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

[BatLobster]

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.

I agree, because when he found Dent and Schiff, everything was more condensed and it all happened in one night, whereas with Rises there are bigger jumps in time so he'd have more time to track Selina.

There's a line in the script and novelization that's not in the film in the scene where Batman rescues Blake:

Batman: The mask's not for you, it's to protect the people you care about.
Blake: Huh. And you always seem to know where those people are. How is that?
Batman: I lost someone once. Since then I break into their homes when they're sleeping and implant a tracking device on the back of their neck.

Now that line is extremely clunky and unnecessary, so it was wisely cut from the movie, but it's funny to see that they at least toyed with the idea of explaining how Batman is so easily able to find people. No need though, him being Batman suffices for me. Didn't bother me in any of the movies.

 

[JackWhite]

I agree, because when he found Dent and Schiff, everything was more condensed and it all happened in one night, whereas with Rises there are bigger jumps in time so he'd have more time to track Selina.

There's a line in the script and novelization that's not in the film in the scene where Batman rescues Blake:

Batman: The mask's not for you, it's to protect the people you care about.
Blake: Huh. And you always seem to know where those people are. How is that?
Batman: I lost someone once. Since then I break into their homes when they're sleeping and implant a tracking device on the back of their neck.

Now that line is extremely clunky and unnecessary, so it was wisely cut from the movie, but it's funny to see that they at least toyed with the idea of explaining how Batman is so easily able to find people. No need though, him being Batman suffices for me. Didn't bother me in any of the movies.

Even though that dialogue is extremely "Batman" in nature, I still can't believe that was even considered.

Too bad the dialogue couldn't have been cleaned up. It would have been nice to see some more creepy Batman, like in TDK with the sonar stuff.

 

[BatLobster]

Yeah, it's the type of line that you wouldn't think twice about if Batman said that in a comic book, but would probably be a total WTF moment if it was said in a film, or would have to play as an offbeat joke at best.

 

[Brother Jack]

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.

I felt like the bit with the special forces team coming in to Gotham through supply trucks helped illuminate Bruce's reentry. It showed that people could still get into Gotham if they did it covertly in the right way and had the proper resources, which Bruce certainly had. It seems like a cheap answer to answer it by saying "he's Batman" but to be honest that is viable given what we are shown throughout the trilogy. Bruce and to a greater extent Batman have been able to do some pretty outlandish things.

 

[DACrowe]

I personally find the idea that the US government would let a terrorist group hold one of its cities hostage for five months incredibly hard to swallow.

But it still is a great movie.

 

[Alexei Belyakov]

I personally find the idea that the US government would let a terrorist group hold one of its cities hostage for five months incredibly hard to swallow.

But it still is a great movie.

With a nuke in the middle, its plausible.

Also, regarding the resolve of the U.S., watch ARGO.

Carter was a ***** & William Devane's President in TDKR may have been just as light in his trousers.

 

[Victarion]

I personally find the idea that the US government would let a terrorist group hold one of its cities hostage for five months incredibly hard to swallow.

But it still is a great movie.

I wondered about that myself. However, it felt like a more plausible No Man's Land scenario than a random earthquake. At lesat the government wasn't on its laurels for the whole five months. They did send in that one squad that got hung from a bridge.

@Happy Jack: I didn't think about using the supply trucks. I did shrug and figured he got in because "he's Batman" since Bruce has some experience under his belt.

 

[BatLobster]

The Nolans have a tendency to introduce plot elements into a film that are meaty enough ideas to warrant an entire movie.

For instance, you could easily have entire movie based around the two ferries premise in TDK. Obviously, it's the same with the city under occupation angle in TDKR. The way they use these plot devices, it's great food for thought and works fine as a thematic backdrop to their respective stories, but we don't get to explore them as in depth as they might be explored if they were the subject of their own films. Both TDK and TDKR probably have enough potent content to be fleshed out into a full HBO miniseries. The Nolans are just very fertile when it comes to ideas and they tend to pack a lot in. Personally I've grown to love this about them, but I think sometimes it's frustrating for some people, which is understandable. Their movies are so engrossing that you'd actually want to sit through a 5 hour version of it.

 

[Fudgie]

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.

Ehhh no a purple clown suit is a costume. Luthor wears regular every days suits you'd see a business man in an office wear. You don't see anyone wear Joker's suits.

I personally find the idea that the US government would let a terrorist group hold one of its cities hostage for five months incredibly hard to swallow.

Yup that was dumb. So was Gordon still having his job after the Harvey Dent lie came out. He'd have been sacked for that.

 

[BatLobster]

Yup that was dumb. So was Gordon still having his job after the Harvey Dent lie came out. He'd have been sacked for that.

Even after being a key player in saving Gotham from nuclear annihilation? People have gotten presidential pardons for less.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

With a nuke in the middle, its plausible.

