The Dark Knight Rises

[Mundungus]

If you liked Tom Hardy and haven't already seen Bronson, you should really check it out.. It's on Netflix.

[saucy ragu]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

SPOILER CITY BELOW

Expand Quote

Also, the film had a chance to end on an ambiguous note  (ala. Inception, but not quite . . cause that would be tacky), but got a complete gag inducing cop-out of a bookend instead.

[close]

I assume you mean the scene at the cafe? I see where you're coming from, but Batman and Catwoman getting together was satisfying on a Mulder and Scully getting together scale. And it would be hard to live with Alfred being bummed to death.

[close]

I thought the last scene would have been better if it cut on michael caines face lighting up from seeing something across the cafe leaving the reaction shot of bale up to our imagination. and i hope to god they dont continue with the series with levitt as the new batman/fighting crime as robin.

[close]

That would have been so much better.

[close]

This is EXACTLY the ending I was thinking of.

Also, its been written many times since Batman Begins first came out that one of the stipulations Christian Bale and Nolan agreed upon before making the movie series was that Robin would never ever in a million years show his face in the trilogy. Bale fucking hated the the whole concept of having a Robin-esque character within this modern day vision of the Batman mythology.
I dunno if the studio pressured them into doing so (cause this is the type of shit they do) . . . but that little thing they pulled with Joseph Gordon Levitt's character at the end was sooooooo lame. It really wasn't called for, and pretty pandering.

If they were to do a *wink wink nudge nudge* thing to the audience, why couldn't they have just said his full legal name was Richard Greyson or something, instead of fuckin "ROBIN." There were definitely a few instances in the film that seemed to impugn the audience's movie-watching comprehension, opting to hold the viewer's hand by fucking explaining shit that wasn't exactly rocket science to begin with.



The film's predecessor, "The Dark Knight," didn't do any of that shit.

I would have liked the ambiguous ending at the cafe more as well, but I did smile more than scoff when I saw a healthy and happy looking Bruce cheers-ing Alfred. I also agree that the editing could've used some major trimming and replacement.

As far as the Robin inclusion.. I liked it. I had an idea from the onset with Batman Begins that there would be someone to pick up the mantle when his time was done. In Begins, he said he wanted to be a "symbol, more than just a man." In The Dark Knight, he was already looking for someone to replace him, albeit without a mask. In TDKR, early on he saw in Blake similarities between themselves and his passion for a more unorthodox, yet respectable kind of justice. This motivated him to reveal his intent with Batman, to be able to pass it along and never have it be just about Bruce Wayne. They found a believable way to include a character to don the cowl while relating them to the Robin's of the mythos.

Throughout the years, Nolan and co. have always given/allowed plenty of information without revealing true intentions or disguising words to allow ambiguity. I think Christian just never wanted to see a 12-year-old Robin flying around in a leotard like in the comics. I don't think many people did, but you'd be hard-pressed to disagree that the films didn't pave the way for someone to take over. First it was meant to be a true public hero, Dent. But Bruce realized it had to be someone who couldn't be broken when the chips were down, someone who could make sacrifices in a way a tax-paid protector of justice couldn't. Jonathan Nolan convinced his brother to include Selina Kyle because she tested Batman's morals and trust the way Batman tests Lucius and Gordon's. Article here. I think the reason for including Robin in some aspect is the same argument: To tell the complete story of Bruce Wayne/Batman, it would be sacrilegious to the story to leave this portion of the story out. Bruce finally trusts someone else to make the hard decisions, to take over when he can no longer do what needs to be done. To me, it has all been very fitting.

[Donkey Lips]

More Spoilers!

I thought the Robin bit was more of a joke. When the clerk said "You should go by your full name, Robin" and Blake rolled his eyes and kind of smirked like "No fucking way that's happening". But either way, funny inclusion.

Here are some questions I have now that you guys might be able to help me with.

-Blake killed two guys (one with a night stick and one with a ricochet bullet), went into a panic about what he'd done, but then the city blew up and nobody cared. Does anybody remember that?
-It was pretty obvious from the beginning that Talia was the one that escaped and Bane didn't, since they showed flashbacks of a child making the jump, and explained early on that Bane had been beaten so badly he required the mask. I feel like they kind of ruined the surprise with that. Not really a question, just an obvious editing kurfuffle that I was wondering if anybody else noticed.
-If the bomb was set to destroy the city in 5 months time anyway, why wait? I'm guessing Bane and Talia could've just pulled the city apart in one month, giving Bruce less time to escape from the prison, but still giving him the same agony of watching the city crumble. I realize the point was to unravel Gotham from the seams and force Batman to watch it...but 5 months?
-The entire city watched the Bane-stock-hijack, said "Oh shit, they're stealing a ton of money", and then the next day Bruce Wayne is bankrupt...and nobody draws the parallels on that one?

