Dark Knight Rising

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:30 am

(or T"he Dark Knight Rises" to everyone outside of Japan)

I've been a big fan of Bane ever since Knightfall. From Vengeance of Bane up through Infinite Crisis, he had probably the best arc of any villain. One of the many things that set Bane apart from most every other Bat-Rouge was that he had actual reasons to do what he did. And, to a point, he's genuinely sympathetic.

So, the Bane that showed up in Dark Knight Rising was as faithful to the spirit of the comic book character as I could have hoped for. Costume completely different? Yes. Venom completely absent? Yes. Origin tweaked? Not nearly as much as I'd have expected, but yes (and the rest of his origin isn't so much absent from the movie as it is split up).

I can't help but feel that, choosing Bane for the lead villain in the final installment in his Batman franchise was sort of Nolan showing off. "Hey, you know that grunting musclebag that was shoehorned into the movie that ended the last franchise? I'm gonna use him in my final installment. Leonardo DiCaprio is on board to play the Riddler? **** that!"

Dark Knigh Rising was Vengeance of Bane, Knightfall, No Man's Land, and Dark Knight Returns packed together in cinematic slipcase. Was there some things that required the suspension of disbelief? Yes. Moreso than a billionaire ninja vigilante with a cosplay fetish? No. No. No.

This is the Batman movie I always wanted and NEVER thought I'd get. I kind of want to send Nolan a thank you card.

Post by **Best First** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 11:18 am

I thought it was great, but not quite as great as all the hype suggested. People seem to have gone a bit doolally over it.

Plus it didn't come out on my birthday and Avengers did so Avengers is automatically better.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Wed Aug 01, 2012 1:09 pm

Best First wrote:I thought it was great, but not quite as great as all the hype suggested. People seem to have gone a bit doolally over it.

Plus it didn't come out on my birthday and Avengers did so Avengers is automatically better.

...I wouldn't know. For some reason (that I'd could probably Google) Marvel Studios movies take months to come out in Japan. Avengers is scheduled to come out in the middle of August. As a consequence, I've never seen a Marvel Studios movie in a theater. Their movies come out SO long after their US release, I've always opted to just wait another month (or week) or so and just import the Blu-Ray.

A movie ticket in Japan costs 1,800 yen (about 21 USD) in most places. 3-D movies generally add an extra 200 yen to the cost. Importing the Blu-Ray is only slightly more expensive. If I bring date, the Blu-Ray is actually cheaper.

That's my little rant about Marvel Studios.

Can't really speak to the DKR hype. Hadn't really noticed much of it.

Uniclo, a clothing store, has a line of Dark Knight Rising t-shirts. One of them features that first promo picture of Bane in front of a classic Soviet propaganda-like drawing of Gotham City. The text on the front reads "I'VE GOT YOUR BACK"

Instantly my favorite piece of Batman merch of all time.

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:17 am

So I saw this the day it came out, and it's been on my mind for days...
Right, I think bane is dull. I couldn't hear him half the time and he's just some muscle bound thug. I know him in the comics and it works better but on film it just seems dull.

The 2nd film thanks to Heath is better paced, more exciting and the villian scary.

There's not. A single moment bar the stupid reveal in rises that is a surprise, it's all very by the. Numbers.

OK I did enjoy rises, I found it hard to watch at times its quite depressing but it's a good film just not as good as number 2.

One last thing, when batman fights bane.
Batman gauntlets are knuckle dusters, it doesn't matter how tough bane is a few huts on the temple would smash his skull apart... I found THAT fight unbelievable.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:20 am

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:I couldn't hear him half the time and he's just some muscle bound thug. I know him in the comics and it works better but on film it just seems dull.

I think that if it hadnt been for the former, you wouldn't have come away thinking the latter.

Mr_Tigg · Post by **Mr_Tigg** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:32 am

Impactor returns 2.0 wrote:So I saw this the day it came out, and it's been on my mind for days...
Right, I think bane is dull. I couldn't hear him half the time and he's just some muscle bound thug. I know him in the comics and it works better but on film it just seems dull.

The 2nd film thanks to Heath is better paced, more exciting and the villian scary.

There's not. A single moment bar the stupid reveal in rises that is a surprise, it's all very by the. Numbers.

OK I did enjoy rises, I found it hard to watch at times its quite depressing but it's a good film just not as good as number 2.

One last thing, when batman fights bane.
Batman gauntlets are knuckle dusters, it doesn't matter how tough bane is a few huts on the temple would smash his skull apart... I found THAT fight unbelievable.

I'm totally on the same page as you. Thought it was an ok film, but compared to TDK it was very underwhelming.

