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So why didn't you like The Dark Knight Rises? Nolan trilogy spoilers of course.

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The bar was set so high after BB and TDK that an iffy film like TDKR didn't really work.

Plus it really felt the absence of the Joker.
 

Varna

Member
Batman giving up the mantle so quickly just didn't sit well with me. The entire Harvey Dent bill thing was just nonsense. I understand Nolan had to do something different after Ledger's unfortunate death, but those elements were just incredibly contrived. Catwoman was a total waste in this film and that mcguffin surrounding her arc was one of the laziest things I've ever seen.

I did really like Bane in this movie but his character got bogged down by having him be part of the League of Shadows. The Tale of Two cities twist just served to further undermine him.

I honestly can't remember much more about this movie. I do recall that Kiss scene towards the end rivaling the Man of Steel kiss scene in terms of awfulness.
 

RDreamer

Member
It's the worst of the Nolan trilogy, but that doesn't mean I don't like it. I still think it's better than any of the Marvel movies I've seen.
 
I'm Bane, yes, that's my name
When you hear the name Bane, I guarantee the pain
I'm coming after you, Bruce Wayne
I'm stronger, smarter, and clinically insane

I'm Bane, yes, that's my name
Bruce Wayne and the Batman are totally the same
I broke his back Mortal Kombat smack
Then I cracked my '28 Krug champagne

I'm Bane, yes, it's a shame
I declare martial law, and you all complain!
I laugh when you ask why I wear the mask
I'll explain. It's because.....

I'm Bane, yes, that's my name
You say it too much, the name becomes inane
Of course! Some think my plan lacks gain
If you say it too my face, I'll crash your plane

When I say "no", you say "survivors"
When I say "no", you say "survivors"
 

devilhawk

Member
The script was sloppy. Here are some of my issues with the film:

  • giant bomb plot was dumb
  • Gordon and Fox all had less/worse parts than in TDK including how they featured in the film's climax
  • Bruce in love story felt forced
  • Stupid twist was completely inconsequential and not surprising
  • Too many characters like the rich land developer Bane kills and the other cop who gets killed off screen and arguably even JGL
  • lazy score
  • underutilized Catwoman
  • poor resolution to the whole Dent went bad, Batman and Gordon lied plot line.
I think this a fair take.

The script was a mess. Should have and easily could have been tighter. There was a good movie and conclusion to the trilogy to be had, but the execution was lacking.
 
I loved it. We got the Lazarus Pit, some Occupy and 9/11 commentary, wealth distribution commentary, Littlefinger, Tom Hardy being great, and Batman being a ninja. All of the silly stuff was fine. I would love to have seen that 400 page script version.
 

KahooTs

Member
Don't really rewatch movies, but from memory my problems with the films were.

- Batman voice.
- Cringey dialogue.
- Rachels.
- Plot holes.
- Fight choreography was lame. (Stunts good)
- I'm just not really sure what each movie was about. They'd begin a theme and then it'd just evaporate along the way. Disjointed, like it was written by committee (though it wasn't was it?). For example, catwoman was introduced with this strong social justice woe the poor vibe, then it was just forgotten.
 
I like all the elements of the movie, but i don't like that they're all in one single movie. There's just too much. Some of these characters and events deserved their own Batman movie, not all crammed together in this one.
And I really fucking hate the Talia/Bane twist. It's a shitty cheap thing to do. There's nothing that makes you feel satisfied about the main villain being revealed to be just a special henchman and the real and underdeveloped villain to die before she gets any comeuppance.

That being said, it's still a fun movie to watch. All the actors besides Miranda are on point.
I watch it like I'm watching a bunch of random clips from several good Batman movies. Like several movies edited together into one. It's Spider-Man 3 tier, which I also enjoy. For wrong reasons, but I enjoy it.

Overall it's a dumb as shit movie that doesn't know it's dumb.
 

Chuckie

Member
I actually loved it. I know TDK is the better movie, but I think TDKR is more enjoyable.

Quality wise it is probably 2-1-3 but my enjoyment of re-watches seems to be the reverse 3-1-2.
 
It was sloppy but ultimately I liked it. Great ending.


I just think the whole occupation of Gotham could have been presented a lot better, and I didn't like Talia.


As for the fight choreography, as always you just sigh and move on. Nolan is human, sometimes he makes mistakes picking the wrong people - namely his stunt coordinator and Snyder.
 
Yeah it's got a few flaws, perhaps more than TDK, but it no way is it a bad movie. I think it's a great 9.5/10
movie and a fitting conclusion to one of the best trilogies in film. I never actually knew how much people hated it until I joined GAF lol; at worst it's good.

