Poll: What Did You Think of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’?

While our thoughts still go out to the families of the victims, we here at High-Def Digest hope that last week’s senseless tragedy in Colorado didn’t deter any fans from going to the movies this weekend. If you saw ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, tell us what you thought of it.

I didn’t see the film, personally. This had nothing to do with Friday’s shooting. I just didn’t feel like dealing with long lines and crowds this weekend, and had other things to do. While I liked both of Christopher Nolan’s other Batman flicks, I’m not a huge enough fan of them that I needed to see this one right away. I can wait a week for the crowds to disperse.

With that in mind, I’d appreciate it if the discussion in the Comments could avoid any major plot spoilers. Thanks. (Edit: Oh, I give up. Just do what you want.)

What Did You Think of 'The Dark Knight Rises'?

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73 comments

  1. Dan

    I felt a slight disappointment in the movie. I felt that there was some structure issues in the narrative. I also felt that there was poor execution in some character moments. I still think it was a good movie, but far from being a masterpiece.

  2. Shannon Nutt

    I thought it was great…after the plot-thin AVENGERS it was a nice reminder that a summer movie can be both entertaining and complex. I think those disappointed upon first viewing are going to find an appreciation for the film over time…it’s actually very well laid-out and scripted.

  3. HuskerGuy

    “It was just OK” This is more or less exactly what I posted after seeing the movie Friday.

    I think it was a bit loose and I’ll be curious how it holds up on a 2nd viewing.

  4. Jason

    Holy plot holes, Batman!

    I’m not going to spoil the movie for those that haven’t seen it yet but I will say that even if The Avengers was “plot thin” as some have described it was water tight. The Dark Knight Rises, though a “deeper” film, has plot holes big enough to drive a tumbler through. I also have to agree with others that the over all flow of the movie felt very jarring. I saw it twice, first on the a regular screen and the second time on a 15/70 IMAX. I probably would not have seen it the second time but I had already purchased tickets. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the film but I expected better. Especially after The Dark Knight which I thought was leaps and bounds better than Batman Begins.

  5. fettastic

    Unfortunately I was dissapointed. It just barely felt like Batman to me. I recognized the storylines (Knightfall, No Man’s Land, The Dark Knight Returns), but many of the characters were wrong. Miranda just seemed bored the entire time. Bane talked like Sean Connery reading a Dr. Suess book. I did not like the portrayal of most of the characters that not only weren’t like the comics, but weren’t even as they had been portrayed in the previous films. Bruce Wayne is not a whiney, mopy guy who can’t wait to stop being Batman. He IS Batman! He does it because he WANTS TO! He trained his whole life to do it, he put his entire fortune behind it, he risks his life every day to do it! And Alfred does a complete 180 on this. Also Bruce tells Alfred to F off…over nothing. Jim Gordon is portrayed as a corrupt liar.

    And the plot holes, oh God the plot holes! 3,000 police spend 5 months living underground? Do you understand the humanitarian effort it would take to feed 5,000 people by lowering supplies for a single day? And they could lower that much supplies, but they couldn’t hoist them up? And once they get up they are physically fit to start a war?

    There are a MILLION things like this. Frankly I don’t understand why so many people are saying how aweesome it was. I can’t believe people had a problem with Prometheus but not this. This is WAY worse with the plot holes.

    • Jason

      agreed.
      **SPOILER**
      also, how a penniless Bruce Wayne could make it from “the pit” in Africa and sneak into a fortified Gotham undetected is baffling.

  6. hurin

    I really liked the first half of the movie. But the second half made me think of the scene from ‘Austin Powers’ where Dr Evil after proposing several evil schemes only to be told they won’t work, says then they’ll do it the usual way, steal nuclear weapons and use them for blackmail.

  7. fettastic

    So the best way tom capture someone is to wait for them to board a plane, then capture the plane, saw it’s wings and tail off, and then drop the plane? Really?

