Batman (here be spoilers)
Sigh. Where to begin. I'll start off by mentioning that I have lots of strong opinions about Batman. I watched the movies in the 90s and thought they all missed the point and were horribly miscast. Bale is the first actor who actually *looked* like Batman, could act, AND could pull off superhero mystique. Nolan likes the hyper-realism though, and I think that overwhelmed the movie, ultimately. It wasn't a superhero movie, not really. Didn't feel like one. We got to hear and witness how Batman has been aging, what he's done to his body. Don't tell me he's missing massive amounts of cartilage and then randomly deposit him on tops of buildings. I don't demand much to suspend my disbelief in a movie theater, but this was too far. Bale was less a superhero and more an injured guy who had some equipment. I understand that one theme of the movie was that Batman lost his mojo, recovered it enough to gracefully retire and make way for the next superhero. It's just that it wasn't that fun to see a guy hobbling around, knowing his untreated health conditions.
I will confess to being actively worried about Batman's health while watching previous movies.
This movie also felt like a movie and a half. Not just in length, but in story telling. The story was terribly garbled by the end. I couldn't figure out the motivation behind the real villain, he killed your father who was the mercenary? What is the backstory? And since I don't know who the league of shadows is or naghul or whatever it's meaningless to throw that in the viewers face and oh yeah, isn't that Qui Gon or that guy who trained Obi Won Kenobi? WTH is he doing here? And why did Bale sleep with her anyway, was that part of her plan, to leave him penniless, screw him, and leave him in a terrible prison while she killed herself with some bomb? No clue. And she was the one who climbed out, but then how did Bain leave? This is an action movie, it's okay to have plot twists, but you don't ever want the audience to be confused about who to cheer and who to hate.
The only character who was truly likeable was the future Robin, aka that kid who was in 3rd rock from the sun I think. He had a lot of screen time, was free from apparent health conditions, we got his back story, he believed in Batman. He was the heart of the story while Batman was this older guy creaking along. Seriously Bale didn't look well, although I guess they wanted him to look that way. And Alfred, instead of short witty quips got long emotional rants at Batman. It didn't... they just weren't that compelling. I guess they were supposed to show us how far Batman had fallen, just how much he'd lost his mojo, and Alfred's ranting monologues were about that, but I just wasn't feeling it after the first one. I thought one well-worded ranting monologue and then him leaving would've been better than multiple Alfred rants at Batman. None of them struck me as particularly interesting or believable or part of a good time in a action movie. But whatever, Batman has to be stripped to nothing to rediscover who he is, blahblah.
Cat woman... she was played/written well enough, I guess, and no complaints for 'I've seen more than I can ever say' Gordon. Robin didn't have much of a reaction from his partner being shot right in front of him, perhaps he didn't have time, but I'd think he'd have more of a response at least at some point. And all those police officers, still hanging out in uniform, no bathroom facilities, poor/no access to air... eh what? They're all still alive and just fine down there? No disease, no death, no madness from being in extremely tight quarters with nothing to do? And whatever happened to Fox, did he live through the deluge? You can't put Morgan Freeman in a movie and not tell me what happens to him - and I care way more about him than some stupid villain in her truck. You have a movie encumbered by lengthy rambling monologues yet can't give him a few more seconds to get to real safety?? Audiences love for Batman to have toys, it's true. They also care about Morgan Freeman. Don't leave us hanging, it's just sloppy.
Also, with my hearing loss I had no idea what Bain was saying most of the time, and he talked a LOT. Why did he sound so different (high, nasal) in the opening sequence than the rest of the movie? Actually what is up with the voices, in general? Sounding gravelly does not lend instant gravitas, you just sound like you need a throat lozenge.
I'd heard mixed reviews, was going to see it anyway - I thoroughly enjoyed the previous one. This one was entertaining, but it just wasn't very good storytelling. It was long and rambling and convoluted, kind of like this review. But with a few more explosions and WAY more monologue.
I will confess to being actively worried about Batman's health while watching previous movies.
This movie also felt like a movie and a half. Not just in length, but in story telling. The story was terribly garbled by the end. I couldn't figure out the motivation behind the real villain, he killed your father who was the mercenary? What is the backstory? And since I don't know who the league of shadows is or naghul or whatever it's meaningless to throw that in the viewers face and oh yeah, isn't that Qui Gon or that guy who trained Obi Won Kenobi? WTH is he doing here? And why did Bale sleep with her anyway, was that part of her plan, to leave him penniless, screw him, and leave him in a terrible prison while she killed herself with some bomb? No clue. And she was the one who climbed out, but then how did Bain leave? This is an action movie, it's okay to have plot twists, but you don't ever want the audience to be confused about who to cheer and who to hate.
The only character who was truly likeable was the future Robin, aka that kid who was in 3rd rock from the sun I think. He had a lot of screen time, was free from apparent health conditions, we got his back story, he believed in Batman. He was the heart of the story while Batman was this older guy creaking along. Seriously Bale didn't look well, although I guess they wanted him to look that way. And Alfred, instead of short witty quips got long emotional rants at Batman. It didn't... they just weren't that compelling. I guess they were supposed to show us how far Batman had fallen, just how much he'd lost his mojo, and Alfred's ranting monologues were about that, but I just wasn't feeling it after the first one. I thought one well-worded ranting monologue and then him leaving would've been better than multiple Alfred rants at Batman. None of them struck me as particularly interesting or believable or part of a good time in a action movie. But whatever, Batman has to be stripped to nothing to rediscover who he is, blahblah.
Cat woman... she was played/written well enough, I guess, and no complaints for 'I've seen more than I can ever say' Gordon. Robin didn't have much of a reaction from his partner being shot right in front of him, perhaps he didn't have time, but I'd think he'd have more of a response at least at some point. And all those police officers, still hanging out in uniform, no bathroom facilities, poor/no access to air... eh what? They're all still alive and just fine down there? No disease, no death, no madness from being in extremely tight quarters with nothing to do? And whatever happened to Fox, did he live through the deluge? You can't put Morgan Freeman in a movie and not tell me what happens to him - and I care way more about him than some stupid villain in her truck. You have a movie encumbered by lengthy rambling monologues yet can't give him a few more seconds to get to real safety?? Audiences love for Batman to have toys, it's true. They also care about Morgan Freeman. Don't leave us hanging, it's just sloppy.
Also, with my hearing loss I had no idea what Bain was saying most of the time, and he talked a LOT. Why did he sound so different (high, nasal) in the opening sequence than the rest of the movie? Actually what is up with the voices, in general? Sounding gravelly does not lend instant gravitas, you just sound like you need a throat lozenge.
I'd heard mixed reviews, was going to see it anyway - I thoroughly enjoyed the previous one. This one was entertaining, but it just wasn't very good storytelling. It was long and rambling and convoluted, kind of like this review. But with a few more explosions and WAY more monologue.