The Dark Knight Rises The TDKR General Discussion Thread - - - - - - - Part 156

[Travesty]

Overall I like TDKR and think the hate is exaggerated sometimes.

But the middle section with Gotham on lockdown does get pretty clunky and it has kind of an unwieldy narrative structure.

I also have a few problems.

Catwoman and Talia Al Ghul in the same movie limits development for both of them and each's relationship with Bruce/Batman.

Blake should have been better-developed so there's more justification for him replacing Batman at the end, and really Nolan should have just let JGL be Dick Grayson instead of a half-assed kinda sorta not really pseudo-Robin.

Bane mounting this master plan to take over Gotham and then just....hanging out at City Hall for the next five months (?) is kinda lame and also feels like an arbitrary drawn-out deadline to let Batman recover and make his comeback, conveniently just in time to save the day.

I wasn't a big fan of Bane (disappointingly so as I love Tom Hardy). The voice is just ridiculous sometimes (he sounds cheesy as hell in the Blackgate speech scene), and after taking over Gotham the movie doesn't know what to do with him after that. He just hangs out the rest of the movie and then gets a throwaway death as a punchline to a one-liner.

Gordon is not as well-utilized as he was in The Dark Knight. He's just kind of "there", either in the hospital or hiding in JGL's apartment most of the movie and doesn't really do much until the climax.

Michael Caine is actually really good in the few scenes he has, but is also really sidelined and minimized.

That's.....not how repairing a broken back works.

Why exactly is Bane keeping the police alive?

Ben Mendelsohn and Matthew Modine's characters are just cartoonish.

I like how you start off saying the hate is exaggerated for this movie, but then go off on a long point by point breakdown of everything that is obviously wrong with the movie.

 

[BatLobster]

I like how you start off saying the hate is exaggerated for this movie, but then go off on a long point by point breakdown of everything that is obviously wrong with the movie.

Name me nearly any CBM, and there's always a list of flaws to point out. Point being, you can be critical of something and still ultimately like it.

 

[Travesty]

Well damn, I wish I wasn't being super serious with what I just said.

Now I remember what it's like being in the Nolan areas.

 

[BatLobster]

Hey man. You poked your head in. You missed it here and you know it.

 

[Herofan]

I get where people are coming from with the Batman disappearing, then returning, then disappearing, then returning again thing but...I think it's overcomplicating something that's pretty simple.

When Batman returns the first time, he's got a death wish. When he returns the second time, he's found the will to live.

I didn't get, or at least believe, that the first time he had a death wish, yes Rachel's death was a blow but it was too unbelievable that that would overshadow all the good he had done in Gotham, improved it so much for so long, and that OTOH he didn't consider both that supervillains could come again so he would be needed as Batman and that he could also continue to do more good as Wayne.

 

[The Joker]

I didn't get, or at least believe, that the first time he had a death wish, yes Rachel's death was a blow but it was too unbelievable that that would overshadow all the good he had done in Gotham, improved it so much for so long, and that OTOH he didn't consider both that supervillains could come again so he would be needed as Batman and that he could also continue to do more good as Wayne.

Where in the movie did it state Rachel's death is the reason he had a death wish? There was multiple reasons. Gotham no longer needed Batman thanks to the impact of Dent's legacy. So he was made redundant there. He tried to help the world as Bruce Wayne by sinking everything into the clean energy project, which he was forced to scrap because it became too dangerous, so he was made redundant there. And he lost the one person he thought was his chance at happiness. Basically he had nothing left in his life. Couldn't help the city as Batman, or Bruce Wayne, and thought he lost his shot at a normal life with someone.

Whether you believe that or not is your choice, but that's the way it was. This is factual not opinionated. The movie makes it clear.

 

[Awest66]

Does anyone have an idea of what villains they'd have liked to see in this film series before it concluded? I'd have to say Riddler, Penguin, Hugo Strange and Killer Croc are my choices.

I know a lot of people really wanted Black Mask but why have him when the Penguin works just as well if not better.

 

[Brother Jack]

I could've seen Riddler as some kind of detective working with the GCPD to catch Batman. Before Rises was officially announced that was my theory on where the story would go after Knight.

