Could "Dark Knight Rises" be crap?...I'm just sayin!

If you liked the movie, great! But I found it just to be the worst movie I've seen since Attack of the Clones. Bloated. Slow. Dark with no real sense of a build up of tension. And ZERO fun. I never had that "wow!" moment that I've gotten from other Superhero movies.

I said it once and I'll say it again: batman Begins and The Dark Knight were Batman movies. The Dark Knight Rises was just a movie with Batman in it.


:-(

I'm depressed about it. I'm so depressed, I'm gonna go buy the 19$ dollar Mattel Batpod.

On a positive note, Catwoman wasn't THAT bad, and I was worried about her.

One of the highlights of the night for me was the Superman trailer, I kinda like the direction they seem to be going with that!

My beef with the movie (no spoilers):
-Plot was jumping around A LOT for the first 1/3 of the film and took some time to process everything, kinda took away from enjoying the second third of the film.
-Some VERY convenient plot sequences throughout the movie, all of these have been heavily critiqued already.
-Compared to Inception and TDK (my favorite Nolan films), the themes in TDKR just seemed noticeably more shallow and dumbed down.
-None of the action sequences blew me away despite bigger scale and budget, the TDK chase scene with the truck flip still is hands down more jaw-dropping.
-Batman's second fight with Bane was pretty anti-climatic, and seemed wayyy too easy considering the beatdown he got in the first fight.
-The romance between Wayne and Tate was so rushed and lacking in chemistry that the plot twist towards the end did not feel like a massive betrayal.
-EXTREMELY poorly edited sequence with Miranda Tate being in the scene with Wayne and Fox after Bane pulls her in the court room and then Batman asks Gordon where she is after literally JUST SEEING HER. I was wtf until...
-Miranda's final scene... seriously Nolan? This was the best take you could get!? It was comical, and not in a good way.

Aside from those flaws, this is still an incredible film. It was grand and epic, the acting was superb especially Bale and Hathaway (except for Cotillard's last scene lol), the writing despite some flaws was for the most part was what we expect from Nolan's crew, and the film successfully closes the trilogy.

Overall though, I thought TDK was better. I'm looking at both films differently too - TDK was a crime drama, TDKR was an epic society drama similar to revolution-type films. As a crime drama, TDK knocked it out of the park. As a revolution drama, TDKR left a bit to be desired, and if we're going to talk about epicness, sorry to say but Avengers still felt more epic. I don't subscribe to the whole DC vs Marvel debate but I certainly was more entertained and wow'd by Avengers than TDKR, though I appreciate TDKR as a film more.

Ok, ok, so haven't seen DKR yet, but Batman Begins was on TV last night and I watched it. I had actually never seen it, because the Nolan incarnation didn't really strike me as all that interesting. I did see TDK, as most did following Heath Ledger's death. And I have to say, seeing Batman Begins lowered my opinion of TDK, which I already thought was overrated anyways.

You know what just occurred to me? (I loved the movie BTW) It takes 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, right-- they had such a HUGE set up for Bruce to come back after all these years- and when he finally shows up in costume, on the BatPod it was like an event

I almost feel that this movie should have been made 8 years later. The audience would have had the same reaction as those cops! Like 'oh my god, he's BACK'

Thats scene was from The Dark Knight Returns comic book.

Half the movie was taken from comics, and kind of glued together.

From Harry over at "aint it cool"...He knows much more about the character and world than I do...

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

darthwhitey said:

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From Harry over at "aint it cool"...He knows much more about the character and world than I do...

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Maybe he knows tooooo much, sounds like he built it up so massive that it couldn't have pleased him.

darthwhitey said:

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From Harry over at "aint it cool"...He knows much more about the character and world than I do...

Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

I waited until after I'd seen The Dark Knight Rises to read his rant because I don't like spoilers. Having read it (the first time I've read anything Mr. Knowles has posted), I have to agree with most of his comments that are directly related to the movie (i.e., excluding his "fan boy" style rants about how the characters are presented in other media and should have been represented in this movie).

First, let me say I liked the movie, but not as much as I liked the two previous films. My biggest problem with it is the overall story. Nolan could have streamlined the plot, eliminated some characters, cut the film's run time by 30-60 minutes, and made it a much tighter film. And--yes, I'm gonna say it--I didn't dig The Bat; it's implausible, unnecessary, and looks like a flying cockroach. Most of my other critiques of the film would contain spoilers, so that's another discussion for another time.

On the plus side, all of the the performances were spot on. Finally, Jim Gordon gets to do more than have a few clandestine conversations with Batman, and Gary Oldman is definitely up to the task; I think he gets almost as much screentime as Christian Bale. Anne Hathaway is excellent as Selina Kyle, and Nolan has found a way to make this character interesting and believable, something no other filmmaker has managed to do as well in my opinion. Tom Hardy is very good as Bane, but I couldn't understand a few of his lines because of the voice effects they applied to represent that thing covering his face. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Matthew Modine are very good as well, but in the end their characters are among those that could have been written out and wouldn't have been missed. Michael Caine doesn't get much to do in this film, but once again his brilliant performance solidifies the relationship between Alfred and Bruce.

Overall, I think people who liked Batman Begins and The Dark Knight will probably like The Dark Night Rises; for those who didn't, this film will just be "more of the same".

knightdriver2001 said:

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As they say, You can't shine a turd.

Actually, according to Mythbusters, you can.

Zombie_61 said:

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On the plus side, all of the the performances were spot on. Finally, Jim Gordon gets to do more than have a few clandestine conversations with Batman, and Gary Oldman is definitely up to the task; I think he gets almost as much screentime as Christian Bale. Anne Hathaway is excellent as Selina Kyle, and Nolan has found a way to make this character interesting and believable, something no other filmmaker has managed to do as well in my opinion. Tom Hardy is very good as Bane, but I couldn't understand a few of his lines because of the voice effects they applied to represent that thing covering his face. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Matthew Modine are very good as well, but in the end their characters are among those that could have been written out and wouldn't have been missed. Michael Caine doesn't get much to do in this film, but once again his brilliant performance solidifies the relationship between Alfred and Bruce.

Even though I thought the movie failed in some ways, I actually agree with everything in this statement! The movie wasn't a complete failure, it just missed the mark for me, and when something has this much potential it hurts a little more when it drops the ball.

jlee562 said:

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While The Dark Knight was better than its predecessors, I'm one to think it is HIGHLY overrated. I still think Christian Bale's guttural Batman voice (as opposed to his regular Bruce Wayne speaking voice) is awful. Just awful.

The Dent/Two-Face storyline played out pretty awfully. For the first half of the movie, it seemed like Two-Face wouldn't appear until the next movie. Then he's there, and then he's dead. I really feel that character arc was mishandled.

There were so many false endings that towards the end, I just wanted the movie to be over.

About Batman's voice. Think of Bat's voice, Then think of Dane Cook's segment on Drive-Throughs.

*Tumbler pulls in Burger King*
Cashier: Welcome to Burger King, May I take your order?
Batman: *gutteral voice* I'd like a Whopper with Extra Cheese
Cashier : I'm sorry, could you repeat that Sir?
Batman: WHOPPER! EXTRA CHEESE!
Cashier: What was that, Sir?
Batman: SNARL! GROWLIGROWL SNARLY GRUNT!
Cashier: I'm sorry, Did'nt get that Sir.
Batman: DAMMIT!

I really enjoyed the movie, I mean for such a build up of anticipation for this it didn't disappoint. It has its flaws but what movie doesn't. The first fight with Bane was great but the second one was a bit of a let down and should have been a bit more epic, it did seem like batman beat him a bit too easily the second time round considering the injuries he took in the first fight against bane.
I enjoyed the ending too seeing as nolan wanted to end the trilogy in a way it couldn't be tampered with in the future, the legacy continues but bruce finds some peace at last.
I thought caines performance was very moving in the movie, always enjoy a bit michael caine.........."he's a big man, bu he's outta shape"

oh was a bit miffed by bane's origin being messed with but what can you do, they needed to tie it together somehow!

darthwhitey said:

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On a positive note, Catwoman wasn't THAT bad, and I was worried about her.

