The Dark Knight Rises

[Impact]

Yes I know they didn't like it as much, but I'm just saying they would get disapointed no matter what.I'm not one of those who gets mad if you dare hate some classic.

[Lordmandeep]

I liked the film but I knew it would not be as good.History was not on its side...It was going well till that scene however and the ending was epic..

[Impact]

Yeah I didn't think it be as good, but yeah some people just overhype everything.

[fishstick]

Angry geeks have way too much time on their hands.

I`m not an angry geek and I`m positive farting dwarves movie will be better. And this is from a Nolan girl who endlessly pokes fun at PJ`s weight issues, lame humor, ugly evil wives, no cojones,etc.

[tommycruise]

Ok so I just got back from seeing at a 1:30 showing and I know that my review will have nothing to say that probably hasn't already been said before but I'll give it anyway so suck it haters. :PFirst off I'd like to start off that before I went into the film with lowered expectatations, e.g. I didn't expect it to be better then Dark Knight.But it was still a very good movie with a great performance by Tom Hardy, my only quibble with Bane was that about 10% of the time I could not understand him. The first fight with Bane was very well done and i admit i actually feared for Batman and my fears were well realized because Bane easily destroyed Batman/Bruce Wayne the first time around. In addition to Tom Hardy giving what I thought was a standout performance(but you can't compare it to ledger of course), I also thought Michael Caine gave an excellent performance in addtion to Christian Bale and Gary Oldman. But anyway on to the other newcomers Anne Hathaway did a good job but I would't call it a standout performance and the same goes for Joseph Gordon Levitt. Marion Cottillard is a whole nother story however, I found her very enjoyable. Oh and the Cillian Murphy/Scarecrow cameo was funny and awesome!Now on to the plot.... I felt that Christopher Nolan told a very good story and I liked how he revisited some of the stuff from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and I admit I fell for it when Batman died and I didn't see that twist coming, but I'll keep these types of endings in mind next I watch a Christopher Nolan movie.The action was very good all around and I especially loved the addition of the Bat and all the extra Tumblers but i felt it lacked a pivotal action scene like the hallway scene in inception or when batman upends the semi-truck in the Dark Knight.Overall this movie was an awesome experience and is so far my favorite movie of the year(although that might change...looking at you Hobbit).This gets an A from which is the same grade I gave the Dark Knight so I technically consider them equals, although I felt this didn't quite equal inception. One of my minor quibbles is the prison where bruce is supposed to be held is in India right?Well how did Bane take Batman there and then get straight back to Gotham?Finally I just want to say that is probably the longest review I've written for a movie but I felt Christopher Nolan and Batman deserved it.

[Adm56]

Seriously. Who is anyone to tell anybody what their expectations were? Some people just didn't like it as much as you did, get over it.

Expectations certainly enter into it. And with TDK being so good TDKR being a step down was probably inevitable...especially since that seems to be the trend in trilogies that have a really strong second film.But what truly bugs me is that Nolan has proven in the past that he has a fairly deft touch with things that are similar to the elements of TDKR that I dislike. So I have to wonder what happened this time around.

[Dementeleus]

One of my minor quibbles is the prison where bruce is supposed to be held is in India right?

I think it was vaguely Central Asia / Middle Eastern.

[fishstick]

But what truly bugs me is that Nolan has proven in the past that he has a fairly deft touch with things that are similar to the elements of TDKR that I dislike. So I have to wonder what happened this time around.

I`m shocked how poorly time and geography were handled. Plus some weird decisions (why did Batman trust Selina?) On top of that, lighting that Bat logo on thin ice where they were standing deserves Roland Emmerich Award for Stupidity. Edited July 24, 2012 by fishnets

[Travod]

#10 All Time on IMDb so far.

[Adm56]

Oh and one other thing that comes to mind after reading the last few posts. I wanted to see more of an arc between the Batman that gets easily beaten by Bane in the first fight and the one that easily gets his revenge and turns the table in the second fight.Someone said Batman was 'unprepared' in the first fight. What exactly prepared him for the second? Recovering from a broken back? A vague amount of time in a third world prison? The jet lag and walking involved with returning to Gotham from that prison? Interesting that he arrives in better shape mentally and physically than the last time. Wouldn't it be more dramatic if at least at the beginning there is a shred of doubt that he can take this guy?The two fights are basically the same...a stand up fist fight. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if Batman exhibited some sort of advantage he learned from the first battle? I would have settled for 'you may be young sonny but I'll take old age and treachery over youth every time!'. Granted he paws at Bane's mask a little bit, but not enough to make the fight epic IMO.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Adm56

[ddddeeee]

It's this notion being thrown around that if people were disappointed it's because their expectations were too high, that's nonsense. It doesn't apply to myself since I like BB as much as, if not more than TDK, but if people are disappointed with TDKR because they felt it didn't live up to TDK, well then that's perfectly valid.It's just annoying. It's practically saying, "TDKR is objectively good, if you don't think so it's your own fault."

