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

How do you rate "The Dark Knight Rises"?

  • Excellent

    Votes: 147 58.3%

  • Good

    Votes: 61 24.2%

  • Fair

    Votes: 26 10.3%

  • Poor

    Votes: 12 4.8%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 6 2.4%
  • Total voters
    252
Just got back. Sorry "Amazing Spider-man" but I think this movie's going to steal your "Amazing" part

My sporadic thoughts

I was surprised a how little Gary Oldman and Michael Caine there was in this movie.

Gordon's in the hospital for the majority of the film. Alfred has left Bruce.

With these reduction we get a bigger role for Morgan Freeman which was nice btw.


I could understand 90% of what Bane said. The stadium was crystal clear. The sewer fight was a bit hard as was the prison speech.

It almost felt as if Bane voice was disembodied. Sideeffect of redubbing it too much now.

The voice doesn't even sound like it's there in the scene.

Speaking of that. I could not understand some of Oldman's dialog while he was at Blake apartment.


Was it me or did it sound like some people were hurrying through their dialog. Especially during the opening and the Harvey Dent celebration at Wayne Manor.

The back break of Batman was brutal.

I'm a bit sad we'll never see Joseph Gordon Levitt take up the mantle. Maybe in a hypothetical 4th movie Bruce returns.

I was a bit surprised at how fast John Blake just blurts out "I know you're Batman"

Alfred's extensive knowledge of Bane was a bit too convienent

There were alot of allusions to "Rising"

Nolan went all out with the CGI for the Bat. It felt like a character even without the autopilot ;)


I could have done without Gordon learning Batman's identity.

Anne Hathaway did an alright job as Selina/Catwoman

Hathaway- I'm sorry you lost all your money

Bruce- No you're not


More thoughts to come as I digest the movie
 
But for 8 years he thought he was done too. Can he walk away from that for good? Who knows. I agree that was the point though.

The only problem I had with the movie is what did he really achieve as Batman? The movie's trying for the weight and significance of being a final adventure. Like The Dark Knight Returns. But here due to all those years in Wayne Manor doing nothing, he really had a short career as Batman.
 
Admiral2 said:
-And speaking of, enough with the "Roz Al Ghul" shit. It's "Resh." The guys who made him up said it's "Resh." Roz sounds so uneducated, like everybody's thinking "Duuuh, I have to say it like it's wrote cause it's one of them furner names!"
Click to expand...
This is the part that bothered me the most. I see TDKR and they all say "Ras/Roz" and then I watch the Batman TAS episode "The Demon's Quest" and they say it "Resh", correctly, every time.
 
The Dark Knight Rises has some flaws as a movie, but as a Batman tale, especially for those of us raised up on the Dark Knight as invented in the 70s and reinvented in the 80s, this like the others, was remarkably satisfying.


Nolan is a cold movie maker - his films rarely involve characters with whom the audience deeply identifies, and TDKR is no different. While the characters are often enjoyably constructed, they are characters, not people. Fair enough - it is superhero land after all, so no one should expect multi-faceted human characters. Here, his coolness results in a slightly off feeling during the first half of the movie. We are plunged into Gotham, where the characters are moving about and speak of having deep feeling over what has happened in the city, but that emotion, even for Bruce Wayne, doesn't really reach the audience.


But it's not much of a problem - rare is the Batman story in any medium that treats with character in any multifaceted way (Gotham Central notwithstanding). Badassedness generally suffices, and does here. Interestingly, this movie tends to turn on femal badassedness - it is Selina Kyle's jump out the window of Wayne Manor that really incites the whole story.


I never cared much for Bane as a villain, and didn't particularly care for him here. He's very one-note. The retired badass being brought back into the game is a fairly cliched storyline, but it suffices surely enough as the plot is carefully set up, and set up, and set up. I wasn't bored, but my engagement was largely intellectual - where will this lead, how does this piece fit in?


Surprising then that the payoffs felt so delightful. Whatever his shortcomings, Nolan gets Batman in this way - at its core Batman is about the will to strive to overcome ones own pain for a greater good. That's a good story and a good hero. I actually felt that element was missing from TDK, so that while it was a good police procedural, it lacked some heart. Here, the set up all works around in wonderful ways - for a Batman fan at least. I truly wonder how this movie plays for someone not steeped in the mythology. I was able to appreciate how the story wove together DKR and No Man's Land and Knightfall, how it reworked Talia as cleverly as BBegins had reworked Ra's (finally a Talia I can get behind, who doesn't slavishly give herself heart and soul to men who devalue her, but is a fiendishly clever villain in her own right!)


Selina Kyle I also appreciated as her own character. Even though there were half-hearted attempts to keep the romantic element between she and Bruce Wayne, it didn't fly, mostly because the chemistry between them was intellectual and moral, not sexual. All in all an excellent interpretation of Catwoman, mostly because it didn't try too hard.


The weaving together of Bruce's rise from the prison with Bane/ Talia's backstory worked very well, though I'll agree with some other posters that the pacing of it within the movie felt a bit off. The climactic battle scenes had great emotional payoff - I see why critics praise the second half of the film.


