The Dark Knight Rises You Have My Permission To Lounge - Part 1

[Reek]

 

[The Shape]

Gadot was alright and nothing great, aside from really shining and being amazing in the big action scene. She has a fairly small role that doesn't give her much to work with anyway, though, but the film basically establishes Wonder Woman in a pretty cool way while still leaving her mysterious and allowing for much more development in her solo film.

Also, she's unbelievably hot.

 

[Man in the Suit]

Nice.

Any Goyerisms ("Dicksplash" from MOS) remain in Terrio's rewrite?

 

[JackWhite]

That's good to hear, Shape. I'm glad you enjoyed it. My excitement has gone up a huge amount now.

 

[titansupes]

Cool review, Shape.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

Two guys with positive opinions regarding the film, that's cool.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

How did they treat the fact that Clark and Supes look and act exactly the same? Or did they just ignore that?

I don't have a problem with that. It's just that this universe is supposed to be a little more realistic in terms of how they respond to superheroes than the Donner-verse that makes me raise an eyebrow that they won't notice Clark Kent looking and acting like Superman.

 

[The Joker]

Nice review, Shape Sounds fair and even minded, with no sense of exaggeration or bias. You had pretty much a similar opinion to me about MOS, so to hear it's at least an improvement over that is a positive in my book.

Interesting that you say Gadot was nothing special. From what I've been hearing on Facebook, she's supposed to be a scene stealing character.

 

[The Shape]

Don't get me wrong. She was solid and I like her in the role, but in this movie, there really wasn't enough for any actress to have done to really "stand out" or elevate the material in the Diana Prince scenes, because they were honestly few and far in between and there was not a lot of meat on that role. She doesn't have all that much dialogue, but her role is still integral to the plot -- mostly the "Dawn of Justice" thread that runs throughout the film.

But as WW in the finale amidst all the action, Gal killed it and was awesome, and I wouldn't have wanted another actress for that at all. The crowd was going nuts for her. She's a scene-stealer in the sense that it's the first time we've never seen Wonder Woman on screen like that and it was glorious.

 

[The Shape]

How did they treat the fact that Clark and Supes look and act exactly the same? Or did they just ignore that?

I don't have a problem with that. It's just that this universe is supposed to be a little more realistic in terms of how they respond to superheroes than the Donner-verse that makes me raise an eyebrow that they won't notice Clark Kent looking and acting like Superman.

They don't really acknowledge it, which I was fine with. This universe is semi-realistic in the way that that people and the world react to the existence of beings like Superman, but it's nothing like the Nolan films in that they don't make the effort to explain or spell out every little thing. The film isn't overly concerned with real-world logic, which is part of what I loved about it.

I thought it was more akin to what it's like to read a comic book or graphic novel, in way.

 

[BatLobster]

Thanks for taking the time to drop that 'exclusive' review here Shape. I know it can be hard to collect all your thoughts immediately after an overwhelming movie like this one seems to be and you were probably pretty exhausted. Glad you enjoyed it though.

 

[The Shape]

Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts are tough to process and articulate right now since you guys haven't seen the film yet. And for some reason, I don't feel like going into the spoiler threads and dropping spoilers until more people have seen it.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

You didn't mention anything about Eisenberg as Lex? How was he?

 

[Travesty]

I thought it was more akin to what it's like to read a comic book or graphic novel, in way.

 

[Travesty]

Oh yeah, since we were talking about it yesterday, I gotta ask: was there a post credit scene?

 

[The Shape]

He was honestly pretty great. Super nefarious, smart, borderline twisted, darkly manipulative, and far-reaching in his evil "schemes". As I predicted, it's a very different take on Lex Luthor in terms of his outward personality and the weird little quirks he has, but is in keeping with the essence of the comic book Luthor and his beliefs about Superman.

He's definitely more interesting and compelling than the typical throw-away CBM villains we've become accustomed to in many films. He is like Shakespeare's Iago in a way, and at the core of the story is this sort of triangle between Batman, Superman, and Lex.

 

[Slade W]

Were there many Joker references in the movie?

 

[Travesty]

Do we see the lenses in the regular Batsuit, or is that considered a spoiler?

 

[The Shape]

Oh yeah, since we were talking about it yesterday, I gotta ask: was there a post credit scene?

Nope, not at this screening. Every single person in my theater waited til the end of the credits just in case, though. I guess there's a chance they might include one for the theatrical release this weekend, so maybe wait to be safe.

But the few Easter eggs, teases, and Justice League set-ups are actually woven into the story and peppered throughout the film, which I liked because it actually made sense and served as its own plot thread that kind of runs parallel to the main storyline involving the core characters.

Don't get me wrong, the teases and set-ups are pretty overt, obvious, and telegraphed. I imagine some people (including critics) will cite this as a negative aspect of the film and some non-fans might not fully grasp their importance or what they mean. People who are "uninitiated" when it comes to the JL or simply not interested in that eventual team-up prob won't care about those moments, but that's pretty much how these kind of teases, set-ups, and cameos always are -- whether they're tacked on to the end of the film, the end of the credits, or randomly inserted within the story.

But at least in this case, they were somewhat organic and at least arose from the story. One of my fears was that the "Dawn of Justice" angle would just be teases or scenes tacked onto the end of the film, and that's not really the case at all.

 

[The Shape]

Were there many Joker references in the movie?

Nope.

 

[Slade W]

Nope.

Thanks.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

I guess the rumors about a post credit montage of the formation of the JLA were hogwash.

 

[The Joker]

I'm pleasantly surprised to hear Eisenberg is good. He was one of the worst things about the trailers for me. That's another concern put to rest for me.

 

[The Shape]

I can't say without a doubt that you'll love this Lex. I'm sure there are people or will be people who don't care for this version, but I dug it.

Overall, there are some aspects of the film that comic book "purists" will simply not care for and find to be controversial. If you go into the film with the mindset of hoping or expecting everything to be accurate to the comics, you'll likely come out disappointed in some ways. Personally, I like that the film dares to be different, takes risks, and doesn't necessarily play it safe. It has a pretty bold, distinctive vision for this universe and its characters.

 

[shauner111]

I guess the rumors about a post credit montage of the formation of the JLA were hogwash.

I thought the rumor was it was at the end of the movie. Before credits?