I mean I think GAF can agree on one thing for sure -- people who say Batman V Superman is better are absolutely crazy and their opinion should be taken with a grain of salt forever after. This is all coming from someone who think that BvS is no where near as bad as critics say it is.
 

Laz-E-Boy

Member
Thought it was great for the most part....but the last 1/3rd of the movie brings it down a notch. Bane could have been an all time great villain but that twist and his subsequent defeat is just so BLAH
 
Honestly it's my favorite of the trio. I think every movie in the trilogy has its flaws, I think some of TDKR's are just a bit more on the goofy side. Like the fight scenes in all of them are honestly kinda bad but his first fight with Bane is packed with emotion and everything behind it really elevates it. I find it impossible to jump in with issues about realism or w/e, like people will point out how the stock exchange shit doesn't make sense while ignoring how ludicrous the corporate politics in the others movies are.

All of these films have kinda eh endings like they just couldn't figure out what to do with it. TDK ends so awkwardly after the Joker is out of the way, at least TDKR's very end feels like a proper one.
 

neorej

ERMYGERD!
There's too much that doesn't make sense.

The new commisioner that keeps yelling at a lowly police officer, calling him a hothead every other sentence
Everyone going after Batman halfway through chasing a gang of bank/stockexchange-robbers, while they could perfectly handle both.
Bane knowing where Batman's armory was
The entire policeforce trapped in a sewer
Bruce climbing out of the pit, and the first thing he does is draw a gasoline Bat on the bridge
then he proceeds to wait for Gordon on the ice, while he has no way of knowing that Gordon would be there
Batman manages to throw batarangs in the back of the guards' necks while their necks are protected by scarfs, hoodies and collars a good 20-30 paces away from the guards and in front of them
Gordon lights the flare, and magically knows to toss it into the gasoline
Officer Blake deducting that Bruce Wayne is Batman because they're both orphans is dumber than the Marthe debacle in BvS
Bane being built up as the mastermind behind the hostagetaking of Gotham, only to be tossed aside to be a mindless henchman once again is laughable

This is just from the top of my head, I'm sure there's other stuff wrong with it.

That said, even with all these contrived coincidences and illogicalities, it's still a better movie than BvS simply for the fact that TDKR has a story to tell, a clear narrative that moves forward. BvS starts out great, lays a good foundation to build the further conflict on, but then forgets to actually tell a story, moves in every direction, grabs panels and moments from Snyder's favorite comics, and then it resolves the initial conflict over their mom's first names, because BOOM Trinity! Doomsday! Epic battle! Done.
 
I really enjoyed it and the message it had about what Batman means to Gotham city. I mostly like the aspect that we got to see Bruce much more than Batman. Other then that it's a step down in some aspects compared to the previous two films.
 

VAD

Member
I liked it until they got rid of Bane in the most ridiculous manner and revealed Talia in a similar way. Also Marion Cottillard sucks. Christopher Judge was wasted. It's an ok movie otherwise.
 
Funnily enough, I re-watched the entire trilogy recently. BB and TDK still hold up extremely well. TDKR, while I've come across having the same problems, I couldn't exactly put my finger on it. I was finally able to after this.

A lot of small things: the unreasonably, stupidly obscure line Bruce throws to Gordon about his identity; the action sequences; sending all the cops into the tunnels; why would anyone believe Bane; John Blake should have just been called Tim Drake and the Robin nod should not have been in the movie etc.

The biggest issue is the time skip, since it's pretty much the crux of every issue with the plot that I conceivably have. So, I can buy Bruce retiring. In fact, that's a great plot point. The time skip itself makes little to no sense in every possible way. So, the impression we're given is that immediately after the events of TDK, Bruce retires. Rachel's death devastated him to the point where he couldn't carry on and his OG purpose for becoming Batman has been fulfilled. Now he can be Bruce Wayne, but he doesn't want to? Even though he would easily be the type of person who would carry on, especially since he knows even without reading the letter that Rachel would want him to, he doesn't. Even though he's (assumedly) encouraged by Lucius and Alfred, he just gives up. Not just for a year or so, which would have been reasonable, but EIGHT FUCKING YEARS. EIGHT.

There's a lot attached to this that's the problem. The first being the relationship between Bruce and Talia. There's a huge chunk of time that Talia and Bruce interacted because that's how the reactor or whatever was built. Bruce disappears, and then she sticks around because of her investment. Later near the end, we're supposed to believe that because her and Bruce had sex once and reminisce about absentee parents, they're deeply in love (nice catch on the League of Shadows brand on her back, by the way, Mr. World's Greatest Detective, but whatever). Instead of the time skip, they should have spent more time with the relationship and have Bruce come back to being Batman once Bane shows up. The effect is still the same if you even give it a year long gap. Then Talia's betrayal would actually mean something.

