The Dark Knight Rises

[thevoid99]

Here's my review of The Dark Knight Rises. As far as where it ranks among Nolan's films. I'd put in the middle and as far as place in the trilogy, it's my least favorite as there were a few things I was annoyed by but I still enjoyed the film.

[Amaro]

The Dark Knight Rises
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight

Pretty darn sure.

[orestes]

I was personally kind of disappointed. To me the movie felt poorly paced and none of the attempts at humor worked for me, and in fact didn't really seem to for anyone in the midnight showing I attended. I distinctly recall nearly the entire audience being very receptive to the Joker's antics when I saw TDK at midnight, but the few comedic elements here just came of as silly and elicited only a few sparse chuckles.

A few points:

- The movie had no room to breathe. It moved along at a breakneck pace hardly every lingering on any shot for more than 10 seconds. To me it felt like a two hour and forty-five minute trailer.

- Talia'a reveal and the movie just dumping Bane in favor of her was extremely anticlimactic, especially because he was far and away my favorite character. She was not a very compelling villain and having her be the "big bad" for the last 10-15 minutes sucked a lot of the tension out of the movie for me. Also found it kind of silly that not only did she stab Batman in the back, but that she also twisted the knife.

- The only part of the movie I truly enjoyed was the first fight between Bane and Batman in the sewers. Bane was extremely menacing and his taunts were very sharp during that sequence.

- John Blake's "I know you're Batman because I saw that look in your eye" was just lazy writing and had me rolling my eyes hard.

- I did not buy Alfred's falling out with Bruce. It seemed way too quick and forced, and also his little speech about his fantasy of seeing Bruce with a woman somewhere telegraphed the ending a bit too much.

- Catwoman just did not connect with me. She was by far the weakest character in my opinion and her one liners had my girlfriend turning to me rolling her eyes more than once.

- Bruce's back being fixed by kicking his vertebrae into placing and hanging around for a couple weeks was just ridiculous.

- How about Batman spending what must have been hours setting up a line of gasoline going to a giant bat symbol on the bridge when clearly time was of the essence? "I know there's a Nuclear bomb and all but think of how cool this flaming Bat symbol is going to look!"

- Did not care about John Blake and his orphan bus and didn't feel it was at all necessary to continue cutting back to that during the film's climax. Also, I could not believe the conclusion of this trilogy hinged on the most tired of plot devices, the ticking red clock countdown! Ugh.

- The movie had very little faith in it's audience. A few of the flashbacks were completely unnecessary and Blake's real name being "Robin" instead of say "Dick Grayson" was pretty insulting in my opinion.

I could go on and on, honestly. Really just bummed out in general as I was extremely excited for this movie and was 99% sure I was going to love it. This was a huge disappointment and I felt very uncomfortable in the theater because I couldn't believe I wasn't having a good time. I feel like there were a lot of cool ideas but for the most part the movie missed the mark.

Oh well.

Also, an amusing anecdote: I shaved my chest hair into the shape of the bat symbol before I went for shits and giggles and before the movie started some people came into the theater to get the crowd pumped beforehand and asked anyone dressed as Batman to stand up. I stood up, unbuttoned my shirt, and displayed my bat shaped chest hair to which the girl said "OH MY GOD THIS GUY! THIS GUY WINS FOR SURE!" and threw me a T-shirt. Before I sat down she has me turn and display my chest to the entire audience, haha! Was the highlight of the evening for me :P.

Cool story, bro.

[Wretchedest]

I was personally kind of disappointed. To me the movie felt poorly paced and none of the attempts at humor worked for me, and in fact didn't really seem to for anyone in the midnight showing I attended. I distinctly recall nearly the entire audience being very receptive to the Joker's antics when I saw TDK at midnight, but the few comedic elements here just came of as silly and elicited only a few sparse chuckles.

A few points:

- The movie had no room to breathe. It moved along at a breakneck pace hardly every lingering on any shot for more than 10 seconds. To me it felt like a two hour and forty-five minute trailer.

- Talia'a reveal and the movie just dumping Bane in favor of her was extremely anticlimactic, especially because he was far and away my favorite character. She was not a very compelling villain and having her be the "big bad" for the last 10-15 minutes sucked a lot of the tension out of the movie for me. Also found it kind of silly that not only did she stab Batman in the back, but that she also twisted the knife.

- The only part of the movie I truly enjoyed was the first fight between Bane and Batman in the sewers. Bane was extremely menacing and his taunts were very sharp during that sequence.

