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

Blake wasn't set up to keep things going as "Robin". Without doubt or question, he becomes Batman. Bruce isn't coming back. Blake is the Dark Knight now. He even has his own "Alfred" in the priest who runs the orphans home upstairs. Gordon and Fox are still around as well, so Blake certainly won't be without connections and resources.

 

Catchin up with the thread, but I wanted to say that my only gripe right now is the use of patented Michael Bay Time to take us from broad daylight to dark night (pun intended) in less than 8 minutes of in-story time.

 

Robin has the Cave and the suit but he is not ready to be Batman yet. Other than detective skills and basic police training he has none of the fight training and experience Bruce had before he started.

 

I admit, I'm harboring serious doubts as to whether that was real or if it was simply Alfred's fantasy.

I'll explain.

Spoiler: Spoilers, obviously

Taking into account things like the air speed of the Bat (to get the nuclear device a safe distance from the city), the blast radius from the nuclear explosion, and the fact that Bruce bailed from the Bat over open water near ground zero (remember that we see him in the cockpit with five seconds left on the detonator), it's highly unlikely that Bruce Wayne did, in fact, survive.

To accept that he did survive, you have to accept that he survived the fall from the Bat, was able to shed himself of his costume (because the body armor would have weighted him down), was not caught in the nuclear fireball, was not burned by superheated water from the nuclear explosion, and, after all of that, was able to swim back to dry land from a distance of several miles.

The objection to all of this, of course, is "Autopilot patch." Yes, Bruce could have bailed from the Bat at any point once he got the nuclear device out over water with the autopilot engaged. But that would mean that Nolan didn't play fair in his narrative because he showed us Bruce accepting his fate and the timer ticking down from five.

In short, I think the final scene is up for interpretation. It it happened, I understand why Alfred saw what he saw. If it didn't happen, I understand why Alfred wanted to see it.

 

In addition to also fantasizing that Bruce ended up with Selina Kyle as well.

 

I think it all hinges on whether or not you believe the top to have wobbled.

 

lol now you made me think of something funny

With Alfred's age maybe hes senile and he just thought he saw Bruce?

in reality

Guy at another table- some old guy just nodded at me

Alfred- master Wayne is alright, now time to feed the pigeons cuckoo! Cuckoo!

 

There is a big difference between the memory Alfred tells Bruce about and the ending. In the memory he sees the back of a mans head. When he turns he sees its not Bruce. During the ending Bruce is facing him right away! Its real.

 

Plus, if he isn't alive: Who fixed the Bat Signal?

 

Difficult vote, since I felt it wasn't Excellent, but Good felt as it was only so-so. It's somewhere in between, but I voted Excellent.

The movie certainly has some faults, and as a movie, I suppose TDK was better. But as a Batman story, I was very impressed by this movie. Two nice little plot-twist, although one of them was a bit obvious.

Spoiler: Obvious twist is obvious...

Miranda Tate being Talia.

Tom Hardy did a good job. I just felt he did. Nothing earthshattering maybe, but still a very solid performance. Anna Hatheway, the same.
I think overall the performances were just that, solid. Good. Nothing that had sparks flying of the screen. But nothing disappointing either, to me that is.

As for the ending.... Some of it I saw coming, saw of it I didn't. Alfred's last scene.... I expected something more like the last scene from Inception, with

Spoiler: SPOILERZZZZZ OMFG

Alfred smiling, implying he saw Bruce sitting there but leaving us guessing. So seeing Bruce and Selina happily ever after... not sure yet if I liked that or not. I will reserve judgement for when I see it again.

As for

Spoiler: Again with the spoilerz, oj vay, enough already...

Bane's death.... So out of nowhere. I would have prefered something more deserving.

On the whole though, a very good movie, well made and put together. TDK will probably go in to history as the best movie of the trilogy, mostly thanks to Heath's amazing performance in that movie. But this was certainly a worty ending of this saga.

 

HLN news this morning showed that the movie made about 180 million over the weekend. Some figures are showing the film was understandably hit on ticket sales, due to the Colorado tragedy. when my wife and i went to see it, she felt uncomfortable at the beginning, looking around the theatre to see if some maniac would pop up.
And i gotta say, during the shooting in the stock exchange scene, i gotta say i felt a little uncomfortable watching that, with colorado still fresh in my mind.

 

Saw the movie yesterday in IMAX. I really enjoyed it. I selected, "Good," only because Ledger's Joker performance will forever be hard to top. So overall the acting was better in the previous film if not only because of him.

Bain was an interesting bad guy. I wish they had explained more why he had the mask. It seemed unclear what exactly happened. Did the comic books do a better job of explaining that?

Michael Cain's, Alfred, didn't come off to me as well as in previous films. Maybe is tires of the role. Also the grave side scene where he cries with emotion didn't come off well.

The film was a little long IMO and with previews over 3 hours. For me, that's a long time to sit in the theater.

Overall I give it an A-. The problem with Batman films is they are so incredible both visually as well as the acting that even slight problems with the script or acting makes it easy to criticize, likely unfairly.

As an aside: when we were waiting in line to go into the theater I was speaking with the usher. She was saying she was so tired and exhausted from the weekend. Apparently at the theater several stupid morons were opening the back door as a prank and they had to call the police 1/2 dozen times over the course of the weekend. Some people are really dumb asses.

 

Bane just wears a luchador wrestling mask in the comics and his mouth is not obscured. They decided to cover up his mouth for the movie and make him impossible to understand... for some reason...

The in-movie explanation is that he has injuries and is in chronic pain and the mask delivers anesthesia gas.

 

At my theater, they usually have a greeter before the trailers start, to welcome you to the theater and see if you have any questions. Some dumbass in the back of the theater asked, "After what happened in Denver, will we be getting bulletproof vests??"

Some people just don't know when a joke isn't funny.

 

It also makes something of the opposite of Batman visually. Whereas Batman is completely covered except for the lower part of his face Bane isn't so covered up except for the lower part of his face.

 

Our theater had more security than usual - checking exit doors, flashlights looking down aisles, etc.

 

I'm catching up on the 60s TV series and last night, the stock footage they used for Gotham was of New York, just like in this movie. And what else did we get? The opening of a bridge.

Thanks for addressing the issue of where Blake will get his resources to maintain his crime fighting.

Now how did he find the batcave?

A lot of people say this. Heath Ledger was indeed good and fun to watch, but I've never thought of his performance or the Joker as so earth-shattering that nothing else compares. I think anyone would be just as good if they put on some clown make-up and let loose. I also think that other villains are equally worthwhile and interesting in their own right.

 

Agreed. Anyone that thinks making jokes or pranks about a mass shooting after the CO tragedy needs to seek psychological help IMO. There is nothing remotely funny about the situation nor is there in scaring people at theaters.

 

I wonder how he eats.

 

Other villains are equally worthwhile, but Heath Ledger's performance was above and beyond. It's a matter of becoming the role. The best examples I can think of is your standard episode of Saturday Night Live: you can definitely tell which hosts are phoning it in, and which hosts are invested in their roles. It's not "letting loose", its becoming the character.

For another example, I've never thought Christian Bale ever truly owned the Batman role, rather he just did a decent job of portraying it. Robert Downey Jr, however, IS Tony Stark.