"The Dark Knight Rises" - Review
I don't even know where to start...but I think my first point should be: I really liked The Dark Knight Rises!
Right now I like it better than TDK, but not as much as BB. Begins will always be my favorite of the three because it explains Batman's origins, and there's a lot more human factor in it and not so much "let's go blow something up!".
I went into the theater trying not to expect too much. I knew it would be the end of the trilogy, the last time we saw Christian Bale as Batman, the last chance to see all these great characters as Christopher Nolan imagined them, so I guess I had said goodbye to them even before the movie started.
One thing I've always loved about the three movies is the music. I bought the TDKR soundtrack when it came out last week, and I've been listening to it ever since. So I guess that helped to get in the mood and get a feeling for how dark (or not) TDKR would be.
I loved that Hans Zimmer used motifs from both the previous movies to tie everything together, similar to what Nolan did with some of his scenes from BB and TDK, with pieces of dialogue, ideas etc. that he wove into TDKR.
Let's see, what else did I like?
I liked the look of the movie. It was strange and familiar at the same time. It was still Gotham and Wayne Manor (rebuilt) and the same characters were there, but they looked slightly different, too. Alfread was much older, more worried, sad. Bruce, too. Haggard from pain (not only the physical kind), older, with gray in his (longer) hair. Still handsome, but his features darkened by losses, depressed because of the absense of any goals in his life. Nothing to do but wait...for what exactly?
The beginning really got to me, when Bruce appeared on the roof with his cane. I knew he would be watching the festivities, but I hadn't expected him to be so alone. Lost. Not daring to go out. Not with Alfred by his side.
Watching him like this really hurt, and watching him with Alfred hurt even more. I know Alfred was only trying to save his life (or rather make him see that he still had a life, needed to find a way to go forward), but I felt bad for both of them. It seemed the years in between had been to dark for even them. Poor Alfred. Where did his humor go? And the friendship and mutual respect between these two men? Their final scene before Alfred left almost made me tear up. And the funeral...*sobs*
I can't imagine what it's like to care so much for someone and not being able to help them but only meet resistance whatever you try. Oh, wait, I do know the feeling, but that story doesn't belong here.
Anyway. I'm still trying to think about the things I did like, so I'll get back to this point later on. ;)
I really liked Blake which surprised me. I'm glad he turned out to be one of the good guys. I guess they took all the Robins and even Terry from Batman Beyond and molded them into this new character. The ending with him in the batcave was a little cheesy but also fitting and it made me smile because Gotham will always need a Batman, even if it's not the original one anymore. I didn't like his reaction to Gordon's secret revealed, but I can also understand it and his disappointment.
Another character that surprised me was Catwoman. I've never liked the character very much, but I think Anne Hathaway did a great job with it.
Loved that Gordon was back (although he didn't have enough screentime, in my opinion) and that he finally learned Batman's true identity! But I don't think his reaction was right. I always thought he suspected it was Bruce (mostly because of the Lamborghini incident in TDK), so he was a little too surprised for my taste. *shrug*
I'm glad they didn't kill Lucius! And yay that we got to see Ra's Al Ghul one more time.
The movie didn't feel too long to me at all, but the ending was a little rushed, I think. Why does it always end with "it's gonna blow in ten minutes!"? They had five months to do something about it!
I didn't like that Alfred just vanished. Would he really have left Bruce when he needed him the most? And where did he go? I guess that's where fanfic comes in.
The room with the statues at Wayne Manor was weird. I doubt Bruce would have agreed to it. lol
Bane was okay as a villain but also odd. I only saw the dubbed version, so I can't say anything about his voice (and Batman's as well), but I'm going to see the English version on Monday. :)
Why did Batman just go down into Bane's lair and tried to beat him up? He must have known that Bane was too strong for him. He went there with no backup, no fancy gadgets...what was the point? And their first encounter and fight felt equally useless.
There were quite a few plot-holes (How did Bruce get back into the city? Why did he bother with the fiery bat signal? How long had he been back before he approached Selina? Why could he stand on the ice?) but I guess that means more fanfic for us - again.
The atomic bomb was over the top, IMO. Why couldn't it have been just a normal big bomb?
I think the biggest problem I have with the story is that they didn't really explain what had happened to Gordon. What happened to him after everybody learned the truth? Did he eventually get fired? Did he stay on the force because he was needed? What happened to all the criminals that got locked up because of the mysterious Harvey Dent law? They should have shown more of the consequences, what their past and present decisions meant and how it affected everyone and everything. And how could Gordon have been so stupid to write the true story about Dent's death down and carrry it around with him? That really irked me.
Another weird thing is that they sent (almost) every cop into the sewer system. It looked very unrealistic to me and quite ridiculous.
I would have liked to see more reactions from the people of the city and the policemen who suddenly had to work with Batman when they learned he was one of the good guys (sort of, lol).
It's just too bad that they negated almost everything Bruce/Batman, Gordon and Alfred did in TDK. It seems all their decisions were the wrong ones, (almost) everything was in vain because their choices destroyed them all. Their friendships and trust in each other (especially Alfred/Bruce). That made me really sad.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Sorry for this long entry. I guess I'll have a few answers to some of my questions when I come back from my second viewing - and probably some more questions as well. ;)
Thanks for reading. I hope I didn't bore you to death or scare you away with my - probably slightly incoherent - ramblings. It's late. lol
Right now I like it better than TDK, but not as much as BB. Begins will always be my favorite of the three because it explains Batman's origins, and there's a lot more human factor in it and not so much "let's go blow something up!".
