The Dark Knight Rises

[Gopher]

First Blu-Ray viewing (fifth overall) and it's still a pretty great film. I'm starting to buy the idea that it should have been two movies, maybe released in the same year. A lot would have needed to be fleshed out but I think all of the problems in the film boil down to "explain this more."

[baumer]

First Blu-Ray viewing (fifth overall) and it's still a pretty great film.I'm starting to buy the idea that it should have been two movies, maybe released in the same year. A lot would have needed to be fleshed out but I think all of the problems in the film boil down to "explain this more."

Yea, like how:he got back from the middle of the desert to Gotham with no money and no IDhe got back into Gotham, when it's guarded at every entrancehe found Selena in the middle of Gothamhe spent what would have been about 4-6 hours dousing the building with gasoline so that he could light it up, and no one saw himwhy didn't Miranda just kill Wayne when they were making love?Why didn't the stock market just suspend all trading when they were taken over?I can go on....the film was just lazy.

[RichWS]

I'm starting to buy the idea that it should have been two movies, maybe released in the same year. A lot would have needed to be fleshed out but I think all of the problems in the film boil down to "explain this more."

I think the problems are deeper than that. Plus, splitting another movie in two? Nein, danke. Edited December 5, 2012 by RichWS

[#ED]

Perhaps we will be shocked with an extended edition?

[75Live]

Yea, like how:he got back from the middle of the desert to Gotham with no money and no IDhe got back into Gotham, when it's guarded at every entrancehe found Selena in the middle of Gothamhe spent what would have been about 4-6 hours dousing the building with gasoline so that he could light it up, and no one saw himwhy didn't Miranda just kill Wayne when they were making love?Why didn't the stock market just suspend all trading when they were taken over?I can go on....the film was just lazy.

Well the first one is easy and answered in the movie.He did the same thing in Batman Begins with no one arguing. Plus he wasn't in the middle of the desert. They showed him walking out of the pit towards a huge city. Not that difficult to put together from there.As for the rest, I can't argue

[baumer]

Here's a fantastic review of it:What makes things worse, is that its predecessors were basically intricate works of genius, but TDKR lacks essentially everything that made The Dark Knight (particularly) one of the greatest superhero movies ever produced. On top of all this, everyone's bandwagoning on thinking it's great because it's "supposed" to be great, right?!?! How could Nolan's finale not be a masterpiece?! Well, I'll tell you...Bruce Wayne acts out-of-character from not just the first two movies, but from the comic as well. Catwoman's motivation and place in the story is weak, flat, and forced. For a movie that's almost three hours long, you only get about 20 minutes of Batman in costume (if you're lucky). The movie jumps in weird time increments that are mildly confusing, but mostly forced to facilitate its wanna-be epic nature.As for more heavily SPOILERY observations...Commissioner Gordon is barely in the movie, spending most his time injured in a hospital, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character comes out of the blue and does what you'd expect the Commissioner to be doing... solution- COMBINE THE TWO CHARACTERS!!!The two Batman vs. Bane fights are flat and boring as hell. Bane is a cardboard, unexplored (until a late-third act flashback... of all ridiculous cliché plot devices) character that reaches for sympathy in one of the most embarrassing, wanna-be-tender, totally out-of-place, extremely laughable scenes I've ever seen in my life- HE FRIGGIN' CRIES?!!?!?Every single, yes EVERY SINGLE cop in Gotham marches down into the sewers on a tip that Bane's raising a secret army, only to have all the entrances blown up so they can be trapped down there... for like three months. Reread that last sentence and tell me what part of it makes sense.Bane holds Gotham hostage with a 4 megaton nuclear device, after blowing up all but one bridge leading into and out of the city, for three months and the U.S. government does nothing. Seriously, nothing. It's said they negotiated a truce and had FEMA send in supplies for survival. Read that last paragraph and tell me what part of it makes sense.The "real" villain reveals him/her self in an absurd Act 3 "twist" that's followed by a narrated flashback (the same one that leads to Bane CRYING), and throughout the entire monologue Batman sits there doing nothing after a knife has been thrust/held into his side.After the 2nd lame Bats/Bane fight, the bulk of the late Act 3rd "action sequence" consists of little more than Batman flying around in that weird-looking clunky flying thing that supposed to be the Bat Plane- half of which is of him outmaneuvering missiles that the bulky "plane" couldn't have possibly eluded.I really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to not just like this, but LOVE it, but as it progressed the enthusiasm cloud gradually cleared to the point of my being utterly flabberghasted in disappointment- mostly because I can't believe the director of The Dark Knight and the masterpiece that is Inception was responsible for this movie. It's lazy and uninspired to the point of being offensive to everyone who's ever been not just a Batman fan, but a fan of non- intelligence-insulting movies.

[redfirebird2008]

I can go on....the film was just lazy.

So are the Transformers and Twilight films, but you give them a pass for any flaws they might have. That's what it all comes down to for most moviegoers. Either we like a film's story or we don't, and then we nitpick the movies we don't like while giving more leniency to movies we do like. And what's funny with franchises in particular is that the threequel tends to catch a lot of nitpicking for aspects of the story that were already in the first two to begin with. Happened with SM3 on the issue of campiness and it happened with TDKR on the issue of Batman quitting. Edited December 5, 2012 by redfirebird2008

[RichWS]

And what's funny with franchises in particular is that the threequel tends to catch a lot of nitpicking for aspects of the story that were already in the first two to begin with.

