The Dark Knight Rises

[Kalderic]

I had a very "meh" reaction to this. I left TDK feeling completely blown away... but nothing seemed fresh here, or even original. The ending was predictable and a bit of a put off to me... But, Hathaway was phenom, and the visuals and directing were fantastic! I was just let down by the story and the overall generic feeling of it all... B/B-

[cookie]

7.5/10

I should just get the grade out of the way so I can get to what worked and what didn't.

What worked (this will be a short list since I'm sure the stuff here's been repeated many times):

-Very fine performances by the main cast, all of them in fact. Anne Hathaway was the stand-out in this one, and even though Tom Hardy's Bane definitely didn't match up with Heath Ledger's Joker he was still a pretty intimidating villain.

-First class direction by Nolan. It looks grand and it feels grand.

-In reference to the earlier statement, the story itself is very ambitious in concept. The idea of Bane turning the whole of Gotham into both a prison and a ticking time bomb and leaving it's only savior powerless is practically supervillain-ish but very cool. I also like how the decisions to hold back the truths in The Dark Knight (Bruce and Gordon lying about Harvey Dent, Alfred burning Rachel Dawes' letter to Bruce etc.) comes back to haunt them many years later, and even though in Gordon's case he did wish to tell the truth his failure to do so only further complicated things. The story wraps up many (not all) of the loose ends of the trilogy very nicely and that it should get props for.

-The action scenes are of course awesome and the long climax is overall very tense.

-Alfred's last moment with Bruce, when Bruce scolds him for "lying" about Rachel and him refusing to work for Bruce any longer. One of the few moments in the trilogy that really struck up on the emotion. Also one of the film's finest moments.

What didn't work (warning: the length of this list does not at all indicate that the verdict is more negative than stated, some parts are just extensive nitpicking):

-The Dark Knight Rises is overlong and at times kinda messy. The script is far from as tight as The Dark Knight was, were the focus lied between a small set of characters that all made the difference for each other. At first it feels like TDKR is going back to being all about Batman again like in Batman Begins, but with the additions of so many characters comes so many plotlines and to be honest some felt absolutely pointless (Deputy Commissioner Foley is the prime example) and only made the film longer. Some parts go by pretty fast and feel relevant, while others feel slow and ultimately not worth the time. The part where Bruce is stuck in that hellhole of a prison is overdrawn to the point that it slowed everything else in the movie down, just making them have to wait for it to catch up. I appreciate the idea that Bane brakes Batman's back and leaves him in the prison so he can watch in horror while Gotham goes to shit, but the whole part about him taking the time to learn how to climb out of a very oddly designed exit was padding to the extreme. There also happens to be times where an important character disappears from the film for an extended time only to come back and then hold back another character. In short, too many characters and too many plotlines. I think 15 to 20 minutes could have been cut out of this film.

-Bane's voice is pretty obviously dubbed (or re-mixed?). It's not to the point that it distracts much from the rest of the film, but it never sounded natural to me. I get that they were hard pressed after criticism from the IMAX prologue that people couldn't understand what he said, but when James Earl Jones dubbed over Darth Vader in Star Wars it felt perfectly natural, why couldn't it be the same here?

-Dr. Jonathan Crane. I should have included him in an earlier point but I was so irritated of how he was handled that I gave him his own point. Come on, two "courtroom" scenes where he stays on the same seat the whole time? No mention of him as Scarecrow or his fixation with fear at all? After these two scenes he disappears from the rest of the film (these two scenes occur pretty late into the film btw) and is never brought up again by anyone. Is it too much to ask for him to put on his mask and have a final encounter with Batman, just to tie up his story which was so poorly handled in Batman Begins (I guess it would've dragged out the climax, but hey)? Or hell, even a quick shot of him getting arrested? Why even bring back a prominent actor like Cillian Murphy for a role so pointless?

-The twist. You know what twist. The "Miranda Tate is Taila-Al-Ghul and she's the mastermind behind all this OMG!!!11!!1!" twist. To it's credit it would be a big surprise to anyone who isn't a comic reader since they do a good job of hiding the fact and making her just seem like Batman's love interest of the week. The big problem with this twist is that it instead undermines another character, Bane. Up to this point, he's been the driving force (forming a group of terrorists, attacking Gotham, breaking Batman's back, sealing Gotham from the outside world and turning it into something that looks like a cross between an anarchist paradise and a Stalinist dictatorship and so on) but the twist almost instantly renders him as just a mook, having his astounding accomplishments instantly diminished. I would have come better terms with it if the decay of the villain wasn't so abrupt, even worse when Taila's treatment of Bane makes him seem like he's just her little kid having his fun wrecking the playground. Moments later Bane even get's offed (or does he?) like a mook. Seriously his death(?) was pathetic.

