The Dark Knight Trilogy

[Mustachio]

I know there is a movie thread, but feel like this needs its own thread.


Thoughts on the final film?

Thoughts on the trilogy as a whole and where it stands?

[dnbman]

I haven't seen the third one yet, but the first two were great. The second one was easily my favorite comic book related movie and one of my favorite movies of the last 10 years.

[SWedd523]

Bane is such a badass

[spectre]

HUGE Batman fan growing up and Bale is the best of the guys trying to play him IMO. Loved the 1st 2 and I'm excited to see the 3rd. I have Nightfall in book form but going from Wiki it seems the plot is slightly different (Batgirl is paralyzed in the book).

Hate to see it ending.

[Mustachio]

This doesn't seem to be the general consensus out there as some of the reviews were mixed. But Rises in my opinion was the best of the 3 films. I'll have to see it again (and 3 other times like I did Dark Knight) and there really isn't a mind blowing performance like Ledger as the Joker, but I loved it. Bane was cooler than I ever remembered in the comics, and like Sweed said.... just a complete and total badass. I'm not gonna spoil anything so I'll leave it there.

As far as the franchise is concerned its easy to say Nolan's is the best (and it is) but I still think Burton/Keaton put on a pretty good show. Keaton was a better Bruce Wayne, Bale the better Batman.

I think part of the problem with some of the reviews is that people go in with ideas of what they think Nolan is trying to say, or ways they think it should be done. That to me is the one cinematic no-no. Don't go to the theatre with expectations or ideas of how things should be. just go.

[TheBeagle]

SPOLER ALERTS...DON'T READ IF NOT SEEN LATEST FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hmmm. Tough to follow up The Dark Knight and it showed. I am an admittedly harsh critic of comic book films seeing as how I've been a comic book reader since I was 10, and rarely is the comic book treatment on the screen in the same class as its source material. Easily Batman Begins and The Dark Knight equalled to and in many aspects surpassed what has been done in panels on the printed page.

Except for a couple of missteps (the "everyman" character played by Gordon-Levit seemed gratuitious; Jim Gordon was a bumbling bufoon, which was good for laughs, but I'm thinking they were unintended), Dark Knight Rises was on its way to being a classic like the previous two flicks, until the big Talia al Ghul reveal. That was just a disastrous turn and turned a fantastic commentary on class warfare, a relatively unique take in the traditional comic-book world, into a typical maniacal villian out to blow up a city. Wow. Really? You're going to take the easy route on this one? Also, just to get comic-book geeky, Talia has always been a favorite character of mine, and this film version was nowhere near an accurate portrayal, outside of her being Ra's daughter. Her love of Batman and the ambivalence she has for her father, she would never have whole-heartedly blown up Gotham City to carry out her father's wishes, especially not without having some sort of dialogue with Batman/Bruce. I understand the film-world is separate from comic book continuity, as it should be, but I hate they used Talia as they did, just as a plot convenience. Also, this turn made the previous "badass" Bane into a regular thug, a lackey, whose class rhetoric was just rehearsed lines told to him by Talia. In any medium I hate plot twists, hate 'em hate 'em hate 'em, for the sake of a plot twist, and that's what this smacked of, making most everything that came before as meaningless. Like I said, I wouldn't be so upset with the turn, if they hadn't been on the verge of making such a great, contemporary statement on class warfare, and instead turned it into a typical villain motive. Everything else kind of snowballed after that: the forced relationship between Bruce and Selina and the cafe scene (groan), the "Robin" reveal (groan).

I'm not saying it was a bad movie, it was very entertaining and a great IMAX experience, it's just they were so on the verge of greatness and opted out for the familar. And that makes it a disappointing close to the trilogy in my eyes.

For a superior Batman story, please find a copy of Batman: Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. You'll love it.

[SWedd523]

SPOLER ALERTS...DON'T READ IF NOT SEEN LATEST FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hmmm. Tough to follow up The Dark Knight and it showed. I am an admittedly harsh critic of comic book films seeing as how I've been a comic book reader since I was 10, and rarely is the comic book treatment on the screen in the same class as its source material. Easily Batman Begins and The Dark Knight equalled to and in many aspects surpassed what has been done in panels on the printed page.

Except for a couple of missteps (the "everyman" character played by Gordon-Levit seemed gratuitious; Jim Gordon was a bumbling bufoon, which was good for laughs, but I'm thinking they were unintended), Dark Knight Rises was on its way to being a classic like the previous two flicks, until the big Talia al Ghul reveal. That was just a disastrous turn and turned a fantastic commentary on class warfare, a relatively unique take in the traditional comic-book world, into a typical maniacal villian out to blow up a city. Wow. Really? You're going to take the easy route on this one? Also, just to get comic-book geeky, Talia has always been a favorite character of mine, and this film version was nowhere near an accurate portrayal, outside of her being Ra's daughter. Her love of Batman and the ambivalence she has for her father, she would never have whole-heartedly blown up Gotham City to carry out her father's wishes, especially not without having some sort of dialogue with Batman/Bruce. I understand the film-world is separate from comic book continuity, as it should be, but I hate they used Talia as they did, just as a plot convenience. Also, this turn made the previous "badass" Bane into a regular thug, a lackey, whose class rhetoric was just rehearsed lines told to him by Talia. In any medium I hate plot twists, hate 'em hate 'em hate 'em, for the sake of a plot twist, and that's what this smacked of, making most everything that came before as meaningless. Like I said, I wouldn't be so upset with the turn, if they hadn't been on the verge of making such a great, contemporary statement on class warfare, and instead turned it into a typical villain motive. Everything else kind of snowballed after that: the forced relationship between Bruce and Selina and the cafe scene (groan), the "Robin" reveal (groan).

