The Dark Knight Rises

[Angel Dust]

Saw it last night and ... eh. It's by no means a bad film but it is by far the weakest of the 3. I'm sure a lot of people are going to love it, and I don't begrudge them that, but I just found it to be loud, bloated, pompous and devoid of almost any real tension. It's grim and gritty posturing is just that since Nolan hasn't the balls to kill anyone, of note, off and the script is full of extremely clumsy foreshadowing, as well as more than the usual portentous Nolan nonsense dialog. Tom Hardy does his best as Bane but the character is no Joker and I struggled to hear what the hell he was saying at times. Hathaway's Catwoman is well done but kind of a side-show and Cotillard's is so underdeveloped it telegraphs the 'big twist' since she's surely got to have something more to do than be a damsel in distress. Jason Gordon-Levitt is by far the best thing in it (I would totally be down for some Robin films with him) and it was him and Oldman who were the real rooting interests since Christian Bale is a total snore.

It's frustrating because there is a really good film in this but it's a real muddle, even more so than The Dark Knight, and compromised by the fact that it is a big-budget popcorn extravaganza and as such must keep the masses happy ( that's the only way I can explain the horrendous cop-out that is Batman's 'death'. )

[Scots Taffer]

I don't totally agree with Angel Dust - particularly not around the end, because that definitely pleased me (notwithstanding logic issues) and I thought it was a particularly nice closer which leaves everyone walking out on a bit of a grinning high - but it is definitely the weakest of the trilogy and almost entirely lacking in tension (at least after the Batman/Bane showdown, but we all knew how that was going to end from the trailer so it wasn't exactly tense either).

The movie sags in the middle in a huge way. Bane's goal in Gotham is never particularly clear and that's a real issue when it dominates 2/3 of the story - it's clear the Talia twist is what neuters making his goal clearer in a big way because they want to slowly tease out the league of shadows connection, but it's not a big enough impact (in my eyes) to justify the audience not really knowing what the fuck is going on for nearly 2 hours, even though I more or less knew due to early rumours. Bane himself is given a reasonable background, but I never felt the villain was particularly interesting outside of when he was facing off against Batman in the early going.

Bruce's/Batman's struggle with himself and with Bane isn't enough to hold the story together given the way it doles out the character progression. Bale does well with what he's given and he does add a fair bit of humanity to what has always come off as an alarmingly silly character to me in previous franchise. He puts in some good work to hold up the weak middle section but it's still not enough to save it.

Selina/Catwoman was very good window dressing and a fairly welcome addition to the whole movie. Gordon gets a short shrift in this movie however and I didn't like where they took his character. Alfred was barely in it, same with Lucius. The character development kicked off in TDK with some of these supporting characters just wasn't there in this movie. Oh and yes, Gordon-Levitt is solid, though I thought the whole I just knew you were Batman was very poorly done.

I was probably most disappointed with the action - the finale was reasonable enough, but beyond that and the big fight (which was brutal), there wasn't a lot to get your teeth into there.

It was incredibly funny though. Kudos to the number of non-cheesy gags that landed pretty well.

[Subjective Effect]

Scots, are you saying you've seen it and didn't like it? Or are you guessing it will be bad and not live up to the previous edition?

He's seen it and it wasn't up to standard. The other 2 were, hence the 2 out of 3 jibe.

[Scots Taffer]

It should be absolutely clear that I went in with stratospheric expectations.

Nolan is my favourite director working today and I loved this take on the franchise, so a disappointment was probably inevitable.

That being said, they didn't stack the deck in their favour with this one IMO.

[Shug]

It's a little too busy to be a great movie

[Scots Taffer]

And speaking of being a little too busy: anyone else catch that catwoman is bi?

[Renzatic]

Just got back from seeing it. I have to semi-agree with Scots and Angel Dust here. Don't think for a second I'm panning the movie, because I'm not. It's great. Nearly fantastic even. But coming after the nearly perfect in every way TDK, it's bound to be a bit of a let down.

It is a little too busy. There's too much story, too much going on. Even at 2 hours and 45 minutes, it's got barely enough room to breathe. The end result is it feels kinda manic at times, and yup, some of the characters end up undeveloped. Particularly one, who should've gotten a ton more screentime than she did.

If they trimmed it down a bit, decided to go with just a tiny bit less epicness, it would've been a better flick. But even as is, it's more than decent, and beats the everliving shit out of every other movie I've seen so far this year. It's a 7.5 to TDK's 9.5.

edit: Also, did everyone see the Total Recall trailer? I must have a little bit of the cinema snob in me, because it actually made me a little mad watching it. Like they were ruining an already good thing by messing with it.