    One thing that really bothered me was “the pit”. Supposedly it’s impossible to escape, but every time we look at it, it’s covered with hand holds and foot holds. Plus they use a rope and pulley. How’d the prisoners get that pulley up there anyway? The big problem seems to boil down to leaping from one ledge to another. It frankly doesn’t look that far. You’re going to tell me that from everyone attempting that leap all day every day, NOBODY (aside from the one laughable person they reveal) has ever made it? Since you’ve got that pulley syystem just haul a fricken bench up there to patch the gap!

    Everyone in this movie is a friggen’ idiot.

    • Shannon Nutt

      The pully system was obviously put in place by the creators of the pit…there were several shots of them taking people DOWN into the pit.

      Also, I’d like to know what exactly you’re going to balance your “bench” on? Yes, there were ledges and footholds, but only several inches deep. NOTHING is going to balance on those!

      Granted how Wayne gets back to Gotham isn’t shown, but that doesn’t mean it’s a plot hole…I’m assuming a man like Bruce Wayne has connections all over the globe – just because he no longer had the wealth doesn’t mean he’d no longer have the friends.

      • fettastic

        Frankly the “How did Wayne get back” thing didn’t bother me. He’s still Batman after all so he’s pretty resourceful.

        I’m just saying it’s silly that the only thing keeping the prisoners in unending misery is an 8 foot gap.

      • fettastic

        Watch the trailer again, those ledges are like 2 feet wide.

        I will however, recant part of my rant against the pit because someone else pointed out to me that he didn’t have the rope tied to him that last time and THAT’S what the old guy meant by not caring being the key. Now it makes perfect sense and is actually a brilliant metaphor. Having the rope tied to you makes it just a little too short to allow you to make the jump so you have to jump without the rope. However if you miss, you will absolutely die. I just wish it had been made a little more clear.

    • the plane’s wings break of because of the wind resistance/ velocity, the aren’t sawn off in any fashion. the leaving the pit is supposed to surmount to achieving the impossible both physically and mentally, reinforcing Bruce’s journey and struggle against Bane. When he first goes out, as Alfred states, hes suited back up and has some new toys but hes not the same as before, the people of Gotham and those hes fighting don’t view him the same because his symbol and his spirit have been tarnished. The reason only Talia and Bruce make it out is because of their anger and, as Rha’s Al Ghul would say, “the will to act” within their spirit. Talia has seen her mother murdered and lives on the brink of it in the pit, when Bane is attacked she literally has only one course of action in order to survive. Also, only a few of the men in the pit seemed to be in the physical condition to climb and I’m guessing most have their spirit broken, amongst other things, repeatedly trying to climb and begin to harbor a defeatist attitude. Bruce is continually being given a reason to get out via the TV and the two old men, along with the secret of not using the rope.

      • Brain Stew'd

        You’re close but I would add that the pit scene is more about Bruce Wayne embracing his humanity after allowing himself to be consumed by The Bat. Batman isn’t the hero. Whoever wears the suit is. And when it’s just a shadow wearing the suit it’s never going to be as powerful as when a man with something to lose, with something to prove, with his heart firmly in the right place does. Bruce had to remind himself that there are things worth fighting, and worth dying for. People he cares about. He needs to learn to fear death again, because it’s the most human trait of all.

    • hurin

      No one can reasonably expect a tread titled “Poll: What Did You Think of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’?” not to contain spoilers.

      It is obviously directed at people who have already seen the movie.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        All right, I give up. Do what you want. But please behave yourselves. I will only be skimming over the comments here until I get a chance to see the movie.

      • EM

        There is a theory of movie reviewing which holds that reviewers, who have already seen a particular movie, can give their opinions of said movie while withholding spoilers. There is also a theory of forum discussion which holds that, if you cannot post within stated guidelines, you should refrain from posting. Of course, both theories have the problem that, as yet another theory has it, one can reasonably expect that there are those among the general public who will flout the rules for various reasons, such as malice or incompetence.

  8. fettastic

    ****SPOILER****

    By the way, if you are reading something called “TDKR, what did you think?” Assume there are spoilers!