Verdict:

A thrilling, well-crafted and ambitious film that takes several major missteps along the way but still manages to hold up pretty well.

Edited December 9, 2012 by C00k13

[iceroll]

Wow this thread is massive, it's more than 1/7th of all the posts on RTM.

[jb007]

I watched it for the second time with my 11 year old daughter.The movie seemed more lethargic the second time around. Too many unwanted scenes mar the movie. It would have be an excellent movie with 40 minutes trimmed off and a better story. Bane was just awful. He reminded me of Humungus from Mad Max 2 way too much.The Batman entry scene is fantastic. I love the scene where he picks up the wireless transmitter and then turns around to watch the GPD cops arrive at the scene. That part is electrifying. The rest not so much. Batman is serioulsy missing in this movie for way too long.My daughter and I watched Batman Begins 7 times, six of those times at the Palms Imax in Las Vegas..I wanted to stress the fact that My Daughter and I loved BB, As far as TDKR goes, she did like parts of the movie a lot, but got bored with the rest.I would still rate it a B

Edited August 13, 2012 by jb007

[Adm56]

I watched it for the second time with my 11 year old daughter.The movie seemed more lethargic the second time around. Too many unwanted scenes mar the movie. It would have be an excellent movie with 40 minutes trimmed off and a better story. Bane was just awful. He reminded me of Humungus from Mad Max 2 way too much.The Batman entry scene is fantastic. I love the scene where he picks up the wireless transmitter and then turns around to watch the GPD cops arrive at the scene. That part is electrifying. The rest not so much. Batman is serioulsy missing in this movie for way too long.My daughter and I watched Batman Begins 7 times, six of those times at the Palms Imax in Las Vegas..I wanted to stress the fact that My Daughter and I loved BB, As far as TDKR goes, she did like parts of the movie a lot, but got bored with the rest.I would still rate it a B

I assume you have two daughters? Or am I to believe that a 4-5 year old saw BB 6 times via IMAX? And understood it at all? That's a mature 4 year old!

[jb007]

I assume you have two daughters? Or am I to believe that a 4-5 year old saw BB 6 times via IMAX? And understood it at all? That's a mature 4 year old!

I have just one daughter. She was only 4.5 at that time. She just loved the score. She did get scared with one scene in BB though during her first time watching it. Other than than she did love the movie.

[Adm56]

I have just one daughter. She was only 4.5 at that time. She just loved the score. She did get scared with one scene in BB though during her first time watching it. Other than than she did love the movie.

I have two nieces...one 4...one 7. There is no way in hell that I would take them to see any of the Nolan Batman films. I couldn't possibly see them giving the least of a shit about what was happening on screen and would be bored to tears (literally in this case considering their age...tantrum would be the more likely response). Tangled is more their speed. Taking them more than once would be setting fire to money IMO. As would the cost of all the therapy they would need after the Scarecrow....all the violence with the Joker in TDK ( I assume your daughter saw that when 7 cause why the hell not?) and all the back breaking in TDK (although the pacing is probably the worst child boredom wise....the movie actually seems fairly tame compared to the previous two when considering what a small child might think).I assume your daughter is much more mature to even attempt what you describe but she actually sat through the run times of these films with no issues? Did you sedate her?

[jb007]

I have two nieces...one 4...one 7. There is no way in hell that I would take them to see any of the Nolan Batman films. I couldn't possibly see them giving the least of a shit about what was happening on screen and would be bored to tears (literally in this case considering their age...tantrum would be the more likely response). Tangled is more their speed. Taking them more than once would be setting fire to money IMO. As would the cost of all the therapy they would need after the Scarecrow....all the violence with the Joker in TDK ( I assume your daughter saw that when 7 cause why the hell not?) and all the back breaking in TDK (although the pacing is probably the worst child boredom wise....the movie actually seems fairly tame compared to the previous two when considering what a small child might think).I assume your daughter is much more mature to even attempt what you describe but she actually sat through the run times of these films with no issues? Did you sedate her?