- John Blake's "I know you're Batman because I saw that look in your eye" was just lazy writing and had me rolling my eyes hard.

- I did not buy Alfred's falling out with Bruce. It seemed way too quick and forced, and also his little speech about his fantasy of seeing Bruce with a woman somewhere telegraphed the ending a bit too much.

- Catwoman just did not connect with me. She was by far the weakest character in my opinion and her one liners had my girlfriend turning to me rolling her eyes more than once.

- Bruce's back being fixed by kicking his vertebrae into placing and hanging around for a couple weeks was just ridiculous.

- How about Batman spending what must have been hours setting up a line of gasoline going to a giant bat symbol on the bridge when clearly time was of the essence? "I know there's a Nuclear bomb and all but think of how cool this flaming Bat symbol is going to look!"

- Did not care about John Blake and his orphan bus and didn't feel it was at all necessary to continue cutting back to that during the film's climax. Also, I could not believe the conclusion of this trilogy hinged on the most tired of plot devices, the ticking red clock countdown! Ugh.

- The movie had very little faith in it's audience. A few of the flashbacks were completely unnecessary and Blake's real name being "Robin" instead of say "Dick Grayson" was pretty insulting in my opinion.

I could go on and on, honestly. Really just bummed out in general as I was extremely excited for this movie and was 99% sure I was going to love it. This was a huge disappointment and I felt very uncomfortable in the theater because I couldn't believe I wasn't having a good time. I feel like there were a lot of cool ideas but for the most part the movie missed the mark.

Oh well.

Also, an amusing anecdote: I shaved my chest hair into the shape of the bat symbol before I went for shits and giggles and before the movie started some people came into the theater to get the crowd pumped beforehand and asked anyone dressed as Batman to stand up. I stood up, unbuttoned my shirt, and displayed my bat shaped chest hair to which the girl said "OH MY GOD THIS GUY! THIS GUY WINS FOR SURE!" and threw me a T-shirt. Before I sat down she has me turn and display my chest to the entire audience, haha! Was the highlight of the evening for me :P.

A lot of htis is really observant... and some of it is nitpicking... I disagree that the only enjoyable part was when batman was fighting bane. I think it was enjoyable overall and a lot of the parts were cool.

I especially agree about the pacing. As an editor, you could see how short they kept cutting things. There were shots on the screen that I wondered why they ever even bothered with because they were up so quickly. I think that, facing the already long length of the film, the editor was most likely instructed to trim everything down as tightly as possible. It's especially obvious whenever the Scarecrow speaks. You can here them cutting his audio underneath the shots, and it end up muddling the performance. Either that or CIllian murphy really put in that little effort.... but he's historically a good actor, so I'm inclined to believe the former.

I also agree about the movie having no faith in its audience. There were SO MANY moments where the movie decided to reiterate the obvious. "Whatever it is, it's nuclear," and especially with Commisioner Gordon and Batman's true identity. At that point he's like the only guy who doesn't know somehow... it's really out of place. and then they drive the point home in three sequences.

[littlemonkey613]

Wow I thought this was brilliant and ballsy.
Nolan has clear messages and points and does not give a fuck if he upsets anyone over them. He's a very positive thinker from what I can tell. God I loved this movie.

[orestes]

The more I think about Catwoman, the more I think how displeased I was with the character. Don't get me wrong, Anne Hathaway did a great job with the character... but I don't think they even called her Catwoman throughout the whole movie. She was just..... there.

That doesn't even make sense.

Saw it in IMAX again today and the ending was just as emotional to watch. The chin went soft as soon as Batman subtly hinted to Gordon his true identity.

Speaking of the ending: okay, we know that Bruce was able to perfect the autopilot on The Bat and he safely escaped before the neutron bomb went off. The question is, when? My best guess would be sometime during the explosion that Blake mistook for the bomb going off.

[ImTheWiseJanitor]

The more I think about Catwoman, the more I think how displeased I was with the character. Don't get me wrong, Anne Hathaway did a great job with the character... but I don't think they even called her Catwoman throughout the whole movie. She was just..... there.

I kinda liked that, though. It would have seemed incredibly corny to me if other people started calling her Catwoman. I mean, I know we're talking about a movie where the lead superhero is...Batman, but still. I liked that they made her Catwoman without really needing to have anyone on screen point it out. The fans watching knew she was Catwoman, and in the world of movie, she was just kind of an unknown.

