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Ok I just needed to write about this. I saw The Dark Knight Rises on Sunday and here are my thoughts about it
I'm going to preface this by saying that I don't want to rain on everyone's happy feelings about this movie. if you think this movie is perfect and feel outraged at anyone finding flaws in it, just... stop reading.
Ok so I was never a fan of these movies. I remember liking Batman Begins when it came out, and it took me a while to bring me to watch The Dark Knight because I was too sad about Heath Ledger (I know how ridiculous that sounds, I wasn't even a super huge fan of his). I was blown away by Heath's performance as the Joker but can't remember much else from the movie tbh.
I am not an anti-Nolan person or anything, I LOVE Inception for instance. I own the blu-ray even though I don't have a BR player yet.
Also, this post has a lot of criticisms, but I did like watching this movie. Just did not love it. I gave it 6/10 jsyk.
Ok let's go then.
I'll start with the things I did like, to ease you into this lol.
- getting excited because I recognized unexpected familiar faces from TV (Littlefinger! Owen Harper!)
- Anne Hathaway was pretty cool as Catwoman, though I've seen my fair share of badass women on TV and in movies and I can think of plenty I like better
- that Batmoto was SO COOL
- JGL!!! Loved him in this, but then I'm biased
- Michael Caine as Alfred, the (only) emotional anchor of this movie
- Gary Oldman is obviously awesome too but what else is new (though his character raised some issues for me, see below)
- the random return of Crane, and his tribunal, idk if it was intentional but I thought it was hilarious, it reminded me of Disney's Alice in Wonderland somehow
- solid cinematography & score, though nothing in parcticular "stayed with me"
ok now is your last chance to stop reading because this will often sound like a rant.
I'll start by poking into the inconsistencies. For a franchise supposed to be "omg so realistic for a superhero movie", I didn't expect so many of them. It's not that I expect a movie to be literally flawless. But when I'm actually distracted enough to think about them during the movie, it's just annoying.
1. How did Bruce Wayne, just recovered from a broken back and months spent in a mysterious prison in a mysterious country, manage to get so quickly to Gotham City? Seriously I almost shouted "WTF?" at the screen when he appeared. He was in an unknown possibly hostile country, with no money (and none to his name at this point of the story), no identification, no electronic devices, and somehow he manages to fly back to the US(!) and INSIDE isolated Gotham City just like that.
2. So Batman disappears for 8 years, and at the same time, Bruce Wayne becomes a recluse and hides in his manor for 8 years. Then he starts going out and Batman comes back. AND NO ONE MAKES THE CONNECTION. ESPECIALLY JIM GORDON. JIM GORDON WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU'RE GARY OLDMAN AND SHIT, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BRILLIANT AND YET IT TAKES YOU 3 MOVIES AND BATMAN HAS BASICALLY TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU IN FIERY LETTERS FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND. I AM DISAPPOINT. The opposite situation being Blake, who saw once Bruce in a car and knew straight away he was Batman. Because of the look in his eyes. Yeah, right.
3. Speaking of stupidity, so the Bat (the flying thing was the Bat, right?) was just parked on top of a building?
4. I assume the Batman suit is quite heavy, so it's weird that he's not sinking in the river while thin rich guys do so easily.
5. I thought that nuclear detonation was still pretty close, what about the residual radiation?
Now let's talk about the villains, who are always the highlight of the Batman movies...
- I like you Tom Hardy, but I thought Bane was a bit over-the-top. I just CAN'T with the voice, and the way he looked like he was always clinging to his suspenders. To me it was like "oh oh oh I'm the bad guy!" But the thing I really didn't like was that I spent all the movie wondering about Bane's motivations and logic. Even from a villain point of view, how is getting the prisoners out or blowing up a stadium "giving back Gotham to the people"? HOW? And then ok so we think he was the kid from the prison and everything, alright... then it turns out he's not, and he's basically Talia's minion (which didn't make sense because of the actors' ages but I know I know they're not their character's ages and it happens all the time in movies but I can't not think of it). (and why was he so loyal to her anyway, we don't know, because we get almost zero backstory) So then what was all that crap about being "born in hell" and not seeing daylight for the 1st time until getting out? Even if he's speaking metaphorically it's veeeeery far-fetched and it really feels like these lines were there just to mess with the audience. So I feel cheated.
- the big reveal with Marion Cotillard... now here I had issues with her performance. And I usually like her. But imho she was so bad in this movie, always felt fake. And her death scene! I seriously thought she was not really dead because it could not be it.
http://peopledyinglikemarioncotillard.tumblr.com/
Which brings me to the characters. Dear Christopher Nolan, you need to develop them more. It was fine with Inception, when the concept was so big that you didn't need that so much but here...
The thing is... I just don't feel anything for them. (especially Bruce Wayne, idk if it's Bale or sth character, but couldn't care less) I watch these movies, I feel cold and emotionally detached. They don't seem to really care much for each other either.
(the exception for all of this being Alfred, he almost made me cry a couple of times)
I do not care about Gotham city either. TBH it seems like a violent, depressing city devoid of all hope and populated only by rich guys, orphan boys, policemen, thugs, and football fans.