My daughter is a movie freak just like me. No need to sedate her to watch movies. :)She loves movies. In fact she watched Shrek 2 eleven times in the theater in 2004 when she was only 3 and a half years old. She has seen a lot of movies multiple times (5+) like Madagascar, KFP, ROTS, The Avengers, Mad 3, Raam (An Indian movie) among others. I'm certain that she gets watching movies mutiple times from me.

[Noctis]

I honestly cannot for the life of me comprehend why some think Bane became irrelevant the moment we get to the twist with Talia. It didn't inundate the impact of his actions at all. Is there something wrong with her loving him as a friend and not a lover? Why would she fall in love with him when he freed her when she was only a child and him a grown man?The reveal really humanized Bane for me. Plus, the one and only time we see Talia give Bane an order was right after the reveal, and he doesn't listen to her and carries out his own act. She tells him not to kill Batman, but the moment she leaves, he tries to hang him.

[pinocchio]

Banes death was just a rather cheap plot point. Since the Nolan bros didn't care too much when they wrote that silly script it's just in line with the rest of the movie.

[redfirebird2008]

I honestly cannot for the life of me comprehend why some think Bane became irrelevant the moment we get to the twist with Talia. It didn't inundate the impact of his actions at all. Is there something wrong with her loving him as a friend and not a lover? Why would she fall in love with him when he freed her when she was only a child and him a grown man?The reveal really humanized Bane for me. Plus, the one and only time we see Talia give Bane an order was right after the reveal, and he doesn't listen to her and carries out his own act. She tells him not to kill Batman, but the moment she leaves, he tries to hang him.

Shocking, but I agree with you on all of this.

[ddddeeee]

Bane being humanised doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that he'd been such a good villain and such a huge part of the movie, yet his death scene doesn't seem important. For all the bother he caused his death seems really inconsequential. It's a pathetic death for what was a very good villain.

[IndustriousAngel]

Yep, I have to agree. Hardy was ok, his Bane was mesmerizing in his nonchalant bursts of violence. Offing him (by Catwoman!) in a scene of maybe 15 frames was a bad, bad decision - it really reduced him to a pawn in Talias play (and Nolan's script). Just my opinion of course. Not that Talia's death was much more satisfying but she didn't have that villain build-up so it didn't feel as stale as Bane's death. When I saw Bane's demise for the 1st time, I was like "whoah - that was it? So now he's dead or what?!"

Edited August 13, 2012 by IndustriousAngel

[JackO]

I don't get it. Catwoman used cannons on a bike that exploded a wall full of cars to finally take Bane down. That is more a compliment to Bane then any of the long speeches he made in the movie.

[Noctis]

It's the fact they didn't linger on him.

[rockNrollaDIM]

Saw this for the fourth time last week. It holds up pretty well, but two things I took away this time:1. JGL's character kind of annoys me; alot of his scenes take the wind out of the movie.2. Needs more Catwoman. She has the complete opposite effect as JGL for me- every scene with Hathaway elevates the film. I get Nolan wanted to be restrained with her character but she definitely could have afforded some more screen time. She's perfect. I love that bar scene, with the fake, dramatic crying after causing a shootout.

[rockNrollaDIM]

On this last viewing, I almost wasn't sure whether Bane actually died or not. That's the problem with PG-13. In an R-rated film, his head would have exploded.

[4815162342]

Saw it for a second time tonight. The stuff I thought was great got even better. The stuff I thought was problematic got even worse.

[Noctis]

Oh, no!

[Gopher]

I've reached a conclusion: the biggest problem in the Nolan Batman movies, in my opinion, is that the villains can't die convincingly. Maybe it's some commentary in and of itself about Batman's no-killing policy but the problem's consistency is kind of laughable. Batman killing Ra's on a technicality in BB is my least favorite part of the film. The fact that people weren't sure at the end of TDK if Harvey was dead or not (he was) shows how unconvincing that was staged. TDKR serves up two times the lousy deaths with Bane (again, his last line was just as great as his other one-liners, but our last shot of this larger-than-life villain is just him dying in a corner- it's like the camera loses interest on him) and Talia (would have been very well handled IMO if not for that goddamn shutting of the eyes).It's just a weird problem for some otherwise pretty fantastic movies to have.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Gopher