Comments

1
I don't want to give away the ending, but in the end, the Dark Knight Rises.
2
The movie is deeply conservative (and at some points offensive).

1. The people of Gotham are easily tricked rubes who revel in their anarchy because that's what the people would do without an established authority.
2. The police and civil servants are either corrupt, cowardly, or unable to determine right from wrong on their own.
3. It is OK to lie to maintain a power structure so long as no one ever finds out.
4. Batman's secondary role in saving Gotham is protecting the property of rich people from the tyranny of the masses.
5. Thank goodness for altruistic rich people! They sure come in handy when they fulfill their "rich people burden." I guess they really deserve to get all their advantages.
6. Hey everyone, I'm a really cool chick with my own moral code. Oh wait... a handsome prince likes me? Nevermind. I'm a princess and accessory instead.
7. Watch out, hoi polloi... your silly Occupy movement might really be a plan crafted by insane people. Better just stick with the system we've got now.

and on and on
3
i wished it was more fun. you know ,like, comic
4
@3 - Clearly, you haven't been reading comics lately. 4-color, over-the-top fun hasn't been the order of the day for 20 years.

@Paul - You forgot 11) The bomb was the worst piece of schmiance in ages.
5
Regarding the Robin reference:

WHY WHY WHY?

That was incredibly dumb. Up to that point, the character was obviously going to take on the "mantle of the bat". But with that stupid throwaway line, they muddle it all up. Does he become the Batman or is he simply destined to be Robin, Batman's squire? I DON'T KNOW BECAUSE OF THAT STUPID LINE!!!
6
@5, the Robin line to me was Nolan having fun with the fans. Early in the series he was quoted as saying that "there will never be a 'Robin' in this Batman world" To me this was just him saying "ok fine..i put a Robin in...but not how you think!" If one thinks about it, the John Blake character was an amalgamation of the first three Robin's. Dick Graysons nobility and drive, orphan of the street like Jason Todd and figured out who Batman was like Tim Drake.
7
@4.. where's archie when you need 'im ?
8
(Although I do think it would have been incredible if Nolan just used Michael Caine's face to get across the image of a happy and at-peace Bruce Wayne to us, without a shot of a smiling Christian Bale. If we just saw Alfred seeing Bruce, I think that might have been a more powerful sequence on which to end the film.)


I was thinking the same thing! I would have loved it if we just saw Alfred gaze off camera, smile, and nod, then get up to leave. It would leave things off with a little more mystery and a little more hope and it would have been a (slightly) more satisfying conclusion to Alfred's story, which I felt sort of sputtered out at the end.
9
Yo 6,

BUT, Nolan is NOT Whedon. He should not be putting stupid in-jokes in his movies. Lame ass shit.
10
@9 So only Whedon is allowed to put in "stupid in-jokes"? And thank god Nolan is not Whedon. This world can only handle one hack writer with a death fetish.
11
It would be nice if these guys could write complex women characters.
12
Did'nt like the movie, Wanted to found the exit door{pun}
13
I'm glad they showed Bruce at the end if only because I already can't stand the people saying that it was all in alfreds imagination.
14
I would have also like some origin story for Selina Kyle. I actually liked her and Anne Hathaway playing her. However, I wanted more character development that would only come with knowing why. But I suppose there wasn't enough time. And it's challenging in its own right to accept a character at face value with no actual history other than hints (since they very specifically never called her you know who).
15
TLDR zzzzzzz
16
Here, here! Particularly #10...I need a second viewing at home to finalize my conclusions (and time to fully consider it as part 3 of a trilogy).

17
I was disappointed that Bane turned out to be just a tool -- especially for such a non-compelling, vapid villain as Tate -- but I thought it played interestingly into the themes of misdirection and theatricality. The empty idol drawing everyone's attention was way more worthwhile than the actual villain.

The Occupy stuff, well. I think Nolan was treading a pretty fine line. No one wants to see a superhero movie take a definite, overt political stance. The narrative doesn't support the status quo (corrupt and ineffectual -- the system is a shackle) or populism (the mob is there to be manipulated); it's about individualism. As is really only appropriate for a movie about a guy who decides to end all crime by himself. The one person who climbs up and out of the pit, providing example and inspiration to those below (and incidentally, if he's a good guy, throwing down a rope too).
Superheroes are just generally a terrible way to discuss systematic injustice, I think.
18
Haters gonna hate, it was epic.

And no, it's not a conservative movie. Don't be a superficial knee jerker.
19
I guess I'm out of step with the entire rest of the audience here, but I thought Cotillard played her role wonderfully; the understatedness of the character was the whole entire point, and she came off so human and natural throughout. I had a much easier time believing in her than most of the other characters, and I loved the idea of the 'slow knife'.
20
Fuck yeah.

I must agree that the timer on the bomb was a poor idea. They said at the beginning that it was an estimate, then put a timer on it?

Also, "The Bat" blew up at the end; what exactly were the Wayne Enterprises guys tinkering with when discussing the autopilot system being fixed?

Lastly, anyone who hates this portrayal of Catwoman has clearly never played Batman: Arkham City. It was literally groan-inducing every time she opened her mouth.
21
I still need to call bullshit on #7, if Gotham was its own dark Sin City-like alternate universe or even some island with no connection to the outside world that would be fine. But not only is Japan acknowledged in the Dark Knight but they talk about the fucking President of the United States in this one. And he blatantly ignores Gotham. Even though it outnumbers New York City in population by 4 million people. WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE THERE!?!?
22
I liked that they showed Bruce Wayne smiling at the end. Seeing him sitting there with Selina Kyle was a very satisfying note to go out on.
23
@20, first rule of government contracts...why build one when you can build two and twice the price? Now, the question really is then where was this second Bat if Bane broke into the Applied Sciences lab and took everything?
24
@23: That was the other part to the question that I forgot to include, yes. Good catch. (And don't think I didn't catch the Contact reference in your phrasing.)
25
Watching the movie I thought, well, John Blake is the Robin replacement, because you couldn't create a believable Robin these days. And then, we find out, he is a Robin. Ha. I wouldn't use that name either. And having him fly into the Batcave on a rope, circa DC Comics, 1964, was brilliant.

I'm with the minority. I was very happy to see Bruce Wayne smiling at the end. @13 got it right.

Ima gonna see it again, this time in IMAX. (Real IMAX. Ahem.) It's been decades since I paid to see a film in a theater twice.

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