The Dark Knight Rises

[Gopher]

Second viewing and I now feel comfortable coming to conclusions about the film.

It's not as good as TDK. It's not as masterful, it's not as tight, and there's no dominating performance (which may have been a good thing, actually). But in my opinion not a lot of movies are as good as TDK. And TDKR is a pretty damn great movie.

Pretty much every plot and character decision felt justified for me the second time around, and I appreciated the details even more. Cotillard didn't bother me either (although the way she slams her eyes closed when she dies looks pretty silly). I'm not going to go delve into some of the leaps of logic taken here and there because BB/TDK did those too and I didn't complain then- none of them inhibited my enjoyment of the film.

Bane was IMO the perfect villain for this installment. This was a Bruce Wayne story, so 'physically intimidating' was the most important thing its villain needed, and Hardy does that in spades. "Do you feel like you're in charge?" sums up Bane pretty well. The first Batman/Bane fight is one of my favorite movie fights ever, and looks pretty amazing in 15/70 IMAX (so does the rest of the movie, I hope Wally gets some awards for his work here).

It's not perfect by any stretch, nor it is a masterpiece (not the same thing). But it's a big, flawed, spectacular beast of a movie that I will defend to no end. Thank you Christopher Nolan for the strongest, most audacious superhero trilogy that may ever be produced. I'll be seeing this in theaters plenty of times more.

BB: A-

TDK: A

TDKR: A-

The Nolan trilogy as a 7+ hour epic: A

Edited July 23, 2012 by Gopher

[Noctis]

But it wouldn't have been because it would be a mockery of the character.

As in he meant it was never going to happen. It's just a funny image.

[Heretic]

I'm almost certain I'll enjoy TDKR more on my second viewing.

Edited July 23, 2012 by Heretic

[Adm56]

We need a better grading system....I'll never understand all the reviews that say it's not perfect....list a bunch of flaws.....and then give it like an A or A-. How about using more of the scale?

Edited July 23, 2012 by Adm56

[DeeCee]

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'll handle this one. At the end of BB after Wayne Manor is burnt to the ground by the League of Shadows we see Bruce, Rachel and Alfred picking over the ashes. They have this conversation:

Rachel Dawes: [looking at the ruins of the burned down Wayne Manor] What will you do?

Bruce Wayne: Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick.

Alfred Pennyworth: *Just* the way it was, sir?

Bruce Wayne: Yeah. Why?

Alfred Pennyworth: I thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations.

Bruce Wayne: In the south-east corner?

Alfred Pennyworth: Precisely, sir.

Edited July 23, 2012 by DeeCee

[MagnetMan]

When Lucius is with the tech guys at the end discussing the auto-pilot, the tech say that it's been fixed. Wasn't the Bat destroyed in the nuclear explosion? How did it survive? Am I missing something?

I initially thought the same thing but regardless of what someone may think of Nolan, he IS a competent director. And that particular kind of oversight is completely beneath him. (And this coming from a person who had predicted TDKR to underperform). I need to see the film again to make sure, but if there's anything wrong with that scene, it's simply they should have added a dropped line about them working on the OTHER "Bat" vehicles.

[MagnetMan]

I'll handle this one. At the end of BB after Wayne Manor is burnt to the grown by the League of Shadows we see Bruce, Rachel and Alfred picking over the ashes. They have this conversation:

Rachel Dawes: [looking at the ruins of the burned down Wayne Manor] What will you do?

Bruce Wayne: Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick.

Alfred Pennyworth: *Just* the way it was, sir?

Bruce Wayne: Yeah. Why?

Alfred Pennyworth: I thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations.

Bruce Wayne: In the south-east corner?

Alfred Pennyworth: Precisely, sir.

I do like that exchange. I felt that it was most certainly a commentary on post-9/11 America... but I also kinda thought it was an acknowledgement of the fact they were taking the Batman franchise in a better direction after the Schumaker debacle.

[DeeCee]

I initially thought the same thing but regardless of what someone may think of Nolan, he IS a competent director. And that particular kind of oversight is completely beneath him. (And this coming from a person who had predicted TDKR to underperform). I need to see the film again to make sure, but if there's anything wrong with that scene, it's simply they should have added a dropped line about them working on the OTHER "Bat" vehicles.

It's clearly described as a software patch and they identity Bruce Wayne as the user who made the update. The movie doesn't specifically mention multiple bats but since they introduce multiple tumblers it stands to reason there are multiple bats.