As was said before, Nolan had a huge amount of things to close up, within a time frame of about 2-3 hours, and still had to appease the audience (people who know care/know nothing about the comic, people who are die-hards, and new patrons of the series). I feel like he did an excellent job. I did expect an Inception'esq zinger at the end, but there was nothing. That's fine, he wants to put this trilogy to bed and not get a lot of discussion about "What's happening in the 4th movie?" emails.

Who ever he puts in charge of casting for these films, is the fucking Michael Jordan of Casting Directors though.

[saucy ragu]

I don't have a great answer to all of these but my thoughts:

-Blake killed two guys (one with a night stick and one with a ricochet bullet), went into a panic about what he'd done, but then the city blew up and nobody cared. Does anybody remember that?

Those aren't necessarily relatable because Blake was in a panic that he killed two people, whereas the bombs weren't his own doing. I'm sure he wasn't happy about that obviously, but there was a lot of forward motion after that scene and hardly any time to reflect.

-It was pretty obvious from the beginning that Talia was the one that escaped and Bane didn't, since they showed flashbacks of a child making the jump, and explained early on that Bane had been beaten so badly he required the mask. I feel like they kind of ruined the surprise with that. Not really a question, just an obvious editing kurfuffle that I was wondering if anybody else noticed.

I had just assumed that Bane was the child as was told, and got messed up afterwards. But I agree with you, sounds like an editing mishap. Was also fooled by the daydream with Ra's where Bruce believed Bane was his child, though I figured something would come to disprove that. I blew it on guessing the kid was Talia, since I knew Joey King played young Talia. Just didn't recognize her with a shaved head.

-If the bomb was set to destroy the city in 5 months time anyway, why wait? I'm guessing Bane and Talia could've just pulled the city apart in one month, giving Bruce less time to escape from the prison, but still giving him the same agony of watching the city crumble. I realize the point was to unravel Gotham from the seams and force Batman to watch it...but 5 months?

I think this is just one of those villians letting their monologue run too long and they get fucked because of it kind of things. There's no good answer that I can think of, you have a solid point.

-The entire city watched the Bane-stock-hijack, said "Oh shit, they're stealing a ton of money", and then the next day Bruce Wayne is bankrupt...and nobody draws the parallels on that one?

Well.. fuck. Only thing I can think of is Dagget had some men on the inside that wanted Bruce to go down as well, and were able to forestall an internal investigation. Bruce also disappeared for five months and money became useless within a day or so of that anyway. I could see how pursuing an investigation would have sidetracked the flow of the movie, and they needed to make quick moves to hold Wayne Enterprises ownership in any situation, which would be why they pursued Miranda to uphold it instead of looking into it.

[heckler]

I never read the graphic novels or was a huge fan of Batman before the Nolan reboot, like so many others here, but I thought Bane was a way cooler villain than the Joker. I thought that the Joker was a better character, though. Does that make sense?

Marion Cotillard stole my attention every second she was on screen.

Snowy Gotham city was rad. That is all.

[jojo_fosho]

I thought Bane was a way cooler villain than the Joker. I thought that the Joker was a better character, though. Does that make sense?

That's exactly how I felt. Bane was great throughout the whole film, up until the last 30 mins. where you find out that he's nothing more but a henchman for Talia and gets blow away by Catwoman after the reveal. This big, evil presence that the film made him out to be the whole time was thrown right out the window for me at that point.

[Smell Good]

Saw it in IMAX - loved it.

Bane was a gangster and I'd stick my tongue up Anne Hathaway's asshole no hesitation.

Yeah, I always find it so difficult to really write anything of value about a movie I've just watched. I guess I've got to give myself time to let everything sink in.

[pancake man]

If this article hasn't already been posted

http://www.cracked.com/blog/advanced-batman-theory-why-nolan-will-kill-bruce-wayne/

author called it, well sorta, but pretty damn close

[frisco]

I love IMAX. Its so good it makes it that much harder to get used to when they switch back to 35mm.

A few thoughts on the movie.

Overall I left feeling very satisfied.  Anne Hatheway was the best part of the movie. She kept the film together for the first 1hr. I really wasn't feeling the beginning, her opening robbery was fantastic.

