The TDKR General Discussion Thread - - - - - - - - - - - - Part 144

[Anno_Domini]

Originally Posted by RustyCage

They had a similar moment in TDK Rises when he goes to suit up, but I didn't find it quite as impactful even though it was a nice touch.

Anyone else notice how Bruce places his hand on the Batsuit twice, one on each shoulder during the first act of the film?

[kvz5]

Semi-OT: Nolan's Interstellar release date is 11/07/14.

[Kane52630]

I suddenly hear Leo's agent calling Nolan at the speed of light.

[CapedCrusader14]

That moment when you're buying Blu-Rays in a store and you notice Rises is playing just before the climb from the Pit and you stop dead in your tracks.

[JackWhite]

Originally Posted by CapedCrusader14

That moment when you're buying Blu-Rays in a store and you notice Rises is playing just before the climb from the Pit and you stop dead in your tracks.

Best Bruce Wayne moment for me. Well, that and "The will to act".

[Gotham's Knight]

Originally Posted by CapedCrusader14

That moment when you're buying Blu-Rays in a store and you notice Rises is playing just before the climb from the Pit and you stop dead in your tracks.

I'd run the other way. These movies are some of the ones (including Fight Club, Se7en, Schindler's List, The Shining, Memento, Looper and The Prestige) where I can't see one scene in the movie. I have to see the whole thing from beginning to end and not see a scene in the store or on youtube.

[the last son]

On batmans motorcycle, how do the wheels spin like that and the vehicle not flip over?

[Anno_Domini]

The Bat-pod is only the two front wheels of the Tumbler so without the heavy Tumbler using the wheels, that's why it can spin around and do all that jazz.

[the last son]

that's not telling me anything. if you are making a left turn and stop at 60 mph on the dime to turn and your front wheel doesn't spin left to right but north and south from top to bottom that makes no sense in reality. It looks cool but it doesn't make sense

[Anno_Domini]

The Tumbler doesn't even make sense and you're focused on the Bat-pod? Lol.

[the last son]

How does the tumbler not make sense?

[BatLobsterRises]

Okay, I'm making the first official movement to migrate the pandora's box of debates that got opened in the Catwoman thread

Milost, there were just a couple things you said that I wanted to address (even though you weren't addressing me with them)

Originally Posted by milost

Why should other movies, prior to TDKR, such as Spider-Man 3, be criticized by those SAME exact problems, but TDKR gets a free pass? Seems hypocritical to me.

Well, the difference lies in the execution. I was one of the people afraid that Bane was going to be one of the ninjas in the monastery that burned down and that was the source of his injuries, etc. That to me would have been too unnecessarily convenient, which was the case in Spider-Man 3. In TDKR, they had an actual crack in the story to dive into. Ra's talking about his "great love" always felt like a nod to a larger history that we weren't privy to, especially if you have knowledge of the comics. In Spider-Man 3, if had the effect of the universe suddenly becoming a lot smaller. Whereas in TDKR, I felt like the world of the story was expanding in scope.

Plus, in the case of TDKR divulging previously unknown backstory there was actual pathos, parallelism, foreshadowing, mystery, misdirection. It was good filmmaking. In Spider-Man 3 it was nothing beyond, "Oops...my gun seems to have gone off". It didn't have much value beyond it's mechanical reasons for being in the film (giving Peter a reason to hate and then forgive Marko). In TDKR that whole al Ghul/Bane backstory stuff was amongst my favorite material in the film because I felt it worked on a multitude of levels, and I thought the Lawrence of Arabia vibe is where the film got a lot of its "epic" juice from.

Originally Posted by milost

The Dark Knight never had to "tweak" Batman Begins' story and insert things into it, it just logically built off of it. Why does TDKR do this? Seems a little strange to me.

Because that's part of the joy of storytelling. In the third act, we like to find out stuff that we thought was true turn out to be different than we thought or not true at all. This is true on a micro-level (act 3 of a movie), so why not on a macro-level?

Originally Posted by milost

You should be writing forward, not backward in my honest opinion.

This is the guy who did Memento, mind you.

But yeah, see I disagree. I think expanding the story in both directions is another thing that made TDKR that much richer and meatier. There's nothing inherently wrong sequelizing and prequelizing at the same time. Godfather Part II anyone?