[DeeCee]

Well I'm someone who had never heard of Ra's al Ghul before BB so the motivations for Talai didn't bother me as much. It seems most but not all of the problems people have derive from their preset expectations of the characters from reading the comics. Watching the first time the Talia reveal was unexpected because there were only very subtle hints the child is anyone other then Bane. Watching the second time is great because you start to notice all the things Talia is manipulating in the background.Also, Talia may have had revenge against Batman in mind but also don't forget that in Nolan's Batman universe this was the League of Shadows 3rd attempt to bring down Gotham. This time they really wanted Gotham to go out with a bang. However, Marion Cotillard performance wasn't up with the rest of the main cast and her death could have been done a bit better. Rather then die I would have no problem with Talia surviving as per the Joker in TDK.This thread is like a daily numbers thread. There's been 6 posts since I started this one.

Edited July 24, 2012 by DeeCee

[CloneWars]

There is a lot to pick on in TDK, for example Joker has no plans but lol but that makes no sense...However we looked beyond that as Joker was so crazy!!

Ehh, that made perfect sense in TDK. Joker lies throughout. That's one thing we can count on with the Joker. He lies about who's who at the location, although he gives the addresses. He tells different stories about his scars. The Joker is a very complex character which is what makes TDK so damn amazing. No character comes close to this complexity in TDKR. Especially the villians who only seem to have two goals, nuke Gotham and torture Bruce for killing Ra's and foiling his plan of destroying Gotham.

[Gopher]

Expectations are important for this movie, though. People who loved TDK and didn't see/remember/cared for BB wouldn't love TDKR. It works as its own film but it works better as the conclusion of this larger story.

Even thematically TDK is a sideshow movie when you link it to BB and TDKR.

[pmoore]

I did not really appreciate how great Talia's "slow knife" bit was until my third viewing. That really elevated her as a villain in my eyes for some reason.

[Adm56]

I had never heard of Talia prior to watching this film and still thought the handling of her was pretty lame. You build up Bane forever only to toss him aside for her...then kill her a few minutes later. This is roughly as good for the narrative has having Bruce Wayne 'rise' TWICE in the same movie. Meaning it's not useful at all. Might as well ride Bain to the end if you only have a few mins left in the film. Throwing her in there is fan service just like the flowers, candy and ponies ending that all the characters get (this happy ending being off tone from the rest of the films IMO).

[Dementeleus]

I don't agree with that at all. But then again, I don't think Bane is marginalized simply by making him more than one-dimensional.

[CloneWars]

Oh, and I also had no problem with Talia's performance. I saw the film three times and other than her death, I thought the performance was very good. But, there are a lot of plot issues, and it stands out. I felt this film got a little bit comic book-like for my tastes. This is going from someone who is a big comic book fan. This worked for TA because that film was literally one big comic book put to film whereas Nolan tries to steep his film in realism but this time I felt things went a little too far. TDK had its plot issues, but they just seem more frequent in this film. And, I agree with the pacing issues and the whole five months thing felt long and the film felt very repetitive. I almost wish Bane didn't break Batman's back even though it is from a famous comic arc.

[Adm56]

The Joker works in TDK for the same reason Loki's plan works in The Avengers. 'Some guys just want to watch the world burn' is simple enough that it still drives the narrative for the most part but leaves room for all of Nolan's other themes. Fighting off an alien invasion in TA is enough to provide our heroes a goal but gives room for all the characters to have screen time and shine.Bane and the LoS's scheme is actually pretty similar to the Jokers if you get down to brass tacks (other than the whole take away hope and make then suffer jazz) but is way too complicated considering everything else that was crammed into the film.People will say it makes more sense after repeat viewings, but repeat viewings should NEVER be required.

[Noctis]

I'm someone who walked away with very mixed feelings about the film, but the relationship between Talia and Bane was very well handled. I had an inkling there might have been something more to their relationship when Bane called for her in the courtroom. Anyway, the reveal that there was an intimate relationship between them really elevated the third act. It humanized Bane and made Talia's motives more understandable (not only out of revenge, but she had someone like Bane supporting her).