The Dark Knight Rises

[Cj7298419]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

9/10

Spoiler

Had they kept the Bane Prolouge voice it would of gotten a 10 from me

Haha! Agreed, they butchered it in the final version.

[DickDalewood]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

My wife loved his voice. I quote, "It was soooo sexy."

[Blzer]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

Okay, I am now awake enough and free enough to leave some impressions. As you know, I like to be spoiler-free to give people more or less a "review" of what this kind of film was like, both logically and technically, and later discussions are where the spoiler comments are made (much like I did earlier). So be ready, because this will not be brief.

To start off, this film feels much more like Batman Begins than The Dark Knight. I honestly had no sense of this film feeling like TDK other than both had "prologues." In fact, even though the score used more tracks from TDK than BB, the way the score was implemented in the film felt most like how Nolan used it in Inception. Story-wise, it also felt more similar to BB, and this might have been a problem. I think he tried to go back to the first part rather than build on the second (TDK), which in my opinion was a mistake. You need it a little bit for the trilogy aspects if that makes sense, but there were times when I almost felt TDK was forgotten.

There are some sequences in this film that kind of act "montage" style, where the score might carry through three or four brief scenes at a time. In my opinion, where this worked really well in Inception, it should have worked well here, but the problem was that these scenes would have been much better if they dragged out as their own independent scenes. I would consider the first hour of this film's momentum to be cinematic, not narrative. IMO this is not an example of good film-writing. He hadn't done this before, and the first time that he does I think it fell flat on its face. Had he reworked it, I think the first hour would have held up much stronger than it did.

Speaking of which, this film's length did not bear any weight on my shoulders. Want to make this film an 45 minutes by stretching out content? That is completely fine by me. This is your last Batman film, Christopher. I know that some fans won't appreciate too long of a length, but I know that your theatrical cut is always your final cut. Any chance you had an extended cut, not to add scenes but to stretch out those "montage" scenes? This would be great.

Okay, I saw this film in standard 15/70 IMAX. I didn't have the best location (a bit closer than I hoped, pretty far to the right), so I don't know if this had any effect on the sound balance, but I felt the score to be pretty bombastic during good chunks of dialogue. Don't get me wrong, this is great during most action moments, but like Inception, if the theater isn't mixing the dialogue right, you might miss a lot of what they're saying. Nolan has to be more careful with this in the future. However, also like Inception, I'm sure this will be zero problem when I get my hands on the Blu-ray. Bane was pretty difficult to understand. Sometimes it was the bombastic score, sometimes it was his voice itself, and sometimes it's because you can't read his lips. Whatever it was, I would still very much like to see what this film would have been like with his original voice in place (the one that the original prologue featured). I think it sounded much more sinister, and I have a feeling I would have been able to understand just as much.

Back to IMAX: thrilling, beautiful, and enduring. When it opens up, your jaw drops. I think a lot of people believe I have a problem with shifting AR. I only have a problem with that on the Blu-ray, in that I wish there was the non-shifting option as well (and that they used the IMAX print for the other shots as well, leading to... yes... EE and DNR). In the theater, I'm seeing the IMAX version for the IMAX shots, so I have no problem there. The only thing I wish Nolan could have somehow achieved was making IMAX "scenes" instead of "shots." He does it every so often, but sometimes it dips back to 2.35:1. Sometimes it's the other way around, and you sit and wonder why it was shot in one format and not the other. Nothing too major, but it might get to you on the Blu-ray every so often.

Onto the story. Its not much like BB's or TDK's. Of course there are many elements that remain the same, and the villains' motives of attacking Gotham will show many similarities, but from the outside looking in, you enter the film with no mob and a city without paranoia. It certainly lends to you feeling pessimistic about the rest of the film, not in terms of the film's quality, but because these are the highest of highs that Gotham has ever faced, so when things go awry, they feel really contrasting to the film's opening elements and tone. That said, I wouldn't really consider this film to be "dark" like the first two were. Emotionally stringing? Sure, but not very dark. Maybe it has something to do with seemingly fewer night scenes (particularly action scenes) than the first two films. Maybe it was because most scenes were filmed in New York and L.A. instead of Chicago. I don't know what it was, but I think it lacked a "Batman-y" feel that the first two films had. This could be good and bad, but for the most part I felt it was sour simply for its inconsistency with the first two films.