    There were also 2 editing problems. both involving a character learning something and then obviously not knowing it in the following scene.

    The first of these is when Catwoman leads Batman into the trap and Bane calls him “Mr. Wayne”. We cut to Catwoman reacting and we see the impact this knowledge has on her because she knows Wayne. It’s a great moment, but one I feazr was created in teh editing room because once Bruce comes back, she doesn’t seem to know that Bruce and Batman are the same person.

    The other one involved something Bruce learns, but I can’t remember what it is unfortunately.

    • I actually felt the Bruce/Selina banter after she finds out that he’s Batman about his “friend” was just part of their banter and was fitting considering their relationship.

      • fettastic

        I thought of that later. It could be the case. It didn’t seem to be played that way, but I admit it’s a possibility. Maybe if she would have added a dash of sarcasm to the word “friend” it would have come across better.

  9. fettastic

    ******SPOILER******

    (sigh)

    There’s also a moment where Gordon is riding in the back of a semi truck that gets smashed all to hell. The back doors open and he pops out like he was just on a ride through the park. COME ON NOLAN! You’re too good for that!

    And this whole idea that Bane goes through all this trouble to get a nuclear device….then decides to sit on it for almost half a year….is nuts. The fact that the bomb actually has a big digital counter on it which somehow counts down the amount of core degredation in it notwithstanding.

    Nolan has certainly worked his magic in that many, many reviewers are simply overlooking all these big plot holes.

    Speaking of holes, Bane has laced the city with cement with explosives mixed into it and spread it out under the whole city? Come on man, that’s right out of a cartoon!

    • Spoiler!

      Not to excuse the incredibly lazy use of a ticking time bomb to mobilize the last act, but Bane is a sadist who firmly believes that providing hope is the cruelest trick to play on his victims. His actions here are in keeping with modus operandi.

  10. Elizabeth Horner

    @fettastic

    Were you even listening to what Bane said? Yes, his plan was “nuts.” Maybe you didn’t notice that he wasn’t the most well-adjusted human being. He made it clear that he wanted Wayne to suffer by watching Gotham destroy itself. He also enjoyed the fact that the citizens of Gotham felt they had a chance for survival when he knew the bomb would go off either way.

    Though I agree that the timer with to-the-minute precision on when the core would destabilize was a bit far-fetched.

    As for the cement laced explosives, you think that is somehow less plausible than the Joker rigging Gotham General with enough explosives to level it and somehow going completely unnoticed?

    I’m not saying there aren’t plot holes, but this is what you’re really upset about?

  11. fettastic

    Yes I know that’s what Bane said. That doesn’t make it any less stupid, particularly since we don’t even really see Gotham “tearing itself apart”. It would have been different if we saw widespread poverty and crime and a really dilapidated Gotham, but we don’t. We get a couple of shots of vacant streets, the kangaroo court and the special forces guys getting hung. The last thing being the only item we witness Wayne seeing. Imagine how much more powerful it would have been to see a montage of Wayne watching all kinds of riots and killings and robberies and destruction and just pacing his cell not being able to stop it? THAT’S what we needed. instead he sees some blurry, far-off footage of some hangings and smashes the TV. In my opinion that’s just not good enough. Without seeing the impact on Wayne it just looks like an excuse to give Batman time to heal.

  12. fettastic

    And yes, I think the explosive-laced cement spread around the entire city is FAR less plausible than the Joker (who was assisted by the entire Goham mob at that point)exploding one building.

  13. Absolutely loved it.

    I see a lot of comparisons to The Avengers and people comparing that to a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

    This whole “Saturday Morning Cartoon” analogy makes it sound like a bad thing. I don’t think it is.

    I loved Saturday Morning Cartoons when I was a kid. 😉

    These two movies don’t just compare, not that they aren’t good, both are absolutely fantastic in their own way. The Avengers is a GREAT “Comic Book” movie that is just a whole lot of fun to watch. Dark Knight Rises is a GREAT “Movie” that just so happens to be based on a comic book. Whereas the Avengers in no way would be considered a “Best Movie” by any academy, if Dark Knight Rises isn’t considered it’s a travesty.

