The Dark Knight Rises

[Punishment]

Just finished watching TDKR for the first time. I am planning on watching it a second time on Tuesday night and then will give more thoughts on the movie.Here are my initial thoughts though:-I actually liked Bane quite a bit until the ending; I thought his exit was poorly done for how strong he was earlier on-There were some lines that I did not understand from Bane throughout the movie-I still do not get the whole blood transfusion stuff during the airplane scene even after reading the explanations here-I thought Catwoman was done very well and was definitely a big positive to the movie-I did not like scarecrow and the whole kangaroo court scenes-I was spoiler free before the movie and kept thinking that JGL was going to help Batman defeat Bane at the end. Especially after spending so much of the movie on him.I have a lot more to add, but I need to wait until I see it again.For now here are my grades:BB - 9-9.5/10TDK - 8-8.5/10TDKR - 7/10These two quotes are exactly how I feel after watching it the first time:

TDK as a whole was MUCH smoother than TDKR. And it made one hell of a difference.

This

I don't think the movie had a defined focus. It was everywhere.

And this Edited July 23, 2012 by Punishment

[Hatebox]

Why did Bruce upgrade the Batcave if he had retired as Batman?I know I'm complaining about small things but the movie is really quite sloppy.

I was actually surprised at how minimalist the Bat-cave was. I guess you could wonder why the new ramp and computer were there, but in metaphorical terms it would make sense that Bruce would want to literally go underground in his hermit state. The comics have always played upon the idea that Bruce is more content in the cave.

[Hatebox]

Incidentally, the Red Letter Media guys have reviewed TDKR. They liked the movie, but I was more interested when they talked about the nature of criticising plot holes which is of course a recurring aspect in the reception of Nolan's movies. They came to the same conclusion as Gopher actually - if the movie emotionally resonated you, you won't care about them. If it didn't, you're more conscious of their existence.Perhaps a good example of this is when Bruce returns to Gotham. They don't even try and explain how he made the journey and got into the city, but for me it's ok because the point of the scene is enjoying Selina's reaction. If its function strikes an emotional chord I'll forgive just about any plot hole.

[DeeCee]

Bruce returning to Gotham would have been much better with a line moving slowly across a map.

[fishstick]

How did Alfred find out that Bane was expelled from the League of Shadows? Do they have a blog?

I think Bane tweeted about it.

Both ideas make sense. I mena, if Optimus could track down Sam though EBay than Alfred must`ve checked blogs and tweets. I mena, c`mon, every organization has a blog so must LoS.Anyway, speaking of Alfred and meeting at Walmart etc, I thought that Alfred leaving over the argument about Rachel`s letter was just as bad as Frodo sending Sam away and Sam actually leaving. Talk about waaaaaaaaaaay out of character shit that had no support in anything that happened prior to WTF splits. Just bad drama for the sake of drama.That said, script fails this thing. You cna admire the acting and scope and ambition and Nolan trying something different and even tear up at the end but the script was attrocious. Dialog, story, plot holes, tropes, nonesense, exposition, stupidity. didn`t expect that from Nolan. Edited July 23, 2012 by fishnets

[fishstick]

Bruce returning to Gotham would have been much better with a line moving slowly across a map.

Bruce returning to Gotham would have been much better story than the one TDKR told.

[4815162342]

Ra's al Ghul would be disappointed in Talia and Bane's plan since it strings things along for the sake of psychological cruelty, leaves a ton of loose ends open that could unwind the whole venture, and in general relies too much on nihilism and suicidal waiting for the end.For example, Ra's al Ghul would have killed Batman the minute Bane broke his back (to repay Bruce for allowing Ra's to die at the end of BB) and then he would have trigged the fusion bomb in the middle of Gotham without any fanfare beforehand (and he would have done so by remote from outside the blast radius). Ra's isn't about trying to make some quasi-philosophical point, he's about pure and blind justice, which to him dictates the immediate destruction of Gotham City and which follows his bang-bang execution of the BB plan once his forces were all in position.Bane and Talia's plan tried to mix a bastardized concept of Ra's justice with the Joker's love of anarchy and chaos to toy with Gotham's psyche. The difference is that the Joker, while cruel and totaly wild, is also never unnecessary and everything is part of trying to change the Gotham citizen's frame of mind whereas for Bane and Talia it was just a way to enjoy 5 months of martial law before finally letting the bomb explode.

Edited July 23, 2012 by 4815162342

[fishstick]

Eh, I find LoS to be ridiculous. Like, they managed to destroy Roman Empire and so many other corrupt societies but can`t destroy one freakin city because some spoiled rich boy in a gay costume stands in their way. LOL. I`d take them seriously if they just tried to ruin Gotham for the first time, w/o resume that says Fall of Rome, Fall of British Empire, Fall of...etc.

[Hatebox]

Anyway, speaking of Alfred and meeting at Walmart etc, I thought that Alfred leaving over the argument about Rachel`s letter was just as bad as Frodo sending Sam away and Sam actually leaving. Talk about waaaaaaaaaaay out of character shit that had no support in anything that happened prior to WTF splits. Just bad drama for the sake of drama.