So, our main cast: Bale, Oldman, Hardy, Hathaway, Caine, Gordon-Levitt, Cotillard, and Freeman. While I felt Bale, Caine, and the newcomers Hardy and Gordon-Levitt put on the performances of their lives, I think that Oldman and Freeman, while serving their roles particularly better than their worst performances IMO (Freeman in TDK, Oldman in BB), did not have the best written moments in this film to show as much as they did in their best performances. I thought Oldman was underused, and Freeman was undersold. Hathaway is a mixed bag, because I thought she was a great Selina Kyle, but her Catwoman turned me off during her dialogue scenes. She had some awful one-liners and she didn't have the best costume (mostly the mask). As we all know, I wasn't ever completely sold on Catwoman. While Nolan reminded me of exactly what would be a problem with her, he also proved me wrong. I just don't feel her purpose for the film was as strong as it could have been, prevalent as it was. Finally, Cotillard kind of fell in the same vein as Oldman and Freeman; good performance, but underexposed. Outside of them, I don't think I liked anyone else in the cast. Nolan has never been very good at casting side characters/extras with dialogue, and I think this is the case here as well. The only exception I will include is Tony Amen (for the sake of leaving out spoilers, I'm not mentioning which character he is). Otherwise, all side characters were story-driven and never character-driven, making any scenes when they weren't with Bruce. In fact, scenes between Bruce and Pennyworth, Bruce and Blake, Bruce and Kyle, Bruce and Tate, etc. were the best scenes in the film. Scenes between Batman and Catwoman, Batman and Gordon, Batman and Bane, etc. were okay, but could have been stronger in many aspects. Strengthening the hero side of the script would have redeemed most of those dialogue-heavy scenes.

The only character I thought that was lacking in this film compared to the others was "Gotham." I know I mentioned it before about the lack of a "Batman-y" feel, and this was one of the reasons. No, this time I don't mean the shooting locations, but I mean the citizens of Gotham. It may be because the beginning emphasizes euphoria for the city and its inhabitants, but by the end of the film, you don't feel the people speaking their minds about Batman, Bane, or anything else on that level. Even the many action moments seem to just be "missing" citizens (although the football scene obvious has them, but even there it's not a packed house). Where this helped motivate Bruce in BB and TDK (especially TDK), I felt like it was a complete non-factor in TDKR. Obviously this meant he had to find motivation elsewhere, and I'm glad that they wrote it in... but since he was willingly ostracized at the end of TDK, I would have liked for this "Rise" aspect to be a moment of proving to its inhabitants why he chose the Batman icon. He may or may not have attempted to do that in the film itself, but it sure didn't show on the people's end. So as grand as everything was, this is where the film's scope felt a little smaller.

The biggest positive out of this film is that I felt this is the first time in Nolan's last four films that the ending never had a single shred of "dragging." Not only that, but even though BB didn't have dragging issues at the end, it didn't really show that its ending was superior to the rest of the film, for instance. Well, The Dark Knight Rises features an ending that, as the trailers mentioned, was truly epic. I'm talking the last 45 minutes of the film, too. One a specific moment occurs, your eyes will glow as you watch the rest of the film play out. It's just that cool, and I give Nolan props for sequencing the last act and finishing off the film with a grand spectacle. He can almost do no wrong with Act 3 (despite, once again, a lack of "Gotham" responding to everything in the film).

The story takes place eight years later, so the technology steps up a bit. Any trailer will tell you what pieces of technology you will see, but for the sake of keeping the non-trailer watchers at bay, I will say that I didn't care much for any new piece of technology in the film. They served their story purposes just fine, but even I thought that Nolan was more capable of handling how it was used than he did. I'll simply leave it at that. I don't think it was a mistake putting them in, but I think there could have been better ways to go about it all. TDK had these issues as well, but aside from the sonar concept, they weren't too heavily emphasized. As far as the story's timeline, I do wish that was a bit more emphasized as well. The fact that they only slip in "eight years since Batman" in some random conversation at only one point is indication enough that they didn't really work hard on keeping audiences intact with its own timeline. Sometimes Nolan uses this device for specific reasons (you can see all of these reasons in The Prestige and Inception, for instance), but this time, the non-flashback time gaps were not very declarative at all. You might as well think they took place in the same hour until you piece it together.