In terms of Nolans films, this defintely feels the most sloppy . This guy knows how to make movies, watch any of his past films and they have a crispness to them, very precise in every music cue, camera angle, piece of dialogue and edit. For the most part, this did not feel like that. Of course it had its moments, large action set pieces and emotional scenes between alfred/bruce and some others. However, it felt like they shot over by an hour, went back, realized all the shit they had to adjust, then tried their best.

Tom Hardy did a great job. I thought Bane taking over the city with a bomb and that whole storyline was extremely ambitious, it just never got off its feet. Gotham did not seem all that bad, that's because they didn't show any of the city, they showed maybe 1 or 2 buildings with some main characters in it, otherwise, everyone was sitting on their couches watching GNN and eating kraft dinner.

Things I liked:

Lazurus Pit/Prison comparisons.

Back story to Talia, I knew she was in the movie, but this caught me off guard.

Everything Anne Hatheway

The Scarecrow running the sentencing

John Blake, for most of the movie he was a great character, although his name should have been Richard Grayson and not "Robin" wow did not like that

Thigns I didn't like:

FUCKING MATTHEW MODINE. That guy seriously sucked. No point in casting him. His scenes were stiff, forced, he got trampled on by everyone  in that movie. I was seriously bummed at how bad he was.

Spoon feeding the audience. Ok. Its a big blockbuster movie. But seriously, no need to show that many flashbacks like the audience has the memory capacity of a cocker spaniel.

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.


I gotta watch it again. Im just hoping I like it more the second time and don't nitpick pointless stuff.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

In fairness, haven't their been several robins aside from Richard Greyson? The first one was Jason something right? The joker killed his ass though and they replaced him, and a few others

[Bobby Peru]

Dick Grayson was the first, who went on to be Nightwing, and eventually Batman himself. Jason Todd was the second, and so disliked by readers that they made complaints to drop him, which DC did by having the Joker kill him. Tim Drake was the third, who went on to be Red Robin, basically Dick Grayson as Batman's Robin.

[heckler]

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[Donkey Lips]

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[frisco]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

[saucy ragu]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[close]

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

I thought I recognized that line. From The Dark Knight Returns:

[360 frip]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[close]

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

[close]

I thought I recognized that line. From The Dark Knight Returns:

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[close]

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

[close]

I thought I recognized that line. From The Dark Knight Returns:

How much more imaginative was that page than most of that film?  And this was 20 + years ago.

It looks like they have fucked up another Dredd movie too...

[frisco]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[close]

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

[close]

I thought I recognized that line. From The Dark Knight Returns:

Ah cheers for clearing that up. Still don't like the line, but not as bothered by it knowing it was motivated

If you guys are interested, this guy vdwebb on youtube posts these unreleased soundtracks, its pretty amazing really they are so clean I have no idea how he gets them





Loved the OST

[boyan]

Dick Grayson was the first, who went on to be Nightwing, and eventually Batman himself. Jason Todd was the second, and so disliked by readers that they made complaints to drop him, which DC did by having the Joker kill him. Tim Drake was the third, who went on to be Red Robin, basically Dick Grayson as Batman's Robin.

Jason did eventually return as the Red Hood, which I think is a more interesting character. Kinda twisted, fighting evil, but with no restraints towards killing as Batman has.

[codithou]

Dick Grayson was the first, who went on to be Nightwing, and eventually Batman himself. Jason Todd was the second, and so disliked by readers that they made complaints to drop him, which DC did by having the Joker kill him. Tim Drake was the third, who went on to be Red Robin, basically Dick Grayson as Batman's Robin.

And now the love-child between Talia and Bruce, Damien Wayne, is the new Robin in the New 52 story arcs. He's a little shit though.

[The Bullet]

Am I the only one on these forums that found Bane's voice pretty much ruined the movie?  His voice didn't fit his look at all, and was the silliest, campiest non threating voice ever.  WTF?  That didn't both anybody else?

[theotits beezy]

Am I the only one on these forums that found Bane's voice pretty much ruined the movie?  His voice didn't fit his look at all, and was the silliest, campiest non threating voice ever.  WTF?  That didn't both anybody else?

i thought i was the only one. he came off a bit corny to me. i found myself laughing at some points, not because i thought he said something funny, but because i thought what he said was stupid. almost annoying. &the effects they put on his voice made it not fit into to the movie. his voice was always louder than everyone else's, even if he had a bag over his head or if he was the farthest person in the scene. &the sort of overdrive/distortion effect they put on it made it difficult to understand what he was saying a lot of the time.

