The Dark Knight Rises

I haven't seen it yet, but I have a question. A spoiler revealing question, maybe. Do they mention The Joker in the movie at all?

UPDATE: I know. Thanks, wintertriangles.

They toy with the Occupy Wall Street movement and class conflicts a bit in the film. I don't know if that's what you're talking about, but relegating a topic that is still quite fresh in our minds to a simple montage sequence felt a bit cheap. Especially with the ominous speech given by Catwoman earlier in the film.

Of course, the actual OWS movement feels like a cheap montage in real life as well...

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Seriously? I didn't think that would be possible. The main reason I'm not a massive fan of The Dark Knight is that I found it just so bleak and depressing. So if this is darker still then I don't fancy my chances of loving it.

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My thoughts exactly.

Just got home from seeing it. Virtually stayed away from the forum and the internet this week to avoid possible spoilers.

I feel that it is impossible to truly rate a film having just seen it. It needs time to simmer and churn in my brain, then I will watch it again, and again when it comes to DVD and make my mind up.

Generally though I'm getting that "it's epic great film, but not as good as Begins and TDK".

My excitement for the film was virtually at fever pitch so it was never going to match up to my expectation.

Perhaps even the great Nolan has struggled with the final hurdle of ending a trilogy.



I'm sure I ve got more to say but it's late and I'm in work in 7 hours.

No real big spoilers
The Dark Knight Rises: ***


Batman is a hell of a super hero. No super powers. Just strength, wits and some cool gadgets. I have seen every single Batman movie. I have different versions of this character. I have seen different directors different takes. None more different than Christoper Nolan's take on Gotham's greatest hero.

We are introduced to Bane (Tom Hardy) In a very interesting way. The scene is action filled and sets the tone for what kind of villain Bane is. Meanwhile Meanwhile we see Harvey Dent's funeral. James Gordon (Gary Oldman) wants to say what really happened. But he feels it isn't time.


Batman (Christian Bale) has been gone for eight years has the movie starts. We all know he took the fall for Harvey Dent's death. This also means that Bruce Wayne has been living in solitude for years too. The city sees the Dark Knight more as a villain rather than the hero he really is. He feels as if the city doesn't need him anymore.

He gets a visit from a lady named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). She is wearing something that belongs to him that she stole. She isn't just Selina Kyle. She is Catwoman.

There is a a new officer on the force too. John Blake (Joesph Gordon Levitt). He seems strangely intrigued by the Batman. He ends up revealing his past later and a connection to Batman. Blake and everyone thinks Gotham is okay. But Gordon knows it isn't. He just doesn't know what is brewing.

Bane has a plan. A plan that could leaves the whole city of Gotham in ruins. Bane is just an average villain. He isn't terrorizing. But he is tough and complex And Tom Hardy did his hardest to show that. We don't really know at first why Bane is doing what he is doing. Or what makes him tick. Bane also gets just as much screen time as Batman does.

Joesph Gordon Levitt really stood out in this film. He stole every scene he was in. Michael Caine as Alfred was great despite limited screen time. And Morgan Freeman as the genius inventor Lucius Fox delivered.

With all this the first half of the film is a chore. You see these characters all go into different directions. But the second half makes it worth the while. But I do wonder where Bane imprisons Batman.

This like the other Nolan Batman films are dark and heavy. Maybe more so. It goes full steam ahead on what a superhero movie is. It is inspiring and admirable that Nolan is able to combine anarchy, total destruction and a new Batman flying device all together and no 3D gimmick. The movie could have benefited from being more straightforward and also a better villain. But as finales go it is a proper send off to one of my favorite superheros.

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Going 18600 miles per second.

Just got back after thoroughly enjoying this and am sort of surprised that more didn't like it as much as me. Ah well. Looks like Sexy gets his wish and will have plenty of folks to join the hater parade.

Inb4 Sexy tells me he's not a hater. Ha!

Loved the flick and agree that It's as good as TDK. Really, really excellent story. Not getting those complaints, at all. But yeah, what can I say? I'm not gonna try to argue with too many of you that didn't love it. What's the point?

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We are both the source of the problem and the solution, yet we do not see ourselves in this light...

I'd like to start off and say that I enjoyed this movie. I know several people may have found some flaws with it. However, ever since the old Batman (with Jack Nicholson playing The Joker) came out, none of the Batman movies have been able to touch the original, except this movie.

There is something for everyone in this movie. Drama, action, even romance. This movie was well worth the four years it took to come out.