I don't really know what else to clue into other than this film has a lot of action. I don't just mean fighting scenes, but scenes that traverse from one area to another or that involve a measure of pursuit. This was actually more tiresome in the first half of the film than it was in the last half, because it felt very "forced," like Nolan had to make sure that his audience was still paying attention to the film so he included them. Some will find it good, others not so much. Just take it for what its worth, but there is plenty of action. Not all of it is jaw-dropping, but a few of the trilogy's best highs are in its action set pieces. I know jmood wasn't too impressed with the hand combat choreography, but given what we've seen in the previous two films (aside from Batman and Ra's in BB), I don't really see how anyone can complain too much. Bane felt massive, and Catwoman's agility felt very believable, save two unneeded stunts. I thought this film had the weakest new score, but the old tracks that were used was every bit as awesome. Most ironically, as loud as Nolan makes films, I think his silent "non-score" scenes were of the most impacting ones in the film. There is even an action scene with very little [if no] music, and it was one of my favorites.

So, there you go. This gives you a good non-spoiler idea of the highs and lows of the movie. In the end, I loved it. I really did. Maybe it's more because of the films and elements which preceded it so I naturally had to love it, but Nolan really didn't miss in the grand scheme of things with his end piece. I think a lot of parts were easily re-writable or extendable, which is an irk because you can see them clear as day. Outside of that and some of the technology, I think he really kept within himself and wrote a solid conclusion within the story. Many people won't like this because they might feel it needs to top The Dark Knight. And, like myself, this was the most anticipated film since The Dark Knight. That said, I think "underwhelmed" will be a popular term that's thrown around here. I don't think that is meant in a way that they find the film bad. It's just so tough to go above and beyond The Dark Knight, and IMO Nolan didn't try to. He tried to find grounded roots from Batman Begins, and adapt them from the story which has already been told, further into the future. Was this the best direction? Many would disagree, simply because of the villain choice. I liked Bane, even though I was hoping for that original voice. I thought the choice made sense, and though his background could have been more thorough, he was a fun physical match for Batman.

It still stands as my favorite film of the year, and IMO the major difference between this film and TDK is that I think TDK had a chance at taking some major Oscar bids. I don't think this film has the same screenplay, cinematography, or directing/editing strength to be nominated. Outside of all that, I admired Nolan's ambition in this film very much, and am very glad at how it ended. I think most people will feel the same way. Those who don't will try and seek "plot holes," and IMO there aren't really that many that can't be explained/conjectured in some way or another, specifically in the latter half of the film. In that regard, I think people can ultimately end up complacent with this product, if anything else. It will be very tough to hate the film or be polarized in any way, which is good enough for me.

Can't wait to see this again in the next couple of days, and get the novel on Tuesday!


EDIT: By the way, for those who are skeptical about watching trailers and TV spots, I would still recommend that you don't see them. I don't think they reveal too much, but I will admit that most of the major set pieces in this film are seen in at least one vein or another in any one of the trailers (except for two specific scenes that I can think of). The main plot, scheme, and motivations are hidden in every preview, which is great... but if you don't want to sit in the theater and think to yourself: "When is this scene/piece of dialogue in this scene going to pop up?" you might be doing a disservice to yourself in fully paying attention to the current scene which you're watching. It is also worth noting that some specific dialogue (or ways that it's said) is also changed around, so sometimes you might expect something that won't come up at all. At the same time, some scenes which look like a major event in the film will, as I said before, only show up in "montage" form, which may or may not be disappointing. Trying to predict an ending to this film's plot is impossible, because you don't actually know the plot, which is always the best way to make your trailers. Anyway, I think thaima1shu will have the most fun watching this film since he hasn't seen anything yet. I also think this film will be much more appreciated by the naysayers the second time around.

[mgoblue678]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

Just got back from seeing this, I enjoyed it, but not quite as much as The Dark Knight. I would probably give it an 8.5/10. The biggest complaint I have is that Bane's voice sounded a bit overdone/lame to me and it was hard to understand him at times. I am somebody with extremely good hearing, so it wasn't an issue on my end in terms of trying to understand him. The action scenes were pretty good(the hand-hand combat was the best in the series IMO) and the story was interesting enough. The twist of

Spoiler

Miranda being Talia

was anti-climatic though, as I could see it coming a mile away. The twist

Spoiler

of Blake being Robin or the next Batman

was a little more interesting. Not sure how I feel about the final twist quite yet.