I went into the theater trying not to expect too much. I knew it would be the end of the trilogy, the last time we saw Christian Bale as Batman, the last chance to see all these great characters as Christopher Nolan imagined them, so I guess I had said goodbye to them even before the movie started.
One thing I've always loved about the three movies is the music. I bought the TDKR soundtrack when it came out last week, and I've been listening to it ever since. So I guess that helped to get in the mood and get a feeling for how dark (or not) TDKR would be.
I loved that Hans Zimmer used motifs from both the previous movies to tie everything together, similar to what Nolan did with some of his scenes from BB and TDK, with pieces of dialogue, ideas etc. that he wove into TDKR.
Let's see, what else did I like?
I liked the look of the movie. It was strange and familiar at the same time. It was still Gotham and Wayne Manor (rebuilt) and the same characters were there, but they looked slightly different, too. Alfread was much older, more worried, sad. Bruce, too. Haggard from pain (not only the physical kind), older, with gray in his (longer) hair. Still handsome, but his features darkened by losses, depressed because of the absense of any goals in his life. Nothing to do but wait...for what exactly?
The beginning really got to me, when Bruce appeared on the roof with his cane. I knew he would be watching the festivities, but I hadn't expected him to be so alone. Lost. Not daring to go out. Not with Alfred by his side.
Watching him like this really hurt, and watching him with Alfred hurt even more. I know Alfred was only trying to save his life (or rather make him see that he still had a life, needed to find a way to go forward), but I felt bad for both of them. It seemed the years in between had been to dark for even them. Poor Alfred. Where did his humor go? And the friendship and mutual respect between these two men? Their final scene before Alfred left almost made me tear up. And the funeral...*sobs*
I can't imagine what it's like to care so much for someone and not being able to help them but only meet resistance whatever you try. Oh, wait, I do know the feeling, but that story doesn't belong here.
Anyway. I'm still trying to think about the things I did like, so I'll get back to this point later on. ;)
I really liked Blake which surprised me. I'm glad he turned out to be one of the good guys. I guess they took all the Robins and even Terry from Batman Beyond and molded them into this new character. The ending with him in the batcave was a little cheesy but also fitting and it made me smile because Gotham will always need a Batman, even if it's not the original one anymore. I didn't like his reaction to Gordon's secret revealed, but I can also understand it and his disappointment.
Another character that surprised me was Catwoman. I've never liked the character very much, but I think Anne Hathaway did a great job with it.
Loved that Gordon was back (although he didn't have enough screentime, in my opinion) and that he finally learned Batman's true identity! But I don't think his reaction was right. I always thought he suspected it was Bruce (mostly because of the Lamborghini incident in TDK), so he was a little too surprised for my taste. *shrug*
I'm glad they didn't kill Lucius! And yay that we got to see Ra's Al Ghul one more time.
The movie didn't feel too long to me at all, but the ending was a little rushed, I think. Why does it always end with "it's gonna blow in ten minutes!"? They had five months to do something about it!
I didn't like that Alfred just vanished. Would he really have left Bruce when he needed him the most? And where did he go? I guess that's where fanfic comes in.
The room with the statues at Wayne Manor was weird. I doubt Bruce would have agreed to it. lol
Bane was okay as a villain but also odd. I only saw the dubbed version, so I can't say anything about his voice (and Batman's as well), but I'm going to see the English version on Monday. :)
Why did Batman just go down into Bane's lair and tried to beat him up? He must have known that Bane was too strong for him. He went there with no backup, no fancy gadgets...what was the point? And their first encounter and fight felt equally useless.
There were quite a few plot-holes (How did Bruce get back into the city? Why did he bother with the fiery bat signal? How long had he been back before he approached Selina? Why could he stand on the ice?) but I guess that means more fanfic for us - again.
The atomic bomb was over the top, IMO. Why couldn't it have been just a normal big bomb?
I think the biggest problem I have with the story is that they didn't really explain what had happened to Gordon. What happened to him after everybody learned the truth? Did he eventually get fired? Did he stay on the force because he was needed? What happened to all the criminals that got locked up because of the mysterious Harvey Dent law? They should have shown more of the consequences, what their past and present decisions meant and how it affected everyone and everything. And how could Gordon have been so stupid to write the true story about Dent's death down and carrry it around with him? That really irked me.
Another weird thing is that they sent (almost) every cop into the sewer system. It looked very unrealistic to me and quite ridiculous.
I would have liked to see more reactions from the people of the city and the policemen who suddenly had to work with Batman when they learned he was one of the good guys (sort of, lol).
It's just too bad that they negated almost everything Bruce/Batman, Gordon and Alfred did in TDK. It seems all their decisions were the wrong ones, (almost) everything was in vain because their choices destroyed them all. Their friendships and trust in each other (especially Alfred/Bruce). That made me really sad.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Sorry for this long entry. I guess I'll have a few answers to some of my questions when I come back from my second viewing - and probably some more questions as well. ;)
Thanks for reading. I hope I didn't bore you to death or scare you away with my - probably slightly incoherent - ramblings. It's late. lol