[onthewall2983]

Shameless boner talk: seeing her straddle the bike was pretty damn cool.

[Amaro]

Saw it in IMAX again today and the ending was just as emotional to watch. The chin went soft as soon as Batman subtly hinted to Gordon his true identity.

<3

Totally forgot about that part. (Amongst so much else, I'm sure.)

That whole scene was somewhat anxious for me, so when Batman said what he said, my head was a bit everywhere and having a hard time retaining every word... Then I had that moment of quick internal replay of the keywords all scrambled about in my head...then with the imagery from Gordon's perspective that followed, I was like..."Ah, that was cool." Executed nice and simple.

Next image I remember after all that was the straight on close-up of Batman's face in the cockpit...perfect.

This movie just didn't annoy me hardly one bit, completely unlike the others. No distractions in that regard.

[Deadpool]

I found my movie buddy!

I completely follow ya. On all counts, but I too around or by the fight scene was realizing to myself "My god...this is many times better than the others. Bar none." Sheesh!

Hell yeah! The first 2 movie have plenty of brilliant moments, but there's no equivalent to the The Breaking of The Bat in The Dark Knight or Batman Begins. To reiterate one of the movie's themes, there's a despair tempered by the slightest glimmer of hope that makes it a magnetic and truly frightening sequence. When the film makers have instilled that kind of fear for the protagonist, with that kind of masterful build-up and inevitable tragedy, it leaves you drained. I have to hand it to Hardy (who conveyed a horrifying confidence and charisma), but perhaps more so to Bale, who had a desperation and conviction that took the scene exactly where it needed to go. He may've even had the more difficult job: he was mainly reacting to Bane, doing so without words in a guttural, primal way. T'was magnificent!

Saw it in IMAX again today and the ending was just as emotional to watch. The chin went soft as soon as Batman subtly hinted to Gordon his true identity.

That was the moment I let the first tears roll. I was with my family, so I didn't even bother resisting for once. The moment I lost it was when we see Bruce and Selina together at the end. A little cheesy? Maybe, but damn powerful. Outside of Talia, Selina/Catwoman has always been the only character I could accept being with Bruce/Batman, so to get that payoff was surprisingly emotional for me. I don't think I could have predicted that ending, even if I secretly wanted it. I'll admit Alfred's little holiday backstory in the beginning was a bit silly, but fuck, they justified it in the end. Somewhat unrelated, but I don't know if I completely bought Alfred leaving Wayne, either. Caine and Bale brought it for that scene that's for sure, I think it's just my own fan baggage could never imagine Alfred abandoning the Batman cause so easily. He's the loyal butler! I'd have made him part of the resistance in some way if there was concern about what he would do while Batman was recovering.

As far as the whole "Robin" thing is concerned, I'm a little surprised how they chose to handle that. "Dick Grayson" or "Richard Grayson" would have been more satisfying to hear without a doubt, but I see what they were trying to do (I think): obviously, the name John Blake is deliberately misleading, but so is his backstory - or rather it's just misleading enough (he's still an orphan). Even with his name established as John Blake, anything about a trapeze or a circus early on would have been a dead giveaway. Point being, if his legal name was ultimately revealed as Grayson, I'm guessing Nolan and co. were avoiding any "But that's not Dick Grayson's origin! He shouldn't be that old!" kinds of comments. So, ultimately, it comes off as more of a nod to the character of Robin than anything else... not unlike the line about "giant alligators."

[hellospaceboy]

I loved the movie. My wife, who is a student nurse, really couldn't get over Bruce going from not being able to stand to doing push ups in such a short time. I didn't understand how he got back to Gotham from the pit so quickly, and I also didn't like the fact that Alfred got fired and just disappeared from the 2nd half of the movie.

Other than these small annoyances, I really enjoyed it, Catwoman was a surprise favorite, and the rookie cop was stealing the movie at times.

Oh, and I almost forgot, Gary Oldman is brilliant as Commissioner Gordon! Christopher Nolan sure knows how to cast movies...

[Leman Russ]

I loved the movie. My only major complaint is that it took quite a while for the movie to find its pace. It felt like the first third of the movie was jumpy and all over the place, but after that it was fine. Any other issues are just nit picky ones, and don't take anything away from the film.

I thought Bane was fantastic, and loved every part he was in. His voice was great, he was terrifying on screen, and you truly got the sense that Batman was no match for him. Their first fight was incredible, and one of the best parts of the movie. It was said here earlier that you could tell he was toying w/ Batman during their entire fight, and I couldn't agree more. Every punch Batman landed had no effect, and every trick he used was countered and/or ignored by Bane. He was definitely a worthy opponent in every aspect.