Overall I went into the movie expecting it to be pretty good, but not quite reach the level of enjoyment I got from the Dark Knight. I basically got what I expected going in, and would rank it behind The Dark Knight as my second favorite superhero movie.

[Blzer]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

The twist

Spoiler

of Blake being Robin

was a little more interesting. Not sure how I feel about the final twist quite yet.

If it helps...

Spoiler

I think Nolan set this up with every intention that Blake is supposed to be the new Batman. The "Robin" thing was a little non-subtle Easter egg for anyone who has ever heard of Batman. Remember, Batman is a symbol, not a person. Any one person can be Batman, and this was the point. Bruce led Blake to the original batcave for one reason: he believes that Blake has the will to become Gotham's new Batman.

In The Dark Knight, Bruce believed that there would be a day when Gotham no longer needed Batman, because he believed Gotham could survive by having a hero with a face (in this case, Harvey Dent). He was wrong, and Rachel was more correct than anyone. It wasn't so much Gotham who would no longer need Batman, it was Bruce who no would longer need Batman. Alfred finally relayed this to Bruce eight years later, and this was the end result that we got. Bruce no longer needs Batman, but Gotham still does. Do they deserve him? I dunno. The city is only as saved as the savior who they have in their place. There is no longer a mob or a head of the league of shadows, so for the time being, as long as there is a Batman, there is no reason for the citizens to fear anything.

[mgoblue678]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

If it helps...

Spoiler

I think Nolan set this up with every intention that Blake is supposed to be the new Batman. The "Robin" thing was a little non-subtle Easter egg for anyone who has ever heard of Batman. Remember, Batman is a symbol, not a person. Any one person can be Batman, and this was the point. Bruce led Blake to the original batcave for one reason: he believes that Blake has the will to become Gotham's new Batman.

In The Dark Knight, Bruce believed that there would be a day when Gotham no longer needed Batman, because he believed Gotham could survive by having a hero with a face (in this case, Harvey Dent). He was wrong, and Rachel was more correct than anyone. It wasn't so much Gotham who would no longer need Batman, it was Bruce who no would longer need Batman. Alfred finally relayed this to Bruce eight years later, and this was the end result that we got. Bruce no longer needs Batman, but Gotham still does. Do they deserve him? I dunno. The city is only as saved as the savior who they have in their place. There is no longer a mob or a head of the league of shadows, so for the time being, as longa s there is a Batman, there is no reason for the citizens to fear anything.

True, my spoiler tag really should have said

Spoiler

Robin or next Batman.

Your right, that is what Bruce envisioned. I liked that little twist , so no issue either way for me. My uncertainty with the final twist, in terms of whether I like it or not really had nothing to do

Spoiler

Bruce no longer Batman

. I am just torn on whether it would of had more impact if he had actually

Spoiler

sacrificed himself in the end

.

[goh]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

Admittedly I'm not the worlds biggest batman fan but....

Spoiler

I thought robins name was Tim Drake?

Spoiler

There's numerous people to go by Robin.

Dick Grayson the original Robin,is Nightwing now.
Jason Todd was second and is now Red Hood.
Tim Drake turned into Red Robin.
Stephanie Brown took over for Drake and is either dead or now called Spoiler. Pretty sure she hasn't been seen since the reboot so don't know. Might not even exist there.
Damian Wayne is the current Robin.

Carrie Kelly was Robin in The Dark Knight Returns. A 13 year old Batman fan.
Grayson was still Robin in the old Earth-2.
The current Huntress,Helena Bertinelli was the new Earth-2 Robin and real name is Helena Wayne. When she got to Earth-1 she changed because "This Batman already has a Robin."

[Kashanova]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

So seeing this movie with the trilogy marathon Had me thinking what were the best moments for you guys from each of the movies

I'll list mine in spoilers

Spoiler

Batman Begins: My favorite scenes that will always stand are Bruce and Ra's training on the ice with the entire "will to act speech"
After Ra's sets off the machine and Batman beats up his 4 henchmen he's getting tackled by a bunch of citizens grabs for his grapple guns latches on to the train and flies off with someone hanging on to him on the air.

Dark Knight: The scene with Joker in the truck when it flips over was so epic when I saw it in the theater again, that scene never gets old. The entire sequence from the batpod latching out of the tumbler, till Joker gets out of the truck and says hit me! I love it to death. The interrogation scene also beyond awesome.