The action scenes in this movie were great. Bane vs Bats (round 1) kept me at the edge of my seat, the second half, me and the audience were cheering for Batman entirely. Let's not forget about Catwoman as well, she might of not had as much spotlight as Bane or Batman, but it was enough to really stand out in this movie, besides her general role as Selena. I felt that the plot had many twists and several aspects of the movie I didn't see coming, and when it happened I was really surprised, to say the least.

This movie is 2h 45 min for a reason, it takes that long to deliver the message.

The thing I hated the most ...

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I feel I was perhaps slightly overcritical in my earlier post.

Epic finale to an Epic trilogy/story.

9.5/10

Every one of your criticisms could be applied to The Dark Knight and yet, that film is universally praised while this one is getting the short end of the stick.

The Dark Knight Rises is no worse than The Dark Knight. And I loved them both equally.

The plot issues with TDK are significantly smaller and easier to fill in on our own. They're mainly "how could so and so be SURE this would happen?" as opposed to "this couldn't happen" or "this made no sense."

There's also some leeway when you bend likelihoods in order to do something really cool, as opposed to bending likelihoods (or breaking them outright) to do something pretty pedestrian. IE: I'll forigve The Matrix asking me to think you can die in real life by dying in a computer program, because it makes the entire movie possible. Plot conceits of that nature are inherent to most high concept movies, and tolerating them is pretty different than tolerating ones that could've been avoided.

Though I feel the need to reiterate that I like it fine. I just think The Dark Knight deserves all the praise it gets.

My review - http://www.movieforums.com/community...d.php?p=828478

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Well just come back and first thought's are meh.

Plot spoilers below (mild)

Thing's I hated.

- Bane came across abit lame towards the end, scary and he really stole the show at the start but towards the end seemed to go down hill.

- Bane takes the time out of taking over his city to take Wayne across the world to a prison, Wayne then returns later on but were not shown how exactly he managers to do so with no money and he's in a dessert. Also batman has enough time to make a bat signal and have a bloody shave while his city is getting terrorised.

- The movie seemed all over the place at times and I don't think Nolan had his heart in this movie like he did with the others.

- this movie came across abit over the top compared to the other movies.

- the story was very weak and seemed like Nolan tried to hard to link it to the other movies.



Things I liked.

- The Ending was put together nicely.

- Joseph Gordan Levitt stole the show without a doubt.

- loved How hardy used his body language with bane even if the voice was abit crappy.

- bale was great again as Wayne.

Quick thought about the one thing a couple of people have mentioned...

Interesting! never actually paid attention to this. But makes sense..

Concerning his 8-year absence. Crime was essentially gone from Gotham. He wasn't needed. In case you all weren't paying attention, Wayne is pretty depressed at the beginning of the film because he has nothing to do.

I've never seen so many nit-picky criticisms for a film. The truth is, most of you wanted this to live up to an idea that was bigger in your heads than it ever could hope to be. The film was a very good ending for a very good series.

Bane (3:23):



I'm watching this again tomorrow (TDKR, not The Lion King), because since the euphoria I felt after seeing it in Imax wore off I've found myself being more and more critical of it the more I think about it.

Right now my gut feeling is that this film feels like it was the result of an obliged filmmaker rather than an enthusiastic one, and I really really hope I change my mind tomorrow.

I wish I could be more enthusiastic about it, but there were so many moments that just didn't feel acceptable. The twist at the end for instance makes sense to me, I understand why it happens and it doesn't feel like it was thrown in like a spanner in the works, but the character in question isn't established enough and instead of causing a heart wrenching betrayal, it just undermines the other characters present and feels like a ticked box.

It's still a very good film, but of the 5 Nolan films I've now seen this was the least interesting.

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"When I was younger, I always wanted to be somebody. Now that I'm older, I realise I should've been more specific."

These discussions would be a shade friendlier if we could just discuss our disappointments and not have to be told we're imagining them. I spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff, and these movies in particular. Maybe you think I'm wrong, but I'm capable of understanding my own expectations and reflecting on films I'm excited about.

I like the movie plenty, as I keep saying. It's entirely possible to think the film is very good, and still have some complaints. And they're not huge complaints. I don't think they ruin the film; I'm more interested in how odd and unnecessary they seem. And if your position is just to say this stuff doesn't matter, okay, but why keep saying it? Obviously it matters to me, and some others, and no amount of browbeating is going to change that.

And for the record, I think the 8-year absence is great. I only wish I hadn't heard about it beforehand. That's part of the playing with time and the scale that I mentioned before. I like the audacity of it.