So I finally bought Rises on DVD coz it was on special and watched it again. I haven't seen it since July last year so it gave me the opportunity to watch it with relatively fresh eyes.
I'll reiterate what I've said before about it, it's not a bad movie, but having watch it again for the first time in over six months I've come to the conclusion the film is a very flawed masterpiece that is undone by the very medium it was created in. I can now see why people like this move, because it can be enjoyed, it just can't be enjoyed from the perspective of Nolan's past work because this is still without a doubt his worst movie. The problem is Nolan tried to combine spectacle with substance but somewhere along the line things became muddled, concessions and compromises were made and story elements were sacrificed in order to fit in the 2 and 3/4 hour time frame. All the film needed was an extra time to thoroughly combine spectacle with substance in order for it to truly rank along side Nolan's best because it's very much a highlights package of a much longer story.
I believe this is where the frustration myself and others have stems from. Looking back at TDK and BB those films aren't really blockbuster spectacles, they're very much films of substance first and action second and that's where the fault of Rises lies, Nolan pushed the substance back in order to elevate the spectacle. I'll give kudos to him for trying to elevate things for a grand finish but in doing so he had to cut corners because the line between serious movie and superhero film is never more evident than here. Avengers wore its spectacle heart on its sleeve and was unapologetic about it, it was simple and it worked. Rises drops the ball because it's just trying to do way to much and achieve the same result. Nolan kinda painted himself into a corner when he chose to make a genuine spectacle, I will give him props for attempting it because Rises is ambitious as hell, it's just the story he was trying to do was hamstrung from day one given the medium it was being made in and as a result there are some really dumb moments in the film. I've said this before but the story here could have used an extra 30-40 mins easily but that was never going to happen.
Frankly no matter how much I look at it I cannot rank Rises along side with TDK and Begins because it's really not the same type of film as the other two, which is ironically what I was hoping for from the get go, just not the execution I was expecting. I'm still disappointed don't get me wrong, I still expected better, but if I look at it through the same spectrum as the Avengers it's enjoyable, but just not as great as it should have been. I wish I didn't have to look at it through that spectrum but it's a concession I can make in order to watch the film. Simply put, TDKR is a popcorn movie dressed up.