(PS: for subtle__sarcasm: NO MANOR FOR YOU, ORPHAN GIRLS)
I think Nolan needs also to work on his dialogue skills because I found the dialogue forgettable, very rarely witty or funny ( I knoooooow it's ~dark~, it's not a comedy, but even the darkest stories have lighter moments). I can only remember the "oh so that's how it feels like" line, which was amusing, except that I was distracted by thinking "wtf he's alone, why is he doing the Batman voice" - for the record, I hate that voice, I just can't take it seriously)
I feel like romance is not his thing too. I almost laughed when Selina kissed Batman at the end. (also, way to turn the only remaining female character into a love interest after the first one's revealed a villain...)
for such a ~dark~ movie, the end felt convenient and a bit cheesy... this is gonna sound mean, and I was so sad for Alfred at the ~funeral~, but I'd rather that Bruce had really sacrificed himself and died. When you watch it again, then you know HE knows he's gonna make it. Makes it less powerful. Here I'm gonna make a parallel with The Avengers (yes, I can hear you say "oh I was expecting her to do this, she's so biased about that movie anyway but it's not as good bla bla bla") and Iron Man also saving the city from a nuke. Well, even if WE know he's gonna make it (helloooo, Iron Man 3), Tony Stark thinks he's gonna die (and he kinda does, but is "revived" :p). Like I was saying with the Bane being "born from hell" thing, I just feel like this kind of twist is written FOR the audience, to mess with us, to "shock us", even though it's less interesting on a story & character point of view.
on a technical point of view, I thought it was NOT too long, I was never bored, it didn't feel like it lasted 2h44, but the rythmn was strange, and the editing so wonky at times, some scenes didn't cut to the next one smoothly, especially with the sound&music at the beginning, when they cut between the discussion with Miranda Tate and Selina "breaking into" Wayne's quarters
and finally, no part made me feel and think "wow, this is epic" or *instant goosebumps*. This is just a personal feeling obviously. But hearing about this movie I was hoping to feel this. To feel like that 1st time I watched Fellowship of the Ring and was gobsmacked from the very beginning, I can pin-point the moment I originally fell in love with it whenever I rewatch. Or that feeling of epicness when I watch that long uninterrupted take in the Avengers during the battle in NYC. Those goosebumps when the Galactica comes back in Exodus part 2.
I wish I could love this movie as much as some of you do, because I love loving things, and I don't pride myself in not liking things most people like. But I just didn't click with it, I got distracted by its flaws and the rest was not enough for me to accept and embrace them like I usually do (because I like affectionally mocking my favorite things).
I'm going to preface this by saying that I don't want to rain on everyone's happy feelings about this movie. if you think this movie is perfect and feel outraged at anyone finding flaws in it, just... stop reading.
Ok so I was never a fan of these movies. I remember liking Batman Begins when it came out, and it took me a while to bring me to watch The Dark Knight because I was too sad about Heath Ledger (I know how ridiculous that sounds, I wasn't even a super huge fan of his). I was blown away by Heath's performance as the Joker but can't remember much else from the movie tbh.
I am not an anti-Nolan person or anything, I LOVE Inception for instance. I own the blu-ray even though I don't have a BR player yet.
Also, this post has a lot of criticisms, but I did like watching this movie. Just did not love it. I gave it 6/10 jsyk.
Ok let's go then.
I'll start with the things I did like, to ease you into this lol.
- getting excited because I recognized unexpected familiar faces from TV (Littlefinger! Owen Harper!)
- Anne Hathaway was pretty cool as Catwoman, though I've seen my fair share of badass women on TV and in movies and I can think of plenty I like better
- that Batmoto was SO COOL
- JGL!!! Loved him in this, but then I'm biased
- Michael Caine as Alfred, the (only) emotional anchor of this movie
- Gary Oldman is obviously awesome too but what else is new (though his character raised some issues for me, see below)
- the random return of Crane, and his tribunal, idk if it was intentional but I thought it was hilarious, it reminded me of Disney's Alice in Wonderland somehow
- solid cinematography & score, though nothing in parcticular "stayed with me"
ok now is your last chance to stop reading because this will often sound like a rant.
I'll start by poking into the inconsistencies. For a franchise supposed to be "omg so realistic for a superhero movie", I didn't expect so many of them. It's not that I expect a movie to be literally flawless. But when I'm actually distracted enough to think about them during the movie, it's just annoying.
1. How did Bruce Wayne, just recovered from a broken back and months spent in a mysterious prison in a mysterious country, manage to get so quickly to Gotham City? Seriously I almost shouted "WTF?" at the screen when he appeared. He was in an unknown possibly hostile country, with no money (and none to his name at this point of the story), no identification, no electronic devices, and somehow he manages to fly back to the US(!) and INSIDE isolated Gotham City just like that.