I may be in the minority here, but I liked the fact that Blake wasn't named Dick Grayson. Personally, I don't want to see a Robin movie. I never cared for him in the comics, in the movies, anywhere. But, I will gladly go see any movie where the Batman legacy continues, which the ending seems to prime us for. Being a huge JGL fan, I would love to see him as Batman in his own set of movies.

[M1ke]

I hated Third Rock from the sun, and haven't been willing to give JGL a chance since that, but he really did awesome.

Awesome enough that if they do another movie with him as the lead I would go check it out.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

That doesn't even make sense.

Saw it in IMAX again today and the ending was just as emotional to watch. The chin went soft as soon as Batman subtly hinted to Gordon his true identity.

Speaking of the ending: okay, we know that Bruce was able to perfect the autopilot on The Bat and he safely escaped before the neutron bomb went off. The question is, when? My best guess would be sometime during the explosion that Blake mistook for the bomb going off.

What doesn't make sense? I didn't really see her as being a pivotal part of the movie at all. She was doing a lot in the beginning of the movie, but it seemed to me like they didn't even need to have her in the film. I dunno, the character just seemed out of place to me at parts. I feel that even calling her Catwoman was a bit silly. I know this is Nolan's universe, but I loved in Returns how they portray her as being more Cat like and a lot more crazy with her alter ego.

The latter of your post reminds me of when people were questioning how Bruce got back in the country and into the city with no problem. What I like about that is that you can speculate a lot of how he did some of the things that seemed like the impossible. I'm guessing he detached it from The Bat to let it go into the water and was able to either boost out of there, or maybe even eject himself from the aircraft. Either way, he was able to be sitting down eating lunch with Selena.

I kinda liked that, though. It would have seemed incredibly corny to me if other people started calling her Catwoman. I mean, I know we're talking about a movie where the lead superhero is...Batman, but still. I liked that they made her Catwoman without really needing to have anyone on screen point it out. The fans watching knew she was Catwoman, and in the world of movie, she was just kind of an unknown.

I see where you are coming from. I guess like I said above that Batman Returns Catwoman is still kind of imprinted in my head and I enjoyed how that character was portrayed more than in the Nolan universe. I like how he makes the characters more human than just freaks with powers or abilities though.

[Conan The Barbarian]

I thought Nolan's cat woman was way better than burtons. This one seemed accurate while burtons cat woman was just some annoying ass crazy bitch. Batman returns sucked hard.

[orestes]

Bingo. Nolan's interpretation of Batman was more rooted in realism than the movies that preceded it, which is why you never saw characters like Clayface or Killer Croc. Why would it have been necessary to call Selina by her alias? There were visual clues to it without being overt, like how her infrared glasses flicked back in the shape of cat ears. Just like with Batman, everything about Catwoman's outfit stemmed out of function and not ornamentation.

I know for a lot of people Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was the penultimate portrayal-and maybe there's a bit of nostalgia playing into it-but take it from somebody who has read the various comic storylines, Nolan's take is closer to the root of the character. If it hadn't have been, you would have seen me in here bitching about it.

[Conan The Barbarian]

Correct. Burton's catwoman didn't even steal anything. She is a burglar at the end of the day.

I may be in the minority here, but after seeing Crane again, can't help but think he is the stan lee of the bat films lol.

[botley]

I feel like it was good popcorn fare; quite entertaining and certainly emotionally affecting, but not nearly as artistically invested or deeply thought-provoking as The Dark Knight or even most of the other films in Nolan's œuvre. It's a good place to end the series without dragging it out into self-parody, for that alone we can be greatful.

[october_midnight]

Bingo. Nolan's interpretation of Batman was more rooted in realism than the movies that preceded it, which is why you never saw characters like Clayface or Killer Croc. Why would it have been necessary to call Selina by her alias? There were visual clues to it without being overt, like how her infrared glasses flicked back in the shape of cat ears. Just like with Batman, everything about Catwoman's outfit stemmed out of function and not ornamentation.

I know for a lot of people Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was the penultimate portrayal-and maybe there's a bit of nostalgia playing into it-but take it from somebody who has read the various comic storylines, Nolan's take is closer to the root of the character. If it hadn't have been, you would have seen me in here bitching about it.

