The Dark Knight Rises: Offical Review Thread (Spoilers). $162MM Weekend

[Turbonium]

psssst there's a spoiler tag you can use.

Thnx.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

psssst there's a spoiler tag you can use.

At this point is it even really needed?

 

[gorcorps]

Finally saw this movie.

My quick review without much thought put into it:

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Spoiler

Bad things:
- Not enough character development for Selina Kyle, among others; too many minor characters with no development imo.
- Healthier Batman can't beat Bane, Batman post-broken vertebra can beat Bane (if only just).
- Scarecrow was unnecessary imo, and kind of stupid.
- A bit of a silly plot at some parts; using all the city's cops in the sewers at once? Really?
- Too much special effects in the ending sequences; CG Batpod parts particularly; too much flying around and avoiding missiles also.
- You don't survive a nuke, I don't care how good your ejection mechanism is (I still gotta look into the way this movie ended, it was weird).
- Nuclear fallout and radiation wasn't an issue.
- It had to come down to the last moments with the bomb, like all movies seem to do.
- Robin? Really? They just had to, didn't they.
- Seemed a bit rushed in parts; some plot holes.
- Music was overly recycled and didn't evolve enough for the this third installment (pending further listening).
- They could have done better with flashbacks and such, especially right before the nuke goes off.

Good things:
- Opening scene was good.
- Opening Batman scene was pure badassery.
- First half of the movie overall was good.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Yea, the good things are vague, but I was just a bit underwhelmed. Hopefully, the movie will grow on me over time, like TDK did. I want to watch it again and really analyze it. I hope my initial thoughts on it change. I dunno if they will.

How can you be confused by the ending? They make it very clear that the autopilot was fixed on the thing so Wayne was no where near it.

 

[Turbonium]

How can you be confused by the ending? They make it very clear that the autopilot was fixed on the thing so Wayne was no where near it.

Yea, I got that cleared up. I just could have sworn I heard him say, right before he took off, that there was no autopilot. I found some of the dialogue was hard to understand, but that was probably the cinema I was at.

 

[mugs]

Yea, I got that cleared up. I just could have sworn I heard him say, right before he took off, that there was no autopilot. I found some of the dialogue was hard to understand, but that was probably the cinema I was at.

He did. He lied.

 

[rcpratt]

I thought it was good. Not as good as the Dark Knight.

Hathaway was far better than I expected.
Some of the technical details about the nuke were a bit ridiculous, but I guess that's to be expected.
Did have a little difficulty with Bane's vocals part of the time.

 

[Turbonium]

He did. He lied.

I also thought of this possibility. But it's kind of weird, in that he ends his legend with a lie. It's like the way the second movie ended. It's questionable. But I can see why he did it.

 

[Ns1]

I also thought of this possibility. But it's kind of weird, in that he ends his legend with a lie. It's like the way the second movie ended. It's questionable. But I can see why he did it.

Nobody knows that it was a lie...except for Alfred & Catwoman.


Although for me that's kind of a plot hole too. I mean you're an eccentric billionaire and nobody recognizes you?

 

[momeNt]

Who else is walking around with their hands clutching their suit vest since they saw this movie? I've been doing the Bane strut for the past 2 weeks!

 

[Atomic Playboy]

Saw it on the IMAX last night. I enjoyed the movie, but there were some fairly enormous plot holes that struck me as lazy writing and kept it out of the pantheon of greatness that The Dark Knight belongs to.

Miranda's plot seems needlessly complex. Stalk Bruce Wayne for years upon years, finally convince him to turn over control of the company that he doesn't even control (after she's already liquidated all his stock through Bane's genius plan of "brute force the stock exchange on crotch rockets"), steal all his shit, throw him in an "inescapable" prison (which she herself already goddamn escaped as a CHILD), wait for him to return to Gotham and beat the shit out of her bodyguard just so she can very literally stab him in the back? That is the most heinously retarded act of villainy since Zorg tried to blow up the Universe in The Fifth Element. Attention bad guys: if you give the good guy a chance to beat you and they fail, shame on them. If you give them 2 chances to beat you and they fail, shame on them twice. If you repeatedly give them chance after chance to beat you, eventually they're going to do it, and you're going to look fucking retarded for not shooting that prick in the back 8 years ago when he had no idea who the fuck you were.

