The Dark Knight Rises Review (Caution - SPOILERS INSIDE)
Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:07 pm
I saw TDKR last weekend during my too-short week off work. At very nearly 3 hours, it is a commitment to watch this film. I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. My love for Dark Knight was not as strong as the first film in the trilogy, but I'm all about main character origin stories. Anyway...when I left the theater after TKDR, all I felt was "meh."
There was way too much going on, but it took way too long to get there. It seemed every character only had a bit part. The reveal in the end that Marion Cotillard's character was Talia Al-Ghul, and was the child that escaped the prison, whilst Bane was her protector, was a surprise (I'd avoided the spoilers as much as possible before I saw it), and I thought that was the only part of the story handled well.
Tom Hardy's appearance and "eye expression" acting was great, but the voice was stupid. Worse than Bale's batman voice, which has been a sore spot with me since the start of the trilogy. Bane sounded like a pretentious idiot, although not as bad as Jeep Swenson's version in Batman Forever.
Anne Hathaway's Catwoman had very little substance, again owing to all the characters and reaching story arc. I am often impressed by Hathaway's acting, despite my desire to hate her. She could've taken Catwoman to new heights if she'd been allowed.
The whole story was a mish-mash of Batman: No Man's Land, The Dark Knight Returns and Knightfall. Each of those story arcs deserved a film of their own. In Rises, I never had a sense of what really was supposed to be going on. Then we had Nolan's take on Robin, who was played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He could be a great Nightwing, but I didn't like the way his character, and the not-so-subtle introduction of his Robin, was done.
Literally, at about the half way point, I was so bored I almost walked out...at least the film picked up a bit from there. There were so many overlapping stories that each character had minimal screen time. Alfred and Lucius were afterthoughts. Much of the story seemed so unrealistic. The Knightfall portion of the story was the only part that had a little substance to it, but it needed to be fleshed out more. Again, each of these 3 tie-ins could've been their own film. But Wayne's recovery after getting his back broken was just too silly and unbelievable. Despite the No Man's Land portion of the film lasting a good 4-6 months, you had no sense of the time lapse from the other points of view.
The falling out between Alfred and Bruce was just stupid. And then their "reunion" at the end....Bruce Wayne dies and gets buried, but then is eating at Alfred's restaurant of choice with Selina Kyle? The intentional set-up so that Alfred knew Bruce was okay and would lead a normal life? How is it that someone didn't recognize him, even though he was dead and buried? Did I miss something here?
All of the main actors are highly accomplished and did the best they could with their roles. However, it felt as if this whole movie was made with these actors simply because they were locked into a contract to participate in it. I have no doubt that several of them would've turned it down if they had much of a choice. Some of the scenes were downright campy.
What an utter disappointment. I had thought about this film for a week before deciding to write my opinion on it...and nothing has changed since I walked out of the theater completely let down, except that I'm more aggravated by it now than I was when I left.
There was way too much going on, but it took way too long to get there. It seemed every character only had a bit part. The reveal in the end that Marion Cotillard's character was Talia Al-Ghul, and was the child that escaped the prison, whilst Bane was her protector, was a surprise (I'd avoided the spoilers as much as possible before I saw it), and I thought that was the only part of the story handled well.
Tom Hardy's appearance and "eye expression" acting was great, but the voice was stupid. Worse than Bale's batman voice, which has been a sore spot with me since the start of the trilogy. Bane sounded like a pretentious idiot, although not as bad as Jeep Swenson's version in Batman Forever.
Anne Hathaway's Catwoman had very little substance, again owing to all the characters and reaching story arc. I am often impressed by Hathaway's acting, despite my desire to hate her. She could've taken Catwoman to new heights if she'd been allowed.
The whole story was a mish-mash of Batman: No Man's Land, The Dark Knight Returns and Knightfall. Each of those story arcs deserved a film of their own. In Rises, I never had a sense of what really was supposed to be going on. Then we had Nolan's take on Robin, who was played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He could be a great Nightwing, but I didn't like the way his character, and the not-so-subtle introduction of his Robin, was done.
Literally, at about the half way point, I was so bored I almost walked out...at least the film picked up a bit from there. There were so many overlapping stories that each character had minimal screen time. Alfred and Lucius were afterthoughts. Much of the story seemed so unrealistic. The Knightfall portion of the story was the only part that had a little substance to it, but it needed to be fleshed out more. Again, each of these 3 tie-ins could've been their own film. But Wayne's recovery after getting his back broken was just too silly and unbelievable. Despite the No Man's Land portion of the film lasting a good 4-6 months, you had no sense of the time lapse from the other points of view.
The falling out between Alfred and Bruce was just stupid. And then their "reunion" at the end....Bruce Wayne dies and gets buried, but then is eating at Alfred's restaurant of choice with Selina Kyle? The intentional set-up so that Alfred knew Bruce was okay and would lead a normal life? How is it that someone didn't recognize him, even though he was dead and buried? Did I miss something here?
All of the main actors are highly accomplished and did the best they could with their roles. However, it felt as if this whole movie was made with these actors simply because they were locked into a contract to participate in it. I have no doubt that several of them would've turned it down if they had much of a choice. Some of the scenes were downright campy.
What an utter disappointment. I had thought about this film for a week before deciding to write my opinion on it...and nothing has changed since I walked out of the theater completely let down, except that I'm more aggravated by it now than I was when I left.