Agreed! My friend, leading up to the film, always asked me 'Why do you think they're never referring to her actually as Catwoman?' Only answer I could think of was 'Because we all know who Selina Kyle is, who cares?'

And Botley nailed it on the head...whereas I think TDK touched upon a few more points to a more poignant level, for me this ended the trilogy perfectly and it was still unbelievable. The last 20 minutes were amazing and I'm still shocked at the last fight scene. Going up the steps and Bane just going all out, the 2nd time I saw it with my friend, as Bane blasted the blows in to the pillar my friend whispered 'Holy fuck, man.' So good.

[Pemulis]

Review from my favorite reviewers:

http://redlettermedia.com/half-in-th...-knight-rises/

Love those guys.

I know for a lot of people Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman was the penultimate portrayal

pe·nul·ti·mate

adjective

1.next to the last: the penultimate scene of the play.

2.of or pertaining to a penult.

[orestes]

[Piko]

Awww come on! Phiffer wasn't that bad. I liked her. Easily overshadowed by devito though.

[Pemulis]

Just trying to help you out, dawg. If I was misusing a word I'd want to know about it.

[orestes]

And I thank you, but aside from that, the point still stands.

[Self.Destructive.Pattern]

Going up the steps and Bane just going all out, the 2nd time I saw it with my friend, as Bane blasted the blows in to the pillar my friend whispered 'Holy fuck, man.' So good.

This X1000!! Me and my girlfriend looked at each other after that scene with googly eyes. Fucking so fantastic I wanted more.

[october_midnight]

Yeah me too haha. Don't get me wrong, I could sit here for an hour and literally list off questions the movie never bothered to answer, and plot points that were beeeeyond far fetched...but I'm a nerd. I still wanna see it again lol.

[Conan The Barbarian]

What kind of questions OM?

[october_midnight]

Actually, my friend and I were just talking about it this morning.

1. Why send the entire police force underground? All of them. Seems like if there was a trap or something, it might make sense to not send them all lol.
2. How did Bane manage to sneak Bruce out after dislocating his spine? Only some elaborate underground method I figure since he was in Gotham, but I'm sure if he set foot outside somewhere, they'd put a bullet between his eyes if they found him. Possible, I guess...but I was still kinda iffy on it.
3. After Bane took over Gotham, Gordon was able to walk the streets? I know a lot of people probably sat inside scared shitless, but maybe I just expected waaaay more rioting and chaos than they showed. This is minor, I know lol.

There's a bunch I guess, won't bore anyone with a long list when I've already acknowledged that I love the movie LOL. My friend Ed asked me after the 2nd time I saw it 'He went through a lot of effort and time for that giant flaming bat symbol when he probably should've been doing something else.' 'Shut up.' haha...

edit: OH and the stock market thing...everyone knew Bane took over the stock exchange, but the next morning Bruce is broke? 'Gee, I wonder if it was fraud!' Wouldn't anyone, the SEC, whoever...kind of clue in to that?

[Broadbent]

Actually, my friend and I were just talking about it this morning.

1. Why send the entire police force underground? All of them. Seems like if there was a trap or something, it might make sense to not send them all lol.
2. How did Bane manage to sneak Bruce out after dislocating his spine? Only some elaborate underground method I figure since he was in Gotham, but I'm sure if he set foot outside somewhere, they'd put a bullet between his eyes if they found him. Possible, I guess...but I was still kinda iffy on it.
3. After Bane took over Gotham, Gordon was able to walk the streets? I know a lot of people probably sat inside scared shitless, but maybe I just expected waaaay more rioting and chaos than they showed. This is minor, I know lol.

There's a bunch I guess, won't bore anyone with a long list when I've already acknowledged that I love the movie LOL. My friend Ed asked me after the 2nd time I saw it 'He went through a lot of effort and time for that giant flaming bat symbol when he probably should've been doing something else.' 'Shut up.' haha...

edit: OH and the stock market thing...everyone knew Bane took over the stock exchange, but the next morning Bruce is broke? 'Gee, I wonder if it was fraud!' Wouldn't anyone, the SEC, whoever...kind of clue in to that?

Well ya things like that you kind of have to just say "It's a comic book movie!" and know that they're going to be some far fetched ideas. Even when the movie is set in a realistic universe.



I loved it too.

[october_midnight]

Absolutely, I loved it as much as the next guy...only thing I can think of now (other than wanting to go see it again) is I hope there's some sick ass blu ray trilogy set.