The Dark Knight Rises - Spoilers marked please!

[coda]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

[legov]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

If by ROTJ you mean "good third movie that's weaker than the second", then probably not, because it does seem that way so far doesn't it?

[Mehman]

Just got back in from watching it, I was impressed, does not feel long at all, much more watchable all the way through then TDK in my opinion. That's all I will say until everyone else has had a chance to watch it.

Did you think TDK was good?

I loved TDK just felt that it's a stiff watch as a stand alone movie really and it shows it's length in parts, the boat's sequence in particular is a pain, in my opinion.

[coda]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

If by ROTJ you mean "good third movie that's weaker than the second", then probably not, because it does seem that way so far doesn't it?

I meant crap third movie. Trilogies usually mess up at some point. Toy Story is a possible exception but I haven't seen them all.

[Wainy316]

Looks like the Koreans have defied the worldwide premiere. Loads of my friends have seen it today. Shame I'm not there anymore.

[Chindie]

I think it opens today in a lot of Asia so they might have just got in there early.

I'm trying to decide whether to go see it tomorrow alone, fairly early, and then go enjoy it with my mates on Saturday (followed by some mild drinking), or just go Saturday. I'm leaning towards a double watch as I find I actually rather enjoyed going to see a film I'm hyped for ASAP in what is usually a fairly deserted cinema.

On the 'weak entry in a trilogy' thing, even if this is the weakest of Nolan's Batmans I sincerely doubt it's going to be Ewok bad. I'm now quite sure that it's going to knock Begins into third for me. Nolan is a better film maker now than he was then and he has the ability to chuck spectacle at the film far more than he had 7 years ago. At the very least, it'll be a big ride. I'm hoping that with that big ride come some major character moments as the arc draws to a close. I'm invested enough in this Batman universe that I want to see what comes of everyone and I want to leave the cinema having experienced something akin to closure, as mental as that sounds.

I distinctly remember walking out of LOTR:ROTK with my brother. We both knew that story inside out. We both knew what was coming. But as we walked out instead of the usual 'OMG THAT BIT WAS AMAZING!', we walked out quite quiet. We'd enjoyed the series, for 3 years we'd had things to look forward to at the cinema, to wonder how this was going to be done, will they do that, I wonder what he'll look like, he's got to be done this way... and then after 3 hours it was over. My brother turned to me and said it was almost sad that it was over. I want TDKR to give me that feeling, that enjoyment, tinged with sadness, that you've witnessed something brilliant, but that that is the end.

EDIT - Also, this made me chuckle.

[legov]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

If by ROTJ you mean "good third movie that's weaker than the second", then probably not, because it does seem that way so far doesn't it?

I meant crap third movie. Trilogies usually mess up at some point. Toy Story is a possible exception but I haven't seen them all.

Bah, X-Men would have been a better example

(disclaimer: I've not watched X3 yet, don't intend to)

[briggaman]

Just out of the triple header at the IMAX. I would say TDKR sits between the other two and quite a way behind TDK in my opinion.

The first 45 minutes and last 45 minutes were very impressive, yet I thought the middle section of the film sagged in a big way (as Chindie feared it might). I also don't think Bane was anywhere near as good as the Joker, although he did a job.

There were some great scenes though and the characters in it were spot on (although rather predictable). Catwoman was very good in it when it comes to performance and purely to look at. Plus the overall story was decent. I'm going to see it again on Saturday and think it may warrant another viewing to fully appreciate it. I just hope I don't almost fall asleep in the middle section this time. Lots of talking to triumphant music in that section...

[Stevo985]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

If by ROTJ you mean "good third movie that's weaker than the second", then probably not, because it does seem that way so far doesn't it?

I meant crap third movie. Trilogies usually mess up at some point. Toy Story is a possible exception but I haven't seen them all.