    The Avengers succeeded in every way that it set out to.

    The Dark Knight Rises succeeded in every way it set out to.

    Period

    These two movies are my favorite 2 movies of the year (so far). Tomorrow is $5 movie Tuesday … may go see it again.

  14. fettastic

    “So I see you have returned to die with your city.”

    “No, I came to stop you.”

    YEEESH!

  15. atlfalconsfan

    Both my wife and I were very disappointed in the movie. Without going too deep into the reasons for being disappointed I would just say that we both agreed that the film was WAY too long, WAY too over-dramatic and was just WAY too full of itself. Plus Batman was in the movie for only fifteen minutes at best.

    Another thing that REALLY botherred me: Is Gotham Chicago (TDK), or is Gotham Manhattan (TDKR), or is it Pittsburgh (the football stadium)???

    • fettastic

      Although I really liked the unique look of Chicago in the first 2 films, not shooting there for TDKR didn’t really bother me. Probably a more jarring shift was between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight when Nolan went from a very warm palette to a very cold one.

  16. *****thematic spoilers*****
    I thought that it was very entertaining. It was also over-wrought. In addition to bringing in so many (fascinating) story elements from some big Batman story-lines, almost every character from the previous Batman films was featured. So much screen time for dead characters in picture frames.

    ‘Batman Begins’ moves very tightly through its acts while the pace of the ‘Dark Knight’ is almost frenetic. I think that this pacing is reflected in the motivations and actions of the lead character. The new film is less consistent in this sense, as is the lead character.

    Even with all the Batman mythos thrown into the movie, it often felt like a mismatch of a Rocky sequel set in a Metal Gear Solid world.

    • HuskerGuy

      “it often felt like a mismatch of a Rocky sequel set in a Metal Gear Solid world.”

      As a big fan of bothly, I would be moribidly curious how such a thing would work.

      I envision the overall plot involving Rocky being pulled into an undercover government operation where he would be sent to Russia as an ambassador for the summer Olympics, but he is secretly on a mission to obtain information of a sensitive nature. As a precautionary measure, Rocky is filled with nano-machines in the event he needs to deliver hurtin’ bombs.

      *montage*

      Using a camouflaged boxing robe he sneaks around arenas and cities with Paulie gathering intel and dispatching guards with his weaponized jump rope that can either tranquilize or terminate. He achieves the mission, but on the way out Paulie has a few too many celebratory cocktails and goes on a drunken rant which gets both of them busted by a familiar Russian, now underground warlord.

      *long-winded scene*

      Drago, who now goes by the name Dragon, comes out and shows off his new scaly Dragon suit which breathes fire as well as provides an un-parralled level of protection, comfort, and badassery. He has longed for a rematch since the 80’s and offers Rocky a fight for his life.

      *long-winded scene*

      *montage*

      *montage*

      Dragon is beating the literal crap out Rocky, but little did Dragon know that Rocky had eaten some lightning before being captured and he craps a mighty thunder that cracks Dragon’s suit. A montage of hurtin’ bombs later, Dragon is left bloodied and beaten.

      *long-winded scene*

      Movie ends with Rocky & Paulie doing Snake and Otocan’s special handshake.

      This went a lot further than I originally expected it to.

      • Throw in a training montage in a hanger with Metal Gear Ray or Rex and attach Mickie’s arm to a Revolver Ocelot clone, and I am sold.

  17. Saw it Saturday in IMAX at Navy Pier. Loved every second of it, except that little bit with JGL’s real name being “Robin” A lot of people seemed to have issues that the movie isn’t as true to the comics as they’d like. Well, comic book readers don’t make up the vast majority of moviegoers, so changes get made to provide a more mainstream movie that will sell more tickets. I didn’t have any problems with the differences. Also, people who say it was too slow need longer attention spans. It’s an epic, they take a while. I also thought that the little epilogue at the end with Alfred was imaginary.