Catwoman: Yes. That is all.

Bane: Also yes. I thought he'd be retarded, but honestly, I liked the character alot, especially the fact that he was so difficult to understand. But why didn't Bane get a mask where the tubes and filters that keep him mobile are, I don't know, COVERED, and not easily dislodged from a fisfight with the armored superhero he has been intentionally baiting into fighting him? And how was Bane trained by Ra's Al Ghul if he was immediately excommunicated upon discovery that he was a hideous freak which takes all of a sidelong glance to fully appreciate? Something about that doesn't add up. Was it Miranda who actually trained Bane? She's obviously not as good a teacher as Liam fucking Neeson; he trained Batman AND Obi Wan, and look how well that worked out for all but a few hundred thousand people.

I thought that the escalation of scale was very good from film to film; attempt to blow up Gotham in Batman Begins, actually blow some shit up in The Dark Knight, fuck it, blow everything up, and blow up a nuke for good measure in The Dark Knight Rises. It's a good way to raise the stakes, though at this rate the next Batman movie is going to be like the bastard child of 24 and Call of Duty. Mowing down policemen with gunfire in the streets was also a good way to raise the stakes, and also hard to watch given the tragedy in Aurora associated with the film. But it really does drive home the gravity of the idea that this is truly hell on Earth. The Dark Knight was better about dealing with death on the level of individuals to personalize it; The Dark Knight Rises was better about making the body count so big you could only fathom it as a statistic.

Another questionable plot point: how was Batman able to get the Batwing to fly ~20 miles offshore in less than a minute? Can his plane really accelerate to Mach 2 in the space of a few seconds? Wouldn't the g-force generated by that kill the pilot (even if you assume he wasn't in the plane, why include a rate of acceleration that would be fatal unless you specifically anticipated flying the plane with no pilot)? I'm basing that 20 miles off how small the mushroom cloud looked from the point of view of the onlookers... It just seemed a little ridiculous.

The ending was pretty predictable. Oh, Alfred's going off to Florence again, I wonder who he's possibly going to run into there. Could it be Alfonso, the gay pool boy he's been secretly hooking up with for the last 30 years? No, it's Bruce motherfucking Wayne. I'm shocked. Good thing there wasn't ample foreshadowing for this eventuality.

I was really hoping that when the woman told Blake he should use his real name of "Robin" he'd respond, "Are you calling me a queer?" and then threaten to attack her. That whole exchange was a bit hamfisted, so it needed something to liven it up, and it would have given his character a great turn from heroic to dangerous psychotic homophobe, which is an arc that NO ONE would see coming. Way to drop the ball Nolan.

Overall, good movie. I liked the character development, even though I'm pretty sure Blake had more screen time than Batman. It was no Dark Knight, and I'm putting it below The Avengers as well, but it was still a fine summer action film and an appropriate close to the trilogy.

 

[Ns1]

She's obviously not as good a teacher as Liam fucking Neeson; he trained Batman AND Obi Wan, and look how well that worked out for all but a few hundred thousand people.

