The Dark Knight Rises. [Spoilers obviously]

[Alex]

So yeah, just got back from seeing it. Not a huge fan of it honestly, I think it's the worst of the trilogy. Now one reason for this is they crammed too much in, which I expected from the trailers, I mean there's Catwoman, who isn't related to cats or called Catwoman at all, Bane with no Venom and nothing superhuman about him, Talia al Ghul/Miranda Tate and the love triangle between Selina, her, and Bruce, which started because Bruce fell in love with her after seeing each other for fifteen minutes, plus she was the entire reason Bane was doing anything, which I though was a weak attempt of tossing her and her father into the plot (As in her only being Talia for the last 10-15 minutes, and doing nothing except extend the bomb problems.), that new cop, who's name is Robin, does what he can to help an orphanage, figures out who Batman is when he lived at said orphanage, and in the end decides the police aren't for him, and he then gets sent to the Batcave, Gordan's entire thing, from being shot to being the most active/useful cop a month later. and on top of that there's Batman.

All this results in too little focus on the lead characters in my opinion, even though the film is three hours long. Though, I didn't like the whole "pretend Batman died, but then he actually didn't at the end. He just escaped a nuke with the range of six miles in two seconds, without any explanation of course, which is just so he can give up being Batman, and hand the Batcave over to Robin. Though the general stupidity of everyone on the hero side bugged me as well, it's of course mostly people who aren't Batman, Gordan, Catwoman, or Robin, but even they had some very dumb moments.

[Ŀėx.]

SPOILER: Click to show

I loved the whole thing!! They did have a lot in this movie (that's why it was 3 hours long) but I think they pulled if off nicely. Building it up and then finishing it off in entirety.

I liked how Nolan gave a nod to characters without completely adopting their comic book versions (which are often exaggerated and campy - good for comics, not good for the type of film he was going for). So I can understand why he avoided calling Selina Catwoman and didn't give her a whip or a sort of control/obsession with cats, merely making her a skilled burglar with goggles that hinted at her original character.
He also seemed to mix all three boy wonders (Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake) into one detective named Robin (hinting to the character but at the same time making something more believable than Batman kidnapping a kid from the circus and having him fight crime in a leotard).
I always thought Bane was silly having that giant tube exposed on his back that was easily cut with a batarang and then he was done, so I liked his redesign. I also liked how they tied him in with the League of Shadows, it explained why he was targeting Gotham, and he did seem to have above average strength. Just not the unrealistic Jekyll and Hyde bulking up. After all, his comic character was always so much more than that. He was a genius that rivaled Bruce.
Nolan seems to be making it less about super powers, but that should be no surprise. In his Batman universe super heroes like Superman, aliens, and magic don't exist.
Talia was a nice twist, but perhaps only to comic book fans who were hoping for it? I was disappointed with her death though.

I plan on seeing it many more times in the theatres, and then buying it. ^^ I thought the whole revolution was relevant and thought provoking. And the faked death had to be done really. While he was Bruce Wayne, those who knew he was Batman hounded him about his obligation. So by faking his death, people can stop guilting him into killing himself for the city. >_>

Edit:; One of my favorite parts was the courtroom with the pile of desks and Scarecrow. X3
The casting surpassed my expectations (Joseph Gordon-Levitt vs Shia Labeouf for sidekicks anyone?).

[Alex]

[Also if anyone's wondering why I'm not using spoiler tags, it's cause if you look here before seeing the movie, and then whine about spoilers, you deserve it.]

I didn't feel that way, they had so much going on that the scenes just kept changing, and couldn't focus on anyone. Selina gets practically no character development until she goes back to help Batman, you learn she's a manipulative master thief with a blonde partner, and that's all there is. She was just really wasted in my opinion, if they'd actually DONE something with her I wouldn't mind so much, but save for the romance angle, her role could have easily been filled by pretty much anyone since it came down to "help Batman". Sure there was the whole "lure Batman into a trap" thing, but that could have been done without her just as easily, she just stood there the entire time anyway. Also, if he's fine with calling people Batman, Joker, Scarecrow, and Two-Face, I don't see why Catwoman is a problem.

I'd have liked him better if he was Dick, rather than a jumble of three Robins. And he, like Selina, felt wasted, he was there so Batman could retire after he got sick of how the police force worked. Once again he really didn't do anything, they went out of their way to pull him out of the important things, he wasn't going underground with EVERY other cop just so he could investigate around the city TOTALLY ALONE, and later wasn't sent to aid in the fighting so that he could tell Gothamites to escape, once again on his own. The most important thing he did was talk Bruce into being Batman again, which like Selina's "big moment" could have been filled by anyone, specifically from visiting Gordan like a normal person.

Yes that is a rather stupid thing with comic Bane, but considering this one has a mask that "feeds" him a gas to dull the pain, even though it's not connected to anything, isn't really much better. Since it fails to explain why he's stronger than anyone else, Batman's armor doesn't even help in the slightest with his attacks. It also seems like they went the "no pain = no damage" route with him, as he never has a problem, or damage, until the mask is damaged. But no, this one wasn't a genius, he just knew how to screw with people's minds, he wasn't as smart as Batman, but he was smarter than the other Bane. One thing I can't stop thinking about was, that if the pain from the mask working at about 50% was too much for him to take, how does he eat?

