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The Dark Knight Rises 6th anniversary
- Thread starter nightwatcher
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The hype was amazing. The film that made me sign up for gaf after lurking there for so many years.
I love the film. It's like a big fucking cake, perhaps with a bit too much sugar. Buts its still fucking good to eat it from time to time.
I love the film. It's like a big fucking cake, perhaps with a bit too much sugar. Buts its still fucking good to eat it from time to time.
This movie is so bizarrely messy. From the wildly uneven pace, the questionable acting choices, the wildly overcomplicated plot, the anticlimactic fights, Bale looking his most tired and awkward in the batsuit in all three films and seemingly just having given up on the idea of an involved physical performance...
It doesn't live up to almost any aspect of its potential.
It's not like it doesn't have a good setpiece here or there. The opening is incredible for the lengths they went to to make that happen. But then you have Batman's return which is so weirdly unimpressive. And then you spend another hour of the movie having to build him up again.
Anne Hathaway and JGL seem the be the only ones really trying or who want to be there. Tom Hardy too.
It doesn't live up to almost any aspect of its potential.
It's not like it doesn't have a good setpiece here or there. The opening is incredible for the lengths they went to to make that happen. But then you have Batman's return which is so weirdly unimpressive. And then you spend another hour of the movie having to build him up again.
Anne Hathaway and JGL seem the be the only ones really trying or who want to be there. Tom Hardy too.
I'd have cut Talia out and expanded Bane and Selina's roles instead. What was she even in the movie for except for Oh look Ras' daughter look how well it ties together/nope SHE was the child and mastermind twist/bad death scene. That way, Bane wouldn't have his balls cut off at the end of the movie, and Bruce and Selina could build up more chemistry and made the ending even better.
Damn 6 years already? Definitely the least good of the three but I remember being so hyped for it, I listened to the soundtrack on repeat for the whole week before the movie was released, I even attended the trilogy marathon AMC had. Good times.
I still use the blu ray as a demo disc for home theather equipment, the prologue really gets subwoofers to work hard for their money.
I still use the blu ray as a demo disc for home theather equipment, the prologue really gets subwoofers to work hard for their money.
Well put. I love Bane, but damn was I disappointed of the movie.
I like TDKR, but I don't feel it's good enough to warrant a 6th year anniversary thread :/
I remember being the most hyped for a movie ever, given it was coming off the amazing TDK, and seeing it opening night and really liking it...but then later everything being ruined by the horrible mass shooting :( So now such weird vibes and mixed feelings thinking back on Rises.
I remember being the most hyped for a movie ever, given it was coming off the amazing TDK, and seeing it opening night and really liking it...but then later everything being ruined by the horrible mass shooting :( So now such weird vibes and mixed feelings thinking back on Rises.
That's some serious hyperbole.
It absolutely was not a perfect film but in no universe was it an unmitigated disaster.
Can't have a Nolan topic back on gaf and now era without two things
1. I can't believe Nolan went on over-explain x thing. It's so obvious, and he's a hack.
2. I don't understand what x thing meant. Why didn't the movie explain it?
I also think TDKRises had the task of being the next big comic book film after Avengers, and yeah, it wasn't up to it. I always wonder what could have been if Ledger hadn't died, if somehow he'd have ended up as the third act villain or not. Him and Bane would have been interesting to play off each other too.
Man, thinking about what could have been for this really bums me out. I rewatched TDK for the first time the other day, and it really was a special movie, even with a bad third act. TDKRises was like the third act for the entire film, which was the serious issue.
Man, thinking about what could have been for this really bums me out. I rewatched TDK for the first time the other day, and it really was a special movie, even with a bad third act. TDKRises was like the third act for the entire film, which was the serious issue.
I only saw it only once when it opened, after loving The Dark Knight, and thought it was baaaaad. The script was just awful, it had no logic sense of space and time and the characters were bland and made stupid decisions. I remember hating Marion Cotillard (that's hard to do but Nolan managed to do it) and liking Catwoman. Dind't care about Bane. Since then I've just seen memes about the film in the internet so my opinion on it has only gotten worse to the point that I almost consider the film a joke, and it deserves no place in the trilogy. I'm sure it must not be THAT bad but I certainly won't be wasting my time again to check.