Nah, Alfred's resignation was a great scene. Caine nailed it.As I said before, so many other script-writers would have written it that Alfred was pleased Bruce had motivation again and that'd be that, but in this case he sees the big picture and can no longer be around someone he loves who apparently has a death wish. In TDK he tolerated it because, like Bruce, he believed it was short-term. In TDKR he knows it isn't.

[4815162342]

Eh, I find LoS to be ridiculous. Like, they managed to destroy Roman Empire and so many other corrupt societies but can`t destroy one freakin city because some spoiled rich boy in a gay costume stands in their way. LOL. I`d take them seriously if they just tried to ruin Gotham for the first time, w/o resume that says Fall of Rome, Fall of British Empire, Fall of...etc.

They said they sacked Rome not that they destroyed the Empire. You know how many times Rome was sacked in the time of the Roman Empire? A lot, the majority of time by its own soldiers. Of course they also could have referred to the Rome of the Republic era, which was also sacked a number of times, again the majority being by its own soldiers. They also never said they destroyed the British Empire, they said they burned London to the ground, which is a reference to the historical London fire of 1666 that gutted the old medieval city. Edited July 23, 2012 by 4815162342

[Letsuseournoggin]

Rank it at the top of the Nolan franchise. It takes the cake, IMO. Couple points:Pros:I love that this movie brought the trilogy full circle. It was the right way to go.The most emotional of the three.The newcomers rocked: Hardy, Gordon-Levitt and HathawayCaine was perfect and I loved that the relationship between Alfred and Bruce was a big factor.The third act was nail biting intensity. It never let up and didn't let us down.Nolan did a great job finally giving us some good Batman fight scenes which was lacking before this.Noaln has proven that action is not a weakness of his anymore.The ending was incredible. Perfect close to the trilogy.Cons:Bane's death was anti-climatic and seemed to just disrespect the character. You get rid of someone that was so unstoppable and terrifying so quickly and follow it up with a humorous Catwoman one-liner, downplaying the guy's entire role.Blake knowing the Batman's real identity made no sense to me. Maybe it went over my head, but it seems to require a pretty damn big leap of faith on the audience's part.Cotillard was pretty awful. Her death was laughable in terms of acting. What was supposed to be something serious during a very tense part of the movie (the big climax) brought laughter instead.One last thing I want to point out: regular 2D was absolutely underwhelming after catching this twice in real IMAX. IMAX makes a world of difference.

[Punishment]

Rank it at the top of the Nolan franchise. It takes the cake, IMO. Couple points:

Pros:

I love that this movie brought the trilogy full circle. It was the right way to go.

The most emotional of the three.

The newcomers rocked: Hardy, Gordon-Levitt and Hathaway

Caine was perfect and I loved that the relationship between Alfred and Bruce was a big factor.

The third act was nail biting intensity. It never let up and didn't let us down.

Nolan did a great job finally giving us some good Batman fight scenes which was lacking before this.

Noaln has proven that action is not a weakness of his anymore.

The ending was incredible. Perfect close to the trilogy.

Cons:

Bane's death was anti-climatic and seemed to just disrespect the character. You get rid of someone that was so unstoppable and terrifying so quickly and follow it up with a humorous Catwoman one-liner, downplaying the guy's entire role.

Blake knowing the Batman's real identity made no sense to me. Maybe it went over my head, but it seems to require a pretty damn big leap of faith on the audience's part.

Cotillard was pretty awful. Her death was laughable in terms of acting. What was supposed to be something serious during a very tense part of the movie (the big climax) brought laughter instead.

One last thing I want to point out: regular 2D was absolutely underwhelming after catching this twice in real IMAX. IMAX makes a world of difference.

Definitely agree on the bold points

[Jessie]