2. So Batman disappears for 8 years, and at the same time, Bruce Wayne becomes a recluse and hides in his manor for 8 years. Then he starts going out and Batman comes back. AND NO ONE MAKES THE CONNECTION. ESPECIALLY JIM GORDON. JIM GORDON WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU'RE GARY OLDMAN AND SHIT, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BRILLIANT AND YET IT TAKES YOU 3 MOVIES AND BATMAN HAS BASICALLY TO SPELL IT OUT FOR YOU IN FIERY LETTERS FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND. I AM DISAPPOINT. The opposite situation being Blake, who saw once Bruce in a car and knew straight away he was Batman. Because of the look in his eyes. Yeah, right.
3. Speaking of stupidity, so the Bat (the flying thing was the Bat, right?) was just parked on top of a building?
4. I assume the Batman suit is quite heavy, so it's weird that he's not sinking in the river while thin rich guys do so easily.
5. I thought that nuclear detonation was still pretty close, what about the residual radiation?
Now let's talk about the villains, who are always the highlight of the Batman movies...
- I like you Tom Hardy, but I thought Bane was a bit over-the-top. I just CAN'T with the voice, and the way he looked like he was always clinging to his suspenders. To me it was like "oh oh oh I'm the bad guy!" But the thing I really didn't like was that I spent all the movie wondering about Bane's motivations and logic. Even from a villain point of view, how is getting the prisoners out or blowing up a stadium "giving back Gotham to the people"? HOW? And then ok so we think he was the kid from the prison and everything, alright... then it turns out he's not, and he's basically Talia's minion (which didn't make sense because of the actors' ages but I know I know they're not their character's ages and it happens all the time in movies but I can't not think of it). (and why was he so loyal to her anyway, we don't know, because we get almost zero backstory) So then what was all that crap about being "born in hell" and not seeing daylight for the 1st time until getting out? Even if he's speaking metaphorically it's veeeeery far-fetched and it really feels like these lines were there just to mess with the audience. So I feel cheated.
- the big reveal with Marion Cotillard... now here I had issues with her performance. And I usually like her. But imho she was so bad in this movie, always felt fake. And her death scene! I seriously thought she was not really dead because it could not be it.
http://peopledyinglikemarioncotillard.tumblr.com/
Which brings me to the characters. Dear Christopher Nolan, you need to develop them more. It was fine with Inception, when the concept was so big that you didn't need that so much but here...
The thing is... I just don't feel anything for them. (especially Bruce Wayne, idk if it's Bale or sth character, but couldn't care less) I watch these movies, I feel cold and emotionally detached. They don't seem to really care much for each other either.
(the exception for all of this being Alfred, he almost made me cry a couple of times)
I do not care about Gotham city either. TBH it seems like a violent, depressing city devoid of all hope and populated only by rich guys, orphan boys, policemen, thugs, and football fans.
(PS: for subtle__sarcasm: NO MANOR FOR YOU, ORPHAN GIRLS)
I think Nolan needs also to work on his dialogue skills because I found the dialogue forgettable, very rarely witty or funny ( I knoooooow it's ~dark~, it's not a comedy, but even the darkest stories have lighter moments). I can only remember the "oh so that's how it feels like" line, which was amusing, except that I was distracted by thinking "wtf he's alone, why is he doing the Batman voice" - for the record, I hate that voice, I just can't take it seriously)
I feel like romance is not his thing too. I almost laughed when Selina kissed Batman at the end. (also, way to turn the only remaining female character into a love interest after the first one's revealed a villain...)
for such a ~dark~ movie, the end felt convenient and a bit cheesy... this is gonna sound mean, and I was so sad for Alfred at the ~funeral~, but I'd rather that Bruce had really sacrificed himself and died. When you watch it again, then you know HE knows he's gonna make it. Makes it less powerful. Here I'm gonna make a parallel with The Avengers (yes, I can hear you say "oh I was expecting her to do this, she's so biased about that movie anyway but it's not as good bla bla bla") and Iron Man also saving the city from a nuke. Well, even if WE know he's gonna make it (helloooo, Iron Man 3), Tony Stark thinks he's gonna die (and he kinda does, but is "revived" :p). Like I was saying with the Bane being "born from hell" thing, I just feel like this kind of twist is written FOR the audience, to mess with us, to "shock us", even though it's less interesting on a story & character point of view.
on a technical point of view, I thought it was NOT too long, I was never bored, it didn't feel like it lasted 2h44, but the rythmn was strange, and the editing so wonky at times, some scenes didn't cut to the next one smoothly, especially with the sound&music at the beginning, when they cut between the discussion with Miranda Tate and Selina "breaking into" Wayne's quarters
and finally, no part made me feel and think "wow, this is epic" or *instant goosebumps*. This is just a personal feeling obviously. But hearing about this movie I was hoping to feel this. To feel like that 1st time I watched Fellowship of the Ring and was gobsmacked from the very beginning, I can pin-point the moment I originally fell in love with it whenever I rewatch. Or that feeling of epicness when I watch that long uninterrupted take in the Avengers during the battle in NYC. Those goosebumps when the Galactica comes back in Exodus part 2.
I wish I could love this movie as much as some of you do, because I love loving things, and I don't pride myself in not liking things most people like. But I just didn't click with it, I got distracted by its flaws and the rest was not enough for me to accept and embrace them like I usually do (because I like affectionally mocking my favorite things).