amanuensis1 | The Dark Knight Rises, brief reactions

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The Dark Knight Rises, brief reactions

Some The Dark Knight Rises reactions, all non-spoilery.

1. I went into that film mired in sulking surety that they could not make Anne Hathaway, my lithe angel whose beauty is so wholesome it could pasteurize milk, into an action criminal. I was effing blown away. Nolan, Hathaway, I salute you. I would have walked out of that film singing its praises even if that was all it had accomplished.

2. I have never seen a villain like Bane. He was not what I expected at all and he riveted me. I adored his script and am amazed that I could actually understand maybe 85-90% of his lines. Bring on the DVD so I can turn on the subtitles, man.

3. I like watching Christian Bale's mouth surrounded by that cowl. Nonetheless I especially like that Nolan recognizes that the most interesting part of the Batman is Bruce Wayne, and takes pains to show us that he knows.

4. Oh for eff's sake, could the Academy please just give Gary Oldman a freaking Oscar already? Before he gets decrepit and they're reduced to pandering at him with one of those Lifetime Acheivement Awards?

5. And while they're at it, MORE OSCARS FOR MICHAEL CAINE.

I did like it. Loved it, in fact. Anyone want to talk more about it, I suspect there will be spoilers in the comments.

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SPOILERS BELOW

What did you think of the happy ending? Fitting or pastede on? I'm of two minds, lol.

Re. Bane - the whole movie, I was thinking how Tom Hardy was wasted in that role, but then the last scene came, and Oh my God. I realized why Nolan needed a really really good actor to pull it off.

Oh, I did not feel it was pastede on at ALL! It was projected! They laid groundwork for it, but since it was a Batman movie with a too-big-to-die hero, I would have had no quibble with it even if they hadn't laid groundwork. But, yeah, everything with Alfred's speech about what he'd wanted for Bruce, not merely the speech but the scene that illustrated it, everything with Selina's development including Alfred's teasing matchmaking and her desire for a clean slate, the discussion of the autopilot, the theme of "anyone can be Batman"...no, it was perfect, it was projected. When the bomb went off I was kind of gleeful in my seat, going, "Let's see how he got himself out of that. This is gonna be good." I never expected him to be dead. And that they actually gave us a Bruce/Selina ending, delighting so many comic fans with a canon pairing ending! I enjoyed that so much.

Interesting -- I have the exact opposite reaction to Christian Bale's batmouth. I kept giggling at it.

I can see why--it's kind of this jarring element of him under that cowl, all pursed and sober. Which is why, after three films, I guess I'm kind of fetishy for it. It's become hot.

I think the "pursed and sober" is exactly my problem -- like, you are a grown man dressed as a bat, this is not a situation that calls for a Very Serious Face. (This is really more of a general Batman problem than a Bale problem; I don't get along well with grim and serious superheroism, because I feel that superheroes are by definition silly. I put up with Batman because he has the best supporting cast of any superhero, but I don't really like him or his universe much.)

I can't wait to see it. I'm hoping to convince a girlfriend to go this Saturday.

I totally know what you mean about Gary Oldman... he was stunning in TTSS. I am becoming very cynical in my older age. I no longer believe many people receive their awards based on merit any longer... and if they do I think it *is* those Livetime achievement type awards. Those are where they actually say, "Hey, this person really deserves an award so much we are going to sit down and just frikking give them one!" I'm still mad about Alan Rickman and Harry Potter. *humph*

Guess I should go away before I get spoiled... I usually don't care but I think this one I want to just experience. And I'm *DYING* to see Man of Steel!!! I adored Henry Cavill in The Tudors... He's just SO GOOD... and the Teaser looked awesome on Youtube. So many excellent films coming up next year, hope those Mayans were wrong!

Clare

Avert your eyes from comments and spoilers, and do go and enjoy!

I still haven't seen TTSS, must remedy. *checks Netflix* And Henry Cavill is playing Superman? I managed to miss that bit of intel!

Yup! He looks really good as Supes too. http://screenrant.com/henry-cavill-superman-man-steel-images-close-up-robf-129986/

There was some hue and cry at first... British Superman and all... but I think the Comic fanboys are mostly over it now. Maybe cause their girlfriends (if they have them?) wanted to go see Cavill?) I loved his acting in Tudors, the scenes where he was conflicted about whether he should obey his king and kill the people who rebeled were so traumatic and he was just SO good in them... I think he will really do Superman justice. (Oh my goodness, he can act and look like Superman *too*? )

I still haven't got to the theatre but I was told that the Superman teaser was showing before Dark Knight Rises.

Clare

Could not agree with you more on #3 and #4, but you could actually understand Bane? I needed subtitles.

EVERYONE needed subtitles, though Bane's dialogue suffered the worst. Really, I understood nearly all the lines but every actor's dialogue got lost in the score/soundtrack at times. The film didn't suffer, as context served very well, but I still would love to get alla that excellent script.

Actors, even good ones, never get major awards for playing genre characters. The only exception I can think of is Heath Ledger, and I wonder how much of that was his stunning performance and how much was sympathy for him being, you know, dead.

Blasphemy though it may be, I didn't feel Heath Ledger's Joker was that powerful of a performance, and I thought a lot of the hype was understandably because of his untimely death. I mean, it was a good performance, but not "lock for Oscar" level. But maybe that was me and my backlash response.

I remember that year that Robert Downey Jr. was also up for Best Supporting Actor for Tropic Thunder, which I hadn't seen at the time, and my thought was, "This is a total pander nomination because they didn't have the stones to give him the damned best actor nom for Iron Man, WHICH HE TOTALLY DESERVES." Though when I saw Tropic Thunder I realized it was not pandering at all, he was amazing in that role! But, yeah, there y' go, the whole issue of "comic book role" and major awards is so well illustrated by that year at the Oscars.

