I saw this movie with my brother today. It lived up to the hype in my opinion. I definitely recommend it.
For others who saw the movie, what did you think? Please hide spoilers, and if you haven't seen the movie then beware.
While I never read the comics, I watched some of the cartoons, so I really should have seen the Talia twist coming even if I didn't know which person it would be. Especially with the scenes of Ra's al Ghul's child and the mysterious person defending them as they escaped.
Something that's been bugging me though... Obviously Heath Ledger's death made it nearly impossible for the Joker to reappear, but in terms of the story, where the heck was he the entire time? Did the baddies kindly leave all the people in Arkham Asylum locked up?
I enjoyed watching the movie, but left the theatre feeling dissatisfied. Obviously the movie was long. Fair enough. But the last twenty to forty minutes did not hold my interest in the way the first two hours+ did.
Basically after the plot twist I found the movie to be predictable. All the major players were near each other, playing out their objectives. There were no twists. Nothing to keep me guessing. I was hoping there was something else to keep me interested.
From the moment I heard that there was no autopilot, I went "Oh man. Please let that be the way they end this. That would take huge balls as a director to actually finish this out that way." I knew in my heart that the director wouldn't and couldn't, and I held onto that thought and slight sadness through to the end credits.
I understand where you're coming from. But there was the last minute twist where the reactor got flooded which I didn't see coming at all. Sure, after that, I knew exactly what Batman was going to do, but before that everything seemed okay.
I do have a bit of dissatisfaction though.
I mean, Bruce Wayne badly wants to save Gotham this one time, then he "kills" Batman so he doesn't have to deal with the city anymore. If he's done with being Batman, that's fine and I understand, but why pretend Batman dies? After the conversation with Blake where Bruce says anyone can be Batman, the logical thing to do is just have Blake take over. But now, what, Blake will just be a solo Robin?
To be honest, I wasn't happy with the ending of The Dark Knight either, for more than one reason.
1. The whole taking the fall for Harvey thing was silly. The "hero Gotham needs" and "hero Gotham deserves" stuff was good poetry but bad logic. But I guess Bruce was tired of the whole hero thing.
2. Batman doesn't kill anyone. He'll let Ra's al Ghul die, sure, but he doesn't kill. Except when he kills Harvey. And this happens right after his conversation with the Joker...
3. Batman, or any police officer, never bothers to explain to Harvey that Batman thought he was going to save Rachel. Maybe it's too late at this point to keep him from being insane, but nobody ever considers sharing that piece of information.
4. In retrospect, the faked death of Gordon was kind of silly as well.
Saw it yesterday and must say that I'm kinda disappointed. Don't take it that I don't enjoy intelligent movies (which this is, to some degree), but where was the action? I mean,...
First part of the movie we have Bruce Wayne locked up in his room after giving up being Batman, then, after a single chase with the bad guys he promptly gets his ass kicked and spends the second part of the movie locked up in jail. And the finale? He finally gets to kick some ass, but somehow (to me) comes off less capable than the plethora of supporting good guys, especially Commissioner Gordon.
Most of the action where batman is involved consists of him flying in the Batcopter, which was nice, but not so exciting as it could be IMO. Most of the movie then consists of us watching the bad guys executing their plans without anybody standing in their way. Tom Hardy was awesome, while not a better villain than ledger's Joker, he felt much more dangerous. You can't go wrong with Batman slugging it out with Bronson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronson_(film)), right?
Anyway, I'm gonna go see the movie again, simply because I promised a friend to go with her, but then I got to see the premiere for free, so hopefully it will be better the second time, but strangely, right now I don't remember a single memorable scene to look forward to seeing again (though I'm sure there are some).
Also, it's such a shame Heath Ledger died, since the scenes with Dr. Crane (Scarecrow from the first two movies) would have definitely been built around the Joker.
BTW, I believe this thread doesn't offer anything for people who don't want to read the spoilers... maybe we should edit the title with *unmarked spoilers inside* and talk openly? Maybe in a couple of days/weeks.
I saw the movie a couple days ago and I think this video review (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escape-to-the-movies/6064-The-Dark-Knight-Rises) sums up my opinions pretty well.