 

[BatLobster]

For anyone who hasn't seen the new transfer of TDK that was released with the 4k version, I've found some clips popping up on Youtube:



You see the biggest difference in the 35mm scenes such as this one. It looks remarkably better than what our eyes got used to on the Blu-ray.

 

[Schlosser85]

Does anyone have an idea of what villains they'd have liked to see in this film series before it concluded? I'd have to say Riddler, Penguin, Hugo Strange and Killer Croc are my choices.

I know a lot of people really wanted Black Mask but why have him when the Penguin works just as well if not better.

I think a version of The Riddler could have worked well for Nolan.

 

[Awest66]

I think a version of The Riddler could have worked well for Nolan.

If the Riddler showed up in the Nolanverse, I would have preferred him to be a cyber-terrorist. That's more interesting than a corrupt GCPD detective.

 

[Schlosser85]

If the Riddler showed up in the Nolanverse, I would have preferred him to be a cyber-terrorist. That's more interesting than a corrupt GCPD detective.

Agreed, and I feel like he would have been something like that.

 

[Gothamsknight]

For anyone who hasn't seen the new transfer of TDK that was released with the 4k version, I've found some clips popping up on Youtube:



You see the biggest difference in the 35mm scenes such as this one. It looks remarkably better than what our eyes got used to on the Blu-ray.

I own all 3 films on 4k Ultra and they are easily the most gorgeous 4K's i've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful transfers in every way.

 

[The Joker]

Christian Bale Turned Down Request for Fourth Batman Movie Because of Nolan’s Wish

Did you all see this? WB wanted to keep going with the Nolan universe and do a fourth movie.

 

[Awest66]

Christian Bale Turned Down Request for Fourth Batman Movie Because of Nolan’s Wish

Did you all see this? WB wanted to keep going with the Nolan universe and do a fourth movie.

Good for Christian Bale.

 

[shauner111]

It worked out for the best. But I would have been interested in seeing Bale play the character under the direction of somebody new, different suits etc. Like a separate universe.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

I own all 3 films on 4k Ultra and they are easily the most gorgeous 4K's i've ever seen. Absolutely beautiful transfers in every way.

I like them, but Nolan's own Dunkirk is a far superior showcase. It's reference quality.

 

[thangaran]

I suspect TDKR would have been a lot different if the great late Ledger was still alive. I can’t imagine they would not have had him in a major role in the sequel

 

[Awest66]

I suspect TDKR would have been a lot different if the great late Ledger was still alive. I can’t imagine they would not have had him in a major role in the sequel

I don't know about a "major role". In my opinion, it does a massive disservice to the rest of Batman's rogues gallery to just keep going back to The Joker over and over again.

Than again, Movies like Under the Red Hood, Mask of the Phantasm, and the Dark Knight Returns all did a pretty great job of making the Joker a supporting player without having him take over the entire movie so it is possible Nolan could do it as well but I've always been okay with him not being in the sequel in TDK, I think he did everything he really needed to do in the previous movie.

 

[kvz5]

It’s so weird seeing TDKR clips of Bale here. It feels like more than a decade.

 

[BatLobster]

One of the best and most succinct analysis videos I've seen of TDKR. Really well done and worth a look.

 

[Herofan]

I've always been okay with him not being in the sequel in TDK, I think he did everything he really needed to do in the previous movie.

Why did, after he said he thought he and Batman would fight forever, they never fight again?

 

[Brother Jack]

Why did, after he said he thought he and Batman would fight forever, they never fight again?

If we accept the idea that Batman is everlasting we know, eventually, that Joker will escape and their battle will begin again. Joker is presented in the film in an almost metaphysical way, where he's like this demon that gets released as some kind of cosmic counter-balance to Batman's existence. That's the larger implication of his line at the end, and it remains true even if Bruce does not continue to be Batman himself.

 

[DoomRulz]

The Dark Knight Rises Voted Best Film Of The Decade''

Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises has been crowned the best film of the last decade after topping a huge LADbible poll.

It beat Logan and Joker <3 <3 <3

 

[Blade Hoarder]

Filmcritichulk: Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises is a camp masterpiece

I thought it was an interesting piece. Nolan doesn't know how to direct pulp. It's not his thing. So he directed Rises, which is pulp through and through, with the utmost seriousness, resulting in glorious camp. I never saw it this way. But he makes a good case.