😀😀😀

 

[Arkaign]

Finally saw this a few days back. The theater I saw it in had the worst god damned audio mixing I've ever heard (it wasn't just Bane, almost all dialogue was impossible to understand). That said, I liked it a good bit. It's not in the same class as TDK by any stretch, and weirdly it was the action that fell flat to me in many areas. Just a lot of really ridiculous details. But still, a cut above the typical superhero flick, and I don't mind a long movie at all, I feel like I got more for my $ that way.

imho :

TDK > Begins > TDKR

 

[andylawcc]

He did. He lied.

which i thought was corny. "Oh, hey guys, just to let you all know, this thing got no autopilot, so i am gonna die, kthxbye"

 

[andylawcc]

I thought that the escalation of scale was very good from film to film; attempt to blow up Gotham in Batman Begins, actually blow some shit up in The Dark Knight, fuck it, blow everything up, and blow up a nuke for good measure in The Dark Knight Rises. It's a good way to raise the stakes, though at this rate the next Batman movie is going to be like the bastard child of 24 and Call of Duty.

not sure if sarcasm or... but still lol 🙂

I was really hoping that when the woman told Blake he should use his real name of "Robin" he'd respond, "Are you calling me a queer?" and then threaten to attack her. That whole exchange was a bit hamfisted, so it needed something to liven it up, and it would have given his character a great turn from heroic to dangerous psychotic homophobe, which is an arc that NO ONE would see coming. Way to drop the ball Nolan.

:grin; :grin; :grin;

 

[Ns1]

TDKR has legs:

‘Dark Knight Rises’ Still Dominating Online Movie Ticket Sales; ‘Total Recall’ Weak
By NIKKI FINKE | Thursday August 2, 2012 @ 10:39am PDTTags: Diary Of A Wimpy Kid 3, The Dark Knight Rises, Total Recall

dark knight rises ticket sales total recall weakAccording to MovieTickets.com, domestic online box office ticket sales for Warner Bros’ and Legendary Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises are strong heading in to its 3rd weekend of release with the film accounting for 56.6% of all transactions for Wednesday. Sony Pictures’ Total Recall accounts for only 7.41% and Fox’s Diary Of a Wimpy Kid 3: Dog Days accounts for just 3.71% of all transactions yesterday.

 

[Turbonium]

Nobody knows that it was a lie...except for Alfred & Catwoman.


Although for me that's kind of a plot hole too. I mean you're an eccentric billionaire and nobody recognizes you?

Yea, but it's still a lie. It's like you're glorifying yourself by being all "they think I was noble enough to sacrifice myself for the greater good, lol".

Earlier, he said he has yet to give everything to the people. He gave his life. But no wait, he didn't. He faked it.

 

[Ns1]

Yea, but it's still a lie. It's like you're glorifying yourself by being all "they think I was noble enough to sacrifice myself for the greater good, lol".

Earlier, he said he has yet to give everything to the people. He gave his life. But no wait, he didn't. He faked it.

He also gave a long spiel to Catwoman about starting over...a foreshadowing of what was to come.

 

[Aikouka]

I was really hoping that when the woman told Blake he should use his real name of "Robin" he'd respond, "Are you calling me a queer?" and then threaten to attack her. That whole exchange was a bit hamfisted, so it needed something to liven it up, and it would have given his character a great turn from heroic to dangerous psychotic homophobe, which is an arc that NO ONE would see coming. Way to drop the ball Nolan.

I thought that would have been better if he said, "Oh, use my given name 'Grayson'".

 

[oddyager]

plot hole #3890748903748957345


I mean if the vehicles were army prototypes it should not be hard to figure out they came from wayne enterprises.

And on top of that Bruce Wayne disappears for 8 years and so does Batman? Are you telling me no one is going to ask questions?

 

[TheVrolok]

I thought that would have been better if he said, "Oh, use my given name 'Grayson'".

Totally agreed. Saying "Robin" was really lame.

which i thought was corny. "Oh, hey guys, just to let you all know, this thing got no autopilot, so i am gonna die, kthxbye"

Yep. They mentioned the autopilot not working at the very least twice, I believe 3, and possibly even 4 times. It was incredibly obvious they were foreshadowing it being used "secretly."

There are many holes and complaints in this thread, and I agree with most of them. Won't rehash them her. I enjoyed the movie, but definitely feel that TDK > Begins >> TDKR. Too much forced in, a bit sloppy. I think Michael Caine was the only one who put a really solid performance in.