Dark Knight Rises: Bruce is in jail and has the vision when he talks to Ra's I thought I would faint from how great that scene was. it also essentially kick starts Bruce's return

[TheShizNo1]

Why are there spoilers if the movie has already come out?

[Blzer]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

I think my favorite moments were very subtle in defining the entire point of each of their respective films:

Spoiler

Strangely enough, they're all between Bruce and Alfred.

Batman Begins: When Alfred saves Bruce from the burning mansion, and they plummet into the bat cave. Alfred encouraging Bruce to carry on as Batman to go on was very emotionally taxing.

The Dark Knight: Either the monologue about complex criminal characters ("Some men just want to watch the world burn.") or the scene when he, once again, defines the character of Batman to Bruce ("He can make the choice that no one else can make: the right choice.").

The Dark Knight Rises: When Alfred reveals Rachel's true feelings toward Bruce, and insists that he not only no longer returns as Batman, but that he leaves Gotham entirely and finds the life that he deserves to have and enjoy.

[Blzer]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

Why are there spoilers if the movie has already come out?

Some people might want to venture in this thread and see spoiler-free impressions, like I left. IMO it's just the right way to go.

Plus, I don't know if it's been released worldwide yet.

[Blzer]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

True, my spoiler tag really should have said

Spoiler

Robin or next Batman.

Your right, that is what Bruce envisioned. I liked that little twist , so no issue either way for me. My uncertainty with the final twist, in terms of whether I like it or not really had nothing to do

Spoiler

Bruce no longer Batman

. I am just torn on whether it would of had more impact if he had actually

Spoiler

sacrificed himself in the end

.

Spoiler

I personally like it. I would feel devastated for Alfred if Bruce really died. I felt for him so badly in this film.

[Kashanova]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

I think my favorite moments were very subtle in defining the entire point of each of their respective films:

Spoiler

Strangely enough, they're all between Bruce and Alfred.

Batman Begins: When Alfred saves Bruce from the burning mansion, and they plummet into the bat cave. Alfred encouraging Bruce to carry on as Batman to go on was very emotionally taxing.

The Dark Knight: Either the monologue about complex criminal characters ("Some men just want to watch the world burn.") or the scene when he, once again, defines the character of Batman to Bruce ("He can make the choice that no one else can make: the right choice.").

The Dark Knight Rises: When Alfred reveals Rachel's true feelings toward Bruce, and insists that he not only no longer returns as Batman, but that he leaves Gotham entirely and finds the life that he deserves to have and enjoy.

Spoiler

That's right.

[Altimus]

Anyone posting spoilers and not tagging them as will be sent to the OS Pit but there will be no RISE.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: The Dark Knight Rises

FYI, I spent about over an hour typing **** out and I lost it all so here we go again:

If it wasn't for my brother being with me, I would still be sitting at the theater staring at the screen. It isn't so much this movie as it is this whole series. What Marvel has done and is doing is cool and great for comic book properties, but Nolan really does make those films look like child's play. Nolan crafted something that truly transcends its source material and made legitimate films. He didn't pander and he didn't stoop. He told his interpretation of the character and his universe like every other great comic book writer has done with Batman. It was a fantastic ride, too. Throughout there are plenty of logic and logistic problems that threaten to take you out of that universe and out of sync with its characters, but most of the time Hans Zimmer's thunderous score and Wally Pfister's beautiful cinematography comes along to sweep you away with the film. The problems don't simply disappear, but damn the ride is so enjoyable and the performances so enthralling that a lot of the problems are simply swept under the rug and ignored.

Overall I feel like Rises is right in middle of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Honestly, a lot of the movie is on par with TDK, but there are some sequences and storyline aspects that drop back down to Batman Begins act three levels. Anyway, I'm going to spoiler my thoughts as I don't want to risk ruining anything or try and censor myself by not talking specifically about certain parts.

Wall of text incoming...

Spoiler

While Ledger's performance as the Joker was phenomenal I never got the sense that this movie had a void that needed to be filled as Nolan rounded out the cast exceptionally well. Anne Hathaway gave us the best performance of Selina Kyle thus far. I loved how well she switched her demeanor depending on the situation. Every scene she was in she tried to steal and in a lot of them she was successful. Her introduction got me more excited than Bane's did. Considering how big of a spectacle his introduction was, that is saying something. Plus, I'm biased to Catwoman. I enjoyed how they used her as a foil to Bruce in a sense that they both want to “start fresh” and I believe Bruce truly admired that aspect of her. Or, at the very least, her willingness to go after it. Her character arc feel a little flat at the end with the obvious character turnaround, but everything until then was fantastic. It really pains me that we'll never seen her as Selina again.