  18. JM

    I’m guessing the romance novel / fan fiction ending is why American moviegoers are satisfied. Emotion matters 10x more than logic.

    I wonder if euro audiences are less enthused?

    What’s the french word for bullshit?

      • EM

        I didn’t answer because I thought it was merely a rhetorical question, but I thought something like foutaise would better capture the meaning Jane was going for. Whereas shit is generally pejorative, bullshit adds a dimension of foolishness and/or fallaciousness.

  19. RollTide1017

    Loved it but, I rank it 3rd in the series. Still like Begins the best followed by the other two in order… all 3 are great!

  20. I ended up seeing it with a friend who really wanted to see it (After I said I’d wait for TV or rental!! D’oh!)

    I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty good overall. Certainly less messy and better character-wise than TDK. For starters Bruce/Batman actually had some character in this one, like Batman Begins.

    It still suffered from the biggest problem that TDK had, which was having outlandish elements in too realistic a setting that renders them more silly than good (The slightly more fictional/fantasy setting of Batman Begins helps sell its more outlandish elements and moments, in my opinion). The motive behind the main events also felt too weak/non-existent.

    It also suffered from an overall atmosphere of trying too hard, especially with the Bane character. Speaking of which, he is at least an improvement as a villain over the Joker in TDK.

    The other thing that lessened it for me, was the absurdity of the final ‘city as hostage’ scenario (hope that doesn’t class as a spoiler) and the convenience of a lot of the elements that lead up to it. Again, it was something that may have sold better within the slightly less ‘real’ world of Batman Begins.

    I have to say, the ending really made it for me. That was excellent and really rounded it all off perfectly.

    JM, I don’t know if one person can counter your question about euro audiences, but to be honest I thought the ending was the best thing about it. Nothing particularly illogical about that romantic/satisfying ending in my opinion. There were a multitude of other elements in the film that were far more illogical and eye-rolling. The ending saved it from being almost as messy in some ways as TDK.

  21. cxdx

    *****spoilers*****

    first off is batman god? was it me or was he omnipresent? he chases down the bikes after the robbery then within minutes hes there to rescue/fight with catwoman?!

    then the same thing towards the end he miraculously knows exactly where blake is to save him right before hes killed?

    as mentioned above the timer on the bomb. come on really. its an idea toyed with in movies all the time to make a joke on how retarded a timer on a bomb is theyll say “you only see timers in the movies” everyone in the film said how the core breaks down and becomes less and less stable, no man nuclear physisist or psychopath (bane) could predict the actual time of detonation. maybe predict within a week or so, but even that is a stretch with a nuclear core with an unpredictable half life.

    that being said, people bithcing about the cement explosives, he had daggarts construction crews working 24hrs a day for months (the timespan between the opening plane scene and the explosions is 6 months. thats revealed when the agents watching the dr be executed say “he died 6 months ago, but that appears to be him”) so that is entirely plausible.

    how is it the bat and bat pod can damage the tumblers but shots fired from them do zero damage to the bat?

    and the ending. ooooooh robin. go fuck yourself, robin was a boring haphazard queer milking bruce waynes teet until the nightwing and red hood archs. had they utilized “robin” more effectively. say bane breaks bruce waynes back, then you have “robin” take his place. the story would have been a hundred times more effective, bruce sees the same spirit in blake as is in him, blake passionately loves and believes in his city enough to put on the mask and give everything to defend it.

    had nolan revealed “robin” in the second act just think of the possibilities and the directions it could have went.

    the meeting in florence. boring and lame. kill bruce wayne off, dont tie everything up so neatly and force a bullshit “happy ending” on us.

    the movie was great, by far the best of the 3, and of all batman movies. its just very flawed and trite.

    • SPOILER!!!!

      Both Nolan and Bale stated numerous times that Robin would never appear in their version of the Batman, so colour me surprised to even see him mentioned.

  22. Barsoom Bob

    Just came back from seeing it, I took the second option, but I am still processing. What I didn’t like about it was that it wasn’t “brilliant”, it felt kind of pedestrian plot wise. I usually expect clever stuff from Nolan and I didn’t feel that in this one.