Bah, X-Men would have been a better example

(disclaimer: I've not watched X3 yet, don't intend to)

Bad example. X Men was bad from the get go, but XMen 2 was especially terrible

[djdabush]

Also just back from seeing it. I was going to write a review but realised I couldn't really say anything more than has already been said. As briggaman and various reviews have said, it's too long and baggy but the opening and closing sections of the film are excellent. 4/5 for me.

[LondonLax]

This movie is lacking Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Mr Freeze.

It takes itself too seriously for what is essentially a guy running around beating up people in a stag do costume.

[GarethRDR]

[legov]

Ebert does waiver into crazy on some of his reviews these days. He's usually fairly on the money for me (although increasingly pretentious too) but once in a while he comes out with a completely crazy review - Prometheus was 4/4 and basically given a review suggesting it was not only a great piece of cinema, but an important one too.

Might be related to his near-death experience.

Peter Bradshaw gave TDKR 3/5 in the Guardian. I don't even know why I'm looking at reviews (didn't read the text). This won't be Nolan's Return of the Jedi.

If by ROTJ you mean "good third movie that's weaker than the second", then probably not, because it does seem that way so far doesn't it?

I meant crap third movie. Trilogies usually mess up at some point. Toy Story is a possible exception but I haven't seen them all.

Bah, X-Men would have been a better example

(disclaimer: I've not watched X3 yet, don't intend to)

Bad example. X Men was bad from the get go, but XMen 2 was especially terrible

I agree actually don't think X2 was unwatchable but it was pretty mediocre for me.

Just couldn't think of another example. Spiderman maybe? I hate Spidey hence why I didn't bring it up

[Shillzz]

This movie is lacking Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising his role as Mr Freeze.

It takes itself too seriously for what is essentially a guy running around beating up people in a stag do costume.

I've not seen the film, but I'd level the same criticism at the latest James Bond films. Films are too serious these days.

[legov]

Midnight now, will be watching this tomorrow (well, technically this afternoon ), can't wait! Will be my first IMAX experience as well!

[HolteEndRob]

So, after much consideration, I decided to accept the invite to watch it last night. As I said in a previous post, I'm not that interested in these sort of films and I wasn't too keen on the last one but I thought **** it, my ticket is free and I didn't have anything else planned so I went.

I'd say that it is better than the dark knight. I thought Tom Hardy was great as Bane! The last 20-30 mins were the best parts. I found myself getting abit bored about half way through due to it being on for almost three hours and I felt that it was dragging along unnecessarily in parts. Anne Hathaway looked stunning in her outfit! As I say though, I'm not really into these sort of films. I'm sure the batman fans will love it.

[coda]

Good but not great. Catwoman was better than Bane who lacked the charisma of Joker. It was obvious she'd show up at the end when all seemed lost. Nice to see the Scarecrow featured. People are saying the Miranda twist was obvious but I didn't see it coming or the Robin thing.:oops: The whole bomb business seemed a bit clichéd. I've overdosed on Batman the past few days and am a little tired of the whole saga. Won't be rushing to see it again.

I'm not much of a fan of comics and superheroes so this may explain me not being as blown away as some. That and people with ADHD annoying me in the cinema.

[Chindie]

I'm just back from seeing it.

Before I put some proper reaction out there, I'll say this - don't make the poor choices I did with this film. I completely forgot that a considerable amount of the regions schools broke up today and thus found my showing was the showing picked by half of the area to watch after school broke up for the summer. To say this was annoying was an understatement. Group of 14 year old lads who couldn't shut the **** up (one of which decided to shout a spoiler out right as the film began - had I not had a damn good idea what was going to go on in the film, I'd have had to prevent myself informing the child just what I thought of his funny talk), a pair of smug girls who couldn't stop talking, giggling, using their **** phones or generally pissing about, and 2 geek lads behind me who couldn't stop relaying elements of the plot to each other. Oh and a dad bringing in a 4 year old girl to sit in front of me. The film requires some attention in parts and the not exactly rapt audience marred the showing for me...

Anyway, that aside...

