character development so the second doesn't need it".

Yes because they didn't market it as the sequel to Batman Begins at all....cept they did.

Not every sequel is named [SAME ][/SAME] 2. You know this. In fact, you know equally that Batman Begins 2 would be a completely retarded title because something can't begin twice. It makes no sense. You're sorta grasping at straws here with this imo. I can see the point of your other stuff but this is just kinda silly. :|

Should've been called Batman Begins 2, then. I thought The Dark Knight was generally standalone and could get away without assuming anything. I was just saying that you can't say "the first movie had character development so the second doesn't need it".

considering it's part 2 of a trilogy i'd say you should probably see the first one. it was marketed as a sequel soooooo what you're saying really makes no sense! it's like watching Return of the Jedi and wondering how Luke became a jedi and why is the evil guy his dad

I don't know, they're not really like Return of the Jedi because he's fighting new villains every time. It's more like Indiana Jones in the sense that they are connected but also independent. I'm pretty sure you can watch this movie and like it without seeing Batman Begins, and I know people who did. I don't know much about the marketing campaign, but most super hero movie can be fully enjoyed on their own.

Again, you miss the point. I'm saying that just because the first one developed a character doesn't mean the focus on the character should be less in the sequel. Even with your Star Wars example, Luke's (and every other character) developed and grew through all the movies. Is that so hard to understand?

(Gordon having a son but no daughter that I can see,

I don't know about this. Barbra Gordon was there, she had no lines, but she was there. Gordon's wife has two children at the end, and Two-Face takes the boy. And I'm PRETTY sure that the kid isn't Gordon's real son. He looks exactly like that snot-nosed kid from Batman Begins who was with Rachel during the hallucination gas scene at the end. The kid that the Batman gave a cool Bat-Device to. Don't quote me, but I really think that's the issue since the boy recognised the Batman when the officers reported Gordon's death

EDIT: OK, now I'm a little confused. Is Barbra Gordon, Gordon's wife's name?
Because his daughter is labelled in the credits as "Gordon's Daughter" and his damn son is labelled "James Gordon Jr." !?!
Alright, fuck my comment before. I'm just plain confused now.

EDIT EDIT:
OK, so his wife and daughter have the same name. Alright then. So will this son bite the dust then, just like Rachel?

EDIT EDIT EDTI:
OK, I have a new idea: Screw it. There's so many continuities of the Batman, that the family life of the Gordons is just 'whatever'. I give up.

The Dude: It's confirmed they're Gordon's wife and daughter. Straight up, wife and daughter. They even call her his wife on the Gotham Cable News (from the viral campaign).

People complain that Bruce Wayne is a jerk in the film... am I the only one who saw the scenes with Alfred and Rachel? The ones where he didn't have to put up a fake playboy attitude? Those scenes showed how nice and friendly the guy really is. I dunno, everyone seemed to have hung up on the playboy scenes.

The Dude: It's confirmed they're Gordon's wife and daughter. Straight up, wife and daughter. They even call her his wife on the Gotham Cable News (from the viral campaign).

Cool.
I figured something else out about that; it doesn't matter who his family are in this Batman series, since they don't want to include Robin. I doubt they want to include Batgirl either. (kinda young for that anyhow)

I want to see Joker paralyze Barbra Gordon (the bat girl one)

After seeing this again, I really didn't care for Bale's performance at all compared to any of the supporting actor's.  My favourite scene though after seeing the movie again though was When Dent was interrogating the henchman, and flipping the coin to decide whether to shoot him or not.  The amount of frustration and anger he displays after flipping the first heads is a lot more interesting after knowing that he was using a 2 headed coin.