    But everything else about it was good, acting, stunts, effects. There a couple of nit picks but it’s a movie. Liked the flying bat thing and since nobody else has mentioned it, HOLY FUCKIN’ UPDATED BAT TURN , BATMAN !

    It was strange to Tom Wilkenson and Cillian Murphy in the movie but them not being who they were before. Anne Hathaway was fun and more than held her own. My pet plot hole, Bane and company infiltrate stealthily into the stock exchange disguised as janitors and repairmen, but when it is time to escape they all bust out the front doors riding motorcycles. Where the hell did they come from ?

    I’m with Thulsa, I enjoyed the ending. It is set up in the beginning of the film but i enjoyed Michael Caine’s giddy joy.

    I will say that the movie has left me with a slightly unsettled feeling that I have been trying to identify. Although the sub text of the poor vs rich is kind of perverted for criminal purposes, the film has provoked these unsettled feeling relating to terrorism and the faceless people that just want to do us all harm because they think we are decadent and evil. He turned the League of Shadows into an Al Quida (?) surrogate. And Bane is the embodiment of faceless brutal terrorism.

    • cxdx

      they were the same characters. they were now “citizens of gothem” not criminals put away because of the dent act.

      crane being the deranged power hungry bastard (who worked for ras, sense the tie to power with bane.) took mantle as the judge of the new “criminals”

  23. Barsoom Bob

    This is where I’m confused. I buy that about Crane, but wasn’t it Tom Wilkensen in the pit ? If it was him, although I don’t know why he would be there, why would he help, wasn’t Bruce responsible for bringing him down ?

    • fettastic

      Tom WIlkinson was not in the pit. Cillian was still Scarecrow, in fact Gordon even calls him Crane.

  24. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Movie should be called BORING-MAN RISES. Holy crap was that dull.

    A three-hour Batman movie with ten minutes of Batman in it? What the hell, Christopher Nolan? What the hell?

    Didn’t hate it like Prometheus. Certainly wasn’t very good, though.

    • Zyber, please expand on your thoughts. I feel like after reading this site so much, they always surprise me. I in no way agree with you (so far) on this particular subject but I’d like to hear your in depth opinion. I love the movie and can see and somewhat understand the complaints I’ve read about it but I feel like after multiple viewings, along with a strong commitment and knowledge of the previous two films, everything coalesces. Personally, I think the mantra of the three films is simply “the will to act” as spoken by Rhas Al Ghul, all of the principal characters seem to exude the will to act and in the Dark Knight Rises, Bruce has to reaffirm his own in order to defeat Bane. As for the length, I’ve never left one of Christopher Nolan’s Batman films and asked for less, in each occasion I wish there could have been more. I digress, but really, expand on that shit. I’d love to hear it man.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        I just saw it a little while ago. I haven’t completely formulated my thoughts on it, but I felt like the movie was a whole lot of Sturm und Drang with very little actually going on behind it. I mean, there’s like a solid hour and a half where NOTHING at all interesting happens.

        Even after seeing the movie, I have no idea what the villians were trying to accomplish. I don’t understand what their motivations or goals were, or how the things they did were supposed to accomplish those goals. The plot made no sense to me at all. And I found the movie so boring that I have no desire to watch it again to piece it together.

        I get that Christopher Nolan was trying to make a political statement about the “99 Percenters” and whatnot, but for the life of me I can’t figure out what that statement was. The movie’s political overtones are a jumbled mess. On the one hand, he says that the rich are unfairly taking advantage of the poor. On the other hand, he seems to be saying that the Occupy movement were a bunch of psychopathic terrorists trying to destroy the world. I don’t get it. Who are we supposed to root for, the rich guy or the poor people? And then he has the rich guy become poor, and the poor people turn out to actually be rich. What’s he saying with this?

        Whatever.

        I’m not going to rant about this. I didn’t hate the movie like I hated Prometheus. I just didn’t like it very much, and (unlike the previous two Batman movies) it holds about zero rewatch value for me.

