Yeah, I was wrong. Way wrong.
I've seen it three times now, just to be sure. Now, don't get me wrong, it was a worthwhile viewing experience. But there were several things that just stopped it from being anything more than just that - an OK movie that let me down.
Still here? Ok. Here goes -
1. Bad characterization.
Yeah, it was pretty bad. Not broad in it's delivery though, it's not like every character was off-key, infact, majority of them weren't bad at all. But the most important three were - Bruce Wayne, Alfred and Talia Al Ghul
First off, Bruce Wayne would never give up being Batman. NEVER. Especially not because someone he loves is killed in cold blood (that of course being the reason he came to be The Dark Knight in the first place). It would just piss him off more. And The Dark Knight Returns doesn't count, it's not canon. But even then, there was still a primal urge, need and want to be Batman after he'd given it away.
Also, while ever there's crime, there's Bruce Wayne in a cape and cowl. And as Mayor Garcia states in The Dark Knight Rises "while no city is WITHOUT crime" meaning Gotham still had a criminal element for eight years. Organized or not, crime brings out the Batman.
Alfred. I can understand Alfred's hesitating to follow Bruce in his re-donning of the cape and cowl, infact, he brings up a lot of good points. But he'd never leave. It just wouldn't happen.
Talia Al Ghul is so vital to the Batman mythos. The fact that they just used her as a convenient plot twist is just disrespectful. It also stopped her from having any sort of characterization at all. And leads us to point two.
2. Bad writing.
There's a few things in this net. First off, trying to fit the two greatest love interests in The Batman story into one movie. Talia and Selina. Neither of them worked. Trying to put them both into the same movie is the combination failure, but as a result, they both failed individually too.
Let's start with Talia. First off, she was in like 10 minutes of the film all up, 15 maximum. With around 5 of them being with Bruce Wayne/Batman. How can you build a believable romance in that much time? You can't. Not possible. Believe me, I've tried. Also, how are we supposed to believe Bruce fell ass over tit for this dame when right up until literally 10 seconds before they kiss he's pining over Rachel, a love interest they built up (barely) over two films by the way, and flirting up a storm with Selina Kyle.
Selina's romance story doesn't suffer from the same time constraint as Talia, but at the same time, they don't spend enough time together for the viewer to actually believe that they'd mack a little before sneaking away to spend the rest of their life away under the guise of Bats flying off into a nuclear blast.
Secondly, continuity. Both within the film and with tying it to the whole trilogy. Ok, by within the film I mean the bit Bane takes Bruce to that prison and we endure that boring as fuck second act. Until literally a scene or two BEFORE Bruce escapes said prison, which I'm assuming is in around the same part of the world as The League of Shadows HQ, otherwise known as somewhere in Asia, someone mentions that the nuke's gonna blow in 18 hours or so. Then Bruce escapes and gets back to America. With no money. Then he manages to get into a cut-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world-by-the-military Gotham to get "back into the game." How? He had no money, so it's not like he could pay off the people guarding the one access into the city to let him by. Nor could he swim across because it's winter. Think about it.
In regards to the whole trilogy. It's one line that bugs me. In The Dark Knight Rises, Bruce Wayne explains to John Blake that the idea behind Batman was that anyone could be him and that the mask was to protect the people he cared about. Now watch this -
That's right, the idea behind Batman was to be "something elemental, something terrifying" and "incorruptible, everlasting." Also, Alfred was the one who said that the persona (mask) was to protect people he cared about, namely himself, Bruce didn't really think about it either way.
Also, where's the suffering of Gotham and it's people? In No Man's Land, one of the stories The Dark Knight Rises is heavily based on, there's a heavy focus on Gotham and it's people. It's really what makes No Man's Land a great story, they are suffering and you can actually see where Batman is making things better. In the movie, it just feels like Batman's working to save some buildings and his core group of allies. The people of Gotham aren't represented at all and it just takes away from everything and makes it feel pointless.
3. Robin.
Ugh... that bit literally made me sick to the stomach.
But seriously, either you have Robin in the movie or you don't. If you do, then it's Dick Grayson. If you're continuing the series, he goes on to become Nightwing and Jason Todd takes up the mantle and gets horribly beaten to death by The Joker. Then Tim Drake.
THOSE are the only three names you associate with Robin. Why not Damian Wayne? Too much. Too many Robins, but this is a whole other story.
Back to the point. Have Robin if you want Robin, don't make him a metaphor for a hero being anyone and not needing a mask or whatever.
4. The second act.
I understand the need for it, but Christ it was boring. That's all I really have to say about it.
So that's why The Dark Knight Rises wasn't a great movie in my opinion. I know most other people love it and sure, visually it's stunning. But it deserved more. We deserved more. When I think back over the development and the making of this movie, it doesn't surprise me that it turned out this way. Why? Man Of Steel. Literally halfway through the development of The Dark Knight Rises, they announced Man Of Steel and said that its story was conceived by Goyer and Nolan while they were working on the story for The Dark Knight Rises. Now that's a sign of one of two things, either they were bored with the story of Batman and switched to something shinier OR they were stuck on the story of Batman and had to shelve it for a little while. Both are bad omens, if you aren't firing through the story to the point where it's just telling itself, then it's probably not good enough. And it shows.
That's all for now. In the next few days I'll write my ideas for where to go when they reboot Batman in a couple of years time.
Adios.
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