Spoiler-rific Dark Knight Rises *****/moan/praise thread

[zelda2fanboy]

Note: This thread contains discussions of the plot of The Dark Knight Rises, which just came out today. There are lots of twists in this movie, so if you don't want to know them, leave now. This is for people who have already seen the movie.

Now, here are my thoughts. Please add yours at your earliest convenience because that what us nerds do - complain/praise/complain/sarcasm. Lame ending is lame and doesn't really make sense. How the hell can a character become Robin and maintain it as a secret identity when he quits the police force, is known to have worked with Batman, and oh by the way, his real name is fucking Robin? ...unless he becomes Nightwing. Actually that might be kind of cool.

But why the hell did Bruce Wayne bang Miranda Tate? Because she was there? And why did Catwoman shack up with Bruce Wayne at the end of the movie knowing he's basically broke when all she really cares about is stealing? I know, I know, she gives the kid his apple back and kisses Batman right before he blows himself up. Just seems half assed, especially when the movie seems to suggest she's a lesbian (unless I'm reading into something incorrectly, but the body language of her female partner felt like there was something going on between them and that she just used men to get what she wanted). At least it passes the Bechdel test. I think. Did the cohort have a name? Where did she go?

And if Alfred liked Bruce so much and Bruce liked him, why not be buds and shit, rather than never speak again? How did Bruce get back to Gotham from the lazarus pit/prison thing when he has no money and no passport? Why did he trust Miranda Tate at all ever and give her his company (besides that he fucked her for no apparent reason)? And why did it change from day to night after spending two minutes in the tunnel from the stock exchange? Why did Batman wait until the commissioner was out on the ice (with a ton of other heavy people) before he saved him? Why let Bane know he was back in the first place? Why didn't the ice break when they set part of it on fire?

Okay, that's all for now. Please feel free to add more comments and call me out on some of my own.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I really enjoyed it, best movie I've seen for a long time.

The back breaking scene.. I enjoyed that whole fight, but I felt the breaking moment could have been more dramatic.

Also after Miranda's big reveal, Bane just sort of... sucked. And went out in the shittiest way possible


Btw, who was Bane's henchman in the red scarf? He looked like Andrew Lincoln.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

I thought that Robin is supposed to be a composite of the 3 main Robins from the comics, with a bit of Terry McGinnis thrown in (what with the implication that he inherits the Batman identity).

Also, I would actually like to see a film with him as the Batman.

CAPTCHA: Skynet knows. OH SHIII-----

 

[thatonedude11]

I really, really liked Dark Knight Rises. I thought it was a fantastic movie. I'm going to see it at least 2 more times.

OP: I disagree with most of your points, but there is one I feel I must address directly. The ice didn't break when it was 'set on fire' because that isn't how ice works. The ice would start to melt at that spot, but it probably would stay intact for a while, unless the liquid placed on the ice to set it ablaze burned at a really high temperature.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

There's a lot of hand-waves in the film...more than in the previous two films combined...and the editing needed some serious work (particularly in the fairly turgid first 90 minutes)...but the film was still hugely entertaining.

Hardy made Bane an extremely menacing villain. Although his departure from the film was somewhat underwhelming, he definitely had presence. And, like all of Nolan's Batman villains, he had a motivation more complex and human than "I likes to cause mayhem, yo". Hathaway was an acceptable Catwoman, and the source of her costumes "ears" was a nice touch. Gordon-Levitt was solid as always, and the returning cast members all did the usual good work.

If I have to moan...

1. Detonating a bomb of that size off the coast over water would have generated one ************ of a tsnuami. At the very least, it would have put Wayne's odds of survival as near to zero as is mathematically possible.

2. I find it unlikely that Wayne could have rehabilitated a brutally broken back in dirty prison in such a short period of time. Also, he looked pretty well fed. Who was supplying these prisoners with food and water? They live in a hole.

3. I'm willing to accept that Bruce could have snuck back to Gotham. I'm even willing to accept he got there despite having no money or ID on him. The man was well trained. However, finding Selina Kyle in the midst of all that mayhem? Seems unlikely.

4. Bruce retiring is a nice send-off, but it seems like kind of a dick move to pull on old Alfred. Of course, this is the same film franchise where they let Gordon's family believe he was dead for no good reason at all.

5. Gordon-Levitt is a fine actor and a worthy inheritor of the Batman role (if they do indeed choose to carry on this mythology instead of just doing a full reboot), but...he's kind of little.