Christian Bale puts in his best performance of the trilogy. While Bruce himself isn't as multifaceted as in the previous films, his performance felt more personal and emotionally driven than before. While Batman Begins still holds claim to my favorite Batman scene ever (Flask interrogation), Bale did a tremendous job in the suit. I could feel his passion radiating from him during the fight sequences with Bane. There was eagerness and anger that he really tapped into that helped not only drive the character, but the action on screen as well. The highlights of the trilogy, without question, are Bruce's interactions with his allies. Seeing Bruce and Alfred/Lucius interact and bounce off of each other is great to watch. Batman's meetings with Gordon always had a kind of reverence to them even while being utilitarian. While his performance in the Pits was still good, I think the time jump undercuts it somewhat by rushing through it.


Michael Caine as Alfred will be tough to beat. He's been so integral in Bruce's formation of not only becoming a man, but he's been a key part in Batman's services as well. With that said, I found myself missing Alfred a lot throughout the film. Yes, he serves a key part early on doing Bruce's detective work, but with there being no real consequences to him leaving Bruce I feel like Nolan made Alfred somewhat less important. I love how Nolan has built Alfred's arc throughout this trilogy and seeing it culminate with the final conversation between Bruce and Alfred was awesome. Having Bruce basically not even notice that Alfred was gone other than opening the door himself under cut not only the performances, but Alfred's character arc. Ultimately it made Alfred's ultimatum a non-factor, though, I have to give him credit for sticking to his ultimatums more than Lucius did in TDK. Still, it was great to see his faith restored in the end by Bruce. It was very touching and even with his little amount of screen time, Caine packs one hell of a emotional wallop at the end.


Lucius and Gordon I felt were pretty much just there. Freeman and Oldman have been wonderful in this trilogy and have effectively become these characters so much so that really they probably don't even need to act. Oldman is James Gordon pretty much straight from the comics and even more so. While I have qualms with the portrayal of some characters as a Batman comics fan, Oldman as Gordon was never one of them. I do not see anyone topping his performance as Gordon. In Rises, though, they both felt under utilized themselves. I wouldn't stoop so low as to say they were underwhelming, but I felt like other characters stole their torches. One being the previously mentioned Anne Hathaway and the other being Joseph Gordon-Levitt.


As great as Bale and Hathaway was, as true to form as Caine, Freeman, and Oldman was, JGL stole the movie. His performance really carried a lot of the emotional edge to the film, especially in the second act. Considering how much of this movie centers on Bruce's emotional journey, I'd say that's quite an accomplishment. Watching his storyline unfold was truly gripping to me and Nolan did an excellent job with his character. I felt a real connection to his character simply because he was the normal guy. His willingness and motivation resonated with me in a sense that reminded me of Ra's words to Bruce about his father concerning training versus will. I feel like his story was just as compelling as Bruce's in Batman Begins and perhaps even more so. I don't know what WB's plans are, but if JGL isn't involved in some way I will be disappointed. Of course I would be genuinely surprised if the next iteration of the character picked up with him.


Bane. I am torn as hell on this guy. Before he gets the bomb I feel like he is a legitimate force. He is brute strength, brute evil, and swaggers off this disturbed, but magnetizing charm. His prowess wasn't as encompassing as Ledger's, but Hardy did a good job with what he had. Its hard as hell to judge a performance without seeing his face, but I loved his voice. It was chilling, but also disarming. I'll agree with others that have said it felt a little too loud in the context of the scenes and 10% of the time its hard to understand him, but the calmness and civilized demeanor of his diction was a great interpretation for Hardy. I'm sure it was a hard role to make into his own and for the most part he was serviceable. Once the bomb count down starts, however, Bane felt like he feel out of the loop. He becomes Over Lord of Gotham and that's pretty much it until Batman gets back in town. This is where the time jump once again rears its head. I understand the events that took place, but how the **** does the citizens of Gotham go from being petrified of this guy to just going along with what he says and ransacking every building in town? The time jump just felt like it rushed through some things that could have developed the stories even more. GCPD is regrouping, essentially forming a vigilante task force, but Bane's presence isn't even a thought, much less a threat. Still, the fight scenes felt brutal. It doesn't matter to me what his back story was or whether or not he had super human strength. The dude was ****ing **** up with just his fists and doing it in brutalizing ways. He may not have attacked Batman's psyche directly, but attacking Bruce physically and going after Gotham was certainly enough. I felt like he should have been THE mastermind as he was proving himself to be in the first half, but the Talia reveal undersold him greatly.