Now, the Catwoman thread. Easily solved by not including the Tabula Rasa. The fuck is the point of this? To give her motivation? She already has plenty of motive in what she says to Bruce:

Selina Kyle said:
There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.

That alone sets her entire motivation. She's a thief who's sick and tired of rich people being assholes, and decides to play Robin Hood. How do you have her turn, you may ask? Later, when she leads Batman to the trap set by Bane, she has a strong look of, "Oh fuck, I didn't mean for it to go this far." That's all you need. Then, just have her flirt with Bruce. Don't have them go full-blown romance into each other. Just have them play flirtatious and let them develop a connection, but never go all the way.

Those are my biggest issues, and the crux of it is the time skip. I always felt that the Talia and Selina simultaneously having relationships with Bruce led to, what I felt was way too much. Neither of those relationships feels very believable the way the try to shove them it. Or at least what feels like shoving them in.
 

eXistor

Member
I don't really like the style of any of the movies personally, too grounded and they want to be too "believable". Burton had it right.
 

Doc_Drop

Member
I may be echoing some previously outlined issues, but for me;

Characters
- As much as I enjoyed what Tom Hardy brought to Bane it was, at least to me, not what Bane is (they also fucked the sound mixing for his voice to the point where it doesn't even sound like it's coming from within the scene itself - it has no place within the actual scene)
- Talia was represented terribly (that's not a slight on Marion Cotliard)
- Robin for the sake of Robin
- Bale jumped the shark with the voice

Story
- The fact that within just three films Batman has gone from origin to joker to essentially retired without any particularly great explanation - I get Bruce is upset about Rachel, but it falls flat to me
- Sending all police down into sewers
- Use of the prison in a far away country for no good reason
- The whole nuke thing was silly for the ways the previous films had been working. It's fine for light hearted comic stuff but I didn't feel it fitted well within the world

Action
- The fight scene at the end between the police and the criminals was utter shite. Poorly directed, choreographed, and poorly shot
- The way in which the two villains are killed is not only ridiculous due to who they are in relation to Batman's lore, but also the scenes were a massive misfire

I mean that's just a hot take of the top of my head and I'm sure there is more that pissed me off. It's why I scratch my head at the hate for BvS, BvS is better than DKR

Edit
I mean I think GAF can agree on one thing for sure -- people who say Batman V Superman is better are absolutely crazy and their opinion should be taken with a grain of salt forever after. This is all coming from someone who think that BvS is no where near as bad as critics say it is.

I disagree, and lol. Do what you need to do but I would say the same thing to anyone saying DKR is a 9.5 - now that is hilarious
 
The trilogy is amazing and awesome, Snyder and Affleck can only dream about matching Nolan's quality.

TDKR was a fine film with many call backs to Batman Begins, it is a great movie in it's own right. I saw it a few times at the cinema, when I got the dvd/blu-ray I admit to being a bit glum about it (I didn't find it infinite re-watchable like I did with TDK - could watch that over and over and over again!), throughout the film because of the tone and several troupes you get the "tiredness" feeling from it and knowing the trilogy is coming to an end, it's a bit of a downer.

I recently rewatched the film a handful of times in the leadup to BvS release it actually holds up really well, wasn't bored watching the film and picked up a whole lot of new things that I didn't initially pick up years ago which made me appreciate the film even more.

Easily my favorite movie of 2012 and it completely shat on The Avengers (felt The Avengers sucked!).
 

Cronox

Banned
The scene with the cops charging all the bad guys with their pistols and clubs. While the bad guys lay down automatic fire. Embarrassing.
 

kavanf1

Member
Loved the first two, liked TDKR. The main issue I had with TDKR was that it almost felt like Bale's performance was parodying the Batman from the first two films. Still a good film worth watching, but between Bale's unintentionally cheesy performance and some hamfisted storytelling and editing, it unfortunately feels like the trilogy ends on a down note.
 

Forkball

Member
I liked DKR, but it has the most glaring problems especially in terms of plot.

Positives

+Everything out of Bane's mouth was gold. While it's hard to top the Joker, Bane is a good alternative. Tom Hardy didn't have a lot to work with, but I felt his mannerisms were fantastic. His performance is really transformative. When I see him in other films, I don't think of him as Bane at all.
+The direction was excellent as always. Yes, the fight scenes weren't that great, but I thought the Bane vs. Batman fight lived up to its expectations. I loved the shots of a snowy, abandoned Gotham (though that plotline was a bit too ridiculous).
+Score was great. The whole trilogy has a really inspiring score, especially the main theme. Excellent work all around.
+I liked Robin and the arc of Batman aiming to inspire others came to a logical conclusion. I know a lot of people wanted Robin for the Nolan trilogy, and while I always thought it was a hokey idea, it was handled smartly in the film.
+Solid performances all around. I liked Hathaway as Catwoman although she kind of just seemed to be in there as a love interest.

