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Let me start of my general consensus of the film. I hated it. I remember sitting there after it was over looking at my friend, speechless. I can understand why people would like it, it's not a horrible film by any means. But to me, all the little things that irked me through the film ruined the experience on a whole for me, and I'll be getting to those shortly.
I didn't hate the film at first- I wasn't sure what to think. I did a self test- try this one yourself. Assuming your fan, go back and remember The Dark Knight. Got it? Now, think of three awesome things that blew your mind or any holy shit moments that were in that movie. Go ahead, take a second, do it.
Okay, got it? For me, the whole interrogation scene and everything that followed, then, the scene where Batman flips the truck completely over. Fucking awesome. Finally, when the Joker is captured, and basically tells Batman that he pretty much had done everything to turn Harvey into a killer and fucked Batman's shit up. Brilliant and awesome, and there's a whole lot more I can remember, including the pencil gag and Joker burning the money.
Now, go back to the movie you just saw in theaters, a film that's been out less than a week, and try to think of three WTF moments from that.
Got any? I've asked this same question to multiple people, and all they can come up with is the first fight between Bane and Batman... and thats it. A damned fist fight. Not sure if anyone else sees this as a fault of the movie- that it's not nearly as memorable as it's predecessor. Maybe that's just me.
Now, onto the other issues I had with the film, which will be far more spoilery. Here's a question from the peanut gallery: this film series is supposed to be more grounded in reality, right? Okay, so why does a police commissioner write a speech detailing a plan to falsify information to make a killer look like a hero, banish the true hero and blame him for the murders of several people, and basically keep up a lie so that a 1000 criminals wouldn't go free? And no less, who keeps this speech on him at all times, when if he just so happened to lose it everything would go to hell? Huge cliche, and I expected more from Chris Nolan than that.
Next, where the fuck was Batman? I mean, I understand he's supposed to be retired, but why in the hell do we only see him for a total of like 30 minutes in a three hour long film titled the Dark Knight Rises? It was more like the Dark Knight Rises From Bed Every Now and Again When He Feels Like It... or TDKRFBENAWHFLI for short.
I wouldn't even call that a minor issue- he's barely in the film. I mean, I get what they were trying to do (you'll see this phrase I just wrote again, I can promise you that) but a little more Batman in a Batman film would've been nice. Just saiyin'.
Bane. Oh God, Bane. People have been talking up his performance.. but I really didn't like him all that much. It was interesting take on it, sure, but he never really felt like much of a threat to me. He seems more bloated than badass. In fact, I feel like they pushed him so hard in dialogue parts (Oh, he's SO AWESOMER THAT LEAGUE OR SHADOWS CANT HANDLE HIM LIKE OMGRRRRRRFJFJS) that when he was on screen he just seemed more mundane than anything else. Hell, even when it was revealed that he wasn't the "stuff of legends" as the prisoners had mentioned, and also that "twist" was sort of retarded. Not to mention, I saw it coming from a mile away. Once again, super cliche.
Another minor problem: the cops were buried underground for, what. Three months? And in three months time, when they got out of a dark, cramped sewer with little to no light, food, or room for movement, they're battle ready to go fight a street full of criminals? I call super duper BULLSHIT on that. Sorry, just another dumb cliche. And also something else that was pointed out to me that I didn't even realize- this scene was actually stolen from a much better film, Gangs of New York, featuring Nolan's Inception alum, Leonardo DiCaprio.
Another problem I had was the ending... pretty much the whole fucking thing. How they eliminated Bane was terrible- shot in the chest by the Batbike, never to be seen or mentioned again. Batman flying off with a nuclear bomb, blows up. Oh wait, not dead- but everyone knows who Batman is and no one says anything. No one also picks up on the fact that both Bruce Wayne AND Batman both die at almost the same time? Not a single person?
Don't even get me started on Officer Blake- real name "Robin." Come on now. I get what they tried to do (Told you I'd say it again), everyone's heard the names "Batman and Robin" together, but average film fans don't know Robin's name is Dick Grayson. Or Jason Todd. Or Tim Drake. Whatever his name, I get it, but it was just plain silly and stupid.
Finally, the last scene with Alfred and Bruce. I know they touched on it earlier, and it was sort of poignant, but why in the fact would a guy, who was so bent on fighting crime and not ever taking a life and looking down on anyone that did, would run off to a foreign country with a woman like Selina Kyle, who on more than one occasion showed NO REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE? Jesus, she shot and killed at least half a dozen people in the film- and what does a guy like Bruce Wayne, who was so opposed to criminality, do? Oh yeah. Shacks up with her in a foreign country, just to see his old butler who he fired. Yeah, really great ending Mr. Nolan.
Don't get me all wrong- there were parts of the film I liked. I always enjoyed Bruce and Alfred's scenes together- great chemistry. Anything with Morgan Freeman or Gary Oldman were fantastic. I even kinda liked Joseph Gorden Levitt in the film, even though they ruined it for me right at the end. It was good to see Liam Nieson back as Ra's Al Ghul, even if briefly. I always love seeing him in the film. Bale was as good as ever in the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne.
Hell, I even kinda liked Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, although at times her performance was all over the place, and never really felt all that even. Wish they'd explored more of her character, honestly.
My favorite part of the movie was Cillian Murphy's cameos as Dr. Crane/Scarecrow. Great to see him again, and his role in the film was a good laugh.
All in all, it's not horrible- I don't really like it myself- but there were too many plot issues, big and small- that really deterred the movie for me.
Tl;dr: Didn't like it, lotta plot holes, cast good except Tom Hardy as Bane. No wow factor.
What did you guys think of the film? Anyone disagree with my points? Think I'm being too critical? Did I hit it all on the nose? Have any other issues with the film that weren't listed here? Agree? Disagree? Lets discuss.