So now we come to Miranda Tate where Nolan once again proves that he apparently has as hard a time writing female characters as he does filming fight sequences. Over time I have warmed to Katie Holmes as Rachel in Batman Begins – she may not have been as weak as I initially thought and personally I felt like she should have returned in TDK (my brother said it best – Katie had the personality, but Maggie had the look). Perhaps I will warm to Talia, but for 90% of the film she is basically just wallpaper. I never got the feeling she was anything more than a device to move the story along and to connect characters and sequences. Marion Cotillard did somehow manage to bring a warmth to Tate's role in the first act, but after Bruce hits it and quits it, she's in the background until the oh yeah, that's who I am reveal. Rather than showing the flashbacks of Talia and Ra's, it could have been simplified for greater effect because not everyone is a moron. All Talia had to do was to say these simple things: 1) I'm Talia Al Ghul 2) I escaped the prison 3) Bane was my protector 4) Me and daddy came back and saved him. That's it. I'm not sure why Nolan felt flashbacks were necessary other than to show Tom Hardy does in fact have a face.


I guess that's all the major performances. For the rest I'll spoiler to save screen space because I'm a good guy like that. I'll just ramble about story, logic/eye rolling issues, and random stuff.

Spoiler

Hans Zimmer's score was quite possibly the best of the trilogy. The Batman theme might not be as memorable as Tim Burton's, but once it starts to pick up with the action on the screen it is hard not root for old Bats. I loved the chant/Bane's theme and how it was used throughout.


Wally Pfister's beautify cinematography is on full force here. While other comic book movies try to mimic panels with camera angles and framing techniques, I feel like Pfister just sought out to create good art with his filming and he achieved that. To me the best comic book art isn't so much a style as just simply being good artwork.


The flashbacks. Outside of the dream flashback to Batman Begins while Bruce is in the Pits, I felt the flashbacks were largely unnecessary and didn't add anything to the story. I don't know why Nolan thought he had to show us exactly what the character was referring to, but in some ways it took me out of the context of Rises a bit. It would have made the callbacks better without the footage overall.


Okay. With this trilogy there are A LOT of logic issues. There's issues in Begins. There's issues in TDK. Not just with story, but with characters. Now, I can brush a lot of things under the rug, but two things really, REALLY took me out of the film. The first instance was when the Police are chasing Bane coming from the Exchange, but then decide to ignore him and go after Batman instead. I just don't even know about that. It rubbed me the wrong way for sure.


The second was just baffling. It was the part where Blake is confronting cement truck guy and gets attacked. He ricochets a bullet off the truck and kills the guy. It was all I could do to keep myself from yelling, “You've got to kidding me,” outloud.


The final action sequence really disappointed me. It wasn't underwhelming it was just flawed outright. From Bane getting offed in half a second, to the Bat dodging point blank RPGs, to Batman straight up killing god knows how many people (which is consistent with the rest of the series), to them SHOOTING at a damn ATOMIC BOMB. Not to mention Talia's death scene which was basically just her babbling about Daddy and then slumping over. Gordon just shrugs his damn shoulders and moves on. Ugh.


I liked the final resolution, though. I figured there'd be no way Bruce would actually die, but I liked the way he did it. Him turning his mansion into the orphanage was a great touch and I found it very touching. Not sure how I feel about Selina being “the girl,” but I guess with the only other lead female being Miranda I guess he didn't have a choice.

TDKR has more in common with Batman Begins than with TDK, though Nolan tries to balance them out. The problems I see in TDKR are present in all of the movies and while these problems are slightly larger in Rises than TDK, ultimately it doesn't hold me back from enjoying the hell out of this movie. The themes Nolan explored in each movie and across the series were great and really pushed Bruce Wayne to forefront as a character rather than being about Batman.


I don't think Dent returning would have been compelling simply because Dent was exacting his justice as opposed to falling in with “mob rule.” Bats could have swept him up in two seconds as I just don't see Dent recruiting goons. I'm also glad Nolan didn't hammer home the themes from previous films other than the series arcing themes.