As for John Blake, he is from start to finish the heart of this story. It is, should they choose to make it so, his origin story - and a damn good one. Names matter little - the filmmakers had to drop that one in a way the broader audience would understand, so calling him Dick Grayson would not have worked (though my heart skipped a beat hoping for it when he said, perhaps its under my birth name...) Gordon-Levitt, one of my favorite actors, was perfectly cast.


As for Bruce Wayne's ending - for a moment I really thought they might kill him off, so kudos for keeping that suspense in the air. His denouement worked - though honestly more for Alfred's sake than for his own. In the grand tradition of Batman, I never felt that Bale's Wayne could or would end up happy - it is simply not that character's fate.


All in all, I couldn't be happier with Nolan's trilogy - but then his vision and my favorite things about Batman have always lined up.
 
One of my favorite things was the Batman statue. He will be remembered as a hero. After the last film, I was not expecting that. I can't remember in recent years any type of statue of Batman in comics or other media. That was common before The Dark Knight Returns.
 
Very good movie, but having the story immediately begin 8 years in the future, with Batman literally having hung up his cape the moment the credits began in TDK, made the first hour very compressed as they had to relate everything that happened before (as it turns out, not much!) Once Bane is in Gotham and Batman is back on the prowl, the movie takes off and never relents.

Obviously this is impossible now, but if Nolan really wanted to start TDKR 8 years in the future after Batman has hung it up, another movie could (and perhaps should) have been done, with its ending being Bruce quitting Batman. It would have given more space to introduce Miranda Tate, make her a more compelling love interest, which would have made her turn in TDKR far more powerful. Introducing Kyle and Blake in a hypothetical third of four Nolan Batman movies would have been very enjoyable.

Bale was great as Bruce Wayne, as compelling as he was in Begins and much more so than in TDK. Surprised how much JGL there was, but he was superb (nothing beats his turn as Cobra Commander! :lol:) Bane was a terrific villain, and that first fight was simply one of the best battles in any comic book movie. Unfortunately, his voice was somewhat all over the map in audibility, but he was truly terrifying, and most importantly in a completely different manner than Ledger's Joker. Hathawy was equally terrific as Selina Kyle, perhaps the best fighting/action chops of any actress in the superhero genre. And kudos for one more Scarecrow appearance!

My main complaint is that while the flashbacks were effective, I think there were too many, and again there was a lot of exposition (necessitated by the 8 year jump). But overall, a great time at the movies. Can't wait to see it again and again and again! :techman:
 
I just got back from The Dark Knight Rises. Amazing and epic film, a worthy conclusion for the Nolan Batman trilogy.

SPOILERS!!!


-While he wasn't quite as good as the Joker, Tom Hardy was an excellent villain as Bane. He's come a long way since Shinzon 10 years ago. I thought they did a great job with the voice although it was difficult to hear what he was saying at times.

-I absolutely can't believe I didn't see the Miranda Tate twist coming. I knew that Rha'Ghul had a daughter and I completely didn't think that she could have been it.

-And speaking of which, I TOTALLY didn't see that twist coming. Excellent twist with the John Blake character. Joseph Gordon Levitt is another Nolan favorite from Inception and a damn good actor in his own right. It's nice to be surprised and I was twice with this film.

-I definitely appreciated the callbacks to the original film. I knew that Neeson made a cameo and was thrilled to see him. It was great seeing Crane again too...I really do appreciate that kind of continuity.

-I read a few weeks ago that Nolan decided to make no reference to the Joker due with his relationship with Ledger and not wanting to exploit a tradgedy. I get that although it felt really strange not to mention the Joker at all, to say that Harvey helped rid the city of him in the beginning and so on.

-I was leary about the Ann Hathaway casting at first but I can see my concerns were unfounded. She was a terrific Catwoman. Was Bruce with Selina at the end of the movie?

-Michael Caine F'n rocked it.

-I could have without all the Occupy Wall Street complaing some of the character spouted out during the film and I thought that Digger (was that his name?) character was ridiculous.
 
I can't stop speaking in the Bane voice. I'm even typing in the Bane voice. Absolutely loved the film. I see according to the vote results that we have 3 trolls on the board.
 
I was so happy to see the "twist." I called it the day they announced the casting of this film. Just as I called the "twist" in Begins when I found out Liam Neeson was in it.
 
Donald Draper said:
There is a long tradition of Batman figures with costumes just made to sell more toys.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that one is a bit spot on for the Batman Beyond costume. I am betting there is an edited version of Blake's final scene that runs a bit longer to reveal a suit.
 
Looking online the football team was called the Gotham City Rogues. They made yellow and black jackets and hoodies for the film. All have a yellow R on the right side of the chest. Did Blake where anything like this in the film? Under a regular jacket. Missed oppurnety for the scene when he finds the cave.
 
JRoss said:
I can't stop speaking in the Bane voice. I'm even typing in the Bane voice. Absolutely loved the film. I see according to the vote results that we have 3 trolls on the board.
Click to expand...

Thanks to you I just read this post in the Bane voice!
 
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