Originally Posted by milost

I'm sure I'm in the minority, but they should have left Ra's and the League of Shadows with Batman Begins. I remember the early days before Bane and Catwoman were cast, "Ra's and the gang (LoS)" was considered almost like this cliched fan story that was treated as taboo, like, "they'd never go there". But as it got closer and closer to July 20th, everyone realized that yup, that's exactly where they went, the way everyone expected it. The cliched way. I still remember the, "no, hope that's not Talia, can't be" even though it was. It's funny how things turn out. Bane couldn't just be that mercenary with his own code, ethics, etc. they had to twist him and make him part of Begins and the League Of Shadows (and even be poorly summarized with an origin by Alfred and others, half of which doesn't even end up being true for the sake of a twist).

Yeah and see, I was one of those people who said the very next day after seeing TDK that I think Ra's (or at least the themes of Ra's) needed to return in part III. With how much TDK was based around the inherent good/evil of humanity and whether or not it's worth saving, it seemed like the thematic threads were just waiting to be tied up. I didn't think Nolan would actually do it, but I certainly didn't think it was a bad thing that he did. Especially when it gave us a villain as memorable and iconic as Bane (I know you don't agree though).

And I'd love to see the poster who predicted that the LOS would lay siege to Gotham, utterly ruling over the city for 5 months and closing it off to the outside world(before there were spoilers out). I honestly don't recall anybody calling out No Man's Land as a potential influence for a TDK sequel. I'd like to shake the hand of anyone who did guess that though.

Originally Posted by milost

I think it's the easiest trap to fall in, a trap that so many third films take (by going back to what made it so great), TDKR is certainly no exception.

And IMO, while TDKR uses "third movie" tropes heavily, it actually demonstrates why these cliches can actually work (like all cliches they exist for a reason) when they're executed with command and virtuosity. Nolan takes so many ingredients from SO many third movies (he himself said they watched a ton of third moves in preparation) and run laps around most of them.

[the last son]

Just doing some thinking today on how all the actors mostly have played in a movie with one another I totally forgot that bale and cotillard played together in public enemies. She was good in that. Bale not so much.

[JackWhite]

Originally Posted by the last son

Just doing some thinking today on how all the actors mostly have played in a movie with one another I totally forgot that bale and cotillard played together in public enemies. She was good in that. Bale not so much.

Bale had practically nothing to work with in that film. PE was a huge letdown for me, who at the time was exited that we were going to see Depp and Bale together in a crime epic.

[Gotham's Knight]

Originally Posted by BatLobsterRises

parallelism, foreshadowing, mystery, misdirection.

Because that's part of the joy of storytelling. In the third act, we like to find out stuff that we thought was true turn out to be different than we thought or not true at all. This is true on a micro-level (act 3 of a movie), so why not on a macro-level?

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course...it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".

-Cutter, The Prestige

[Anno_Domini]

Originally Posted by the last son

How does the tumbler not make sense?

"Flying on rooftop" ring a bell?

And then the magical lights that makes it invisible to the police

[the last son]

lol, yea I never got how he just disappeared into the night.

[Travesty]

The lights just cut out, and the main engine was shut off, which I assumed was using the power of the front tires, making it just as quiet as the Bat-Pod. It didn't make it invisible, just harder to see in the night without any noise or headlights.

[Kane52630]

Robin is working out for his solo film.

[Anno_Domini]

Originally Posted by Travesty

The lights just cut out, and the main engine was shut off, which I assumed was using the power of the front tires, making it just as quiet as the Bat-Pod. It didn't make it invisible, just harder to see in the night without any noise or headlights.

The main engine? So he turned the Tumbler off while he was still driving it past cops?

[Travesty]

Originally Posted by Anno_Domini

The main engine? So he turned the Tumbler off while he was still driving it past cops?

I thought I explained myself in my original post?

Does the Bat-Pod make any noise in the movies? You can clearly hear the engine come back on when the lights turn on, as well. Essentially, The Tumbler turns into a front wheel drive vehicle while in stealth mode, using the same engine that the Bat-pod does, which sounds like an electrical motor in the movie.

[Anno_Domini]

The Bat-pod does make noise when it's running.

[Travesty]

[JackWhite]

Originally Posted by Anno_Domini

The Bat-pod does make noise when it's running.

You're talking about the sound that Nolan described as always escalating, or something like that.

Originally Posted by Travesty

Best use of that GIF that I have ever seen.

[georgec]

Originally Posted by Kane52630

Robin is working out for his solo film.

"BLAKE IS BLAKE!!!"

- most people last June