  25. Josh Zyber
    Author

    Can somebody explain to me why Tom Hardy was cast in this movie if we can’t see his face or hear his voice? Nolan might as well have had a pro-wrestler prance around on set and just dubbed someone else’s voice on top of the footage (preferably someone without an accent, whose words would be at least vaguely intelligible after all the silly electronic muffling).

    • Jason

      apparently Tom Hardy based the accent off a bare knuckle fighter: “The choice of the accent is actually a man called Bartley Gorman, who was a bare knuckle fighter. A Romani gypsy. Which I wanted to underpin the Latin, but a Romani Latin opposed to Latino. His particular accent is very specific, which was a gypsy accent. So that’s why it was difficult to understand. But once you tune into it, you get it. I hope.”

    • Remember how ED-209 couldn’t use stairs? Well Bane is similarly vulnerable. Only by having a Burger King drive-thru speaker on his face can he ease his pain.

    • cxdx

      they could have easily used a pro wrestler for it for the physicality of it, but the acting would have been far worse.

      “acting? what acting?”

      well tom hardy has a really dynamic range, he can do anything. he led the entire movie with just his eyes. aside from a few nicholas cage faces his eyes and demeanor tell everything. i think had they used a pro wrestler it would have been far more hammish.

      the funny (ironic?) thing about you proposing a pro wrestler is every time i hear tom hardy i think back to the wwf days when there was a the hardy boys (and on of their names was tom.)

    • JM

      I saw ‘Bronson’ last night, which was batshit insane, and shows why Tom Hardy, (1) is a god, and (2) was cast in every film since.

      Nolan I think loves ‘Bronson’ so much that he’s oblivious to the fact that he just completely pissed Tom Hardy away.

      • fettastic

        In a recent interview with Tom Hardy he states that he asked Nolan if he cast him because of Bronson, and Nolan had never heard of that film.

        Kudos on the Burger King Speaker strapped to his face comment. I’m totally using that from now on.

    • Barsoom Bob

      I believe the poor vs rich was a misdirection by Nolan to make the trailers look topical. That plot line is actually subverted in the movie as it it is just a manipulation by Bane to further torture Bruce Wayne. Set all the criminals free, break down the systems and allow kangaroo courts and mob justice. This was about terrorism and keeping an entire City on a 90 day death watch, while promoting every kind of discomfort to have the people demoralized, frightened and turning upon themselves. As I remarked above, I think that Nolan turned League of Shadows into a fanatical terrorist group surrogate that has just decided on their own that we have to die because we are corrupt and evil.

      Joker was the poster face of chaos and anarchy. Bane is the “faceless” face of terrorists. Their goal is to annoymously demoralize and destroy.

      Maybe I am a little more sensitive to this, it is no secret I live in NYC and I was here for 9/11. I had to go and pick my young son up from school in the middle of the day because they just shut everything down in the city. We watched in disbelief as the twin towers came down, lost a cousin, Monica Lyons, at the Trade Centers. Anthrax scares, Dick Chaney on TV saying, yeah they probably have nuclear bombs and the number one target is New York City. Pretty weird time, this movie on a subconcious level brought those memories back.

  26. atlfalconsfan

    Another problem I had where something just made no sense what so all:

    The stock exchange scene. The NYSE closes at 4:30pm every day. This is when trading ends. During the scene they were trading and then the bad guys break in and do their stuff. They say they need eight minutes for the program to run. They then break out and while the chase is happening the laptop is counting down how much more time is needed. Meanwhile IT IS COMPLETELY DARK OUTSIDE!!!
    How does that make ANY sense? Even if it was 4:29 and the NYSE was just about to stop trading how then does it get completely pitch black outside by 4:37 pm?!!!!
    I’m with Josh on this one. Sloppy, sloppy, boring, boring.

    • Josh Zyber
      Author

      Not to mention that if something like that had actually happened to the stock exchange, all trading that day would be immediately suspended and invalidated. If they wanted to bankrupt Bruce Wayne, making a public show of hijacking the stock exchange is the last way to go about it. That’s one plan absolutely certain NOT to work. Nobody would ever believe that Wayne placed those trades.