6. Was I meant to care when Matthew Modine died? If a character's death is meant to generate pathos, it's usually a good move to have me feel something for the character other than irritation and scorn. Also, LOL @ Matthew Modine. It's been a long time since Cutthroat Island, bud.

7. Several characters uttered completely unintelligible lines. Oddly, none of those characters were Bane.

8. Catwoman was entertaining, but her motivations were never really clear. Ever. For anything she did. Additionally, it is heavily implied at one point that she is in a relationship with her female compatriot, and then said compatriot just vanishes and she ends up naffing about Europe with a terminally concussed Bruce Wayne.

9. To say the siege of Gotham and all the details involved with it was outlandish would be to damn it with faint praise. Entertaining, but OUTLANDISH. I've often sold Nolan's Batman movies as being at least somewhat grounded in the real world, particularly the Dark Knight. This one veers into SUPERHERO MOVIE on a few occasions.

All that said...

It was still a pretty f'in awesome movie.

 

[Dags90]

While I like the twist with:

Spoiler: Mad spoilers up in this *****.

Talia al Ghul being the child that escaped, and Bane being the protector. I couldn't help but wonder how the prison story given to Batman got so wrong. It's the same doctor, and apparently Bane was there until Talia came back for him. You'd think it'd be important to say that "only one person has climbed out" and then add "oh, and the protector was taken by these dudes, so two people total have escaped".

It was still wonderfully entertaining.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Anyone else kind of get a Mussolini vibe from Bane? Something in his body language, plus the added idea that he was part of a puppet leadership. I really dug the character's voice and how it was always disembodied and unnatural.

Random complaint: How does Alfred know Bane's entire backstory? He has a scene where he exposits Bane's whole life and how he was ex-communicated from the League of Shadows, which is all well and good, but who told him?

Other random question: what was the thing with the blood on the plane at the beginning? He kills everyone on the plane and kidnaps the one guy, but he hooks him up to an IV first and draws his blood. Did I miss something? (I probably did.)

 

[Dags90]

Other random question: what was the thing with the blood on the plane at the beginning? He kills everyone on the plane and kidnaps the one guy, but he hooks him up to an IV first and draws his blood. Did I miss something? (I probably did.)

Spoiler: I think this is the explanation

Blood = DNA = Pavel was confirmed to have died in the plane crash (even though he didn't).

 

[scorptatious]

I thought it was a fantastic movie. Although I guess I can agree with some points.

Spoiler

Like how Bruce was able to get back to Gotham.

Other than that though, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

4. Bruce retiring is a nice send-off, but it seems like kind of a dick move to pull on old Alfred. Of course, this is the same film franchise where they let Gordon's family believe he was dead for no good reason at all.

5. Gordon-Levitt is a fine actor and a worthy inheritor of the Batman role (if they do indeed choose to carry on this mythology instead of just doing a full reboot), but...he's kind of little.

4. On further reflection, I can sort of see why he didn't reconnect with Alfred. In theory, the League of Shadows is still out there somewhere, so it would be in everyone's best interests to assume that Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead (don't forget, the League of Shadows knows who Batman is/was). I mean, he killed Bane and Talia, but he also killed Ra's, so you never know. It was interesting though how the Ra's hallucination/thing seemed to provide new information to the plot. I guess he could have just heard it on the TV or from the doctor and it got jumbled in his mind.

5. I hope he goes Nightwing because if he does, we might have a chance at a fully realized Batgirl / Barbara Gordon.

Another question: The only reason Wayne would ever shack up with Catwoman is if she was fully reformed and quit stealing. So... what do they do for money? He's lost everything and even if he didn't, he couldn't get at it because he's in hiding. I imagine Selina Kyle would also have to be in hiding to avoid the wrath of the League of Shadows.

Also, about the bomb. Everyone looks at the flash, which would blind them in real life. I know it's just a movie, but they even mentioned that in True Lies with Tom Arnold yelling "don't look at the flash, don't look at the flash."

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Other random question: what was the thing with the blood on the plane at the beginning? He kills everyone on the plane and kidnaps the one guy, but he hooks him up to an IV first and draws his blood. Did I miss something? (I probably did.)

Spoiler: I think this is the explanation

Blood = DNA = Pavel was confirmed to have died in the plane crash (even though he didn't).

Ahh.... I was sort of thinking that for a second, but when spelled out it makes more sense... no body though. And they left the one dude on the plane so there'd be a body for the alleged one guy that they captured. I guess they could assume that the scientist's body "disintegrated" or something. I'll buy that.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

4. On further reflection, I can sort of see why he didn't reconnect with Alfred. In theory, the League of Shadows is still out there somewhere, so it would be in everyone's best interests to assume that Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead (don't forget, the League of Shadows knows who Batman is/was). I mean, he killed Bane and Talia, but he also killed Ra's, so you never know. It was interesting though how the Ra's hallucination/thing seemed to provide new information to the plot. I guess he could have just heard it on the TV or from the doctor and it got jumbled in his mind.

