The Dark Knight Rises Review - SPOILERS!

@Kierkegaard: You make some interesting points, that would make for a pretty compelling ending. That being said, this is the last time Nolan is going to do Batman so I can see why he ended it the way he did. Killing Talia seems kinda crazy but if you're ending the series then killing off major characters doesn't have the same effect I guess, especially if they're rebooting the franchise. And man, nuking Gotham...braver choice but no way that ever happens. I like bringing up Cabin in the Woods as an example though, the way that movie ended was so damn good.

I just got back from the theater and I loved this movie. Loved it. I think it occasionally suffered from plot overload, a lot of stuff happened...a LOT, but overall what a great movie. Bane was awesome, the way he just took Batman apart in that first fight was crazy. Michael Cain was so great, he always is but man he was heart breaking in this. I was unsure about Anne Hathaway but her Selina Kyle was great, I loved her character. I also liked the fact with her goggles flipped up she had cat ears. I'm kinda bummed Nolan is done, I'd love to see where Robin goes. I doubt they're gonna take anything from this movie when they reboot it. I'm sure they wanna make a Justice League down the road and there's no way the tone of this Batman works with that concept.

@TheSouthernDandy said:

And man, nuking Gotham...braver choice but no way that ever happens..

Check out some of the comic storylines from the late 2000's, around the time of Hush and the Red hood. Bludhaven, Gotham's sister city only a few kilometres away, gets nuked effectively by a sentient bomb. It does happen. In fact, many of the plot devices for Rises come from Morrison's era of Batman as he plays with the character.

@SpawnMan said:

@TheSouthernDandy said:

And man, nuking Gotham...braver choice but no way that ever happens..

Check out some of the comic storylines from the late 2000's, around the time of Hush and the Red hood. Bludhaven, Gotham's sister city only a few kilometres away, gets nuked effectively by a sentient bomb. It does happen. In fact, many of the plot devices for Rises come from Morrison's era of Batman as he plays with the character.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen in the comics, I'm saying there's no way Nolan ends his trilogy with Gotham being a smoking hole in the ground.

personally I wasn't a fan of the movie really until the end. Felt like a fitting ending the universe they built. This movie though has proven to me that I just don't see the love for nolan batman films. Everything just feels off and sloppy, I wish i could really explain it but I just don't know what it is. ( I have similar feelings towards inception) it's obvious now that ledger/joker completely carried the dark knight for me.

Best movie in the trilogy.  I watched The Dark Knight like 7 times too

I gotta say that the ending really made me like the movie a whole lot more. I was pretty tepid to it at the half way point, but the ending was fuckin fantastic and it made the earlier parts of the movie make a hell of a l

I gotta say that the ending really made me like the movie a whole lot more. I was pretty tepid to it at the half way point, but the ending was fuckin fantastic and it made the earlier parts of the movie make a hell of a l

Enjoyed it but wasn't amazed. Hated how they killed Bane. Catwoman killing him in an almost comedic fashion sucked. Talia dying because she didn't wear her seatbelt was lame as well.

The Fall of the Dark Knight may have been a more appropriate title since Batman basically gets his ass kicked, gets stabbed, and then finally blown up.

I really liked it, but I did find that it didn't have the same impact as TDK because of one simple fact: it wasn't its own story, it tries to tie a lot of the elements from Begins to it, while only really using TDK's story of Harvey Dent, which I found to be really weak. Really, look at the first two movies, and how they were able to hold up with out any prior knowledge to anything else. In this, Bane is nothing but a henchman for Talia, his excommunication from the League of Shadows is pretty much downplayed into "Ra's didn't like him", his death was just...oh god don't even talk to me about how quick and pointless that was...definitely not something I was a fan of at all...and Hathaway being benched for half the goddamn movie was a disgusting waste of talent, because she was a really, really good catwoman.

I enjoyed Gordon and Blake, they were fantastic, but how they managed to explain Bruce's walking stick, his retirement? I mean, even in the comics, when he was being hunted by the cops, he didn't stop what he was doing, and now, because he lost yet another person, he doesn't throw himself entirely into Batman, and leave Bruce Wayne behind, like he did in the story TDK was based on, he just becomes a moping prat, who goes against everything the character stands for by coordinating a lie with Gordon about a man whose legacy is a law that allowed the mass imprisonment of hundreds of criminals...who, and just to tie this all back to Begins, Bane should have outright killed, because he was part of the League, and they kill criminals. So really, that whole 'fulfilling Ra's' destiny' bit is bullshit, because the League was a force for a very misguided and bloody type of good. I thought the Talia reveal was left far too late, and the lesson that Bruce learns in the prison is fucking ridiculous, because he was never devoid of fear, he just used it against others, he even says it in Begins as to why he chooses a Bat, because it frightens him, and it's time his enemies share his dread...it just doesn't stick together properly, and would have been better with an extra hour of running time. I dunno, really all I can say is the repeat of my opening...it tried to tie up too much of the Begins story, instead of making Bane his own villain...the guy didn't need an army, he was extremely intelligent, but to make him the lap-dog of Talia, I mean really, was a weak way to go. I also think that the severe lack of Batman in a Batman movie was just...ugh...I spent more time looking at cops and bad guys than I did seeing Batman having any positive input. I'll stick with the comics for this story, trying to tie together elements of Dark Knight Returns and Knightfall was just...it didn't work, they were trying too hard to make everything fit, and it just ended up being loose as hell. Did like the ending with Blake though, thought it was very cool how they've pretty much secured an actor for a possible JLA movie.