[bob_doe_nz]

Ha ha! So the critics WERE right to some extent.

[gigagooga]

14 dead and over 50 wounded in massacre at Batmans premiere in Denver...

[Vivian]

14 dead and over 50 wounded in massacre at Batmans premiere in Denver...

Uh... holy shit? Thought you were joking...

[Subjective Effect]

And speaking of being a little too busy: anyone else catch that catwoman is bi?

What's with the spoilers dude?

[Scots Taffer]

It's 49% joke.

[Slasher]

http://www.comicbooktidbits.com/BATM...ES%20JOKER.htm

You'd think I'd be old enough not to giggle at that last picture, but....apparently not.

[gunsmoke]

WTF is so fucked up in Colorado that sparks these massacres? Jesus, I am speechless for once.

[demagogue]

FFS, kid, just stick a shotgun in your mouth and pull the trigger if you hate the world that much. Kids at a Batman movie?? Are you fucking kidding me?

[Brethren]

FFS, kid, just stick a shotgun in your mouth and pull the trigger

Unfortunately, they usually do that after they've taken out a bunch of innocent people. Still, you have to wonder how any individual can get this far gone.

[Scots Taffer]

Yeah, that story is really soul destroyingly awful....

[frozenman]

Going to see it sometime this week, but I'm pretty sure this shooting makes it everyone's AMERICAN DUTY TO GO SEE BATMAN.

[dethtoll]

I saw it yesterday. The movie theater is way out in the middle of nowhere (sort of, it's not really built up yet like further south but it's a rapidly growing part of the state) and there wasn't much of a crowd -- in fact, I suspect it was even less crowded because of what happened in Colorado. It's a damn shame, that a madman with a gun could ruin the plans of people hundreds of miles away. It's amazing how easily scared we are these days.

But anyway.

As a huge Batman fan I saw elements of Knightfall obviously but also No Man's Land and an obscure mini called The Cult, in which Deacon Blackfire and an army of homeless and disenfranchised wage war on city politicians until the city is half-evacuated and sealed off.

In regards to the other movies, I'd say it's as good as BB but not as good as TDK. I was honestly expecting that -- very rare for a trilogy's 3rd entry to be the best. But it was still a fantastic movie and I felt it ended in the only way it could have -- a bittersweet ending turning happy with an implication towards a better future. A few threads (for example, regarding Bane's fate) were left undone, and Talia (who I had believed was not actually in the film!) sure loved to talk during her reveal.

8/10.

[dethtoll]

Oh, and Man of Steel trailer. Breathtaking -- want to see it now.

[Subjective Effect]

Just back from seeing it. Enjoyable in a way that the other recent superhero movies just can't touch, but maybe because it's all just so damned serious. It is still the weakest of the three imho, but that doesn't make it bad at all.

I really liked the end, and all of it including the Gordon-Levitt bit, and maybe that bit the best.

There was so much to like (Scarecrow as judge was fabulous) but I agree with Renz - a little too buzy. Anyone who knows any of Batman mythos with have got the reveal long before it happened, but even up until then it wasn't clear what the point of all this stuff really was. Hello again Matthew Modine and Tom Conti, where have you guys been?

And yes Scots, Catwoman, bi, yes. I lolled (smiled).

[Stitch]

So am I the only one who thought Rises is obviously the best out of the three? Nolan's getting better at this sort of thing with each successive film, and Rises is the first to contain a narrative arc that holds together for its entire running time. The Dark Knight contains the most stunning highlights of the series, true, but it collapses under its own overstuffed weight somewhere around the 2/3 point.

And if Rises lacks a character-for-the-ages like Ledger's Joker, well, so do almost all films.

[Scots Taffer]

Short answer: yes, appears that way.

Long answer for another time but man, the more I've thought about this movie the more I've realised what a god awful mess it is.

[Stitch]

Long answer for another time but man, the more I've thought about this movie the more I've realised what a god awful mess it is.

well it is a Nolan Batman film, after all

[Morte]

So am I the only one who thought Rises is obviously the best out of the three? Nolan's getting better at this sort of thing with each successive film, and Rises is the first to contain a narrative arc that holds together for its entire running time. The Dark Knight contains the most stunning highlights of the series, true, but it collapses under its own overstuffed weight somewhere around the 2/3 point.

And if Rises lacks a character-for-the-ages like Ledger's Joker, well, so do almost all films.

I'd say Nolan is getting better at staging action scenes and making things really propulsive as a director, but Rises has the weakest script of the lot.