The Dark Knight Rises

[CoolioD1]

LOL cute.That's hilarious. Anne Hathaway beat the living shit out of Michelle Pfeiffer. They both stole the show in their films, but one is infinitely more impressive (Hathaway) because of a much more talented cast than the other.

Well, errr, I disagree, obviously.

[ddddeeee]

I still prefer Pfeiffer too.

[CoolioD1]

Pfeiffer's performance was more empathetic... or sympathetic. I forget which one I should use, but that's why I liked it more. Hathaway got to play more of the badass which was also pretty cool.

[Dementeleus]

The two are such wildly different interpretations in such totally different movie universes I have a hard time making a direct comparison. Pfeiffer was certainly more campy and over-the-top and scenery-chewing, which was awesome and fit wonderfully in Burton's Batverse, but I think Hathaway was great as well, albeit in a completely different way.

[acsc1312]

As great as Miranda Tate was, her acting during her death scene was beyond pitiful. She's a great actress, so I'm not sure what happened there. Maybe Nolan got really sick of shooting the film.

I think they should've cut away from her when she died and then just showed her dead. It was just weird how she jolted and died. Also, the shot of catwoman, batman, and Gordon was weird to me staring straight into the camera.

[Noctis]

I did REALLY like that Talia died thinking she had won.

[4815162342]

Because my main gripe with the film is its antagonists and their plot to destroy Gotham, it in hindsight downgrades The Dark Knight with its decision to kill off Harvey Dent. Granted Nolan had no way of knowing Heath Ledger would die, removing the Joker from any future film, but it only reinforces how mishandled Harvey/Two-Face was in the final act.Talia is mishandled in this film and it goes against her character model. In the comics the defining feature of Talia is that she's conflicted between her responsibilities to her father and the League of Shadows and her feelings to Bruce. In this film she gets turned into the typical vengeance-fueled psychobitch with delusions of grandeur. Plus in the comics, Talia actually thought very little of Bane and considered him too brutish for an alliance. I understand the need for divergence to tell an original story, but when the divergence screws with the essence of a character, it causes problems.

Edited July 22, 2012 by 4815162342

[lancer1997]

I respect your opinion. I heard a lot of people praise the film, so you are obviously not alone.

And I yours.I'll go see it again, with yours and fishnets comments in mind and see if it bothers me. My first pass though I did enjoy it slightly more than TDK. I wasn' that ecstatic about TDK's ending, that felt a bit rushed and anticlimatic for me with the Joker. I wanted more.

[Noctis]

What would you have liked Talia's fate to be? A woman that betrays Bane for Bruce?

[4815162342]

What would you have liked Talia's fate to be? A woman that betrays Bane for Bruce?

To alter something like Talia's fate that you'd have to do some substantial surgery and alterations to the entire plotline of the film. Simply having it stay the same other than Talia in the end siding with Bruce over Bane makes little sense since they threw in the whole backstory of her being the pit child and Bane being her protector. For the Talia in this film to side with Bruce would require an entirely different background and antagonist plotline than what we were given in the film.In the comics she's more an antihero than a villain. She does "villainous" things on behalf of her father and the League of Shadows but when push comes to shove she doesn't share her father's methods or desire to wreak total destruction if necessary. She sides with Bruce and the good guys as often as not. Edited July 22, 2012 by 4815162342

[cheesypoofs]

My response to those of you who were disappointed:

Same here. Maybe everyone's expectations were too high. My expectations were that I would like it but not as much as I like TDK. This exceeded my expectations and I don't understand anybody that was bored. I was never bored during this movie. Although, I still have only watched it just the once.

[Heretic]

I thought it was great. 165 minutes that just flew by. Christian Bale was really great in this, but the MVP was definitely Anne Hathaway, she's no Michelle Pfeiffer, but still awesome.BTW, probably Wallly Pfister best work here. Too many awesome shots.

The 165 minutes seemed to go by awfully slow for me.

[ddddeeee]

I think people should stop talking about expectations being too high. Nobody knows what anyone elses expectations were, maybe some of us *gasp* just weren't as impressed as you were? Hard to believe I know.

[Hatebox]

I can definitely see why people thought it was a mess. But I'm wary of saying that about a Nolan film before seeing it at least twice. Rightly or wrongly he's been accused of over-plotting every movie he's made since The Prestige.The dialogue seems to be another criticism gaining traction around here, but I can't say I thought it any worse than TDK or BB. None of the 3 movies are especially subtle in that department. And I liked that they gave Bruce a sense of humour this time.

Edited July 22, 2012 by Hatebox

[fishstick]

I think people should stop talking about expectations being too high. Nobody knows what anyone elses expectations were, maybe some of us *gasp* just weren't as impressed as you were? Hard to believe I know.

:bravo:

[Captain Craig]

Grade: A-

Before reading anyone else's reviews, pro critic or msg board, here are my summary thoughts.