Honestly though, Nolan is good, but he isn't a movie-making god. There were more than a few technical issues, including Bane's dubbed voice being drowned out by what was essentially bad sound balance, a problem all Nolan movies tend to have, and the film seemed really grainy at times, showing some poor green-screen effects. The story felt really loose, and while I liked the Blake ending, Bruce's end was just...I dunno...too neat? He gets to live happily ever after? That's what Batman is about though, right? Well, not entirely, he's a symbol of sacrifice, and after eight years sitting on his ass, Wayne doesn't sacrifice anything, he gets a fresh start with catwoman, while some other dude like him has to take up the mantle...I don't get that, it just wraps up a little too nicely for my taste, I don't mind saving the day and winning in the end, but how Nolan wanted it done? Meh, I don't think it really worked in the grand scheme of the movies, this one seemed not to have its own story, but its own morals, but they're not the ones that the characters seem to learn...

@SpawnMan said:

@Kierkegaard said:

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

End like Cabin in the Woods did, with the evil unleashed.

Like seriously.... FFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!! You can't do that! I want to SEE that movie!!! Thanks for ruining it for me! I thought it was a spoiler for Batman!!! It's like going: BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMANBATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN BATMAN...

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

BRUCE WILLIS IS A GHOST! -_-

@Schatzy23: Thanks for the comment.

Shit man! I'm sorry. I should have marked that clearer. I thought it would be obvious that it wasn't about Batman since we spoiled all that shit. My mistake. Seriously. It's a great film regardless if you know the ending though, promise.

@TheSouthernDandy said:

@Kierkegaard: You make some interesting points, that would make for a pretty compelling ending. That being said, this is the last time Nolan is going to do Batman so I can see why he ended it the way he did. Killing Talia seems kinda crazy but if you're ending the series then killing off major characters doesn't have the same effect I guess, especially if they're rebooting the franchise. And man, nuking Gotham...braver choice but no way that ever happens. I like bringing up Cabin in the Woods as an example though, the way that movie ended was so damn good.

I just got back from the theater and I loved this movie. Loved it. I think it occasionally suffered from plot overload, a lot of stuff happened...a LOT, but overall what a great movie. Bane was awesome, the way he just took Batman apart in that first fight was crazy. Michael Cain was so great, he always is but man he was heart breaking in this. I was unsure about Anne Hathaway but her Selina Kyle was great, I loved her character. I also liked the fact with her goggles flipped up she had cat ears. I'm kinda bummed Nolan is done, I'd love to see where Robin goes. I doubt they're gonna take anything from this movie when they reboot it. I'm sure they wanna make a Justice League down the road and there's no way the tone of this Batman works with that concept.

Hey, realistic expectations don't get us anywhere in art, right? Nolan can do whatever he pleases. There are literally no rules in filmmaking, at least when it comes to killing and destroying things (there are more rules about sex, which is a contradiction for another time).

Here's my thing. Gotham is not that interesting, but it has interesting cops, politicians, villains, and heroes. The citizens, the people, have never been a focus. So, a radioactive Gotham, given some time, could become a a Stalker: Call of Pripyat kinda environment, or, at least Fallout 3. The real world is probably pretty tired of Gotham's craziness. Every other week there's been a massive threat or crimewave, everyone there besides a few is corrupt or maniacal, and Batman is a weird dude. So, disrupting the status quo and creating an environment where the personalities and the power and the ethics of the characters, who somehow survive, can flourish, is a compelling idea to me.

If not that, then Nolan, like JK Rowling and many other authors before him, should have killed Bruce Wayne and Batman. Sacrifices are meaningful; clever uses of autopilot and trickery so you can live while people assume you died are disheartening. It's no longer a sacrifice.

Oh, and I'm fine with Talia dying. But in a car crash? She's the daughter of an immortal sorcerer, at least in the comics, so she deserves a little more than that, just as Bane deserves a dying speech rather than a rocket to the chest. Nolan rushed the ending. It's obvious. And unfortunate.

That all being said, I liked Bane, I loved Michael Cain's performance. Anne Hathaway was in way too little of the film, but she did a great job. JGL added humanity and pathos to an otherwise emotionally muddled film. And Marianne Coutilard (sp) made Talia a very likable, understandable, manipulative character.

@Dookysharpgun: I agree with a ton of that. And you are way more knowledgeable than I and point out some clear philosophical contradictions. The ending was something out of Inception, not Batman. Selina and Bruce are thrown together into love rather than earning it. Hell, all the 'love' in this film is unearned. And at least they could have done the Inception thing and leave it ambiguous. The autopilot, the leftovers for Robin, all the indications that Bruce planned it all tie up with a bow what should be riddled with holes and bleeding. I don't hate it. I see why they wrote it as they did. But one way out of hammy decisions is to make the audience work a little harder. If Alfred could be imagining things, you have a far better moment than "Yup, happy master Bruce and Miss Kyle at this random cafe!"