I started to see the cracks when people saw the Bane footage and he was so incomprehensible that they had to go touch up the audio. I am not going to say it was a bad film, but it had moments that were so ridiculous that it soured me on the film entirely. Regardless of the quality of 3, I still would like to see Nolan return to this world that he built someday. Maybe with Robin as...Robin.
Every damn time. I guess they need the movie's themes repeated to them every second.
Hell no. The trilogy is finished. His "Robin" is a new Batman. Period.
The story of Bruce Wayne is over.
Compared to Begins and TDK, Rises was my least favourite of the Trilogy, the dodgy editing really hurt the movie for me and an older, crippled Batman just isn't as fun to watch, as a fully fit, ass kicking Batman.
Weird, I find his action scenes some of the best in modern blockbusters.
I recently rewatched it. I find that as I've put some distance between myself and the initial hype I like it a bit more than I originally did.
I feel like it does a great job of encapsulating much of what is currently occurring within America. So in some ways maybe it was ahead of its time?
Not sure why that post is getting your "LOL, GOT 'EM!" senses tingling when all that post did was repeat back to me what I said:
I get what the movie was going for (which is why I said as much in my original post). The movie just completely failed to sell me on any of it. You can't TELL me Bruce is dying to go out and get himself killed, while his actions (being inactive for a decade) directly contradict that idea. I mean, you can, but then you wind up with a messy, mediocre movie like Rises.
I am a fucking massive Nolan fanboy. I'm not some internet troll who just likes shitting on Rises. As I also said in my first post, I doubt I will ever be more disappointed in a movie than I was here. That disappointment comes out of my love for his movies.
I don't recall Talia ever talking about believing in Ra's Al Ghul's mission. She does have a single line about innocent people and Gotham, but she doesn't say that is why she is gonna blow the place up or anything. She simply says it is revenge for killing her father. The movie doesn't ever establish that she and Bane have been out there in the world bringing balance to the force as the league believed itself to be. Just that Bane (and by extension Talia) have been operating as a bunch of mercenaries.
I mean, sure maybe it failed to sell it for you but it is readily apparent. Him being inactive for years doesn't negate this message, it supports it. Once he lost Batman he became a recluse. Did you miss the part about Bruce Wayne not being seen in public for years? He lost Rachel and he lost his outlet in Batman, he has nothing left to live for. So, he sits around in his mansion all day and screws around in the Batcave looking at crime statistics. The whole point of Bane is that Bruce is using him as an excuse to finally get back into the suit. Prior to Bane, crime had dramatically decreased in Gotham thanks to Batman and Gordon's efforts as a result of TDK. So, he couldn't lie to himself that he needed to hop back in the suit. Bane, as this ultra powerful crime lord, showing up in Gotham provided him with the perfect excuse to suit back up and get the death he desperately craves.
Because, the movie doesn't need to lay that all out, it's apparent through the context of Talia's character, a mirror image of Bruce. She, like Bruce, lost her parents. She, like Bruce, seeks to continue her parents mission to "clean up" the world and see "justice" done. She, like Bruce, dons a mask to accomplish this goal. She, like Bruce, devotes her entire life to this mission at the cost of any personal life. She, like Bruce, cannot move on from the tragedy of her past. It is seeing this in Talia that finally convinces Bruce that he has to change, to move on from Batman, lest he become like her.
I got it. :S He lost 1 of the 2 people he loved while using his cape in the TDK. His body was broken down, and he quit after he helped and made himself a villain. He went back despite giving everything for the city. Shame to hear you didn't enjoy it though boyo.
My OG post is relating all the edgy posts of people whining that Nolan overexplains everything, and then people in those same topics saying they didn't get a certain completely contradicting hyperbolic negative comments. gaf/era can't handle the goatlan. It's just a matter of time when Villeneuve gets more popular before he gets the same treatment on here.
The movie is a little shaky with some great moments but also long periods where it just kind of meanders.
For me I still liked it because I liked the way it ended the trilogy. But I also don't have much desire to watch it again. Begins is the most rewatchable of the series and Dark Knight is by far the best of them, though it is also kind of an exhausing movie to watch.
For me I still liked it because I liked the way it ended the trilogy. But I also don't have much desire to watch it again. Begins is the most rewatchable of the series and Dark Knight is by far the best of them, though it is also kind of an exhausing movie to watch.