It's a very good film, but it's not a great one. There are sloppy moments, there are moments my suspension of disbelief couldn't quite withstand. But first, the good! The cast is great across the board - this is the best we've seen Bale as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman stays just the right side of cariacture. Hardy's Bane is mysterious and a genuine presence on the screen. And the supporting cast all return to good form. There is a lot of action, the spectacle of the thing has been ramped up - TDK is a positively small scale film on the scale Rises presents. There some superb stunts, some brilliant sequences. It represents the good ride I expected and is a fitting end to an enjoyable series. It looks great. It is fun. AS much as it is long I never felt like I was enduring it, even when some issues arose.

It's not flawless however. It does have a sagging middle, the pace goes out of it for about half an hour in the middle as the second act puts in place a lot of stuff.

Bane is inherently not the great, memorable character that the Joker was. A lot of that is down to the mystery behind him, a lot more is down to the film refocusing on Bruce - TDK saw him take a backseat, it's the Jokers film. This most certainly is not Bane's film. Bane has other issues - the audio has been fixed but retains the 'HE'S TALKING THROUGH A MEGAPHONE AND EVERYTHING HE SAYS SOUNDS DUBBED OVER EVERYTHING ELSE' (although thanks to moronic kids, even that wasn't enough for me to miss things - not a criticism of the film as it was true for every other character. Cheers children, **** you). Much was made of his brutality. It largely doesn't translate to the film imo. The rating prevents showing the results of Bane's brutality and barring a couple of choice moments, the only register of just how hideously dangerous this man is that is that when Batman punches him, he don't stay punched, and when he hits Batman, the Bat feels it. A higher rating (that was never happening) would have helped. Still, the character carries weight regardless. He's just no classic.

There are some silly issues - an early chase starts in daylight and a cut later (same chase) it's darkness. It's like someone goes round a corner and the sun gets turned off. I bet many people don't notice that, I did and sighed a little. The soundtrack is too much - it's good but blimey it dominates some scenes. And so on.

The plot adds... unnecessary additions. To it's credit this means that my prediction for the plot is a little off, they added a few layers of complexity, particularly at the beginning. Unfortunately it feels like some of these were added to allow Nolan to 'say' a few things (make no doubt about it, rather like TDK has a discourse in it on terrorism, this film has similar), but he never seems to reach a conclusion about what he wanted to make a point about.

As good as some of the action is, there are other bits that don't have the... wallop is probably the perfect word... that you want. An extension of Bane not being as brutal as you want when he gets his hands dirty is that the fight sequences feels like they lack a little bang. I can't quite put my finger on why, in this film, when Batman is kicking ass, he inherently feels like he's kicking less ass than he did in the previous film.

This all sounds like more was bad than good... it wasn't. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even with the hideous audience. It tells a good tale and it's a rather more... straightforward plot ultimately than we might have expected. It'll do crazily well and deserves too, and I can definitely see a select few putting it as the best of Nolan Batman's. Theres much to like. It's not better than TDK. But it is good. It feels like the film that would arise had Begins and TDK had a child.

I think you'll enjoy it.

[hawkinsk11]

I'm just back from seeing it.

Before I put some proper reaction out there, I'll say this - don't make the poor choices I did with this film. I completely forgot that a considerable amount of the regions schools broke up today and thus found my showing was the showing picked by half of the area to watch after school broke up for the summer. To say this was annoying was an understatement. Group of 14 year old lads who couldn't shut the **** up (one of which decided to shout a spoiler out right as the film began - had I not had a damn good idea what was going to go on in the film, I'd have had to prevent myself informing the child just what I thought of his funny talk), a pair of smug girls who couldn't stop talking, giggling, using their **** phones or generally pissing about, and 2 geek lads behind me who couldn't stop relaying elements of the plot to each other. Oh and a dad bringing in a 4 year old girl to sit in front of me. The film requires some attention in parts and the not exactly rapt audience marred the showing for me...

Anyway, that aside...