[Lordmandeep]

lol Great filmIt was a epic but I felt the film did not need to be so long.Bane was great but I could not take him seriously in some parts...Batman really improved his performance in the film.Action was epic but we have seen better, it appears everyone wants to destroy a city these days lol...Alfred was great, Morgan and the French lady were meh...Gary Oldman was way down from TDK as well.Catwoman was a huge surprise, enjoyed her a lot.Felt the film was not as tight as TDK and I think it just shows how unique that film is. The filmis really great story telling, but I think some scenes were pointless.No great quotes or line stay with me from the film.I would put it around a 8.5 around TA and below TDK at around 9-9.5 out of ten.I want to watch this a 2nd time but unlike TDK, I will wait till it comes on DVD.

[4815162342]

They said the fusion reactor was converted into a neutron bomb. Neutron bombs release radiation and energy without the nuclear blast that levels everything for miles around. The Bat is easily recoverable.Also, if there were multiple Bats then Bane & Company would have used them in addition to the Tumblers to protect the bomb. No reason they would ignore them.

Edited July 23, 2012 by 4815162342

[The Dark Alfred]

I saw it five times now and it gets better and better. When you first see it you might think that it has plot holes, but once Talia is revealed you can look back and see that she was in control all the time and Bane just reacted to her actions. My only complaint is Bane death, that wasn't executed properly. I don't know why people say it has no humor, it's complete BS that some are trying to put on Nolan's films. Nolan has incredibly funny one liners, all the Batman films and Inception had really funny bits. Alfred, Lucius, Bruce, Catwoman and Batman all had funny lines that made the crowd laugh.

[Gopher]

Yep, Talia's reveal was much more rewarding when I saw what she was really doing throughout the rest of the movie. Bane's death worked but the last shot of him should have been much more effective. It's really just him dying in a corner on the far side of the screen.

[MagnetMan]

I just mentioned this over in the JL thread... but how would every one react to JGL playing Batman in the JL movie? It would save having to reboot him. And they wouldn't even have to really refer to his backstory at all during the course of the film, therefore completely skirting the issue of this Batman being from Nolan's universe. The audience could simply draw their own conclusions.Probably not a very good idea... but it could solve the problem of awaiting a Batman reboot before moving into JL.

[Impact]

Okay now-have you realized that JGL looks like Burt Ward?

[CloneWars]

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.

This is explained in BB. In TDK, Wayne Manor isn't rebuilt, they are still rebuilding. At the end of BB, the plan was to create a batcave.

[CloneWars]

I just mentioned this over in the JL thread... but how would every one react to JGL playing Batman in the JL movie? It would save having to reboot him. And they wouldn't even have to really refer to his backstory at all during the course of the film, therefore completely skirting the issue of this Batman being from Nolan's universe. The audience could simply draw their own conclusions.Probably not a very good idea... but it could solve the problem of awaiting a Batman reboot before moving into JL.

No, JGL doesn't feel like Batman. He is too charming. He really does feel like a Robin. What I really wish to happen though is for a fourth film (not directed by Nolan) where they bring back Joker focus on his origin as the Red Hood, have the Joker "kill" JGL, and then in the last third the Red Hood appears and we find out it is JGL the whole time.

[nAlkaline]

Watched it a few hours ago...I'll post a full review tomorrow but here are my disparate thoughts at this time.

[*]Dark tone fit the film better than BB/TDK. I forgot I was watching a superhero film on many occasions.

[*]Bale was good. Hathaway and Caine were better...I really thought Anne stole the show.

[*]Bane was a weak villain. The entire "bad guy" element and story lacked substance. Made to look worse because of Joker in TDK. I won't comment on Talia to be nice.

[*]Plot holes, although apparent, didn't detract from the experience.

[*]Dialogue was wooden and hokey at times. The writing was my biggest issue with the film other than villain choice/story.

[*]JGL was fantastic.

All in all, this was the most fun of the Batman trilogy for me. In spite of the dark subject matter, it was, on a whole, immensely enjoyable. Having said that, I think was Nolan's weakest directorial effort in the series. And it's not close. Lacked focus and suffered from poor editing throughout. From a purely technical viewpoint, I would rank it well behind TDK and on par with BB.

Even with these flaws, it's a 8/10 for me. I give TDK a 9 and BB a 7.5 for reference.

[Lordmandeep]

imo the plot twist did not work.Me and my friends would have rather performed an all powerful Bane instead.

[Adm56]

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?

[lancer1997]

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?

I disagree. If you watch closely the build up is there. I saw it coming, but it still worked for me.