I agree with you about Heath. Much as I'm fond of Heath, I found his Joker overplayed, strained and too much.

I can't say I had any negative opinions on his Joker, just...I didn't think it was jaw-dropping Oscar material. I suppose I was judging it knowing everyone would be looking at it for a posthumous Oscar, and I just didn't feel it was astounding. But I do miss Ledger. Brokeback Mountain, now, that was an Oscar-worthy performance, I thought.

I liked him in that film about the Middle Ages.

I like pretty much everything I've seen him in! Monster's Ball, A Knight's Tale, 10 Things I Hate About You...I liked him so much, I really did.

Or, why Sarah Michele Geller was never nominated for an Emmy, or why Leonard Nimoy lost twice to Martin Landau, or Alec Guinness and Ian McKellan never got an Oscar, or Sean Astin and Elijah Wood and Bernard Hill and Viggo Mortensen were never even *nominated*.....

Oh, that list. It does go on, doesn't it?

SPOILER-FILLED COMMENT, DO NOT READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED!!

Husband and I loved it. Then again, I truly adore mindfuck movies, and this one was one of those.

I had forgotten that at SOME point I was spoiled that Talia was going to be in it. Perhaps it was looking at IMDB and she was listed, but I knew that they had cast a Talia. And then promptly forgot it, until I was in the theater. I had no clue who it would be, but then there were only 2 women in the film (only 2 women in Gotham??), and of course it wasn't going to be Catwoman.

I loved the wording - "the child, the child" everywhere, but nowhere mentioned son or daughter or the sex of the child. OF COURSE it would be Talia. God, we watched Batman Begins on Monday (watched The Dark Knight on Sunday, saw the movie last Saturday), and there were SO MANY fucking callbacks to that first film, it was incredible. I totally agree with

cleolinda that if you're going to watch TDKR, watch BB first to refresh yourself.

I agree that Tom Hardy was hard to understand at some times. Part of it was the mask, part was the Irish Traveller lilt he decided to acquire for Bane. Of course, this is nowhere near comic!Bane, but since Nolan loves his actors, and wanted Hardy, there was no way he was making him into a South American. Heh.

I want to see it again this weekend, or sometime before it leaves theaters. Partway through when I had figured out that it really was Talia, I started to watch for what she did in scenes where people's lives were threatened and she was nearby, just to see how well she was pretending to be Miranda. Now I want to watch her from the beginning.

LOVED the cameos of Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy. It's very sad they didn't/couldn't/wouldn't use the Joker out of respect for Heath. I mean, I understand, but it's still sad that he was missing from this film. Even as a throwaway reference.

I hadn't thought about whether they were going to return to the Ra's al Ghul backstory (I tried to go into it really unspoiled for anything), so I wasn't thinking about Talia at all. But Ra's al Ghul did get brought up, and then right after what's-her-face is talking about how she grew up poor, the S.O. whispers to me, "Hey, what if that's TALIA?!" And we got all whispery-gleeful, and from there I was watching how they kept saying "the child" and how every time Bruce would ask, "Bane?" no one would confirm that for him, and once they confirmed the child was Ra's al-Ghul's child I was all, "No way, Ra's al-Ghul has one child and it's TALIA, Nolan wouldn't mess with canon that way for the fans! And notice they're never confirming who this protector is?"

I squeed huge when Cillian Murphy showed up! I do understand why they wouldn't even mention the Joker, as if a throwaway reference would have been undignified to his memory. Sigh.

Anne Hathaway was my highlight too! She hits the perfect note for a Batman villain - just the right amount over the top. Also, her arse on that motorbike oh my god.

I can see you could like the dramatic potential in Bane - there's a lot to explore about his motivation. But I didn't think any of that was actually apparent from the performance. He was just kind of odd-voiced and muscly. Or maybe I just expected more because I rate Tom Hardy's ability to play layered villains pretty high.

I had not expected Bane to be so articulate. In language, I mean. When his first lines rolled out onscreen I was all, "Who's talking? When did they get Ian McKellen for this movie?" And when that turned out to be Bane, I was floored. That was all it took to win me over!

OMG I loved Anne Hathaway! She was so sexy and so confident and I loved how she was equally at home in pearls and in a catsuit. I loved her flipflopping, too-- how she explicitly told him not to trust her, even.

I loved Bane but I swear I could understand only like 50% of what he said. My biggest problem with the movie was its somewhat convoluted plot, and most of the convolutedness came from the fact that Bane had a lot of plans, and they all went well. I kept thinking, "If Bane were the hero, there's no way things would be this easy for him."

I was astounded at Anne Hathaway--yes to everything you said! From the moment her face shifted into a grin and she said, "Oooops..." my mind was blown.

The plot featured a lot of, "Villains must do something desperately convoluted because it ties into dicking the hero over in as personally dickery a method as possible" but I won't say it suffered from it, because while it was going on I didn't care. I just enjoyed the hell out of it. But afterward it was easy to sit back and say, "Man, there have to be so many easier ways to get a nuclear bomb." But it was still fun, and they seemed to have answers for all the convolutions, even if they were comic book logic.

Not to forget 12-year old police cop Robin.

And oh, Cillian Murphy as THE JUDGE. He stole the cameo show.

I agree about Bane. What a feat to pull off: have your key acting bits ripped off and replaced by an arthropodic nightmare mask and still convey power, ambiguity and crisp elocution. Hats off, Mr Hardy.

i squealed when Cillian Murphy showed! I may even have clapped a bit.

Oh, you state Tom Hardy's accomplishment so well! Yes, that perfectly says it.

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The Dark Knight Rises, brief reactions

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