      Secretly hacking into the stock exchange computers or planting a virus would be slightly more plausible (in Hollywood terms), but of course wouldn’t have led to an action-packed chase scene.

      • Things like that, and the absurdity of the bomb/reactor decay are where the film falls down the most. As I said before, Nolan’s problem is portraying the film as if it was some hard-nosed ultra-realistic crime thriller, but forgetting that the outlandish and/or absurd elements don’t work in that setting.

        • Josh Zyber
          Author

          I’ll give him this much. A lot of rumors had it that he was planning to introduce a bunch of supernatural stuff from the comics, such as the magical Lazarus Pit that could resurrect the dead. At least he didn’t go there.

          • Thank goodness!!
            Another example… The ‘pit’ (I won’t say any more in case of spoilers) is just one great big metaphor, but again, is so unrealistic but dropped into this ‘look how gritty we are’ atmosphere.

            I think Nolan is excellent at making people think he’s making deeper movies than he is. Inception is a perfect example. eXistenZ by any other name, just made simple and palatable for mass audience appeal.

      • fettastic

        I assume I must have missed something, but if they could hack the NYSE with a laptop via wifi……why did they need to break in again?

    • All I can say is that I’m happy I’m the type of person that doesnt pay attention to crap like this when I’m enjoying a movie, I’m amazed at the nitpicking so far about stuff that really plays no part in the overall plot, feel or anything else really of the movie. Movies forever have had stupid things like this show up, errors in time, continuity and tons of other things, but they usually dont affect the quality of the movie in general.

      Yes its dumb that what you say happened, but does it really matter that much? I have friends like this and I cant stand to watch movies with them because they just cant sit and enjoy the movie, every little detail like this is picked out and picked apart by them and its not very fun to be with them 🙂

      Needless to say, I loved the film, 2nd in the trilogy for me, TDK is still the best as nothing tops Ledger as the Joker for the villain in that film. But again I’m glad I dont notice junk like this or I would be a constant annoyance to my friends and family if I sat there and picked dumb stuff apart like this all the time.

      • Josh Zyber
        Author

        Chaz, is not this just the “Turn off your brain” argument? Doesn’t Christopher Nolan hold up his Dark Knight movies as being better than that?

        • fettastic

          The fact that the time of day was off didn’t bother me. I didn’t even notice. What DID bother me was that they somehow had to take over the NYSE to do a fake trade for Wayne…..when trades are done electronically and mostly from remote locations.

          This is why while watching the film I didn’t even connect Bruce’s bankruptcy with the break-in, because it made no sense. I mean, yeah they use his stolen fingerprints. But are trades done using finger prints? That seems pretty unlikely.

          Frankly it felt a lot like the one eye-rolling moment of The Dark Knight, when Batman recreates the bullet shatter so he can electronically recreate the fingerprint on the casing.

          • Isn’t it odd, that while Nolan himself has talked about being disappointed in the ‘fantasy world’ atmosphere of Batman Begins, and wanting to go more realistic, Batman Begins was itself the film filled with the least absurdity?

        • Maybe but I’ve yet to see it more than one time and I’m sure not too many people here have either, so I’m not fully sure on all the details, the stock exchange felt more like a big setup diversion type deal than anything really tangible, I remember him catching the guy with the laptop but I didnt think that had anything to do with Bruce.

          In general I was not a fan of The Dark Knight after the first viewing, I thought it was long and went all over the place, now I think its one of the best action/drama movies out there, very detailed and well written and my guess is that after multiple viewings of Rises it will be the same way.

  27. atlfalconsfan

    Josh,
    Exactly! This isn’t Transformers. TDK was so good (infinitely better than TDKR IMO) that it forced us into taking these films seriously. In this regard TDKR is nothing short of an absolute failure.

  28. JM

    Nolan’s trajectory as a writer-producer is reducing my anticipation for ‘Man of Steel.’