The Dark Knight Rises - 9/10. :disbelief:
I absolutely adore Nolan's trilogy, but anyone who says that Rises is one star from being a perfect movie is just plain wrong. This is coming from one of Nolan's greatest defenders too.
Some people rate films differently. Some people rate purely on enjoyment factor and some rate on 10 being the most flawless film ever told. I personally rate on what I feel the particular film should be doing.
I rate Airplane 9/10 because it does everything I believe a comedy should do for I also rate TDKR 9/10 that doesn't mean I think they are on the same level nor does it mean I believe both films are one problem away from being flawless. From TDKR I expected an emotional and satisfying ending with a great story with great performances with a bucket load of wonderful looking action and on that Nolan pretty much delivered.
This was a quote by someone from the previous thread and I just wanted to respond to it. I don't really think reaction shots of citizens was necessary. The whole point was that things had gotten so bad people wouldn't leave their houses. We saw this in it's most extreme form when they talked about cops being hunted down and the discussion about hiding indoors.
We saw people being hauled before a kangaroo court and being exiled to death. We saw a bunch of orphans trying to escape and survive.
I'm not sure what seeing "regular" citizens would have added. I imagine they would have undergone the exact same experiences as we saw others go through. Bane was pretty to the point what would happen if they tried to escape, and when the government gave up on them there was nothing for them to do but hide and survive.
I felt that the total ghost town vibe from Gotham is what gave the film this great atmosphere of danger.
The quote was mine
The only people we saw being trialled was people high up (Dagget, Gordon, Miranda....) like high-end buisness men and detectives no one just average.
Seeing regular citizens would have brought a lot more to the film I feel and would have made it look like the Gotham in TDKR expanded outside Bruce, Blake, Gordon, Fox, Miranda, Bane and Selina. Once Harvey is outed as the madman he turned in to we should have seen these struggling Gothamites somehow looking up to Batman.
In BB we have a dinner conversation with Bruce and random people saying how they feel about Batman, we have the kid who says people have been talking about him everywhere then in the final act we have several moments of people running away in fear and even moments with people we don't know. It's not much but we know how these people are reacting. Then in TDK it takes things further with the chaos outside the TV station with people trying to shoot Reese, the busy Bar when Joker's threat is played on TV and them pushing out, chaos outside hospital and ferries then also the people sat down when Dent outs himself as Batman but you also have the moment inside the boats with the civillians and prisoners. Say what you will about that scene and the acting or whether it is a scene too far for the morality theme it gives the film a great sense about the people of Gotham.
TDKR just seems to abandon this completely. We don't a single moment about how the people of Gotham react about Bane's occupation. There isn't one scene/moment/reaction shot I don't believe with a character or group we haven't met. It doesn't expand Gotham IMO Gotham looks in pretty good condition after 5 months of terrorist reign. Just a few shots of people in shelters or out looking for food or a way to survive, small groups of rebellions against Bane the only moment (which does slightly contradict my previous point) we get is when we see people huddled up for the truck of supplies outside the store. Like I said before many times even shots of ordinary people joining the police in battle probably would have done it.
I keep shifting from agreeing with this to disagreeing with it and back again.
A two-parter would have done everything it detail and let everything breath and I truly believe TDKR had more than enough content to fill two films. The hospital scene for example could have lasted a few minutes and had bucket loads of emotion but instead it was cut/talk/cut/talk/cut/talk/cut/talk/cut/next scene yes it gets the job done but you don't feel a thing.