One of the highlights of the night for me was the Superman trailer, I kinda like the direction they seem to be going with that!

She was amazing. As soon as they cast Anne Hathaway I just knew she'd be great.

Took my 13 year old and it's obvious Nolan is a fan of BBC comedy The Fast Show.During the Batman/Bane initial face off we both turned to each other and said " Long Big Punch Up"

The Long Big Punch Up (Fast Show) - Repeat in a loop

And how does Bane fit a crash helmet over his head?

So I have watched both the IMAX (sucked, see my other post) and standard release.

TDKR was a good movie, but the more I think over it, it was a movie that happen to have Batman in it


I came to this conclusion while watching it for the second time when Batman is walking around telling people " there is more to you". Sorry but Batman isn't your camp leader. I also have a hard time grasping the idea a guy dresses up like a bat because his family was killed, yet hangs it up because the "kinda-sort-of love of his life is killed"? Sorry but it just feels like such a hollow reason for it. This should drive him even more, oh well I'm scared to see what Nolan may of done to Superman. I'll be very depressed if its "depressed overly real Superman".

TravisO said:

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So I have watched both the IMAX (sucked, see my other post) and standard release.

TDKR was a good movie, but the more I think over it, it was a movie that happen to have Batman in it


I came to this conclusion while watching it for the second time when Batman is walking around telling people " there is more to you". Sorry but Batman isn't your camp leader. I also have a hard time grasping the idea a guy dresses up like a bat because his family was killed, yet hangs it up because the "kinda-sort-of love of his life is killed"? Sorry but it just feels like such a hollow reason for it. This should drive him even more, oh well I'm scared to see what Nolan may of done to Superman. I'll be very depressed if its "depressed overly real Superman".

He hangs it up because Gotham didn't need him anymore. He was wanted for murders and the Dent Act was in effect making crime an all time low. Remember what John Blake said to Gordon,"Pretty soon we're gonna be chasing down overdue library books." When Gotham needed Batman he came back. Sure he was depress over someone he loved being killed but that wasn't the reason for retiring.

I thought I liked it in the theater; then I thought about it the next day and realized what a disappointment the story, editing, lots of the acting, how many plot holes there were and of its stupid sciences and medical theories. I saw it, and I will buy it and watch it; but I'm not holding my breath for it.

Like above, you can easily summarize the whole movie as a movie with Batman in it, not a Batman movie. Sad.

Well, I'd say it was the best of the three.

Thoroughly underwhelmed myself......thought Bane was a very weak character and after more than 2 hours was relieved it was over. Admittedly I'm not Christian 'Rasping' Bale's biggest fan (I think the voice he does when in BMan's suit is annoying as hell) but that aside the whole experience was way below my expectations.

The plot was too jumpy and poorly threaded, the action bland and nothing worth talking about..........Michael Caine and Gary Oldman had nice cameos, Anne Hathaway was better than Halle Berry (not sure if that's a compliment!) and I guess we're now set up for the next wave of Batwoman and Robin films. Overall this Bane was plain dreadful as a character and the whole film should have had about half the characters and therefore have had a much stronger and structered plot rather than the wandering mess it actually was.

Shame.

I do get the feeling that a lot of people see plot holes that don't exist though. There sure are some, but half of the complains I read come from misunderstandings or lack of attention ... Thinking mainly about the so-called time lapses ! Watching the movie a second time will set a lot of thing straight for a lot of people I think. It doesn't have more flaws than the previous ones... Other than that it's more of a matter of taste, if you didn't like the movie, it is perfectly fine with me ;-)

Despite being spoiled the ending, not to mention the "twist" they put in there. I did like it. That being said, I still prefer TDK over this one. A few things bothered me in the movie. Banes voice being one of them. I don't know, it needed to be deeper or something. I never really liked the design of "The Bat".

And Michael Caine hits ya right in the heart with some of his speeches.