I see your point, but like I mentioned, I knew we would see him as Two-Face after reading his comments in last month’s LA Times article where he talks about the make-up work involved.

Okay… ::CLAP… rubrubrub::

@Anthony – I was referring to the marketing execs in that last volley, not the fans. I’ve heard it from many a professional’s mouth that when a marketing firm takes on a movie, no matter WHAT movie it is, their perspective is always, “Okay. How do we save this?” Which is what leads to many a shitty marketing campaign. I don’t blame the fans. I’m for the fans! I’m of the fans.

@Wordslinger – Anyone who knows the name Harvey Dent will know the name Two-Face, yes. BUT… how did we know that was going to happen in THIS film? How did we know we wouldn’t be seeing Two-Face’s debut in a third movie? There was a plausible deniability with Two-Face’s involvement because we don’t know the plot of the movie. We know what it’s *based* on. We know they have actors in place… but it doesn’t mean we knew for a fact the movie would go down that path. Batman Begins did a good job of establishing bit roles with amazing actors, just for the sake of making the whole movie stronger. Why wouldn’t Harvey Dent be the same? Why wouldn’t it just be a background cameo like he was in the first movie, setting things up for a sequel? See… these are all the questions one COULD ask, still not knowing exactly how things would turn out, and I feel like that is shattered once the marketing campaign gets involved. Then it goes from “I wonder, I wonder” to “Oh… well, now I know.” And I may just be speaking for myself here (but then, all this rant ever was was me whining about my own views), but that is highly disappointing to me.

@Henchman21 – A rant is what happens when I get a bug up my ass about something nobody else likely cares about and decide to scream at the world about it. :D

@Sean – Well comebacked. ^_^ I assume nothing about the general attendees of this movie, except that some of them might be like me. You’re right that this is only a small clip hidden within a viral site, and that there have been no trailers of TV ads broadcasting Two-Face…. yet. If it never happens, I’ll be pleased as punch. But I’m wary. I wont at all be surprised if/when he starts making his way into the broader public marketing campaign, and it is THAT possibility… THAT foresight… that fuels much of my rant.

And I believe that covers your first point.

For your second point… I would point you to Mike’s comment further down the page. He says exactly what I would say, except he says it with a little more even-handedness and less of that pesky belligerence. ;)

@idiot – Wouldn’t be much of a rant if I didn’t go atomic. ;) Hell, this article’s gotten more replies than any of my reviews have! I call this a success! I don’t mind that people don’t agree with my viewpoint, but it’s kind of silly to call someone on being overly negative in an article entitled “NeverRANTS”, wouldn’t you think…? I’m much nicer when I’m in reviewer mode.

This is about being an angry fan.

@ Man on the Moon – GOOD! DON’T read the article! Don’t even read this reply!

That said… I’m one of those people who refuses to accept the way the entertainment industry works when it comes to these things. I think there SHOULD be an element of surprise in ANY movie, but ESPECIALLY a big summer blockbuster. Just because the system works a certain way doesn’t mean it’s the RIGHT way, and I think that if more people were able to experience the sort of surprise I’m talking about, they might get behind me in this. The fact that I can ONLY point to X2 as an example of the sort of surprise I’m talking about… is kinda disappointing in itself, really.

@mo – I would point you towards my reply to WordSlinger earlier. The knowledge is always there in the back of our minds that the story could go a certain way, but once it’s officially confirmed, I think it takes a part of the movie’s enjoyment away — even if it’s a small part that most people have already resigned themselves to losing.

@Mike – Well said. But I still hates it. I HATES IT! ;)

@SaadAli – Again, that’s the case right now. In my deeply rooted objection to marketing companies, I think this will not always be the case. If I’m wrong? I’ll be happy as hell to admit to it. Right now, I’m still jadedly watching what their next move will be, venom-filled shotgun clenched tightly in my hands.

They’ve gone into quiet mode for sometime now, seeing what played out. Now they’re too close to the finish line and are getting antsy. Two-face has become their “Plan B” because he’s an interesting looking bad guy and the actor who plays him is not dead. Look for this angle to be pushed more and more toward the final few weeks.

This sounds callous, right? It’s all about the money, friends. If Heath’s death would have helped marketing the film (i.e. a drama), you would have heard his name in the news every day. Now, they’re just hoping to show you a new face to forget what happened. Even if that face has two sides to it.

BUT knowing the movie is loosely based around the long halloween, and if you’ve read the comic..then why wouldn’t you expect to see two face?

my only question was whether it would be like the brief glimpse of zsaz(sp?) or alluded too like the joker card at the end of the first…

P.S. I only read the first three words of yuor article.

1. Don’t complain that the marketing campaign revealed something about Two-Face when the only real way to see this clip is to frequent places where shit like this circulates.

2. “Congratulations, geniuses. Way to honor an artist’s final work.” Belligerence doesn’t beget an intelligent opinion. Okay, so you claim that they dishonored Ledger’s performance: how? I mean, months and months of nearly non-stop Joker hype was not enough for you? They didn’t dishonor him at all–they merely gave a little clip to whet obsessive fans’ appetite. C’mon, grow up. Reading this rant espousing unsubstantiated claims is like watching that thirteen-year-old yell “fuck” over and over:

Needless? Maybe.

Overkill? Definitely.

On the other hand, I checked out that footage as soon as I heard about it and it got me pretty excited for the movie again, so maybe I’m not the best person to ask.

Now, what the heck’s a rant?

I agree that marketing often spoils films. Take X3, how the commercials and trailers implied we’d be seeing Angel play a signifcant role. What really happened? He made 2-3 extremly brief appearances in the film that were almost completely shown in the commercials, which led me to believe he was put in the film soley< for the purpose of marketing. The idea that we were somehow being teased with glimpses of a new character were quickly dashed by the reality that these “teases” were, in fact, the entirety of his performance… lame.

However, I have to disagree with you here about the Two-Face footage. Any real fan of the series knows who Harvey Dent is and like you and I would surely know right away we were going to see Two-Face show up. Not to mention Eckhart talked openly about the fact that he is going to be playing Two-Face in this movie for well over a month now (see his interview with the Los Angeles Times in early May). So for fans who have been following this film’s production closely, I really don’t see this ruining anything.

And really, showing us less than a 10% of his face from behind for 3 seconds is, in my opinion, what a teaser really should be. Besides, I strongly disgree than this is LONG before the movie is released (only 28 days now by my count) and the only people who are going to see this “leaked” clip are the obsessive fans who spend time googling studio leaks to see anything they possibly can beforehand.

I don’t think is does anything to dishonor Ledger’s work either. Ledger knew Two-Face was part of this film when was alive, it’s not like they changed the plot after his death. If anything, the marketing shifted away from the three-way war between the Joker, Dent (Two-Face) and Batman and focused instead almost entirely on Ledger after his death, so a clever mention of the third major player here doesn’t diminish that for me. Make no mistake, this is not the same as Batman Forever where we’ll see the villians teaming up… the early promotions make it pretty clear this is going to be a triple-threat match, not a 2-on-1. If anything, this has made me want to see it more. I don’t feel anything has been spoiled for me.

Reply rant over. :)