That's because you're just tired of it the third time around. Make no mistake, though: Both Begins and TDK have problems. I don't think that should be ignored. What TDKR doesn't have is the freshness of Begins, or the power of Ledger's performance to help carry it.

[#ED]

A disturbing experience we live through as much as a film we watch, this dazzling conclusion to director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is more than an exceptional superhero movie, it is masterful filmmaking by any standard. So much so that, its considerable 2-hour, 44-minute length notwithstanding, as soon as it's over, all you want to do is see it all over again.

The close collaboration that this kind of creative familiarity ensures is key to Nolan's ability to make such persuasive, enveloping films, as is the director's passion for all things old school and celluloid. He prefers to do stunts and effects in-camera if possible and works without a second unit director. ("If I don't need to be directing the shots that go into the movie," he told the Directors Guild quarterly magazine, "why do I need to be there at all?") He shot more than an hour of "Dark Knight Rises" on the massive IMAX film negative, which improves the image quality even for those watching only in 35 mm.

The impressive success of "The Dark Knight Rises" pleasantly confounds our notions as to where great filmmaking is to be found in today's world. To have a director this gifted turning his ability and attention to such an unapologetically commercial project is beyond heartening in an age in which the promise of film as a popular art is tarnished almost beyond recognition. Wouldn't it be nice if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which snubbed the trilogy's first two films in the best picture race, finally got the message?

I'm not getting into TDK trilogy vs Transformers or Twilight series. It's like Bane vs Batman first fight.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Christmas ED

[redfirebird2008]

That's because you're just tired of it the third time around. Make no mistake, though: Both Begins and TDK have problems. I don't think that should be ignored. What TDKR doesn't have is the freshness of Begins, or the power of Ledger's performance to help carry it.

But people weren't tired of it because they didn't complain about those things earlier in the franchise. That's my point on it. I've never liked the campiness of the first two Spider-Man films, but I was amazed at how people who gave those movies a pass for their campiness ended up being so angry about the camp factor in SM3.The issue of Batman quitting was present from the get-go in Batman Begins. Before he ever puts on the cowl for the first time, he tells Alfred that he wants to become a symbol that inspires other Gothamites to stand up for their city. Then in TDK he temporarily quits because of the idiotic idea that Rachel will dump Harvey to be with him if he's not Batman anymore. This version of the character has had a whole lot of "quit" in him the entire series, yet NOW people act like they're jumping the shark by having him retire. My only problem with his retirement is that Blake seems physically unprepared to become Batman. He's got the detective training from being a cop, but he is basically a wimp throughout the film when he gets into physical altercations with people.

[baumer]

So are the Transformers and Twilight films, but you give them a pass for any flaws they might have. That's what it all comes down to for most moviegoers. Either we like a film's story or we don't, and then we nitpick the movies we don't like while giving more leniency to movies we do like. And what's funny with franchises in particular is that the threequel tends to catch a lot of nitpicking for aspects of the story that were already in the first two to begin with. Happened with SM3 on the issue of campiness and it happened with TDKR on the issue of Batman quitting.

There are no flaws in Twilight or Transformer.

[redfirebird2008]

There are no flaws in Twilight or Transformer.

[RichWS]

The ending with him "retiring" didn't bother me. There are larger problems.

[The Stingray]

If you're looking for problems in movies you'll always find them. It all depends on the severity of the problems. Imo the problems in TDK are more severe (and some of them really ticked me off) than those in TDKR.

Edited December 5, 2012 by Don Niam The Stingray

[redfirebird2008]

If you're looking for problems in movies you'll always find them. It all depends on the severity of the problems. Imo the problems in TDK are more severe (and some of them really ticked me off) than those in TDKR.

I'm with you there.

[baumer]

If you're looking for problems in movies you'll always find them. It all depends on the severity of the problems. Imo the problems in TDK are more severe (and some of them really ticked me off) than those in TDKR.

Not me. And I wasn't looking for problems in TDKR. TDK is in my top 15 films of all time and imo it should have won best picture. I certainly didn't go into the film looking for flaws.

[Gopher]

Commissioner Gordon is barely in the movie, spending most his time injured in a hospital, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character comes out of the blue and does what you'd expect the Commissioner to be doing... solution- COMBINE THE TWO CHARACTERS!!!

The review lost me here. He totally misunderstood the point of JGL's role in the film.

[#ED]

The review lost me here. He totally misunderstood the point of JGL's role in the film.

Ditto.

Every movies has it's flaws. Everyone just expected the TDKR to be better or as good as TDK.

Rotten Tomatoes says it best, The Dark Knight Rises is an ambitious, thoughtful, and potent action film that concludes Christopher Nolan's franchise in spectacular fashion, even if it doesn't quite meet the high standard set by its predecessor.

[DAR]

I mentioned this in another thread but the Gotham Knights must not have been very good. If you looked at the stands there were a lot of empty seats. So I'm guessing the game was blacked out locally since they didn't sell out.

[baumer]

Ditto.

Every movies has it's flaws. Everyone just expected the TDKR to be better or as good as TDK.

Rotten Tomatoes says it best, The Dark Knight Rises is an ambitious, thoughtful, and potent action film that concludes Christopher Nolan's franchise in spectacular fashion, even if it doesn't quite meet the high standard set by its predecessor.

:rofl: