Dark Knight Rises (open spoilers past the first post)

Cafe Society
41

I mostly found it boring. The first couple hours were horrible with a decent action set piece at the end.

Cotillard being the boss bad guy was obvious almost immediately. She was the one who knew about the energy program. Bane said things were going according to plan when she ended up in charge and then at every opportunity she made sure Bane’s orders were met. And since Hathaway was stuck with the “thief with a heart of gold” arc she had to be the one with the rotten core.

It seemed obvious that Gordon-Levitt would end being Robin.

I’m curious how a penniless man crawling out of a pit in the middle of nowhere India (or wherever it was) managed to get back to Gotham in a couple of days and then sneak onto what would be the most watched patch of land in the world.

Much of the movie felt structured more like the final episode of a long running TV show than a good movie (every recurring character needs to show up again, make sure all the principals get their solo last moment for the audience to say goodbye). I don’t expect to absolutely love everything Nolan does but I never expected him to bore me.

42

I feel like this movie was basically The Dark Knight on steroids. It has all the same excesses, good and bad, taken to extremes. It’s still a jumbled mess of a plot, with some truly ridiculous ideas, taken far too seriously, with absolutely no sense of pacing… but for all that, it still works, even if there’s less Batman action and more navel-gazing than usual.

I admit I didn’t see the Talia plot twist coming, though I, like OP, predicted the ending months ago (Batman dies!). Well, half of it I guess.

I agree with a lot of Ashley Pomeroy’s points, though I didn’t mind the ending. Anne Hathaway was surprisingly good as Catwoman - it was one of my main fears going into the movie, but she was great. They obviously fixed some of Bane’s dialogue (the scene at the start in the plane was obviously post-dubbed) but later in the movie he was unintelligble at points. I agree with Tomcar that the ending was nice though after 2.5 hours of INTENSE GRIMDARK SERIOUSNESS.

43

He’s Batman.

44

My main problem was a post-production one - the music at times drowned out the dialogue.

45

I liked it. I didn’t think it was great cinema, but nor did I think it was “good merely as a popcorn flick.”

Just making sure there’s some love in the thread…

46

After seeing it, here’s the only thing I’m sure of: The Dark Knight Rises was a good movie, but it wasn’t anywhere near as good as The Dark Knight.

Other random thoughts…

Bruce Wayne spent way too long in The Pit. For that matter, the idea of a five-month “siege” on Gotham was a little hard to swallow.

The Talia reveal really surprised me. I thought Tate’s role was as the roadblock to Bruce and Selina, not as the secret big bad.

Joseph Gordon Levitt was awesome, even if his transformation into Robin was obvious.

The final battle was really good.

Loved seeing Crane again.

Wait, I’m sure of one other thing. I want to move to the alternate universe where Heath Ledger is still alive and the star of Batman 3.

47

I enjoyed parts of it, but I really hated Bane. The voice was ridiculous and everything he said sounded like a mockery of Occupy Wall St.

48

Wasn’t that the point? :confused:

49

Sadly, you’re right.

Was the guy in charge of the peoples’ court Scarecrow? He was enjoying himself a little too much.

50

At this point I don’t actually remember specific dialog, so maybe I did interpret it backwards.

51

I think I’m gonna be one of the rare ones in the thread because I didn’t just like the movie…I LOVED it.

I loved the pacing of the movie because I think this movie tried (and succeeded) to be what Ang Lee’s Hulk tried to be (and failed). The movie isn’t a giant superhero action flick a’la Avengers, it’s closer to a cerebral movie about superhero’s and what they mean/represent. I’ll agree that the first half hour or so move pretty slowly, and was very confused with the plane crash thing, but once the movie got its feet under it, it always had the undertone of suspense and foreboding.

I know I’m going to be alone in this one: I think that Tom Hardy just acted circles around Heath Ledger. I thought Heath’s performance was way overrated and enhanced only because he died. The voice did get a bit annoying and garbled at times, and sounded like Eddie Izzard, but I think his demeanor, his cadence, and his delivery were perfect. Plus it’s hard acting with only your body, and with practically none of your face.

Speaking of acting, let’s get a Best Supporting for Michael Caine on this one who I think played Alfred heartbreakinlgy real. The funeral scene was spectacular.

Count me in with the crowd who was surprised that Talia was the “main” bad guy. I didn’t see that coming in advance probably because I’m not much of a Batman fan and don’t know the canon, so I was pleasantly surprised over that turn.

To whomever said that it was a letdown to have Bane die cuz catwoman shot the shit out of him, my response to that is how else would he have died? Batman couldn’t beat him up and any other way he died we would probably nitpick as being too “unrealistic”. The batcycle’s guns are massive and giant bullets that explode was probably the only way he COULD be killed.

So now on to the things I didn’t like:

Alfred’s story arc was too sudden I think, and only there so that Wayne could go away for five months and not have the audience wonder about Alfred.

I, too, wondered how Batman could get from the Middle East somewhere into Gotham without being detected, AND knew where to meet Kyle. Thought that was way too much of a stretch.

What’s up with Catwoman’s blonde pseudo-lesbian partner? She was cute as hell and I want to see more of her, but is she canon and I’m just ignorant? Thought she was kinda pointless.

Lastly I’ll talk about the end. Liked the ending but I thought it would have been better if the camera just stayed on Alfred the whole time. He smiles, his face lights up, does the I-see-you-over-there head nod and then boom…cut to black.

Loved the movie and thought it was the best of the bunch! Now tell me I’m wrong :stuck_out_tongue:
edit: I had a police officer in the lobby of my theater…anyone else?

52

On IMDb Cillian Murphy is credited as Dr. Jonathan Crane / Scarecrow, so yes.

53

She is.

54

Occupy started September 2011. Most of the movie (especially the Bane scenes) was done being filmed before that.

55

Good point, but in any case, I think the resemblance of Bane’s lines to well-known anti-authoritarian rhetorical tropes was a feature, not a bug.

56

His rhetoric shares similarities with both Tea Party and Occupy rhetoric, and is an exact match for neither. The writers may not have had “Tea Party” in mind and certainly didn’t have “Occupy” in mind, but they were certainly intentionally tapping in to the same intellectual influences.

57

What could realistically be accomplished in a wall street takeover as depicted in the film? I wouldn’t think much…

58

The Gotham Evening News:

Today on Wall Street there was a major criminal action involving the killing of several people apparently for no purpose at all other than to stick a floor trader’s badge into a computer so another guy could plug his computer into it. In other oddly coincidental news, at the same time a billionaire made a lot of transactions that make absolutely no sense and resulted in the elimination of his fortune!

The Gotham Gas & Electric Utility District announced that since it is so clear that there is no connection between these events that they’re going to turn off his power today because they’re confident he won’t be able to pay his next bill. The Lamborghini Auto Dealership of Gotham Auto Mall repossessed his car as well, simply because it is fun to kick a guy when he’s down.

We’ll be back after this break but ponder this: Are your sewers trying to kill you? The startling study when we return.

59

MrTao and the kiddos went to the drive-in to watch this, last night. I passed, because I’m not a fan of 100+ heat + wind+ sand and grit in the face while trying to watch a film. So I watched Dark Knight at home.

And I’m thinking I might just skip this newest Batman entirely. Dark Knight was SO good, and ended on SUCH a lovely ambiguous, could-go-anywhere note, that I’m happy just leaving it right there. I just can’t imagine the newer movie being as good as that.

Now, if they ever film The Killing Joke, let me know.

60

I enjoyed it. It was better crafted than the predecessors, but no performance matched Ledger’s Joker.

I didn’t see Tate/Talia coming. Sen. Leahy’s cameo was blissfully short. Hathaway was fantastic, and Bale did his best acting, as did Caine.

I thought the politics skewered every single point of view and that was wonderful. I wish that Liam Neeson had said “by the way, did you like my Joker?”