Is "The Dark Knight Rises" as grounded in reality as its predecessors?

[Fudgie]

Too many stupid things happen in it for it to be as grounded as it's predecessors.

[Happy Jack]

Originally Posted by Alexei Belyakov

I disagree.

If 2 armed robbers with body armor could get the upper hand on the LAPD for an hour, a trained ninja with billionaire resources could easily evade them for years.

There are still dozens of murderers at large being sought out by FBI and other federal agencies. None of them have Batman's training or money. You do the math.

The biggest problem is that nearly all of Batman's weaponry does not or could not exist, because much of Batman's ability to do what he does night after night is in his reliance on his technology. Just think about how limited he'd be without the grapple gun alone. Besides that I think a man would be caught or killed sooner rather than later either by the police or the criminals even if he had an equivalent of Wayne's training and resources. It's just probable statistics. He's fist fighting criminals every single night.

[the last son]

If he trained for 7 years and had a billion dollars I really doubt he would be caught. Liek others have said much dumber and people with less money get away with serial killing every night. Why would the police or whoever waste how ever much it is to search for one man stopping crimes? He's not even killing like a Daredevil or someone. I just can't wrap my head around why people keep saying Batman is not realistic. You have real people who have fought crime in our lifetime with no training and no money.

Let's say Mark Zuckerburg was Batman you are telling me with all his money if he took the next 7 years to train he could not get away with being Batman. I think he could.

[Excelsior.]

Let's say Mark Zuckerburg was Batman you are telling me with all his money if he took the next 7 years to train he could not get away with being Batman.

The constant distraction by the ever looming stock update of Facebook on his mind will kill him.

[Baramos]

The tech was about on par with the stuff going on in Begins, except I think it was more plausible than the microwave emitter thingy.

The Dark Knight was fairly low-tech or super sciency, except for that sonar right at the end (also implausible), but very little of the movie seemed focused on the tech, whereas with The Dark Knight Rises you see a real return to focusing on the gadgets quite a bit. They certainly introduced way more gadgets in TDKR than in TDK.

[ChrisB]

I thought TDKR was the most "comic book-y" of the 3. That's not a bad thing... I was just surprised by it since TDK was probably the most grounded Nolan Batman movie.

[Cunning Stunts]

Originally Posted by Alexei Belyakov

TDKR was VERY realistic.

CIA in Kazakhstan, Patriot Act/Dent Act, Lazarus Pit in Syria/Arab Spring, LOS/Al-Qaeda...

The only surreal things in the film are some of the gadgets (Bruce's knee brace, Bat-Pod, Selina's identity wiper).

The Bat might as well be an F-22 so I'll keep that off the surreal list.

The brace is based on real technology. The same technology that was used by Batman in the beginning of The Dark Knight to rip a hole into the van Scarecrow was driving.

[BatLobsterRises]

^ And also a nod to the mechanical arm brace in TDKReturns.

[Cunning Stunts]

Originally Posted by ChrisB

I thought TDKR was the most "comic book-y" of the 3. That's not a bad thing... I was just surprised by it since TDK was probably the most grounded Nolan Batman movie.

I felt The Dark Knight Rises was a little more "comic booky" too, to be honest, despite that the elements, at face value, didn't seem quite as "comic booky" to me as Batman Begins's elements.

That's ass-backwards, I know. But it works in my head.

[GregComicFan]

Originally Posted by Alexei Belyakov

I disagree.

If 2 armed robbers with body armor could get the upper hand on the LAPD for an hour, a trained ninja with billionaire resources could easily evade them for years.

There are still dozens of murderers at large being sought out by FBI and other federal agencies. None of them have Batman's training or money. You do the math.

Mr. Reese from TDK had it right.

Figuring out who Batman is would be all about asking "Who's got the resources to do this?" and tracking the origin of all the products, equipment, devices, etc that Batman leaves behind on the scene of crimes he shows up at......

