Non-spoilery review of Batman 3 (aka, The Dark Knight Rises)
I am going to preface this by saying that I am not a fan of the Nolan Batmans, and yet I have spent NINE HOURS watching all three this evening. I don't actively hate them, and I actually really like and respect the way a lot of comic arcs have been folded into the films. My biggest problem with the trilogy is best seen in the last twenty minutes of The Dark Knight. You know, right at the end, where everyone is monologuing and none of it makes a whole lot of sense? And people keep talking AT one another without talking TO one another? And the whole big emotional climax of those monologues doesn't make any sense because the foundation is all flowery bullshit rather than a solid concept?
If I am listening to a monologue in a 'serious' comic book movie, and tearing my hear out because the monologuing is ridiculous EVEN BY COMIC BOOK STANDARDS, then I consider that to be a problem.
But, you know, each to their own. And like I said, I don't actively hate them so much as feel a great deal of 'meh' about them. And I feel very meh about DKR. I think that there is some REALLY interesting stuff in there. Bruce Wayne/Batman's story is really boring, but thankfully there are more interesting things going on a lot of the time. In fact, I would be interested in watching a Batman-free edit of this movie (the same way I'd love to see an edit of the office that cuts out all of Ricky Gervais). There were some characters that I really loved - John Blake (JGL's character) and Selina Kyle, as well as some great characters from the previous movies and a few wonderful scenes with a past villain - so they kept me interested. I think that Tom Hardy did a GREAT job as Bane, but, sadly, I really hated the way his audio was handled. Idk what was going on there, but any time Bane wasn't facing the camera, I had a really hard time making out what he was saying. I could follow the gist of things just fine though, so I'm going to assume that - as with most characters in these films - the actual words aren't that important.
Okay, you should also know that while I 'know' Batman comics, I know them through ye olde scans_daily and by reading a lot of blogs maintained by Robin fangirls back around 2004-2007, so my comics knowledge is far from comprehensive. And yet I still called a bunch of the plot twists. I don't know if that's due to the movie being predictable, genre savvyness on my part, or me just having lucked out and read about a few of the arcs represented here. But I was actually pretty bored during the big reveal scenes. I was just sitting there thinking Can I have more of JGL being a plucky detective? That would be great.
I think the biggest weakness of the film is that there is a lot of stupidity going on. If you don't mind ignoring questions of the "why would you even DO that?" variety, you won't have a problem. Visually, the movie is just as stunning as the first and second. Character wise, there is some very good stuff here. I honestly think this movie was cast by someone from fandom, because the faces that were turning up... there were a lot of people I was happy to see on the big screen (including Aidan Gillen - omg!). And I swear to dog that Nolan has seen one cracky piece of artwork that did the rounds around '06, because I saw a spoilery thing in this movie that was a fandom joke at the time.
So... yeah. It's a film. It's keeping in the same theme as the others, so if you loved them then you'll probably love this one! Now if you'll excuse me, it's nearing four am and I am dying of Batman right now.
If I am listening to a monologue in a 'serious' comic book movie, and tearing my hear out because the monologuing is ridiculous EVEN BY COMIC BOOK STANDARDS, then I consider that to be a problem.
But, you know, each to their own. And like I said, I don't actively hate them so much as feel a great deal of 'meh' about them. And I feel very meh about DKR. I think that there is some REALLY interesting stuff in there. Bruce Wayne/Batman's story is really boring, but thankfully there are more interesting things going on a lot of the time. In fact, I would be interested in watching a Batman-free edit of this movie (the same way I'd love to see an edit of the office that cuts out all of Ricky Gervais). There were some characters that I really loved - John Blake (JGL's character) and Selina Kyle, as well as some great characters from the previous movies and a few wonderful scenes with a past villain - so they kept me interested. I think that Tom Hardy did a GREAT job as Bane, but, sadly, I really hated the way his audio was handled. Idk what was going on there, but any time Bane wasn't facing the camera, I had a really hard time making out what he was saying. I could follow the gist of things just fine though, so I'm going to assume that - as with most characters in these films - the actual words aren't that important.
Okay, you should also know that while I 'know' Batman comics, I know them through ye olde scans_daily and by reading a lot of blogs maintained by Robin fangirls back around 2004-2007, so my comics knowledge is far from comprehensive. And yet I still called a bunch of the plot twists. I don't know if that's due to the movie being predictable, genre savvyness on my part, or me just having lucked out and read about a few of the arcs represented here. But I was actually pretty bored during the big reveal scenes. I was just sitting there thinking Can I have more of JGL being a plucky detective? That would be great.
I think the biggest weakness of the film is that there is a lot of stupidity going on. If you don't mind ignoring questions of the "why would you even DO that?" variety, you won't have a problem. Visually, the movie is just as stunning as the first and second. Character wise, there is some very good stuff here. I honestly think this movie was cast by someone from fandom, because the faces that were turning up... there were a lot of people I was happy to see on the big screen (including Aidan Gillen - omg!). And I swear to dog that Nolan has seen one cracky piece of artwork that did the rounds around '06, because I saw a spoilery thing in this movie that was a fandom joke at the time.
So... yeah. It's a film. It's keeping in the same theme as the others, so if you loved them then you'll probably love this one! Now if you'll excuse me, it's nearing four am and I am dying of Batman right now.