 

[Fritzo]

Another questionable plot point: how was Batman able to get the Batwing to fly ~20 miles offshore in less than a minute? Can his plane really accelerate to Mach 2 in the space of a few seconds? Wouldn't the g-force generated by that kill the pilot (even if you assume he wasn't in the plane, why include a rate of acceleration that would be fatal unless you specifically anticipated flying the plane with no pilot)? I'm basing that 20 miles off how small the mushroom cloud looked from the point of view of the onlookers... It just seemed a little ridiculous.

They said the bomb had a blast radius of 4 miles. 200mph (a reasonable speed for the Bat craft) is a mile every 20 seconds or so, so he would need a minimum of 1:20 to get the bomb to safety.

Also consider that dropping the bomb in deep water would severely affect its blast radius. If it cut it in half, then he would need only 40 seconds to get to safety.

 

[oddyager]

They said the bomb had a blast radius of 4 miles. 200mph (a reasonable speed for the Bat craft) is a mile every 20 seconds or so, so he would need a minimum of 1:20 to get the bomb to safety.

Also consider that dropping the bomb in deep water would severely affect its blast radius. If it cut it in half, then he would need only 40 seconds to get to safety.

They actually said 6 miles but I think the kicker here is we get a long shot of Batman staring into the horizon while presumably still in the same BAT (or he somehow jumped onto another one and flying in the same direction out to sea?) and then a few seconds later we get the shot of the mushroom cloud. I'd have to re-watch but I'm almost certain there was not a lot of time left between those 2 shots.

 

[mugs]

They said the bomb had a blast radius of 4 miles. 200mph (a reasonable speed for the Bat craft) is a mile every 20 seconds or so, so he would need a minimum of 1:20 to get the bomb to safety.

Also consider that dropping the bomb in deep water would severely affect its blast radius. If it cut it in half, then he would need only 40 seconds to get to safety.

Speaking of water, you'd think the bomb would cause some big waves... but I don't care, it's a movie, it doesn't have to be "real."

Did anyone post this yet?

http://www.thedrawplay.com/?p=208

 

[Atomic Playboy]

They said the bomb had a blast radius of 4 miles. 200mph (a reasonable speed for the Bat craft) is a mile every 20 seconds or so, so he would need a minimum of 1:20 to get the bomb to safety.

Also consider that dropping the bomb in deep water would severely affect its blast radius. If it cut it in half, then he would need only 40 seconds to get to safety.

They said 6 miles, but the way they phrased it (everything in 6 miles will be dead) made it sound like a diameter more than a radius, so I was assuming a radius of 3 miles. However, the timer is clearly below one minute before the Batwing even leaves the city, and the blast radius doesn't come within 10 miles of the city. It also never shows the Batwing plunging into the ocean, although that would certainly reduce the blast radius. But for comparison sake, here's a nuke detonated underwater from 3 miles back:

That's a whole hell of a lot bigger than what the people were looking at in The Dark Knight Rises. And keep in mind that when a nuclear bomb is detonated under water, there is no mushroom cloud, just a plume of water vapor which descends after a few moments like a geyser. The Dark Knight Rises showed a clear mushroom cloud of smoke and flame which is not consistent with an underwater detonation, so I'm guessing the intent was that the bomb went off above the water. So he still managed to get it at least 10 miles in less than a minute. And he had to program the autopilot, unless he had been counting on the "fly a nuke out to sea scenario" from the get-go, which is plausible given what he knew. Certainly more plausible than lots of things in the film... But it's Batman so who cares?

 

[Turbonium]

He also gave a long spiel to Catwoman about starting over...a foreshadowing of what was to come.

I won't be surprised if they make another movie, but if they do, I will be disappointed. Money trumps all it seems. I wish they would have made a great third movie and ended it at that. Even the way TDKR ended at the very end (the final scene) hints at a sequel at some point. It wasn't very "epic" for an ending to a trilogy. I'm just disappointed overall.