The Dark Knight Rises You Have My Permission To Lounge - Part 9

[DoomRulz]

Spoiler

When I saw him in this trailer, I wasn't sure it was still Josh Brolin. I really thought it was Jeff Bridges.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[DoomRulz]

Something I just noticed in TDK; when Batman initiates the eject sequence of the Tumbler, the eject handles have already been pulled down and turned sideways, yet in the very next shot, Batman pulls them down, turns them sideways, and then the Batpod emerges. Strange business.

 

[shauner111]

There's little editing mistakes like that throughout. To be fair, most films have that stuff. Rises, look at Blake and Gordon's faces/lips when they talk at Bruce's funeral.

 

[Iceman]

Same with me. The first viewing is such an emotionally exhausting experience, there were so many nerves about whether it would live up to my expectations and I felt pretty aware as I was watching it that the film was not as tight as TDK. I knew walking out that there was going to be a lot of backlash before I read any message boards or clickbait articles. Obviously I knew there was much to love about it, but I had a hard time pinning down my overall feelings.

I re-watched Begins before I saw it a second time, and the second time was where everything just clicked with me and I really came to appreciate the film. I think I was just able to better sink my teeth into the themes, knowing where it was all ultimately leading. And once I accepted that it was never meant to be a standalone movie to the extent that TDK was and was more of a direct product of both its predecessors, a lot of my initial hesitance went away and I was able to really embrace it as a great trilogy-closer.

It felt like a really good way to close the trilogy 2nd time around and I'm not sure why it felt like a disappointment for me first time. Maybe because of raised expectations after TDK. Probably a lot of similar things for me to the way you've described above.

 

[BatLobster]

https://www.screendaily.com/news/ch...s-anything-but-a-brexit-movie/5124612.article

“In truth, the whole massive effort behind the evacuation, including tens of thousands of French troops, is why we have [Kenneth] Branagh’s character at the end say he’s ‘staying for the French’. That was of vital importance to Churchill’s idea of standing with Europe against the Nazis and about European unity more than anything. To have a specific interpretation, you have to be ignoring certain elements of the film.”

Funnily enough, Nolan's comment about having to ignore certain elements of the film to arrive at the (laughable) pro-Brexit interpretation is pretty much exactly what I was saying about interpreting his Batman films as fascist.

Also, I hope Nigel Farage and any other alt-right trolls that are Nolan fans are good and ******** over him setting the record straight.

 

[BaelaTargaryen]

An article about modern comic book movie villains

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/marvel-dcs-supervillains-joke-heath-ledgers-fault/

 

[Ivan Drago]

The rankings lost credibility as soon as they had films like Age of Ultron ahead of TDKR. I feel like the videos will only become tolerable once they reach the top 15 or 20.

I enjoyed Age of Ultron more than TDKR.

 

[Awest66]

I enjoyed Age of Ultron more than TDKR.

I feel AOU is objectively more flawed and cluttered than Rises could ever hope to be.

 

[I Am The Knight]

I'm more annoyed by TDKR's flaws than AOU's, but TDKR is still the better film.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

I feel AOU is objectively more flawed and cluttered than Rises could ever hope to be.

Really? Both are flawed about the same amount.

 

[BatLobster]

AoU is a weird one for me. There was a lot of stuff I enjoyed about it. Vision was cool, and I liked the AI sci-fi angle of it all. I probably enjoyed it more than the first Avengers film tbh. Unfortunately, much like my experience with most Marvel movies, it flew out of my brain the second I walked out of the theater and I've never had any strong desire to watch it again.

 

[Awest66]

Really? Both are flawed about the same amount.

I don't agree with that. TDKR has a much better villain and a less messier story than AOU.

 

[shauner111]

Honestly, I don't really remember anything from Ultron.

 

[StarLord]

I enjoy Age of Ultron more than the first Avengers to be honest.

 

[titansupes]

Honestly, I don't really remember anything from Ultron.

Same. One of those movies that was just kind of... there.

 

[The Joker]

Ultron (the villain) is one of the most disappointing movie villains I have ever seen. He had bags of potential, and I thought Joss Whedon would make him truly awesome. But instead we got a jokester Ultron, who never felt menacing.

 

[shauner111]

Agreed.

One scene just came to me. The Thor scene that still doesn't make any sense.

 

[Flint Marko]

I enjoyed Age of Ultron more than TDKR.

Yup. I like both films, warts and all, but AoU felt like it at least knew it was telling a big dumb comic book story. Not sure the same can be said for Rises, where Nolan’s approach only serves to highlight how undercooked and questionable certain aspects of the film are, Bane’s ridiculous plan in particular. I also don’t agree that Ultron has a messier story - outside of the Thor bathtub scene it’s pretty straight-forward.

 

[BatLobster]

I think they both have pretty straight forward stories to be honest. Rises compresses time a bit to tell a story with more scope, but it's narrative still tracks from scene to scene, and no random tangents that lead nowhere.

Honestly, I should probably see AoU again to re-assess it. My biggest disappointment was probably Ultron himself, mainly because I was expecting something else based on the trailers. For all the complaints Bane gets about his voice, plan, and being in cahoots with Talia...to me, he still felt like a threatening presence throughout the film and that's what I like to see from a villain.

And for all the 'witty' dialogue and jokes Whedon gave Ultron, I don't remember a single one- while Bane still gets quoted all the time. That's one thing you have to give the Nolans in their writing of both The Joker and Bane, they were both quotable AF. Perfect examples of how you can make your villain both "fun" and legitimately threatening at the same time.

I love James Spader though. His run on The Office is quite underrated.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

More scope? Rises spanned one city and a vague eastern prison. AOU spanned NYC, the Midwest, South Korea, South Africa, and a flying Eastern European city.

 

[BatLobster]

That's true, fair point. If only I remembered a thing about the movie.

But I think scope in terms of time and scale of the story matter too. Seeing a major American city brought to its knees and living under a warlord for a period of months lends a grander sense of scope and epic scale to the movie, IMO. It's not just about the number of locations you see, otherwise by that logic every single Bond film is equal to Lawrence of Arabia in terms of 'epic-ness'.

 

[Greens]

I wanted to see more of Gotham actually living under Bane, though. It didn't feel complete.

 

[BatLobster]

I agree. I always say another 10 minutes could've done wonders. Didn't even need to be a lot- just a little here, a little there and I think it would've gone a long way in rounding out some of the rougher edges.

I still love the stuff we got though, seeing Blake's interactions with Gordon, Fr. Reilly and the orphanage, the special forces guys, the kangaroo courts, etc. It's actually where I feel the movie starts to get really good because you're feeling that sense of despair and just need to see Bruce make that climb.

To me it's kinda like The Lion King. You don't see everything that's happening in Scar's Pride Lands, but you see enough to know that things are bad, everyone is scared and hungry, there is no hope, etc.

 

[Brother Jack]

I remember Nolan citing The Battle of Algiers as inspiration for Bane's occupation. The empty city streets and crowded interiors. There were some complaints that Gotham looked too vacant but that was by design. A lot of the specifics of life under Bane were implied rather than explicitly stated.