Thanks?
You're welcome.
My point was that those polls don't mean s***. It's impossible to judge how many people liked which one better. Polls are iffy because users might not find them (which gets a less biased attitude, a thread in the Batforums, a thread in the general forums, or a poll on the main page?). Even if you got a good, fair sampling size, and even if TDKR won, what exactly would that prove (in relation to this threads' topic)? I know plenty of people (average moviegoers, film buffs, comic fans) that thought TDKR was a disappointment, but still liked it far more than The Avengers. In fact, I am the only person that I know (in "real life") that likes the Avengers better.
I'm saying that it's useless to compare the two films, especially within the context of this thread, which is meant to determine whether or not TDKR was a letdown.
And I'm pretty sure what Fudgie was trying to say (I'll be honest, it's hard to tell sometimes), was that TDKR had a higher chance of being a letdown. FAR higher chance than TASM, which was coming off of SM3, or Judge Dredd (because who cares), or MIB III (because again, who cares), or even The Avengers (just a big "dumb" summer popcorn flick). People weren't expecting
any of those movies to be revolutionary or groundbreaking. But Rises had to live up to a movie that revolutionized the genre, according to many. That was very unlikely, but people still went in with those expectations (I just wanted a movie as good as Begins or The Prestige). So it only makes sense that more people left TDKR disappointed (because more people were expecting lightning to strike twice). This has nothing to do with the quality of the film (which did exacerbate things, imo), or whether or not The Avengers was better. There was just a higher chance of people being disappointed.
I don't think the poll of this thread is very representative of general audiences. I think most people liked it fine (though I've seen an almost unanimous agreement among friends and critics that TDK was better). I think a very small percentage of audiences left disappointed (maybe like 10-15% tops). And I think that generally, those are the people who thought about the movie, agonized over it prior to its release, and then continued to think about it long after seeing it. In my experience, the more somebody over-analyzes a movie, the higher the chance that they'll end up disliking it. This is a fan forum, filled with people that endlessly discuss CBMs so I think the results are skewed in the negative direction.
Keeping all of that in mind, TDKR was/is a great success. Even someone like me (I enjoy it less and less over time) can understand that a sequel to TDKR could have been, no,
should have been much less popular (think about Godfather III, or Return of the Jedi). I think backlash against this movie (among general audiences and critics alike) was extremely small, and that alone makes it a successful movie.
So financially and critically speaking, I think it would be incorrect to call this movie a letdown. But on a personal level, it was for me, which is why I voted yes. And there's no use debating opinion, so I'd rather not get into that (I've lurked for a long time, I know that you slobber over TDKR, I don't need to hear more of the same).
t:
