"The Dark Knight Rises" Review and Discussion Thread (spoilers)

[Set Harth]

And why did Blake have any reason to assume Selina knew something about what happened to Bruce Wayne? Wild guess?

[JarodRussell]

Well I guess Bruce Wayne reported her for stealing his jewelery.

[Trekker4747]

[Agent Richard07]

^ The movie had its flaws but I think that assessment is too cynical.

- Batman and Bruce dying on the same day? The city was under siege and a lot of people got hurt, so Bruce dying around the time Batman did wouldn't necessarily raise suspicion.

- Bane is smart and Bruce was a member of the League of Shadows, so Bane knowing who he was made sense.

- So what if Bruce hobbled around and we got Batman for 33 minutes. The movie was good drama and I'd rather see that than non-stop action.

- I don't remember the scene where Bruce was driving around with John Blake.

[Set Harth]

JarodRussell wrote:

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Well I guess Bruce Wayne reported her for stealing his jewelery.

I thought he told Alfred he wasn't going to do that.

[Blamo]

As others have stated, it has it's flaws, but overall it's an excellent film. I know I preferred it to the Avengers film, which is an enjoyable enough movie but has zero rewatchability in it, being just a dumb action flick.

07 Geese a Laying wrote:

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- So what if Bruce hobbled around and we got Batman for 33 minutes. The movie was good drama and I'd rather see that than non-stop action.

This so much.

[JarodRussell]

Well then they maybe found out that she kidnapped the congressman at Wayne's party?

And maybe he did tell them that she stole his Lamborghini?

[Greg Cox]

Set Harth wrote:

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And why did Blake have any reason to assume Selina knew something about what happened to Bruce Wayne? Wild guess?

Because the last time he saw Bruce was when he dropped Bruce off at Selina's apartment . . . after Bruce's sports car was repossessed, remember?

And later he recognizes Selina as the girl he saw at the bar the night Gordon was shot up.

[Set Harth]

A few other things:

Why did Bane & Co. leave the stock exchange before the program had finished? Weren't they worried that once they were gone, someone would disengage the program or shut down the whole system? In fact, why didn't either of these things happen?

Also, what's with the "bring her to me" stuff later in the film, around the time Gordon and some others are "sentenced" by Crane? We see Bane order Miranda brought to him; then we see two guys bring in the supposedly captured Bruce Wayne, who is sat down next to Fox and Miranda. Then Selina shows up, some ass-kicking ensues, and she leaves with Fox and Wayne, apparently leaving Miranda behind for some reason. After this Batman turns up on the ice ( which doesn't seem too bothered by having yet another person standing on it, this time in body armor, but whatever ) and asks Gordon where Miranda is. Gordon says Bane has her. What gives? It's like there was originally no break between the sentencing scene and the part out on the ice, but they later stuck the other stuff in between, presumably because Fox needed to be freed, and it doesn't really fit.

[degra]

finally watched this film for the first time and I have to say it wasn't very good. I didn't buy Bruce being a recluse, the film was eay too long and had too much action that was quite repetitive, the characters were pretty shallow and the villains were lame with poorly developed plausible motivations.

overall the Nolan films sucked. I enjoyed the first two burton films over ant of these three. I know a lot of people rave about them but I don't see much praiseworthy beyond the production values and cinematography.

[Aeronef]

I liked Nolan's first two Batman films, but I found this one disappointing. It was his first real artistic failure, in my opinion. Hopefully he'll now go back to making films like Memento, Insomnia, and The Prestige.

[Sci]

07 Geese a Laying wrote:

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^ The movie had its flaws but I think that assessment is too cynical.

- Batman and Bruce dying on the same day? The city was under siege and a lot of people got hurt, so Bruce dying around the time Batman did wouldn't necessarily raise suspicion.

I think it's safe to say that after the city was re-taken, Bruce's secret almost certainly got out. How could it not? Everyone saw that Bane's army was using tanks of the same design as the Batmobile, everyone saw the Batwing, and everyone saw the bomb. That would inevitably lead to an investigation of where they got the tanks and the bomb, and that would inevitably lead back to Wayne Enterprises and to Bruce and Lucius.

Frankly, given the horrific consequences of Wayne Enterprises's technology falling into Bane's hands, I think the United States of the Nolanverse is probably facing some pretty major questions about how much power it's allowed giant corporations to have and how little oversight they seem subject to. And I imagine that Wayne Enterprises and Lucius Fox are facing some pretty major legal reprecussions.

[Marc]

Sci wrote:

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Frankly, given the horrific consequences of Wayne Enterprises's technology falling into Bane's hands, I think the United States of the Nolanverse is probably facing some pretty major questions about how much power it's allowed giant corporations to have and how little oversight they seem subject to. And I imagine that Wayne Enterprises and Lucius Fox are facing some pretty major legal reprecussions.

But Wayne Enterprises did government/defence contract work which is where most of Batman's gear came from (The Tumbler was for combat zone bridge building, the much of the Batsuit was body armour for soliders till the bean counters decided that a soldier's life wasn't worth $300k and the Microwave Emitter from Begins was designed vaporise and enemy's water supply).

So it's not a case of the Wayne Enterprises having too much power.

As for the theft well I don't think anyone would have really expected that combined with Bane having inside help otherwise it wouldn't have happened.

[Gaith]

Set Harth wrote:

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After this Batman turns up on the ice ( which doesn't seem too bothered by having yet another person standing on it, this time in body armor, but whatever ) and asks Gordon where Miranda is.

Well, Qui-Gon obviously taught him how to spot thick ice and... oh, who am I kidding, it would have been awesome if he'd just fallen right through.

degra wrote:

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I didn't buy Bruce being a recluse

Nolan had wanted to do a Howard Hughes movie around the time The Aviator was made. I guess he read Miller's Dark Knight Returns and figured, "hey, now's my chance." No, it didn't make much sense.


As for the Bruce/Bat connection, the far more glaring coincidence is that Bruce Wayne and Batman make their first public appearances in years at virtually the same time. Much like Clark Kent returning to the Daily Planet, and Superman appearing the same afternoon.

[Sci]

Marc wrote:

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But Wayne Enterprises did government/defence contract work which is where most of Batman's gear came from (The Tumbler was for combat zone bridge building, the much of the Batsuit was body armour for soliders till the bean counters decided that a soldier's life wasn't worth $300k and the Microwave Emitter from Begins was designed vaporise and enemy's water supply).

So it's not a case of the Wayne Enterprises having too much power.

Of course it is! Why on Earth was a private corporation allowed complete control over an arsenal large enough to seize control of the largest city in the United States? Why was it even legal for Wayne Enterprises to be developing a nuclear power device in the middle of a city larger than New York -- in a poorly-guarded, miniature facility? Where was the regulation? Who was keeping track of these things besides the company itself?

Those systems should have been dismantled or sent to the Pentagon, not sitting there in the Wayne Enterprises basement.

As for the theft well I don't think anyone would have really expected that combined with Bane having inside help otherwise it wouldn't have happened.

Which is irrelevant to my larger point: Not that Wayne Enterprises, Fox, and Wayne are responsible for Bane's actions (obviously they aren't), but that they had accumulated too much power, and that the inevitable investigations after the fact into how the League of Shadows got its hands on that weaponry would almost certainly produce negative consequences for the company and for Fox, and would almost certainly expose Batman's identity.