It was okay, but it did not live up to the hype. It had serious pacing issues, (it did not need to be almost three hours long) and while it did a good job of upping the stakes, I felt kind of disappointed in the end. (It definitely wasn't as good as Dark Knight)
I do rather like that it has strong, intelligent female characters and that Catwoman and Miranda have strong philosophical motives for their actions and aren't just there to look pretty. (though, they're good at looking pretty too) :)
Also, this may be a reflection of my twisted sense of humour, but the ending reminded me strongly of this scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4v1hAnfy1I) from another Batman movie.
Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb. :D
Also, this may be a reflection of my twisted sense of humour, but the ending reminded me strongly of this scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4v1hAnfy1I) from another Batman movie.
You're not the only one. It crossed my mind that it was a homage.
I also find it funny that both this movie and The Avengers end with a billionaire in high-tech flying machine on a suicide mission to get a nuclear bomb away from a city.
Funny coincidence.
Finally saw it, so I thought I'd see what you've had to say so far.
I agree with Tavana about the ending; actually, I think it should have ended with Wayne's death for multiple reasons, the most important one being the feel of the movies. I couldn't watch more than 5 minutes of any given X-Men movie, and haven't even bothered with Spiderman/Thor/Daredevil/Iron Man/you name it. Same goes for the previous Batman incarnations.
I hadn't given Batman begins any attention, but then I was sparked (by scenes of Ledger, I think) and went to see The Dark Knight - and was pleasantly horrified by the no-nonsense terroristic approach to threat and violence. The death of Wayne - or even the absence of hope of his survival - would have been the cherry on top.
I had not expected Bane to be more impressive than Ledger's Joker, but he was a worthy follow-up nonetheless. What bother me, though, is that his plan to destroy Gotham clearly involved getting himself and his loved one killed in the process as well - it's not like they were in a hurry to get out of the blast radius with a mere 11 minutes to spare. For a character more or less defined by the word 'survival', this seems like a very stupid thing to do. Or more like a bet-ya-hadn't-thought-of-that-had-ya-Nolan? thing to do. Especially when Talia - who lives to see Wayne die - agrees to this plan even while Wayne himself is somewhere else entirely, alive and unguarded (nice homage as well).
And as to the secret identity: I understand why Alfred, Lucius, Bane and Talia know who Batman really is. I also understand Gordon's revelation at the end of the movie, although it seems a bit far-fetched. How the hell did Blake know?! He starts explaining this halfway through the movie, and ends up not doing so at all.
All in all: I'm still watching Batman Begins, to have the complete story, and I'll probably see The Dark Knight a second time, since it was very impressive. Should Robin Begins / The Boy Wonder Rises show in a couple of years, I'll definitely not be bothered. I fear this series is going to be Saw all over again: 1 brilliant movie, 2 mandatory sequels, N pieces of rehashed crap. Pity.
I recommend watching Batman Begins and Dark Knight in quick succession. Their pacing work pretty well as a single long movie.
The thing I'd hate about batman dying in the end - it would make him look totally incompetent, never doing anything right in the movie. I mean, first he draws the attention from Bane allowing his to escape, then he gets his back broken is a fair fight, he doesn't see the betrayal coming and isn't even the one to finally defeat Bane. If he died in the end, I'd feel like the only good thing he managed to do through the movie was getting himself killed.
Oh, btw, IMO Iron Man (the first one) is an extremely entertaining action flick, nowhere near to dullness of most of the rest of the comic book movies.
...nowhere near to dullness of most of the rest of the comic book movies.
Iron Man is a high contender, but Sin City would probably have to take the "Best comic book movie of all time" award for me. A History of Violence, and Hellboy/Hellboy 2 are also fairly up there in the ranks.
When I watched Dark Knight, something bothered me, and I wasn't sure, so I went back and rewatched it painstakingly. I realized that Batman, while fighting, does not throw a single kick through the entire movie. I don't know why that bothers me, but it does. I know kicks are impractical in a lot of situations because you can get thrown off balance and a lot more can go wrong than a punch, but without like a sweeping roundhouse with the cape moving or a dropkick off a zipline, it doesn't feel like Batman to me. For anyone who wants to know, Dark Knight Rises does have a few kicks, I think about 4-5 (although this number does include a few kicks to people already on the ground! For shame, Batman!)