Begins is probably the best superhero origin film so far, and it's easily the most consistent of the three Nolan Batman films. TDK after Rachel dying is a meandering mess.
The Dark Knight peaks when the Joker escapes from the prison.
From the beginning to that moment is better than any other action movie other than maybe T2 (IMO the greatest action movie of all time). On release that was more intense than a roller coaster. Everyone on the theater was on the edge of their seats and it was totally silent.
The movie could not sustain that afterwards but I don't think the last act is as bad a lot of people make it out to be.
I sometimes wonder what the reaction would have been to the movie if Nolan ended with the Joker howling in the cop cars. I think critics would have jizzed their pants but I think general audience still needs some kind of happy ending.
Easily the worst written of the Nolan batmen movies. It's a shame too because a couple more drafts and it probably would've been great.
Not bad. Movie dragged and was a tedious watch on repeat viewings. This would have helped a lot.
OP, i recently bought TDK on 4k bluray and found it tough to get through. i used to think that it was one of the best movies ever made but now, not so much. I stopped watching it half way through after the chase scene.
Honestly salvaging the third act isn't even that difficult. Take out the boats, save Two Face for the sequel, and just continue with the mob story and Joker madness. I really think Two-Face and Bane could have been an interesting pairing. Or just Two-Face getting the mob back together and Bruce and Gordon having to deal with their biggest failure of Gotham's White Knight turning into the villain. Like that seems more damning to the city and characters for a whole film than whatever Bane's plot was.
I dunno, I agree that the first half of TDK is one of the best movies ever honestly.
Even if you do that it is still going to be a letdown after Joker escaping.
Outside of Batman going super saiyan or something insane I can't imagine how to end that movie in a way that would satisfy both critics and the general audience.
Like I said last night, the whole "no crime" thing is fucking nonsense, so that doesn't help sell me on anything. It is absolutely absurd that the Dent Act worked so well that there was literally NOTHING for Batman to go do. Bruce was dying to be Batman again, but he just literally couldn't because all the crime vanished! The ideas in this movie are so absurd that Batman existing is the most believable thing in it.
As I also said last night, everything in every movie ever has meaning (discounting Michael Bay). Because a movie explains something, doesn't make it more palpable. If I don't like potato salad, and your response to that is to tell me the ingredients, that doesn't make the potato salad not taste like shit when it touches my tongue.
Alfred actually says Bruce hasn't been in the batcave in a long time. Yes, I realize this doesn't really fucking matter.
I'm with you on everything but this part. This is the part that the movie never established for me, that I would have liked it to. What in the movie actually establishes what Talia and Bane actually believe in? All we see and hear is that Bane is a mercenary and Talia wants revenge. Both things relate directly to Ra's Al Ghul, obviously. But, is that really all that is needed to say their views were aligned with Ra's?
I'm not saying the movie needed these things, and is fucked without them. But, I can say personally, I would have enjoyed seeing Bane actually have a moral code of his own established. Does he think he is doing good, or is he just doing whatever his friend wants? Does Talia think she is really doing good, or is she just after revenge? All that stands out to me is her talk about revenge, so I am pulled in that direction.
I don't buy "Bane was just a grunt and didn't matter." He was Batman's equal or even superior, coming from the same background and being pretty much immune to all of Batman's tricks. He was Batman's ultimate adversary and Bruce spends most of the film coping with his failure to stop him. Then when the second confrontation finally happens Bane's importance is suddenly eliminated and he's killed off in an utterly unceremonious way. Maybe in terms of Talia's plan Bane was just a grunt, but to Bruce he sure as hell wasn't. You can't just take the guy who pushed Bruce to his limits, broke his back and subjected him to the most grueling challenge of his life and suddenly decide he didn't matter at the end of the final act.
It's near Poochie levels of a character just fucking off. "Catwoman shot Bane on the way back to his home planet."
Rises was such an underwhelming movie. It really felt like nobody had their heart in this movie (possibly due to everyone still feeling the sting of Ledger's death). I don't doubt for an instant that Ledger's passing also completely blew up Nolan's plans for a third film.
I love that kind of storytelling. Just because someone is big and bad doesn't mean they're impervious or safe via plot armor. Khal Drogo was taken out by a festering wound like a chump. That's fantastic.