The Dark Knight Rises

I saw a nine o'clock show last night. I'm still processing it but I loved the experience of seeing it in a big theater with a large and responsive audience.
There are some things I still don't get (like what the hell was the point of the plane hijacking or what even really happened there) but it was gripping enough that I was hooked and spent a long time thinking about it in bed afterward. For some not very obvious or conscious reasons it also made me think of Triumph of the Will, but that's somewhat tangential to what's actually in the film so I'll leave it alone for now.

Personally, I thought the most powerful effect was Tom Hardy's voice. It's a really beautiful voice and the how it's used almost felt like a Terrence Malick-esque narration. It really felt to me like he was sharing the same space and breath with us in the audience, which I found very unsettling given his words and actions. In particular, that part where he compliments the little boy's voice really got to me, but I liked how he could also be taken as commenting on himself. The way his amplified and slightly artificial-sounding voice is introduced, before you ever even see Bane's body or mask, leads me tho believe that it was a deliberate effect on the part of the writers and I'm really glad that the theater I saw it in had a good sound system turned all the way up. I liked other stuff about the movie too but that's the first thing that grabbed me, and then stuck with me all night.

I'll read through the rest of the thread and see what other people thought.

Gee whiz, brick, you sure are perceptive. Much more than anyone else here. You may be the most perceptive person on the whole internet.

DKR dropped the ball on execution of a largely unengagingly obvious story and even mishandled juggling its large cast. The film was bloated, uneven, and surprisingly neglectful of making a genuine connection with its audience while too often busily going through the motions. DKR lacked some of the heart and ingenuity of the first two films. It was an acceptable enjoyable ride, but not even on par with BBegins,

I know you'll just keep coming back with "You didn't get the deeper meaning, you're only nit-picking, ect." so I'm not even going to bother because you'll only condescending explain over and over that it's our fault for not getting the profound significance of a middling redemption story.

It was a good film overall but definitely not great, and yes, for that, I was disappointed. It seemed like Nolan was coasting on fumes for the big finale. And I did like Bane.

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On the surface this movie just isn't that good, i think you know it and that's why your trying so hard to search for other meanings and stuff that's not there. Why is it so hard for you to accept that Christopher Nolan is capable of making a straight forward action movie? He did it with batman begins and the dark night and this one is no different. As someone even mentioned before Nolan Even felt the need to hold are hand through the ending instead of just showing Alfred sitting there with a smile, he felt the need to show us the bat got fixed and then showed us Wayne sitting there (plain and simple). Batman is just classic batman vs villain and I think you fail to accept that he didn't deliver the goods this time.

The more I think about the film, the less I am enamored by it. And I've been thinking about it a lot. Too many logical gaps. The concepts and ideological statements are there, but they don't seem very well grounded by the story. They're just themes thrown into a big vat.

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Thank you. At least that was real criticism for a change. It only took 12 pages to get there.


A) Because he's slightly better than that as proven with his entire filmmography (Yoda wrote an essay about it) and B) because it's all right there on the screen. In fact, some of the characters even say the words confirming what I'm talking about.

I've got a question for you; why do you think the things I'm talking about are not there?

I guess I made up the Patriot Act metaphor in The Dark Knight as well...

Because he's not Fellini or Malick, he's Nolan and he can't quite commit to totally letting go anymore. Maybe he could with Following or Memento, but now he tries to please everyone.

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^^^^ because its batman, it's a comic book movie between good and evil, bane and batman it's that simple. Nolan isn't better than that proven by this movie.

Right... I posted estimates for the Box Office a few days ago... here's the up to date figures...
... seems the estimates I put up were pretty accurate though.


Rises made $161 million on it's opening weekend (friday-sunday), making it the most succesful 2D movie opening weekend in history. Second place for 2D movies opening weekend goes to The Dark Knight.


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In the grande scheme of things though for opening weekends...

... Harry Potter Hallows part 2 is #1 on the list at $207 million, second place for opening weekends goes to Avengers with $169 million.
Meaning Twilight New Moon has been pushed into fourth, like I said it would.


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The opening day figures are that Harry Potter part 2 is still on top at $91m, Avengers in second place with $77m...

... Rises has made it to 3rd place with an opening day box office of $75.8m.


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As far as midnight viewings go (midnight thursday going into friday)... Rises made a staggering $30 million, compared to Avengers' $18 million.
Rises is still second on the list though, Harry Potter Hallows part 2 made £43 million on midnight showings.
Still though, in the 2D format, Rises is still top of the list for midnight showings.




Meaning out of all movies released in the 2D format, Rises is the most succesful in terms of opening day, opening weekend and midnight viewings.
Harry Potter and Avengers seem to be the achilles heel for TDKR in the grande scheme of things though.

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Interesting, wonder if it would of beat The Avengers if it was in 3D.

I think you missed the point of the comics/stories

Not talking about the comics I was just saying its a comic book movie and that is the jist of them.

Despite the fact that Alfred tells Wayne that he is on a self destructive suicide path? Despite the fact that Wayne says to the doctor "I'm not afraid to die" to which the doctor says "that's why you failed"? Despite the fact that he literally climbs out of a hole in the ground defeating the prison and his own personal demons? Despite the fact that every Nolan film has told stories on multiple levels, literally and figuratively?

Comic books can be and often are a bit more complex than that. You're overreaching to make your point, and your criticism is way too broad. You could be describing the vast majority of action films in general. This is not about your painfully stereotypical views on comics, this is about how successfully DKR pulled off the conclusion of Nolan's Batman saga. Some loved it, and felt the emotional journey carried the film despite the weak and muddled script. Some couldn't overlook the glaring problems enough to buy into that not-well-earned sentiment.

In other words, give it a rest with the comic book hater talk. You sound like somebody's bitter old grandpa complaining them thar comix'll rot yer brain, k thanx bai.

Yea I was watching thinking, "let the crappier action movies have time limits/time bombs, Nolan should know better".

The bomb and the countdown kept reminding me of Flash Gordon, "Batman I love you, but we only have 14 hours to save the city!"

I don't think I could have taken it seriously even if I wasn't thinking of that though, constant reminders that time was running out but never any sense of urgency. Or indeed that time was passing.

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Wow, never knew it done that well in the box office!

Here's a great list of legit complaints about the film. It pretty much nails it.

Yeah right.

There was a deeper meaning?

You are much kinder than me.
The movie sucked.

It was a waste of my time and my money.
I think there are just a lot of people who want to like it so badly, their making excuses rather than acknowledging the simple fact that the final film of a trilogy is often difficult and this one was worst than most.

Offical Novelisation coming soon for TDKR... will have lots of info apparently about the movie and an explanation about where The Joker was after all the Arkham Asylum prisoners were released by Bane.