Another question: The only reason Wayne would ever shack up with Catwoman is if she was fully reformed and quit stealing. So... what do they do for money? He's lost everything and even if he didn't, he couldn't get at it because he's in hiding. I imagine Selina Kyle would also have to be in hiding to avoid the wrath of the League of Shadows.

Also, about the bomb. Everyone looks at the flash, which would blind them in real life. I know it's just a movie, but they even mentioned that in True Lies with Tom Arnold yelling "don't look at the flash, don't look at the flash."

That's a fair point, but it's still a bit of a dick move letting him grieve for however long and then "SURPISE!" at a cafe. Grieving for a loved one is no fun, and Alfred is not a young man. He could've died from the stress. Bruce could have slipped him a note.

Maybe they're living off the largesse of Kyle's old career?

There's so many issues with that bomb we might as well just accept it was a magic future bomb and as such the normal rules of bombs did not apply.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

That's a fair point, but it's still a bit of a dick move letting him grieve for however long and then "SURPISE!" at a cafe. Grieving for a loved one is no fun, and Alfred is not a young man. He could've died from the stress. Bruce could have slipped him a note.

Maybe they're living off the largesse of Kyle's old career?

There's so many issues with that bomb we might as well just accept it was a magic future bomb and as such the normal rules of bombs did not apply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_bomb

I think at one point they referred to it as a "neutron bomb" which would account for the lack of a major tsunami... but it would emit so much radiation that it would still kill a lot of people that distance at sea.

Yep, magic future bomb. I'll go with that.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Bonus points: It rocked that Teal'c from Stargate SG1 and Dangle from Reno 911 were in this.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I think at one point they referred to it as a "neutron bomb" which would account for the lack of a major tsunami... but it would emit so much radiation that it would still kill a lot of people that distance at sea.

Yeah that's...much worse. A neutron bomb detonating and getting into the jet stream would kill countless people. I liked it better when it was just a 4 megaton conventional bomb.

From that Wiki link sounds like the neutron bomb still has the blast force as well, so we're still short one Wayne killing tsunami.

But it doesn't matter because BATMAN!

 

[zelda2fanboy]

I also thought it was ridiculous when Dangle from Reno 911 was like "You have no cartilage left in your knee." Then he puts on the black knee thingy, says "oww," and suddenly he's fine and can kick stuff. It's never mentioned again, it doesn't come up in the prison, and also that's not how arthritis/cartilage damage works.

I should make it clear that I actually liked the movie. I just enjoy nitpicking.

 

[Froggy Slayer]

Right then, are we going to get a Batman Beyond film soon or what?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I also thought it was ridiculous when Dangle from Reno 911 was like "You have no cartilage left in your knee." Then he puts on the black knee thingy, says "oww," and suddenly he's fine and can kick stuff. It's never mentioned again, it doesn't come up in the prison, and also that's not how arthritis/cartilage damage works.

I should make it clear that I actually liked the movie. I just enjoy nitpicking.

The fact that the film even allowed that the human body can only take so much punishment is a big step forward for superhero movies. If we were playing this by the actual laws of reality Bruce would be catatonic from concussions suffered during the first film. And judging by all the fighting he was doing in that foreign prison, probably long before he even became Batman.

 

[CODE-D]

Wow your dislikes are very different from my dislikes
catwoman was better than I thought she would be.


the things i didnt like were
the bomb
the government and president and army...
so much focus on the cops, it didnt really off and focus on gordon
the criminals taking to bane so easily, as the last movie showed them in a positive light
dr crane without scarecrow mask, didnt feel right man...and the whole exile/death thing
and some parts about the ending... not really the ending itself just sorta how it worked...like how it just happens they were at the same place and time.
and I wish we could have seen a nightwing suit, but I dont know how i feel about blakes character just becoming batman. It would seem like he would need to be trained or at least with a nightwing suit he could compensate like in batman beyond. Also hes killed people with a gun...my batmens dont kill with guns.

but that reminds of one of my favorite things in the movie, when batman helps catwoman but while fighting knocks the gun from her hand.

I like/love the movie but it was a bush that shouldve been trimmed a bit.

also wish it was built to be more stand alone like 2 and didnt make so many call backs to 1.