-Contrasting inspirations. For Batman Begins, the framework was basically Batman Year One. In The Dark Knight, while it was probably the most original of the three, you can still see echoes of The Long Halloween and The Killing Joke. But for TDKR, you bring back the League of Assassins stuff (the weakest plot point in BB), try to go all Dark Knight Returns with a retiring Batman, then throw in No Man's Land with an abandoned Gotham, AND Knightfall with Bane. All of these are so wildly different which led to so many different plotlines that didn't tie in well together.
-Too many silly ideas compared to the previous film. Nukes, secret hole dungeons, ghost hallucinations, secret assassin societies, Gotham being conquered by like twenty dudes etc.
-The 1% commentary was already dated when the movie came out.
 

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Too many plotholes, he made it a popcorn flick. Not that I hated it, but was my least fav from the trilogy.
 

Liamario

Banned
I felt it needed two movies. There was enough plot for it. Too much going on, some questionable action scenes, occasionally bad editing...

I felt his heart was in it (Nolan), but he wanted to be done with the series. As a result it felt unfinished.
 

tpfkanep

Member
TLDR... nah cannot remember anything from this movie. Forgetable. Altho talking shit with your mouth covered in a cup was fun.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
I enjoyed it but thought the 'comicy' elements clashed with the dark and realistic tone.
 
I liked it, it was a good movie, but I was still disappointed with it because it was basically the same as batman begins.

batman vs the league of shadows, the league of shadows steals a device from wayne enterprises and uses it as a super weapon to destroy gotham.

catwoman and bane was kinda underwhelming too. nothing against the actors, tom hardy and anne hathaway are phenomenal in their own rights, but i think others could have better fit the roles.
 

Smellycat

Member
I liked Rise the least out of the three movies.

1. Marion Cotillard was terrible in it.

tumblr_mdlay17Ovg1ruaha0o3_500.gif


2. Bane's voice was incoherent. I had no idea what he was saying half of the time

3. Some laughable action scenes. I almost laughed out loud in theaters at the part in the sewers when Batman was going left-right-left-right in some dark corridor lol

https://youtu.be/J9DlV9qwtF0?t=106
 

GeeTeeCee

Member
I liked it, though it's definitely flawed compared to the first two. The Bane sewer fight is still probably my favourite fight scene from any comic book movie.
 

zma1013

Member
I liked the movie, but it's obviously terribly written and dumb as hell. Nothing makes sense. The fight choreography also somehow got worse.

Gotta ask, why was there a bomb trigger if they had to wait for the thing to meltdown over a series of months? Does not compute.
 

JimiNutz

Banned
I didn't like it because:

Plot seemed ridiculously far fetched even for a comic book movie.
Mostly boring fights scenes.
Catwoman was not particularly entertaining.
Ending was kind of crappy.

It's an ok movie. Liked Bane at least.
 

Celegus

Member
It was incredibly boring the whole way through. Only interesting thing was that it was shot in my hometown so I spent most of the time picking out places I knew. Awful movie though.
 

Ahasverus

Member
I liked the movie, but it's obviously terribly written and dumb as hell. Nothing makes sense. The fight choreography also somehow got worse.

Gotta ask, why was there a bomb trigger if they had to wait for the thing to meltdown over a series of months? Does not compute.
Because the trigger was a deterrent, but they didn't plan on surviving, it was a kamikaze mission to complete Ra's al Ghul plan.

This movie was great, and most people agree. Bane was the shit, scary man.
 

jett

D-Member
Batman dies by nuke.

There are many things to dislike about TDKR, but that little tidbit encapsulates its problems. It was a ridiculous movie that didn't really fit TDK. I'm not sure I like anything about it. It was also kind of a bore.
 

SpaceWolf

Banned
One of my biggest problems with the film has always been the look they settled on for Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. It's just so ugly.

Anne-Hathaway-Catwoman-Workout-Arms.jpg


I mean seriously, what the hell is this? Why did they put her in an absolutely hideous, less stylish version of Julie Newman's outfit from the 1960s? What's with the ugly, clunky headpiece?

And why is her hair so long? And brown? As a cat burglar, wouldn't her hair constantly be getting caught on stuff? Why not just cut it short and black like the comics?

The worst part is, Anne ended up cutting it a few months later for her next film, Le Mis in such a way that was identical with the Catwoman in the comic books.

3b2238f1a82a512507077a4b9374d490.jpg


2285.jpg


WHY DO YOU TAUNT ME SO, NOLAN!
 
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