If the Nuke needs a remote to detonate it, it wouldn't take the Government 5 seconds to intercept it's frequency and disarm the Nuke. Hell, we've already done it. They hack it, and disarm it remotely. The entire premise of Bane's occupation is pretty over the top, from the start to the finish.

You can't just burrow beneath a city without people taking notice.

 

[Fudgie]

Even after being a key player in saving Gotham from nuclear annihilation? People have gotten presidential pardons for less.

Even for that. He was part of a criminal conspiracy for 8 years. You don't get a pardon for that and get to keep your job as the Police Commissioner.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

The Dark Knight Rises does seem to be the most "comic booky", but I'd probably say Batman Begins was fairly unrealistic as well. The Dark Knight is the one that smacks mostly of a procedural cop-drama like 'Law and Order', and also the one that packs in the most detail about how stuff progresses. You get a lot more grounding and explanation for each character, and what they do.

The Dark Knight Rises is pretty effing ridiculous though. The microwave emitter is probably about as ridiculous.

 

[BatLobster]

Even for that. He was part of a criminal conspiracy for 8 years. You don't get a pardon for that and get to keep your job as the Police Commissioner.

By that logic, Batman probably shouldn't have gotten a statue in city hall either, as that too glorifies someone who had an equal part in the conspiracy- but if you think that shouldn't have happened either, then I can agree to disagree.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Even for that. He was part of a criminal conspiracy for 8 years. You don't get a pardon for that and get to keep your job as the Police Commissioner.

Or even worse how he's the last one to figure out Bruce Wayne is Batman even though he seems to have the most reason to suspect him.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

^^ By that logic, Batman shouldn't have gotten a statue in city hall either, but if you think that shouldn't have happened either, then okay.

Technically he shouldn't have, what with the city now dying from horrible nuclear bomb induced cancer.

 

[Fudgie]

By that logic, Batman probably shouldn't have gotten a statue in city hall either, as that too glorifies someone who had an equal part in the conspiracy- but if you think that shouldn't have happened either, then I can agree to disagree.

He shouldn't have. He was a masked vigilante law breaker who wrecked Cop cars and blew up public property. It was all drippy syrup happy ending bull that Nolan made up.

But Batman being dead because he saved the city and getting a statue for it wasn't as dumb as a Police Commissioner who was sitting on a criminal cover up for 8 years and not losing his job after it was exposed. That's the dumbest of the dumb.

Or even worse how he's the last one to figure out Bruce Wayne is Batman even though he seems to have the most reason to suspect him.

Hey we're talking about a Gordon so dumb he sends all his Cops under ground to look for Bane.

Gordon sucked in Rises.

 

[BatLobster]

Technically he shouldn't have, what with the city now dying from horrible nuclear bomb induced cancer.

They did call it a neutron bomb at one point, which doesn't create fallout. I know it made a mushroom cloud so we associate it with a nuke but to be honest, it's a completely fictional device as fusion reactors can't as of now be turned into weapons like that.

It's light sci-fi, I see it as no more or less over the top than the microwave emitter.

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

Hey we're talking about a Gordon so dumb he sends all his Cops under ground to look for Bane.

Gordon sucked in Rises.

What I really hated, more than anything, was Oldman's phoned-in performance. The whole movie he was as bad as he was when he drove the Batmobile in the first film. Rather than come off like a grounded character, it felt like the 1960s Gordon, cartoonish-ly barking orders from a hospital bed (and like you point out, why anyone was listening to him after he sent nearly every single officer into the sewers to be trapped).

 

[Optimus_Prime_]

They did call it a neutron bomb at one point, which doesn't create fallout. I know it made a mushroom cloud so we associate it with a nuke but to be honest, it's a completely fictional device as fusion reactors can't as of now be turned into weapons like that.

It's light sci-fi, I see it as no more or less over the top than the microwave emitter.

I didn't say it was "worse" than the microwave emitter (think I said the opposite actually), but it's still not grounded in any reality I'm familiar with.

 

[BatLobster]

I didn't say it was "worse" than the microwave emitter (think I said the opposite actually), but it's still not grounded in any reality I'm familiar with.

That's fair enough, I was just weighing it out in my head, not directly responding to what you said. Overall TDKR definitely felt the most comic booky in some areas, but I enjoyed that. It helped contribute to an "anything can happen" excitement for me. Like, when Ra's showed up I actually got tricked into thinking it was actually him in the flesh for a second.

 

[Human Torch]

They all had their comic booky moments.TDK probably most of all,with Dent walking around with a nearly exposed skull.

 

[The Joker]

They all had their comic booky moments.TDK probably most of all,with Dent walking around with a nearly exposed skull.

In terms of the villains and their visual appearance, I do think Joker and Two Face looked the most comic booky;

 

[BatLobster]

Ugh, I love Two Face's design. Has to be the most comic accurate look they did in this series.

 

[Anno_Domini]

With Catwoman as a close third when it comes to looking most like the comic book.