I'm not saying it was a bad movie, it was very entertaining and a great IMAX experience, it's just they were so on the verge of greatness and opted out for the familar. And that makes it a disappointing close to the trilogy in my eyes.

For a superior Batman story, please find a copy of Batman: Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. You'll love it.

More Spoilers:

Spec, I think what happened was that they realized the trilogy was starting to get wrapped up and they knew leaving loose ends would leave fans angry. I've never cracked a comic book so I couldn't tell you any preconceived notions I may have on the subject, but I think it was kind of obvious the cop/detective was going to end up being Robin. The Talia thing threw me for a loop as I was expecting Bane (again, totally badass) to be the mastermind as a sort of ultimate foil physically and mentally and would've accepted him being the main villain with Batman coming full circle on battling his inner demons and finally reaching happiness.

End Spoilers



Overall though, I really did think it was a fantastic movie. I usually don't go to movies with any sort of expectations as they rarely do the original print media justice as far as information goes, but that's understandable. I just have one pet peeve really--being able to tell all the "plot twists" before they're revealed. Had I known who the "triggerman" was all along, I'd have enjoyed it far less.

[ziggy]

----------- More Spoilers ----------------






I enjoyed the latest Batman movie. My only pet peeve was near the end when he was getting ready to fly the bomb away, he wasted a good 20 seconds hugging Catwoman before getting in the plane.

It's a bomb dammit!!!!

[Mustachio]

SPOLER ALERTS...DON'T READ IF NOT SEEN LATEST FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hmmm. Tough to follow up The Dark Knight and it showed. I am an admittedly harsh critic of comic book films seeing as how I've been a comic book reader since I was 10, and rarely is the comic book treatment on the screen in the same class as its source material. Easily Batman Begins and The Dark Knight equalled to and in many aspects surpassed what has been done in panels on the printed page.
Except for a couple of missteps (the "everyman" character played by Gordon-Levit seemed gratuitious; Jim Gordon was a bumbling bufoon, which was good for laughs, but I'm thinking they were unintended), Dark Knight Rises was on its way to being a classic like the previous two flicks, until the big Talia al Ghul reveal. That was just a disastrous turn and turned a fantastic commentary on class warfare, a relatively unique take in the traditional comic-book world, into a typical maniacal villian out to blow up a city. Wow. Really? You're going to take the easy route on this one? Also, just to get comic-book geeky, Talia has always been a favorite character of mine, and this film version was nowhere near an accurate portrayal, outside of her being Ra's daughter. Her love of Batman and the ambivalence she has for her father, she would never have whole-heartedly blown up Gotham City to carry out her father's wishes, especially not without having some sort of dialogue with Batman/Bruce. I understand the film-world is separate from comic book continuity, as it should be, but I hate they used Talia as they did, just as a plot convenience. Also, this turn made the previous "badass" Bane into a regular thug, a lackey, whose class rhetoric was just rehearsed lines told to him by Talia. In any medium I hate plot twists, hate 'em hate 'em hate 'em, for the sake of a plot twist, and that's what this smacked of, making most everything that came before as meaningless. Like I said, I wouldn't be so upset with the turn, if they hadn't been on the verge of making such a great, contemporary statement on class warfare, and instead turned it into a typical villain motive. Everything else kind of snowballed after that: the forced relationship between Bruce and Selina and the cafe scene (groan), the "Robin" reveal (groan).
I'm not saying it was a bad movie, it was very entertaining and a great IMAX experience, it's just they were so on the verge of greatness and opted out for the familar. And that makes it a disappointing close to the trilogy in my eyes.
For a superior Batman story, please find a copy of Batman: Court of Owls by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. You'll love it.

*SPOILERS. JUST STOP READING EVERYTHING UNTIL YOU"VE SEEN IT DAMNIT!

No doubt the last act put a ridiculously pretty bow on top that didn't match any of the dark origins. And I hate the over used "hero flys away with the bomb sacrifice" thing (Simpsons did it!) And I really hated that Bruce and Selina cafe scene (and 2, 3yo kids? already?) I still loved the movie though. I thought it was the most fun, but then again I don't mind a happy ending every once in a while, and with a comic book the depth of Batman its almost impossible to make a 3 hour flick that everyone understands. And as soon as Joseph Gordon Levitt walked on-screen I knew it was gonna be Robin, he just screams Robin. Was kind of hoping he was "son of Batman" but it didn't work in that timeline.

[adam187]

As far as this movie, and the trilogy as a whole, I think Christopher Nolan is a very good director, but only an average screenwriter. Each film has some pretty big problems concerning motivation and believable actions/reactions, and sometimes I have a hard time looking past that.

I thought the Dark Knight (although it really tries to fit in too much for one film) was better than the Dark Knight Rises, and I think Inception and Memento are better than both. But as far as summer blockbusters go, I thought this was pretty good, although I still yearn for the days of Independence Day and Armaggedon.