The Dark Knight Rises

I too avoided spoilers but still guessed Blake was Robinand Miranda was Talia.

I wasn't wowed with this film. It was good but I felt it was a little too long and it meandered in certain bits. I think that on a second watch Talia will become more relevant but on first watch her revelation in the last few moments of the film was a nice nod to comics but for the film it just muddied the waters. In second watch I think you would be able to appreciate her manipulations as Miranda.

I liked Catwoman. It wasn't Phieffer Catwoman....it was a different take. I felt however that there was an untold story there.....you never really know anything about her other than sometimes she helps and sometimes hinders. She wasn't necessary to the plot but she was a nice addition. If they do any more films it would be cool to bring her back and flesh her out a bit. The whole "clean slate data programme" felt like a total MacGuffin. Anne Hathaway did a good job I feel. I think if they got someone too blatently sexy it would have cheapened things a bit. Hathaway handled the part well I think.

Bane's voice was weird. It sounded like Sean Connery at times. Tom Hardy did a good job I think. The comparison to the old films is easier here since they did a horrendous job on Bane in the 90's.

I would totally watch a Batman/Nightwing film with Joseph Gordon Levett.

All in all an okay end to the trilogy. Not fantastic but it's still one of the better films out there.

I don't know why he's Robin? He doesn't have Robin's name or history, and it seemed more like he would be the next Batman if anything.

Saw it yesterday. Enjoyed it, but mostly for Catwoman. The minute I heard Marion Coutillard was cast I knew she was Talia, so I wasn't surprised there, esp when she slept with Bruce and esp when no gender specific pronouns were used for the "boy" who escaped the prison who was Ras's "child." Wasn't loving Bane, but mostly because I don't like windy philosophy spouting villains much and he had a lot of those moments. I think all Nolan films suffer from mid-film ennui for me, and this was no different.

That said, I couldn't be happier with how Catwoman appeared. She is the only non-Marvel I've ever had any real affection for, to the point where I've actually read her books, and I was worried she'd be, forgive the pun, de-clawed like most of Nolan's bland females who more often are plot devices to develop the men in his films...but she was a full bodied, interesting, and kick ass character.

Finally saw the movie and loved it. The ending with Blake getting the coordinates to the cave and such was great. It was such a Nolan way to end the movie. I agree with the stuff from Newarama and such that if they were smart they would try to find someone that could take over later and do a movie with Blake. Rebooting and doing the Bruce Wayne story again for the third time would get repetitive. Especially after hot great this trilogy turned out to be.

I can see the thing about Tate, but at the same time like Anna said you could doubt yourself. I also am thinking that Tate/Talia was going to get out of the city before it blew before Batman returned and started screwing the plan up. Bane was to be the fall guy just like he did to that one henchman at the start. Thus why he was the face of this whole plot of hers.

Like others I think Hathaway added quite a bit to the film, as a strong female character. Sure you could have put others in her place perhaps but it worked with Catwoman well.

As for the thing of retiring being out of character for Bruce...that's comics Bruce. A Bruce Wayne that will always be Batman because the company will never move things forward for fear of people not sticking with the comics even though they saw how great it worked with Dick, people liked it still. Movie Bruce, in a medium that can end things, it works. It would work in comics if DC ever was ballsy enough to try it and not bring him back. But they won't. I see it as by the end Bruce took what Alfred said to heart and realized that he did want to live. There was no reason to be so dark, and that Batman is a symbol. Not a man. There are others that can pick up the fight.

I just gotta say that while i did enjoyed this, it was a little too long, but the ending made up for it, and really, everything the fans guessed would happen, did happen. It was so fan-servicey, Bruce retires eventually and ends up with Catwoman, and Robin becomes the new Batman. I completeley saw it coming but enjoyed it anyway.

I actually reay don't like that Batman retired...death? Awesome...fake death and work from the shadows like the end of TDKR? Cool...but retirement? I just didnt dig it.

I watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight the day before I went to see this film and I think that was a great thing to do because it kept everything fresh in my mind.  The Dark Knight felt like a very different beast than Batman Begins; there's no mention of the League of Shadows or Ras Al Ghul, its even got a lot more daylight scenes than BB. Dark Knight Rises feels like an amalgam of the two previous films. 

Edited by Gibbering Fool - 31-Jul-2012 at 3:49am

I feel like the people saying Catwoman could have removed and the plot still would have been the same watched a different movie than me.

Bruce wouldn't have known his prints had been lifted were it not for her, and the revelation that all of Wayne Enterprises money was gone wouldn't have made sense.

She also delivered him to Bane. And you know, the second half of the movie really couldn't have happened without that.

She also resonated as the voice of the middle ground between Bane's philosophy of complete chaos and Batman's philosophy of complete order.

Catwoman is one of my favourite characters EVER. I wanted to be her when I was a little boy and watched Batman Returns. I wanted to cut up my mother's leather jackets and make a suit. I didn't think anybody would be able to portray Selena Kyle like Michelle did, but Anne did just as well even though it was a different interpretation. In fact, at no point does Nolan or Anne's Catwoman come off as weak or vulnerable like Burton and Michelle played her at times. She was great.

Stamp of Approval from a huge Catwoman fan. She doesn't beat Michelle, but she ranks beside.

Edited by Kipe - 01-Aug-2012 at 2:04am

I suppose one could say that Gordon was capable of doing all that Blake did...but I feel that Blake was part of bringing back Batman and getting Bruce interested in what was happening with Wayne's donations. Also, there did need to be a younger Goronesque type officer to back Gordon up.

To go back to points raised by sixhoursoflucy and Anna Raven, I mostly agree. The situation presented by Bane is nothing like OWS at all, and if we're going to compare it to an actual social upheaval, the French Revolution would be far more relevant. Scarecrow is practically the Marquis de Sade here. (Twas my boyfriend who pointed out the Scarecrow/Marquis de Sade connection, to give credit where it's due) Still, like Six said, what was taking place was in no way representative of a social upheaval or revolt. Even if one argued that those situations/circumstances were artificially machinated or created they were still subverted. This was a very overt take-over/liberating.

True but all I was implying was that their roles weren't as important as Selina's (since she's never called Catwoman, it feels funny calling her that).

I'd watch the Hell out of an Azrael movie starring JGL. By that I mean a balls to wall Azrael movie with flaming swords, red & gold armor, the Order of St. Dumas, & System-induced hallucinations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01vWvocMc6M 

Batman Beyond is literally made for film translation.

I liked Beyond.  Why? more like... why not?  Comics Batman has always used gadgets in his war on crime, and this felt like a logical extension of that.