Aaron Eckhart aka Harvey Dent ***SPOILERS***

[Hector]

***SPOILERS***







Ok, everybody is going ga-ga over Heath Ledger's stellar performance as the Joker. Yes, it was one for the ages, and I think the Academy of Motion Pictures should award him with a Best Supporting Actor Oscar...Ledger was awesome indeed.

Having said that...my personal favorite performance was that of Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face.

Why?

The character was more complex than the Joker, more diverse, and ultimately, by far...much more tragic.

I really felt sorry for him, seeing him from the handsome shining white knight (obviously an opposite reference to the dark knight), full of rigor, purpose, and righteousness, to tragically being disfigured, losing the love of his life, and indirectly, being let down by the powers of good (Gordon, Bats, cops, etc...).

I felt so bad about him, that I wanted him, as Two-Face...to avenge Rachel's death...and dispose of the Joker altogether.

Was Dent predisposition to act this way eventually? Was he inherently evil to begin with? I don't know, perhaps...but can you really blame him in the end?

I believe he lived, like another poster mentioned in another post, you could see his ribcage go up and down...I think he's in fact alive...it only makes sense for him to live in order to clear Batman's name.

If Harvey Dent does come back...I hope there's some closure for this tragic character...perhaps he somehow redeems himself,...and...well...I'm hoping too much now...we can't change the Batman universe that much...can we, lol.

On a side note...I think Gary Oldman was also wonderful as Gordon...I think he tends to get lost in the shuffle...a very powerful performance from him as well...perhaps he deserves a thread of his own too, lol...

[Vortigern99]

I agree 200%+++. Eckhart thrills as Dent and chills as Two-Face. Not only did they finally get the character right (after that gooftastical Shumacher debacle with Jones, who was totally wrong for the part), they actually excelled the comics persona in some ways by making Two-Face truly, shockingly horrific. In both screenings I've attended, people gasped with the bare, first glimpse of the scars -- and shouted in disbelief when the face was at last revealed. Worse (or better!) still is that he embraces the darkness in such a truthful way. As my friend, a horror writer who has endured alot of personal pain, has pointed out, when you lose what is dear to you your initial reaction is to destroy everything around you. For Two-Face that included himself; he asks Gordon "Do you think I want to get out of this?!!" He became an instrument of hate, who only wanted to mete out revenge on everyone who had caused him pain, including himself. If he has lived, it will be worse for him in a way, because he has not been allowed to unshoulder the burden of his life, as he wished to do. Plus with his wounds, he is in constant physical agony.

[ShadowAvenger]

I actually enjoyed Aaron Eckhart's performance.

[huedell]

Two Face's character ruined what could've been a great movie for me---another true
example of too many villans in a movie.

I had certain gripes about BATMAN BEGINS, but that was not one of them--
they handled/juggled the villains great in that one----the end of TDK was soiled
because of the way the whole Dent/Two Face plot was executed in my opinion.

As far as his acting and how he portrayed the character---I'll give him a pass---
it's tough to work with clunkers such as: "What did they call me in the service? What
did they call me? Say it! Say it!" (Like Nolan's version of Sam Kinison)

[thunderbolt]

^^^ I thought they handled Dent pretty good as a subplot. He ended up being another tool used by the Joker to try and destroy Gotham City, and he was only here as a set up for the next movie. I'd bet Harvey Two-Face is going to escape from Arkham or wherever Batman or Gordon have had him hidden and end up exposed to the public.

[Hector]

Hue misses the boat once again (surprise, surprise, lol).

The whole point of the Dark Knight was the result of the fall of the White Knight...Harvey Dent...again...THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE MOVIE!!!

Ay caramba...my head hurts.

[thunderbolt]

And he will be back for the next one. Too bad about Ledger, tho. He was supposed to be in it too.

[Hector]

^^^ I thought they handled Dent pretty good as a subplot. He ended up being another tool used by the Joker to try and destroy Gotham City, and he was only here as a set up for the next movie. I'd bet Harvey Two-Face is going to escape from Arkham or wherever Batman or Gordon have had him hidden and end up exposed to the public.

I don't see the Dent storyline as a subplot at all...he's definitely a central character...on a par with the Joker.

[Hector]

And he will be back for the next one. Too bad about Ledger, tho. He was supposed to be in it too.

Yeah, what a bummer about Ledger...so sad...so sad.

[thunderbolt]

If Two Face finally figures out that the Joker set him up, it'd make for a good war in Gotham. I didn't mean the whole character of Dent was a subplot, only his transormation toward the end.

[Hector]

Oh yes, I agree. Harvey Dent was the focus indeed...his Two-Face persona was almost basically a cameo appearance.


...and yeah...what a war that would be.

[huedell]

Hue misses the boat once again (surprise, surprise, lol).

The whole point of the Dark Knight was the result of the fall of the White Knight...Harvey Dent...again...THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT OF THE MOVIE!!!

The point of a movie is to be "good" Hector---sometimes I wonder if
you realize that because often you go off on tangents removed from that
indisputable fact....whether opinion or otherwise---a movie's goal is to
be "good" not "bad".

i.e. a movie should not be overpacked or jumbled
which I personally thought Harvey's character arc made TDK---if you didn't
----that's your own opinion

but please don't tell me I missed the boat on the "white knight" part
of the plot when I didn't---

I totally noticed the "white knight" thing---how could you MISS it--
they brought it up like EIGHT times in the dialogue which is probably the
reason why you and other Museum members and newspaper critics are
making such a big deal of it---yeah--it WAS a clever way to
support the "dark knight" aspect of the flick---but I don't think it was
executed as cleanly as it could have been.

WB, Nolan, etc. were sorely lucky they got such a good performance out of
Ledger because THAT'S what carried this movies' success-- and nothing else in my eyes.

[huedell]

^^^ I thought they handled Dent pretty good as a subplot. He ended up being another tool used by the Joker to try and destroy Gotham City, and he was only here as a set up for the next movie.

"handled Dent pretty good" Okay, I can buy that.
Relatedly, I thought TDK was "pretty good"
because the Dent character didn't totally ruin the flick.

I just felt the ending was too bloated due to how they handled
"tying up loose ends/setting up the next movie" and the crux of that
bloatedness was dealing with Dent's character--- which the ending was
firmly centered on (and centered rightly so, for those thinking I don't
"get" the "white knight" thing).

I stand pretty much alone, but in the midst of all the Nolan Bat-brou-ha-ha
I'm feeling like both Nolan Bat-flicks lacked it's own choices that
would have made the movies "great", living up to the stellar reviews
of many critics including the big fans on this board.

I like Nolan's bat-movies. Some things I even "love" about them...
I just don't love them on the whole (comparitively--if I never see IRON MAN
again, it won't hurt me one bit---not so with the 2 new bat-flicks)

[thunderbolt]

If you want to see movies that are overpacked with villains, see Those last couple Schumacher batmovies or Spiderman 3. Nolan and company handled multiple characters very well, even moreso this time out. I see it more as a continuity from one film to the next, early on the Screcrow loose end was dealt with, then on to the Joker that was teased at the end of Begins. Two Face was intro-ed toward the end of DK, and his story will continue thru the next film.

[The Bat]

I totally agree with You Hector...Eckhart did a FANTASTIC Job, and it's a shame He will be over shadowed by Heath...but this IS Heath's last chance...so I hope I does win an Oscar.
I also agree with You about the whole handling of His Character....They totally nailed it! I guess My only only complaint would be that Twoface didn't look EXACTLY like the Comic...His Face should have been half GREEN...just like in the Comics!


Nah....I'm just kidding! I'm just playing the "Nitpicky Fanboy".