The Dark Knight Rises

[polkablues]

I'm happy that I'm waiting a few weeks to see it, so I know where the backlash/back-backlash eventually settles.

[brockly]

MASSIVE SPOILERS





this would have been a lot better if they left out that shitty Miranda Tate character twist and Bane's sympathetic back story, right before his exit... really, were they serious? i had a lot of other problems with it throughout but if it knew how to end itself i would have been satisfied. the last minute forced Bruce/Selina love plot and Alfred's closure was also pretty horrible. this is the same woman who crossed Bruce twice and left him for dead at the hands of Bane. the cafe scene could be brushed off as Alfred's recurring fantasy but that would have only worked if we didn't see selina's face. hate to dwell on the negatives, but as is the flick left a bad taste in my mouth despite it's great moments. easily the weakest link of an overall pretty great trilogy. i'll see it again soon in hopes that it sits better with me after repeated viewings, but i doubt it.

[Reel]

it's the flick I was most looking forward to. Even more than The Master.

BANNED!

[pumba]

SPOILERS!!

Okay... So either Christopher Nolan lied to our eyes.... Or Alfred see's ghosts.... Or Bruce Wayne has an identical twin brother... Or atom bombs don't hurt?

[Neil]

CONT.  SPOILS

SPOILERS!!

Okay... So either Christopher Nolan lied to our eyes.... Or Alfred see's ghosts.... Or Bruce Wayne has an identical twin brother... Or atom bombs don't hurt?

or their was brief instance where Fox and Wayne discussed the auto-pilot on his aircraft.  Then another conversation takes place later where they say, "yeah it says Bruce Wayne made a patch for it 6 months ago"

In conclusion, Bruce Wayne put his plane (thing) on auto pilot.  The end.

[Stefen]

I think what we're seeing with Christopher Nolan and the Dark Knight Rises is his transition into businessman mode. He's no longer able to focus solely on making a great film like he was earlier in his career because due to the success of his earlier films, there's a lot more he has to be mindful of in his new ones. It happens to all the greats. Spielberg could never make Jaws or Close Encounters today. Scorcese could never make Taxi Driver or Raging Bull today. Peter Jackson could never make Heavenly Creatures or LOTR again. He tried with The Lovely Bones and failed miserably and he's trying with The Hobbit but it's completely obvious that whereas LOTR was a passion project for him, The Hobbit is nothing more than a cash grab. When you become as successful as they are, it's no longer a creative process, it's a financial one. You begin compromising your creative vision in order to appeal to the largest possible demographic. You include things in your films that you normally never would just because it will make sure a certain demographic won't be left out. It always happens when you start producing big films for other people. That's always the first sign that a filmmaker has entered businessman mode.

[Pozer]

^good to read you, bud. put some words to the massah thread now that it's your most anticipated?

movie feels like he went with a rough draft, coulda been great had brother nolan ironed it out lots and lots more.

Spoiler...


Nearly a decade of batty moping around over snaggleface is when you the knew the script was far from polished.

also, the music bailed out its good scenes. srsly nonstop zimmer to rely on up in this piece.

[Cloudy]

I had such low expectations going in...and it met those. So much meh. It wasn't bad...just meh. I sometimes get depressed when so many people are in love with a film that I was so completely bored with.

[Reel]

I think what we're seeing with Christopher Nolan and the Dark Knight Rises is his transition into businessman mode. He's no longer able to focus solely on making a great film like he was earlier in his career because due to the success of his earlier films, there's a lot more he has to be mindful of in his new ones.

Nolan will get his groove back. It's good they've brought Batman to a close so he can move on to bigger and better things now. He made two pretty great films in between them, but he's gonna need to wipe the slate clean in order to make another 'Memento'

[Ghostboy]

Man, this was shockingly bad! I loved The Dark Knight but wanted to walk out of this an hour into it.

[Kellen]

I really enjoyed the sewer fight scene but thats about it.

[MacGuffin]

Overall, I enjoyed it, but it is the weakest of the three films. It jam packs new characters and their storylines with resolving issues of established characters.


SPOILERS



My biggest disappointment is with the third act. I never felt these films were traditional action flicks, but Rises falls victim to this conventional storytelling: Ticking time bomb with huge readout for the countdown; the talking villain who lays out their plans giving the hero time to make their escape; the anti-hero who has a change of heart and returns to help the hero (think Han Solo at the end of Star Wars). These moments became less about the characters, which I think every action scene, including the previous films, that came before were the driving force. I felt less chills with this film. I liked Bane and his 'deconstruction' of Batman. So, after an unlifting moment of Batman using Bane's "permission to die," I felt cheated that Catwoman was the one to take down Bane, and so easily.


END SPOILERS




But I did shed a tear at the end of it all. I will miss these characters (I think Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon is underrated ) and this Gotham that Nolan created.

[Stefen]

Yeah, it wasn't all bad and it had a lot of redeeming qualities and I too got mad emotional in a couple Alfred scenes, but overall, it was just so disappointing, maybe not because it was bad, but because so much more was expected of it. It's fun but ultimately forgettable just like any other nerd movie, but these ones were so unique because they were different and didn't do the same silly things the other nerd movies did.

Spoiler.

When Catwoman kills Bane then says something like, "Sorry, but that no using guns thing? Yeah, not for me." I cringed because it was so out of place in these films. It just showed how light this movie was. Sure, they have humor, but they did such a good job being serious when they needed to be, but this one didn't. I can't imagine Batman or Gordon ever saying something silly at the end of TDK because the tone was so somber and serious, and I guess that's what I was expecting out of this one. And then it did other things like just expecting you to believe certain things because you're not supposed to be taking the source material serious any ways. Something like Bruce learning how to fly the Bat or getting back to Gotham despite all bridges and entrances to the city being destroyed for the sole purpose of nobody getting in and out. How did he do that? Because he's Batman obviously. That's not the way the Nolan Batman films were supposed to work and that's why they were so great.

[Jeremy Blackman]

Hmm and the teasers were so good.

[Ravi]

SPOILERS






What was with that ridiculously expositionary Clean Slate dialogue? "Clean Slate? You mean the thing that erases your identity yada yada yada?"

I loved the initial scenes of a haggard Bruce Wayne, the sewer fight, and the prison scenes. Ultimately we know that he will win, but the film puts him in such peril that, in the moment, the situation seems almost impossible for him to overcome.

The ending felt like Nolan just wanted to wrap everything up already, and like Mac I was disappointed that the ticking time bomb was a ticking time bomb. It certainly was not as inventive as the thing with the two ferries in TDK and the climax in skyscraper.

For all its flaws, it was still quite an experience. The scenes that were good were fantastic, and overall the film is better and more interesting than most superhero films. That this not-that-great film was a the worst in the trilogy shows how good the first two films were. If it was from another director and wasn't following two films that were so beloved, I think we'd be praising it more.

The weirdest thing was that Thomas Lennon was in this.