[Mooley]

It was entertaining. I liked aspects of it but it seemed a lot less polished than TDK. I guess that's just what happens when you try to follow up the Joker with a glorified henchman (at least that's the way the movie portrays him). I am definitely super burnt out on superhero movies though, so I'm probably just way too cynical about this shit.

I was pretty unimpressed with the whole cops storming city hall sequence. They emerge after months trapped underground in sewers, and suddenly you see them all clean-shaven, with perfectly pressed uniforms. Then they all run in a column at a bunch of heavily armed goons, literally 3-4 of them go down before the whole thing turns into a convenient fist-fight just in time for Batman to waltz in. Nitpicking I know, but it seemed pretty sloppy.

Worse though, were the romance subplots. Talia/Tate shows up at his door, for reasons that weren't made clear or I don't remember, and they fuck, for reasons that weren't made clear or I don't remember. Then without any real justification, Bruce repeatedly puts heaps of trust in Selina/Catwoman before running off with her? I guess there's probably some explanation buried away in the relentless expository dialogue (good ol' Christopher), but they both seemed ridiculously underdeveloped. Which is a pretty weird critique to have to make about a 2 1/2 hour movie.

[Donkey Lips]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Quirky cop one liners "You're in for a show tonight son" shut up you fat fuck. This is not Spiderman. No need for cheap laughs and regular one liners.

[close]

I heard this was a line from one of the comic books, which makes a little more sense as why it'd be included.

[close]

Also it was the same cop with all of the one-liners from The Dark Knight's prisoner escort scene. Where he kept yelling shit like "I didn't sign up for this!". I kind of wish he died this time.

[close]

That was Nicky Katt, I only know because I recognized him right away from "Boiler Room" and was pretty shocked he would be in that sort of role





"You're in for a show tonight son"

Yep. You're right. My bad. Went back and watched Dark Knight last night and realized it was not even close to the same guy. Wonder where in the fuck I got that idea from.

[dankradschwag]

Am I the only one on these forums that found Bane's voice pretty much ruined the movie?  His voice didn't fit his look at all, and was the silliest, campiest non threating voice ever.  WTF?  That didn't both anybody else?

I liked his voice, it was just hard to understand at some parts.

[Donkey Lips]

I liked the voice. They did change the voice from what it was supposed to be originally. Anybody remember when there was the prologue floating around a few months ago with Bane hijacking Dr Pavel's airplane? It seemed like he had a way creepier and harder to understand voice in that. I think the original trailer had the different voice also, because I remember people freaking out saying they couldn't understand the part about him saying "When Gotham is ashes".

[Fongstarr.]

The voice did bug me. Maybe its the combination of the muffled sound and the accent or something. For me it wasn't cause it wasn't scary, but just hard to understand at times. The guy monologues a lot and it would have been better to just have a better voice to comprehend. And Anne Hathaway was fine as Cat Woman but something about her made her unecessary for some reason. You could have taken her out and I think the movie would have been pretty much the same.

I think the ending was the overall best part of the movie. I was expecting more of a "Batman saved the day" conclusion but that mad the film for me.

[Smell Good]

Loved Bane's voice and speech mannerisms.

The whole point was to illustrate that this man is not a stupid brute. It reflects his intellect perfectly and sounds very cool with the effects

[Cadillac Ranch Dressing]

I was completely thrilled with his voice. The second I heard it in the first plane scene, Bane got 10 times cooler for me. I don't know, but I think it had to do with the fact that I wasn't expected his accent. I can understand how some people wouldn't like it though.

[Donkey Lips]

Hardy was an excellent Bane. The writing for his character was superb and really helped showcase that Bane was the overall worst dude you'd ever tangle with. Everything from the quick remarks, to the overall nonchalant approach of killing his own men (the plane scene, the scene in the sewer where he kills one of his own men, then tells the other one "Search him. Then I'll kill you.", and the guy obeys).

[frisco]

So it looks like catwoman will be "good"

Maybe borrowing from the HUSH storyline if they have some sort of romance.

Still not all that hyped on Banes voice, I think that'll be a major criticism once this comes out.

But holy fuck. What a trailer. I'm hyped again

Still unsure of Joseph Gordon-Levitts role in this but I'm sure he'll be awesome

Back when the first trailers were coming out I had a feeling people would be hating on his voice. Not really a stretch to predict that

I like the voice. Early in shooting, someone posted the scene where Bane is speaking the stadium full of people saying shit like "Take back your city" I remember being mortified hearing his voice and thinking it would be like that in the movie, luckily the put it through a shit ton of filters and probably rerecorded the whole thing