I'm not saying a real-life Bruce Wayne couldn't cover his tracks, but at some point, SOMEONE WOULD TALK and spill the beans on who Batman is. Some company would eventually speak to law enforcement and say "Gee, it does seem odd that some dummy corporation placed an order for 10,000 of some part/item/equipment that sure looks like the stuff that Batman is using"...

[Anno_Domini]

BB - 80% more realistic

TDK - 60% more realistic

TDKR - 40% more realistc

[Excelsior.]

Someone made an interesting observation of how Superman's identity would be harder to figure out than Batman. Simply because Superman doesn't hide behind a mask. Everyone knows what he looks like and that he lives in the fortress of Solitude, so nobody is ever actively or subconsciously looking for him among their surroundings or setting up offices obsessively dedicated to deducing who he is. He is Kal El, the last survivor of a doomed planet and the protector of humankind. Some of them might notice a man with glasses who looks exactly like him, but they know Superman is not a clumsy man who goes on stooping his shoulders as he bumps into every man and everything in his path; they simply dismiss him as an unworthy look alike (it is not out of reason that a world where he exists plastic surgery resembling his genotype would be common and popular).

[bane]

It's as grounded as its predecessors, I can write a BIG list of unrealistic things from the previous two movies.

[Doc Samson]

I think TDKR is easily the most "comic-booky" of the trilogy, and something that at least for me personally, was a bit jarring. Just having 3 costumed characters was a bit unnerving for me, as before, nobody but Batman himself had a costume (I wouldn't classify what Joker wore as a costume per se)

From the magical knee brace to Bane's whole plot, the mechanics of the Bat as opposed to his other two vehicles, to the ease in which Bruce finds Selina (who just happens to be outside at the perfect moment that he returns to Gotham) to the way Selina finds Batman in the mist of a small war at the perfect time to save him from Bane. It's just a lot of things that require more of suspension of disbelief than the other two movies did, at least to me.

[Anno_Domini]

Bruce could have been looking for Selina more than Selina appearing right when Bruce returns to Gotham.

[Doc Samson]

Perhaps, but one of the great fallacies of the movie IMO was Bruce's return to Gotham. I don't know why Nolan didn't show us any of the ingenuity Bruce surely would've needed to use to not only get back to Gotham from seemingly a world away but also re-enter a City under a militaristic occupation. It couldn't have made the movie that much longer, and it would've went a long way to making it more plausible, not to mention more heroic had we been privy to exactly the steps he needed to take to accomplish it with enough time to stop Bane.

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by Doc Samson

Just having 3 costumed characters was a bit unnerving for me, as before, nobody but Batman himself had a costume (I wouldn't classify what Joker wore as a costume per se)

Really? Joker wearing a purple suit, clown make up and green hair is not a costume to you?

What would you call it then?

[Anno_Domini]

Well I agree that the prospect of Wayne trying to find a way into Gotham City was necessary, but I don't think the way Bruce finds Selina was meant to be in simplistic nature that it just becomes a coincidence.

[Doc Samson]

Originally Posted by The Joker

Really? Joker wearing a purple suit, clown make up and green hair is not a costume to you?

What would you call it then?

It's makeup & dirty clothing he pieced together, and that's when he decided to wear it, which wasn't all the time. It's not like Bane's or Catwoman's, that are actual costumes they wear whenever they engage in battle.

Originally Posted by Anno_Domini

Well I agree that the prospect of Wayne trying to find a way into Gotham City was necessary, but I don't think the way Bruce finds Selina was meant to be in simplistic nature that it just becomes a coincidence.

That's kinda my point though, the way it's presented in the movie, it comes off exactly that way, at least to me.

[The Joker]

Originally Posted by Doc Samson

It's makeup & dirty clothing he pieced together

"By the way the suit it wasn't cheap. You ought to know you bought it"

He used the mob's money he stole from them to get it. But even if he had made it himself, how would it still not be a costume? He was making himself look like a scary clown. The Joker. Punctuated by the Joker cards and clown make up and cut smiles he put on his victims. It was all a costume to promote his image as The Joker.

and that's when he decided to wear it, which wasn't all the time.