It's a very good film, but it's not a great one. There are sloppy moments, there are moments my suspension of disbelief couldn't quite withstand. But first, the good! The cast is great across the board - this is the best we've seen Bale as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman stays just the right side of cariacture. Hardy's Bane is mysterious and a genuine presence on the screen. And the supporting cast all return to good form. There is a lot of action, the spectacle of the thing has been ramped up - TDK is a positively small scale film on the scale Rises presents. There some superb stunts, some brilliant sequences. It represents the good ride I expected and is a fitting end to an enjoyable series. It looks great. It is fun. AS much as it is long I never felt like I was enduring it, even when some issues arose.

It's not flawless however. It does have a sagging middle, the pace goes out of it for about half an hour in the middle as the second act puts in place a lot of stuff.

Bane is inherently not the great, memorable character that the Joker was. A lot of that is down to the mystery behind him, a lot more is down to the film refocusing on Bruce - TDK saw him take a backseat, it's the Jokers film. This most certainly is not Bane's film. Bane has other issues - the audio has been fixed but retains the 'HE'S TALKING THROUGH A MEGAPHONE AND EVERYTHING HE SAYS SOUNDS DUBBED OVER EVERYTHING ELSE' (although thanks to moronic kids, even that wasn't enough for me to miss things - not a criticism of the film as it was true for every other character. Cheers children, **** you). Much was made of his brutality. It largely doesn't translate to the film imo. The rating prevents showing the results of Bane's brutality and barring a couple of choice moments, the only register of just how hideously dangerous this man is that is that when Batman punches him, he don't stay punched, and when he hits Batman, the Bat feels it. A higher rating (that was never happening) would have helped. Still, the character carries weight regardless. He's just no classic.

There are some silly issues - an early chase starts in daylight and a cut later (same chase) it's darkness. It's like someone goes round a corner and the sun gets turned off. I bet many people don't notice that, I did and sighed a little. The soundtrack is too much - it's good but blimey it dominates some scenes. And so on.

The plot adds... unnecessary additions. To it's credit this means that my prediction for the plot is a little off, they added a few layers of complexity, particularly at the beginning. Unfortunately it feels like some of these were added to allow Nolan to 'say' a few things (make no doubt about it, rather like TDK has a discourse in it on terrorism, this film has similar), but he never seems to reach a conclusion about what he wanted to make a point about.

As good as some of the action is, there are other bits that don't have the... wallop is probably the perfect word... that you want. An extension of Bane not being as brutal as you want when he gets his hands dirty is that the fight sequences feels like they lack a little bang. I can't quite put my finger on why, in this film, when Batman is kicking ass, he inherently feels like he's kicking less ass than he did in the previous film.

This all sounds like more was bad than good... it wasn't. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even with the hideous audience. It tells a good tale and it's a rather more... straightforward plot ultimately than we might have expected. It'll do crazily well and deserves too, and I can definitely see a select few putting it as the best of Nolan Batman's. Theres much to like. It's not better than TDK. But it is good. It feels like the film that would arise had Begins and TDK had a child.

I think you'll enjoy it.

I agree with most of this which saves me the typing. Its good its not better than TDK cause that had an amazing performance by the Joker that gave that whole movie an edge that nothing will ever be able to copy or better.

Like it or not a movie like this hangs on the 'bad guy' i love Tom Hardy but i think hes wasted in this, yes he's big so what! they might as well of got some wrestler in like they did in the last Batman incarnation. He wears a mask which unfortunately confirmed my initial reservations, you cant see any expressions the actor makes and you cant under stand a word he says (slight exaggeration). i really couldn't engage with Bane, when the joker comes on the screen in TDK he owns it u hang on every word, every mannerism. Bane doesn't work for me.

The rest is as per what i quoted its good maybe with another watch with less hype and excitement i might enjoy it more

[Chindie]

Oh, by the way, AICN's Harry Knowles 'profoundly disappointed' review is utter nonsense. I was right, he hates it because it doesn't play out the way comics would play out. Except in some ways it does.