Bane is a great villain with a lot of potential, but in TDKR he was a poor man's Joker. I didn't find him menacing, and I didn't really understand his motive. His decision making and scheming seemed quite random (as oppose to Joker's "maximum chaos" approach) and he just created a limp impression as a rival to Batman.

Also found his mask bizarrely off putting - like not being able to see his mouth somehow made him seem less threatening. The eyes weren't enough really.

Did Bane die at the end? The shotgun gets blown out of his hand, he flies off aaaaannnd....that's it? Poor editing if you ask me.

Aside from the villain, considering Nolan's Batman films are deliberately more grounded in reality than traditional superhero films, I found some of the scenes in this film rather farfetched. The whole "Gotham held to ransom" was forced, and tough to buy in too.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:44 am

Mr_Tigg wrote:I didn't really understand his motive.

They seem to have relied on people remembering exactly what the League of Shadows were all about. Ie burning it all down to start again. Or something. I can't quite remember.

Post by **Best First** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 12:51 pm

i kind of got the motive after the reveal, it was basically cruel revenge on a whole city, but with their suffering ultimatley a way to hurt Batman- the slow knife analogy. Carrying on the Leaugue's work in the cruelest way possible for this particular target.

I was less keen that the 'cover' plan - give the city to the 'people' felt like an echo of the Joker's campaign from the last film.

They got me with the reveal - i was initially suss, but i thought the boardroom scene would have been when a move was made, so that was nice.

Bane i by and large understood and he had some good lines. Not as good as the Joker but i found him quite fun.

Think the worst bit was probably cramming in Knightfall - having someone break their back and then recover (with the help of Tom Conti!!) in the space of 50 minutes of film is a bit too truncated an emotional journey for me.

I don't think referencing back to the first film was a particularly bad thing. It's been presented as part of a trilogy and therefore some of the payoff is across the three films, not just that last one. I think it kind of got that right with the (non) ending.

Oh, and Hathaway. Fantastic.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Thu Aug 02, 2012 1:24 pm

I don't want to sound cynical. But I feel that the only way that DKR would have lived up to TDK in the eyes (and subconscious) of the fans were if Tom Hardy had died six months before the film opened...

Post by **Kaylee** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 4:59 pm

Professor Smooth wrote:I don't want to sound cynical. But I feel that the only way that DKR would have lived up to TDK in the eyes (and subconscious) of the fans were if Tom Hardy had died six months before the film opened...

I think there might be some truth in that...

I really, really liked it regardless

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Aug 04, 2012 11:32 pm

First two hours, meh.

Last hour fantastic. 3.5 out of 4 for me.

Nolan understands the power of music better than most.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 1:53 am

Best First wrote: Think the worst bit was probably cramming in Knightfall - having someone break their back and then recover (with the help of Tom Conti!!) in the space of 50 minutes of film is a bit too truncated an emotional journey for me.

I felt the same way, and found out Nolan actually wanted to make this two films. I think the obvious reason was the whole 'recovery and rise' of Bruce from that torture pit really needed more time. Given the time constraints, what he did with that scene though was masterful and was actually my favorite part of the movie.

I kind of look at this movie as Part 2 of the first, the focus being the League of Shadows. The first and this film are about an organization bent on making the world a better place in their own extreme way, whereas the second is just an intermission to that story where the villian is just a crazy lunatic with no ulterior motive other than pure anarchy.

Apparently there was to be a scene in this film where, after Bane opens all the prison cell doors to let all the criminals out, he comes to the smiling Jokers cell who is also about to make his exit, but Bane shuts his prison cell as if to say "Yeah, not you though. You're too crazy even for me", then the Joker just sits back down with that crazy grimace on his face. Think that would have been awesome and they should have included it.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:21 pm

I think whether the speed with which Bruce recovers and jumps out of the pit aren't meant to be realisitic, whether or not they work will I think depend on if the viewer goes with them being thematically right (tying in with the importance of will power, self belief and the need for icons that goes through the trilogy) over them being real world plausible.

I'm not entirely decided myself.

Mind, it's probably an improvement on the Radio One (and presumably original comic?) version where Bruce's back is fixed by MIND MAGIC.

Professor Smooth · Post by **Professor Smooth** » Tue Aug 07, 2012 1:32 am

inflatable dalek wrote:
Mind, it's probably an improvement on the Radio One (and presumably original comic?) version where Bruce's back is fixed by MIND MAGIC.

Off panel, no less.

Post by **snarl** » Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:49 pm

Thought it was amazing.

Anne Hathaway's arse. Christ on a bike.

Optimus Prime Rib · Post by **Optimus Prime Rib** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:37 am

snarl wrote:Thought it was amazing.

Anne Hathaway's arse. Christ on a bike.

no.
Anne hathaway's arse on a bike.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 12:53 am

I'd certainly nail it on my cross.