It's a good film, if long. It's a long film that fills long and while that can be alright for an initial viewing for me personally (see TDK) it means reduced re-watchability. Even though I disagree with the politics of the film Nolan crafted a solid film and solid trilogy. He, Bale, Caine and Freeman may not want or feel a need to come back but clearly Nolan left the door open to this universe.

The movie is more lacking in action pieces, perhaps due to the length? There are long stretches of narrative that seem to drag the film down a few times in the film. The worst is during his time in the, I assume, West African prison cell. I think those sequences could've been moved along better with a montage...something. I felt my back was breaking from being in my theater chair too long while being conveyed that Bruce's back was healing. Marked down a notch for that.

A glaring omission of the narrative was any mention of Joker. THE agent of chaos is never mentioned as chaos is seemingly happening all around. It's only more glaring an omission cause every main player in the saga got some face time EXCEPT Joker. Now, I get the face time, respect for the family. However, some mention of what, where, who the Joker is with or doing seems too much a stretch. Marked down a notch for that.

Alfred actually leaving, while not uncharacteristic of the character I didn't feel it added anything to this particular narrative. Bruce going from seemingly needing a mechanical knee brace pre-back break, to body back in peak shape was just a disconnect really. Over thinking it, I don't think so. Marked down a notch for that.

With available rumors months, and months ago it became clear either where those started or that indeed someone did a leak regarding Detective Blake. When his background of having come from a boys home was mentioned it led some credence to the Robin mythos (Jason Todd), then he mentions how he deduced Wayne was Batman (Tim Drake) so the themes were in play. Points there.

Bane coming from a prison. Bane doing the classic back break pose. Bane having affection for Talia. Bane freeing inmates from Blackgate. Selina having her own personal ally/ward with her. All positive inspiration from the comics woven together. Points there.

Gordon getting separated/divorced (can't recall how he phrased it) is a true comic character development. Bruce going into seclusion, taking Batman out of the game ala The Dark Knight Returns was a thread pulled from there woven into this. Separating Gotham from the outside world due to a catastrophe and seeing Kangaroo courts and a struggle for basic necessities pulls from the story lines of Cataclysm where Gotham underwent an earthquake. Points there.

This is neither here nor there and not part of my grading but since the theme was "target the rich" it might've been an interesting visual nod to see perhaps Cobblepot Estate. Maybe being ransacked and/or hearing about squatters taking up there.

So while this saga "appears" to be concluded there really is no reason this universe need not go on. Batman vanished for awhile and came back. Just cause this film ends with him gone again doesn't mean he can't come back. Especially if Robin really gets things up and going in Gotham as the end seems to demonstrate he just might. Nolan set up Robin, perhaps as producer of a 4th film he could help craft another return of the Bat with another installment.

I'm likely going to see this again mid week. That's a few days for this to marinate to test the re-watchability.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

I love this film it by far the best movie of 2012 nothing comes close to so far.I think this might be like a Batman Returns. Some love it and some hate it.

[haku]

I think people should stop talking about expectations being too high. Nobody knows what anyone elses expectations were, maybe some of us *gasp* just weren't as impressed as you were? Hard to believe I know.

THANK YOU! Almost all my friends said that my expectations were too high. Excuse me for wanting a movie that makes sense! Part of me is glad that so many people loved this movie because I still love Batman to bits, but at the same time I don't want my opinion to be thrown out, like the flaws in the film don't matter because most people didn't have a problem with them. Thankfully the reaction has been more mixed across the board. It won't be like how it was with Avengers. Basically, if you didn't like that film, you were ostracized haha. Still planning on seeing TDKR again to see if I can enjoy it more.

[lancer1997]

THANK YOU! Almost all my friends said that my expectations were too high. Excuse me for wanting a movie that makes sense! Part of me is glad that so many people loved this movie because I still love Batman to bits, but at the same time I don't want my opinion to be thrown out, like the flaws in the film don't matter because most people didn't have a problem with them. Thankfully the reaction has been more mixed across the board. It won't be like how it was with Avengers. Basically, if you didn't like that film, you were ostracized haha. Still planning on seeing TDKR again to see if I can enjoy it more.

I don't think that's necessarily true. Speaking solely for myself, I recognize people did not like it, for whatever reasons they may have. When I watch a movie, as I mentioned earlier, I don't let stuff like nitpicking plot holes bother me, but I fully understand it can really disrupt the continuity of a film for people that, that is important to. It's just people have different opinions on the same thing. That most definitely does not invalidate your opinion.I thought the Avengers was fun, not a great film, but fun, enjoyable, etc. I like TDKR a lot more because its more realistic. But some probably prefer the Avengers type movies.All of which is perfectly fine .

[CoolioD1]

There's really not much realistic stuff about this movie. In fact in this one it felt like they almost totally embraced the comic bookness of it all.