The Dark Knight Rises, brief reactions

[amanuensis1]

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.

Comments

[zedmeister.livejournal.com]

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.

[elsajeni.livejournal.com]

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

[critterel.livejournal.com]

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

[chaeche.livejournal.com]

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

[ellid.livejournal.com]

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.

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

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.

[pushdragon.livejournal.com]

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.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

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."

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

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.