Post by **snarl** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:18 am

[/quote]no.
Anne hathaway's arse on a bike.[/quote]

Teed that joke up nice didn't I

I would tear hear apart. Seriously can't stop thinking about her arse.

wideload · Post by **wideload** » Fri Aug 10, 2012 11:01 pm

Found it very entertaining for the most part.

The plot holes I could deal with, well except one. The whole bit about the nuclear weapon was cheesy. An experimental nuclear reactor that has the potential to be a nuclear weapon underneath a major city though....really?

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:55 pm

Finally saw this, on IMAX no less.

I was happy with it. I thought Bane as a character worked better than I would have anticipated. However, I wish they would have carried the political allegory a bit further: the first half of the movie Bane is channeling Occupy (now with unlimited free energy!), and then it just devolves into bad people with a nuke who want to kill the poor and the rich. I did like the whole Patriot Act/Dent Act allegory though. Nicely done, and the ability to carry those kinds of themes through three movies is why this trilogy will be remember as the one that truly captured the zeitgeist of early 21st Century US.

Also appreciated the fact that I didn't see Talia coming. Considering I had already spoiled myself more or less on the ending, that was a nice surprise.

To me, the biggest problem that stuck out was the whole "Bane beats down an already degenerating Bruce, broken back Bruce sits around in a pit with little medical assistance or food, Bruce gets out of pit, gets back to Gotham in 12 hours, and beats Bane straight up." Apparently the first time around, the World's Greatest Detective didn't think of the idea that a breathing apparatus might indicate some weakness in the mouth region. Also there was that whole thing of "Yes, the stock exchange was attacked by terrorists who shot up everything and hacked into the world financial system, but we're quite sure that was you making billions of dollars of crappy trades in the last 24 hours, Mr. Wayne."

Also, Robin was a bit too cute for me. Did we really need to all go out on to the bridge with a bus full of kids just to have him throw away his badge in disgust? That whole part was clunky. I would have preferred to see him become disillusioned with the system when Bane read Gordon's speech. I can understand where they were coming from, with the whole, "if we NEVER say Robin, then average moviegoer won't get it," and certainly if you know Batman, the second Blake says he's an orphan flashing lights are going off. But f*** that, I still would have like Richard or Tim.

inflatable dalek · Post by **inflatable dalek** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:25 am

Shanti418 wrote:However, I wish they would have carried the political allegory a bit further: the first half of the movie Bane is channeling Occupy (now with unlimited free energy!), and then it just devolves into
bad people with a nuke who want to kill the poor and the rich.

Don't forget though, any resemblance to Wall Street (and indeed the London riots) is entirely coincidental, they were in the middle of filming when those events happened so there's no way a script written beforehand would be able to take what happened into account, let alone explore the allegory to its fullest extent.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:33 pm

inflatable dalek wrote:
Shanti418 wrote:However, I wish they would have carried the political allegory a bit further: the first half of the movie Bane is channeling Occupy (now with unlimited free energy!), and then it just devolves into
bad people with a nuke who want to kill the poor and the rich.
Don't forget though, any resemblance to Wall Street (and indeed the London riots) is entirely coincidental, they were in the middle of filming when those events happened so there's no way a script written beforehand would be able to take what happened into account, let alone explore the allegory to its fullest extent.

That's certainly true. But it didn't have to be a direct allegory. I just felt that Bane as a bad guy and Bane as a plot point went from morally gray to "bad guy that wants to kill everybody" from the first half to the second half. From Magneto to Darth Vader.

bumblemusprime · Post by **bumblemusprime** » Sun Sep 02, 2012 4:01 pm

I FINALLY SAW IT!

God, trying to see that movie--any movie--in the last month has been like trying to catch Anne Hathaway's arse on a bike.

What I thought... I thought Dark Knight was contrived and full of plotholes and liked it nonetheless. Same deal here.

Really enjoyed it more than Dark Knight, though. The story overall is a bit tighter and Nolan proved that he can write a woman as something other than a passive plot device. As passive plot devices go, Rachel was interesting enough, but Catwoman makes a fantastic wild card. As far as I'm concerned, she stole the third movie as completely as Ledger did the second.

I was really convinced that she was gone at the end, before she came back and blew a big hole through Bane.

Loved the Talia reveal since Nolan had been so assiduous about denying Tate's real identity in the press releases.

Yeah, I... loved it. I think it'll take another view, possibly in conjunction with the other Nolan films, to figure out my final stance.

Obfleur · Post by **Obfleur** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 3:52 pm

I loved it

Saw it twice at the movies.

The first Batman VS Bane fight really got my heart racing.

Pre-ordered the DVD a couple of weeks ago. Will have a Batman Day when it arrives