Talia was once again wasted, her reveal was fifteen minutes from the end of the movie, and aside from having some more cops shot she really doesn't do anything except extend the bomb thing into a chase scene, which could have been done by Bane. But the worst part about her reveal was that Batman tossed her a GUN and said "cover the door", after he went through that entire "no guns" thing with Selina, even though he has a bunch of guns on his vehicles. Why would he expect her to know how to use a gun? Why would he TELL her to use one? If it got to the point of him giving someone a gun and telling them to actually use it, then you'd think he would be going for killing people, and he wasn't, but he still killed Talia and her driver anyway.

Selina, Talia, and Robin all just came off as ways to reference the comics more than actual characters. As for the revolution, it wasn't really thought provoking in my mind, save for how stupid the people in Gotham were. "Oh yes, the Police Commissioner lied about Harvey Dent, so lets want those violent criminals who were arrested under the Harvey Dent act released", I mean there wasn't really a revolution at all. It was just another way for Bane to screw with people's heads. It was more of a way to keep people in the city, if it actually was something other than that, sure okay, but it wasn't. I mean when you think about it, Bane and Talia WERE GOING TO NUKE THE CITY WHILE THEY WERE STILL THERE, which would totally defeat the purpose of their plans, and was nothing like Ra's al Ghul's plans.

They simply wanted that one city destroyed, and that was all, they weren't trying to change/save the world, they simply wanted to destroy the city, and then they weren't going to destroy it until the day that the bomb would have gone off anyway, five months after they revealed the bomb. I mean they never had any intention of not nuking the city, so why would they wait in the first place? And I liked how their entire plan hinged on the reactor that they couldn't have known about, but still kidnapped a nuclear physicist for. But the revolution served no purpose save to give Batman time to heal, it didn't mean anything even in their plans.

And that's my issue with that part, Batman is supposed obsessed with it, that was Alfred's issue the entire time, either he was locking himself up to avoid everything, or he was out being Batman rather than being Bruce. He was obsessed in the other two movies, but at the end of this one he just wants to give up and pass it on to Robin. I mean the only person who did hound him about becoming Batman again was Robin, Alfred hounded him about NOT being Batman, and no one else knew. Gordan knows now, but now that he does know, Gordan thinks he's dead. Selina knew who he was eventually, but wanted him to stop being Batman and leave with her instead. If anything I'd expect the entire incident to make him decide to stay as Batman, since that's what the movie was building up to that point.

It was all a build up to show why he needed to be Batman, and that he'd never get over it, but then that's tossed aside so that he can live a nice peaceful life with Selina. It just would have been a much better ending to me if he was actually dead, since it fits the character better, I mean he's not near as obsessed as the comic, Arkham series, or animated series Batmans, but he's obsessed enough that "quitting" to live with Selina is odd, even his retiring prior to the movie was odd, I'd have expected Rachel's death to push him toward being Batman more, not make him give it up.

But oh well, it was still good, and I didn't expect it to be perfect, just wish it could have been better than TDK was.

[Ŀėx.]

These posts still show up in the 20 most recent posts, so I figured spoiler tags on my part wouldn't hurt ;)

SPOILER: Click to show

I think Selina and Robin were less there for their own development and more there for Batman's development. He had to retire. The doctor made that evident. Alfred made that evident. And Selina and Robin made that possible. This movie was about how he moved on. I feel him dying would be anticlimactic and depressing. And in the previous two movies he talked to Rachel about how he wanted to move on, he was just waiting for a replacement. I thought it wrapped things up nicely.

The revolution was just there so Batman could watch his city fall. It served no other purpose. This had become more than just taking down Gotham, it was now about getting revenge. The obsession and planning that went into this, I don't doubt Talia and Bane cared whether they made it out or not. As long as they got revenge and fulfilled her father's plan. Just like any other of the league of shadows.
You don't think Bane exhibited above average intelligence? To bring a plan like that together is more than most of Batman's villains could do. But I suppose you could argue he did not come up with the plan, just had the ability to execute it.
And the fact that their plan seemed to hinge on a machine they previously did not seem to know about was odd. But I can only guess that since they seemed to know about his arsenal downstairs in the Wayne building, then they knew more about his company than he realized.

Scarecrow, TwoFace, and Joker make sense. Crane explained why he used a scarecrow at one point, along with his fear gas, to make sane people believably crazy. TwoFace was a nickname (though the fact that they kept the half and half costume was a little out there, but he did go crazy so who knows, maybe he decided to get into fashion design too). Joker liked theatrics.

To make Catwoman, Catwoman, they'd give her an unbelievable obsession with cats which would've deterred from the plot rather than add to it. In this version, she was not some kleptomaniac, but a girl with a hard life and a skill, who did what she was good at in an attempt to start over. She did not have unnatural cat like reflexes, carry a whip, or commune with cats. But you're right I suppose, they could've called her Catwoman anyway. I found it a lot less irksome than Halle Berry's name change, Patience Phillips.

You mentioned Gordon's recovery, which happened in a longer amount of time than Bruce Wayne healing from his broken back. And Gordon was in a legit hospital. Though I don't know much about these things.

And the whole Gothamites freed convicts because of Bane's speech. I don't believe they did. It clearly showed Bane's followers doing the freeing.

As for the whole 'no guns' thing. Batman told Selina that because he knew she could take care of herself without it. He clearly doesn't object to the police using guns for defense.

And lol you're right, I didn't think about how he was supposed to eat. lol

Has anyone else seen the movie?