The only times he didn't wear it was when he was in disguise so he wouldn't be spotted:

- In the bank robbery
- Loeb's funeral
- The hospital

He'd have stood out like a sore thumb in his purple suit in those situations. Bane didn't wear his traditional clothing in the prologue on the C.I.A. plane, or when he crashed the stock exchange because like Joker he was trying to be inconspicuous.

[Anno_Domini]

Originally Posted by Doc Samson

That's kinda my point though, the way it's presented in the movie, it comes off exactly that way, at least to me.

I didn't find it to be a coincidence, but I guess it's how one views the film themselves. Imo, Batman knowing exactly where to find Dent feels much more of a coincidence then Bruce finding Selina.

[Cunning Stunts]

Originally Posted by Doc Samson

Perhaps, but one of the great fallacies of the movie IMO was Bruce's return to Gotham. I don't know why Nolan didn't show us any of the ingenuity Bruce surely would've needed to use to not only get back to Gotham from seemingly a world away but also re-enter a City under a militaristic occupation. It couldn't have made the movie that much longer, and it would've went a long way to making it more plausible, not to mention more heroic had we been privy to exactly the steps he needed to take to accomplish it with enough time to stop Bane.

Because the movie was already pushing three hours.

I still feel this movie's greatest flaw is not being a two-parter. I feel this movie would have been better served having two parts with Bane and Talia being the overarching villains throughout both, with different minor villains in each.

[Doc Samson]

Originally Posted by The Joker

"By the way the suit it wasn't cheap. You ought to know you bought it"

He used the mob's money he stole from them to get it. But even if he had made it himself, how would it still not be a costume? He was making himself look like a scary clown. The Joker. Punctuated by the Joker cards and clown make up and cut smiles he put on his victims. It was all a costume to promote his image as The Joker.

The only times he didn't wear it was when he was in disguise so he wouldn't be spotted:

- In the bank robbery
- Loeb's funeral
- The hospital

He'd have stood out like a sore thumb in his purple suit in those situations. Bane didn't wear his traditional clothing in the prologue on the C.I.A. plane, or when he crashed the stock exchange because like Joker he was trying to be inconspicuous.

I'm saying the Joker, as a character, whether it's comic or movie based, doesn't really wear a costume in the literal sense, any more than Lex Luthor wears a costume. It's part of the Joker dichotomy in the comics (at least the older stuff, I'm not up to speed on the new things) that he's actually a pretty good dresser. It's that split between that image of a tailored suit & the twisted visage of a clown, that invokes parts of his personality. Ledger/Nolan's version took a different approach and dirtied him up, but the fact remains it's basic clothing.

What Catwoman wears is a tactical costume, just like Bane & Batman. They're outfits with specific purposes in regards to combat and/or stealth.

Originally Posted by Cunning Stunts

Because the movie was already pushing three hours.

I still feel this movie's greatest flaw is not being a two-parter. I feel this movie would have been better served having two parts with Bane and Talia being the overarching villains throughout both, with different minor villains in each.

Agreed, although I don't feel showing quick clips of Bruce during his journey at different intervals would've extended the run time that much. I would've liked to see this movie given more room to breath overall though, certainly.

[Anno_Domini]

Originally Posted by Doc Samson

Agreed, although I don't feel showing quick clips of Bruce during his journey at different intervals would've extended the run time that much. I would've liked to see this movie given more room to breath overall though, certainly.

Unless they did a quick 20 second or so montage of Bruce's travels back to Gotham, they'd have to try a two-parter since they couldn't go past the IMAX time limit.

[Doc Samson]

Oh ok, makes sense. There's definitely enough going on that it could've warranted two parts, that's for sure. All I think would've been necessary are those quick montage of shots you speak of.