I never thought a movie about a man in a rubber suit would make me cry. Best movie of the year (so far) for me.

@BonOrbitz said:

I never thought a movie about a man in a rubber suit would make me cry. Best movie of the year (so far) for me.

Same here. It really made clear that Nolan, unlike so many comic book film directors, actually read and cared about the source material. He treated Batman with the respect he deserves.

@MariachiMacabre said:

@BonOrbitz said:

I never thought a movie about a man in a rubber suit would make me cry. Best movie of the year (so far) for me.

Same here. It really made clear that Nolan, unlike so many comic book film directors, actually read and cared about the source material. He treated Batman with the respect he deserves.

Absolutely. It's a shame he's done with the series, but I'd rather have him go out like Bill Waterson than that aging rock band you see at your local county fair. This is defintely my favorite Batman flick.

It was good, but it had its issues. I feel the relationship between Wayne and Miranda was really poorly handled. They have sex once and Wayne is suddenly all over Rachel and everything? I was discussing it with my brother and we feel it would have been better if the film had started with us being about 6 months into the relationship. It also would have made the slow knife speech that much better considering she would have been with a guy she detests for six months. Talking of the start I feel it started really poorly. The pacing was really off the first act the Bane introduction was a yawn fest compared to how Nolan introduced the Joker. It did pick up and had some incredible moments in the mid-section but then I feel it stumbled a bit at the end. I feel the ending was cheap and cheesy. I would have prefered either Batman stayed dead or the last shot was Caine nodding towards the camera and not cutting to Bale. Overall though, it was a good film, it just suffered under expectation and not being as good as TDK. Also, I found it incredibly weird that no one mentioned anything happened in TDK. Considering that Banes taking over of gotham was near enough the same thing that the Joker did.

Loved it. I think many of the criticisms people are voicing stand with validity, but those issues don't come close to breaking the film. Talia is a weak reveal; the movement and sensibility of the first hour (hour and a half, maybe) is inconsistent; there are too many unnecessary characters (the Wayne broker who meets with Catwoman, the police guy who knows Gordon is out as Commissioner and doesn't do anything but dies "redemptively" in the final crossing of Bane's men versus Gotham's); too much of the story is backloaded through flashbacks and exposition (so we're told most of the important bits, not shown); the final act probably violates our suspension of disbelief.

Despite all that, I had a really great time. It's not as special or as tight or as intimately disturbing as Dark Knight. But it was never going to be. Bane is chilling, the Batman's fall and resurrection is compelling, John Blake gives us hope where there shouldn't be any, Hathaway comes close to stealing just about every scene she's in, and by the end I was nearly cheering on Batman during his final assault on Bane's army.

The logic doesn't hold, always, but between the general tone of the film and the brilliant cinematography I still consider it to be nearly as good as Begins, if not slightly better.

Batman Begins is my favorite of the three, even after seeing TDKR. I found the pacing in Rises to be surprisingly sloppy and... odd. Odd or rushed is the best way I can explain it. I felt like nothing that happened was allowed to sink in for any amount of time. AW SHIT HIS BACK IS FUCKED UP. It's better now. AW SHIT BATMAN AND BANE ARE FIGHTING. Bane is dead now. Those are just a couple examples of what I'm talking about. I liked the tone and feel of the film over TDK. It's a decent mix between BB and TDK and it works better than the Chicago/Gotham that was present in TDK, though still not as good as BB Gotham. I also felt that both Bane and the plot in general suffered greatly with the inclusion of Miranda Tate. The film would be been better without her. The big fight at the end, while not making sense much, worked for me just because of it's symbolism and scale.

This is a very strange film to me. It's thrilling and suspenseful, but also badly paced and has a a sloppy rushed feeling to it. Though it's far from perfect it succeeds at establishing it's own identity separate from the other two films.

The ending I liked a lot, it was well done. Every scene with Blake was fantastic, I really enjoyed his character and how he had his own personal journey. The touches near the end of the film when he's surrounded by bats in the cave were fantastic. The pit scene was a mixed bag for me. It did a great job at evoking an inspirational kind of emotion, but it was also strangely out of place in some way. Really I can't stress enough just how strange this film is.

@SathingtonWaltz: I think it's an interesting point you bring up about Gotham in this trilogy. It never quite feels like the same city. Begins-Gotham has a certain look and feel to it, and it's partly assisted by the use of CG. Dark Knight-Gotham is, like you said, very clearly Chicago. Rises-Gotham is pretty obviously New York, and I wonder how much of that is a direct result of the influence of the Occupy Wall Street motifs peppered throughout.

I'd like to hear what other people think about that. I don't feel it's an unintentional choice on Nolan's part to have Gotham be represented so differently in each of the films. I can expound further with my theories but I'd like to hear other interpretations first.