Ive seen this film twice now, first time i was very disappointed but that was my fault. I was under the impression that Gotham would get nuked. I know its silly to think this now as there is no possible way it would happen in a film like Batman but still, when you expect something your dissapointed that you dont get it. Because of this i thought I would give it a second viewing just to be fair. My second viewing I enjoyed it a lot more, however it did have plot holes and the film felt overly long and quite boring and lazy at times (especially after Bane had taken over the city).Pros.Catwomen - I was pissed off when i heard that Catwomen would be in this, but to be fair, she was great and was never actually called Catwomen throughout the entire movie. She had a purpose and Anne Hathaway played the role well.Bane - I know people wanted another villian like The Joker, eg The riddler, but what is the point? Nolan already made a Batman film about a phsycotic genius, this time having a villian who can pack a punch made sense to me. I liked what Hardy did with Bane's voice. He could have easily made him sound more menacing but instead he sounded mysterious which made him more intimidating. Emotion - It was far more emotional than the other movies, and i think we owe a lot of this to Michael Cane. He is great and the film focuses a lot more on the life of Bruce Wayne than TDK did.ConsBane's final fight - Im sorry but for someone who managed to break batman without breaking a sweat, he didnt really put up a good fight at the end. Batman managed to kick his ass quite easily which was just stupid and what does the big evil muscle bound Bane do when he's beaten? he cries his eyes out lol.The Nuke - The countdown on the bomb had a mind of its own. one stage its on 11.30 minutes. After this there's about 10 minutes off footage, Miranda is able to leave Bane and Batman, get on a Batmobile, dodge some incoming fire, then jumps onto the truck with the nuke about 2 miles down the street. According to the timer it had only gone down 50 seconds Then the timer goes down by 5 minutes without anything happening lol. Then when Batman finally copies Iron Man by flying the nuke away for the city to avoid destruction, there is 5 seconds left on the timer, so realistically Batman is fucked, but no. Somehow he manages to escape the 6 mile radius explosion which judging from my calculation means he would have had to travel 2250 mph to escape lol. I know he got the auto pilot fixed but they were still stupid enough to show batman in the Batwing with 5 seconds left. That is lazy film-making right there. Also when the automic bomb went off, it didnt look like a 6 mile blast radius seeing as they were probably about 2 miles offshore.Robin - What is the need in ending the trilogy on the hint of JGL as Robin?? Isnt this meant to be a conclusion where everything is tied up? clearly not.Missed Opportunites - Im suprised they didnt do an emotionally satisfying scene in which Gotham realised that Bruce Wayne is Batman. This could have been done so well and seeing as its a conclusion it would have fit right in, but for some reason they didnt.Overall i still think the film is a 6.5 out of 10 movie because it has smart moments, its gritty and there are some epic scenes, however it could and should have been so much more.If im wrong on any of my theories, so if i have missed something in the film, then feel free to tell me what.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Jessie

[Hatebox]

Missed Opportunites - Im suprised they didnt do an emotionally satisfying scene in which Gotham realised that Bruce Wayne is Batman. This could have been done so well and seeing as its a conclusion it would have fit right in, but for some reason they didnt.

That would have jarred with the theme of Batman exisiting to inspire others, that he could have been anyone, etc. It's why Gordon repeats his 'he was the Batman' line even after finding out who he was.Can't say I remember Batman being in the plane when they show there's only 5 seconds left on the bomb, but if so then yes - that's a cheat.

[Jessie]

That would have jarred with the theme of Batman exisiting to inspire others, that he could have been anyone, etc. It's why Gordon repeats his 'he was the Batman' line even after finding out who he was.Can't say I remember Batman being in the plane when they show there's only 5 seconds left on the bomb, but if so then yes - that's a cheat.

Fair enough your first point makes sense, but still wasn;t Nolan taken this franchise to different levels? I just thought that could have worked well. And batman was definitely in the batwing. If you watch the film again, look out for it and you will see what i mean.

[MagnetMan]

That would have jarred with the theme of Batman exisiting to inspire others, that he could have been anyone, etc. It's why Gordon repeats his 'he was the Batman' line even after finding out who he was.

Can't say I remember Batman being in the plane when they show there's only 5 seconds left on the bomb, but if so then yes - that's a cheat.

Suddenly had a vision of Kathy Bates saying, "He didn't get outta tha cock-a-doody car!"

[CoolioD1]

Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb.

[Impact]

I am still unsure if I like this more then TDK or not. I also have this on par with Avengers, though Avengers is the more fun film.

[rockNrollaDIM]

When a character with very little screen time becomes the villain pretty much out of nowhere late in the film and then dies shortly thereafter it's never going to work. I mean seriously how much time elapsed between her being promoted upon Bane's anti-climatic death and her 'should have asked for another take' death scene? 15 mins?

Not even. I loved when she twisted the knife into Batman and gave the monologue about the deep cut and all that but then she was dead within minutes!It was cool to watch it back a second time and see how she was secretly manipulating the characters the whole time- posturing herself into Wayne Enterprises chairwoman position, tipping off Bane about the CIA plot, and the plan to track to reactor truck, etc. But there was very little payoff after the reveal.I'm not sure what would have worked better- maybe if the audience knew her intentions the whole time? But then the surprise wouldn't have been as good. Tough decision, and I wonder if they filmed it both ways. Edited July 23, 2012 by The aDIM Legacy

[rockNrollaDIM]

Perhaps a good example of this is when Bruce returns to Gotham. They don't even try and explain how he made the journey and got into the city, but for me it's ok because the point of the scene is enjoying Selina's reaction. If its function strikes an emotional chord I'll forgive just about any plot hole.

I did not mind this unexplained journey at all. Why do they need to explain it? He's Batman, and as we've seen for three films now he can appear and disappear at a moment's notice.My biggest gripe, I guess, was the timeline. And I'm not talking about sudden sunset at stock-heist. Just the way time went by so quick. It was five months, then all of a sudden there's 29 days left, and in the next scene the bomb goes off in approximately 12 hours. What the hell?? It just seemed like he didn't care to set that sensibly, and also I found it hard to believe that Gordon, Blake etc could freely run around the city that whole time plotting against Bane's people without detection. In broad daylight. Watching the patrols drive by. The fuck?