Review, Dark Knight Rises

[woodwardiocom]

Overall, I thought it was a very good movie. It's not as legendary as the last, mostly because Tom Hardy as Bane cannot match the genius insanity of Heath Ledger as the Joker. Ledger's Joker is like The Color Out Of Space, in that he can corrupt and defile everything around him just by being there. Hardy's Bane, on the other hand, merely has a heckuva a lot of presence. He's like standing next to an oven; you can feel it, but it doesn't warp you.

The Bad: It's a little long. And when Bale was in Batman garb I found him unconvincing. His fights with Bane were a bit too (as dani_namaste put it) "Rockem-Sockem Robots"; I kept wondering why Bats was punching him in his armored face, and not pulling out weapons.

The Good: The supporting cast was excellent. Oldman so thoroughly submerges himself in Commissioner Gordon that I found myself wondering if it was actually him. Hathaway plays Catwoman as smart and pissed off. Caine will have you tearing up at least once. The plot twists were well done, and I'm kicking myself over the one I didn't see coming. The story of the Pit was brilliantly mythic. The cameos were a delight. The siege of Gotham genuinely felt like a siege.

(Oh, and, this is only the second time in any media that I've seen it made explicit that Gotham City is in Gotham state — The guards on the bridge are wearing Gotham State Police patches. The first time was in an issue of Sandman, when J'onn refers to "upstate Gotham".)

So, yes, overall, quite recommended.

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

That always seems to be true of Gary Oldman. So many times, I've watched movies without knowing he was in them, and didn't find out until looking at IMDB later and going, "Wait, that was Gary Oldman? Damn!" The man's a chameleon.

[mizarchivist]

This is the first review that makes me want to see it. However given my track record, I will probably blink and it'll be on cable. I still haven't seen Brave.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

I actually think that The Dark Knight Rises is the best of the three, considered as an integrated work of art. Yes, The Dark Knight has Heath Ledger's incredible performance. But it's not the best setting that performance could have had; it surrounds it with some comedic bits that lower the quality of the Joker's nihilistic black comedy, and its plot structure is a bit ramshackle. You have a brilliant noir story trying to emerge from a comic book movie. The third film seems more stylistically unified. That style is romantic and perhaps even Gothic, but that's not a bad thing.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

and perhaps even Gothic, but that's not a bad thing.

Well, they call it "Gotham" for two reasons...

I'd certainly agree that this one was more unified (ironic, given how much it calls back to the first film!), though I think that hurt the plotlines for Catwoman and Alfred.

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Really? I was pretty delighted with the plotline for Selina. Admittedly her Han Solo moment was a bit predictable. . . .

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Really? I was pretty delighted with the plotline for Selina.

Bearing in mind I've only seen the film once, and may have missed some things...

• When Batman swoops down to save her from Bane and his mooks, they team up awfully quickly, given that she's a thief with no redeeming qualities he's aware of.
• It's not made clear why he needs her help to find Bane.
• The romance between them apparently springs up after they've met each other on only a few brief occasions, two of which involve her stealing from him, and one in which she led him into a trap that nearly killed him.
• Why she likes him is also unclear, given that she had nothing but disdain for Wayne.
• Her need for the Clean Slate program was too simple and obvious. It needed nuance, like she was getting it for her girl sidekick instead of herself.
• Girl sidekick didn't get enough screen time, either. What was her deal?

So, I think they could have done more, there.

[dani-namaste.livejournal.com]

But... but.. she was in leather! Almost the WHOLE TIME! And awesome stilettos with metal on them!