We’re not far from ground zero at the moment. It’s been a matter of days since Nolan’s final Dark Knight movie dropped and general consensus is still coming in. It’s currently boasting a 9.2 score on IMDb, beating The Dark Knight’s 8.9 and if the generally praising reviews are anything to go by, this film should be pretty spectacular indeed, right?
Then why do I feel so empty inside?
I saw The Dark Knight Rises on Saturday and I’ll forever remember it as the day that Batman let me down. Sure it had its moments. In fact as a film it has truly great components. But would you eat a cream cake that was sat on a counter surrounded by turds?
And that’s my problem. Great moments aside, I couldn’t quite get behind Nolan’s latest Dark Knight offering. There were too many erroneous details, superfluous characters, inconsistencies not just with the source material but with the other films in the Nolan canon for me to swallow its supposed brilliance like so many seem to have.
As I left the theatre, I listened in to the inital feelings others were having about the film. It seemed to be a lot of “Batman was awesome, when he was in it” or “Well, I thought it was pretty good” or “I liked this part”. It sounded to me like a lot of justification for its weaknesses. After all TDKR has been hyped to the extreme, and I get the feeling that disagreeing with those who view it as the greatest Batman movie ever will put you in a minority.
Well, here at WhatCulture we love to go against the grain. If you’re feeling as disenfranchised as I am about Nolan’s Batman finale, you’ll already be preparing your counter-arguments for the army of fans you’ll surely face.
Why not let us help as we present just ten of the ways that The Dark Knight Rises just didn’t live up to its promises…There are huge spoilers after the jump if you are yet to see the movie!
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31 Comments
He was actually gone for 7 years to train. Blake is also Robin, who was never close to as good a fighter as batman.
I can let all that slide, I think it’s major problems were pacing (too long, too much going on) and the lack of emotional connection: http://fillingthevoid.tumblr.com/post/27835847430
Would have avoided a ground zero reference atm but your call. I think this is well written, and understand your point of view, but it was still my favourite film of the trilogy.
People need to get over their expectations (you write this as if you’re the only person saying it – actually the movie has sharply divided people, despite what the reviews and meaningless IMDb rating suggest). It’s almost as good as the first two – which are both flawed as well – and it is better on the second viewing than the first. It also gives more meaning to the first and the end of the second. Nolan is the only director in the world whose action scenes get better the more times you see them, because he expects you to pay more, not less, attention during those sequences. I think his editing is superb; it’s fast, but calculated and deliberate. The dense plotting reminded me of some of the best graphic novels. I had a couple of issues with structure and plotting the first time but they pretty much evaporated the second time; since I felt I already had my bearings I could just enjoy it. I thought Avengers was great fun, but even with its flaws TDKR is in a different league. I can’t really be bothered with the ‘Batman wouldn’t do this/This isn’t my Batman’ arguments either – you could have made them about Frank Miller’s Year One or Morrison and McKean’s Arkham Asylum when they were released too.
Incredibly well said. Agree with every point.
Damn i can’t agree with any of this, maybe the cringe scene between alfred and bruce but thats it.
If you come out picking on the choreography i think you just went in there with the wrong mind set. As we all could of.
Forget Dark Knight, forget what your going to say in your next article and go in as a kid. If you done that you would of come out with the biggest grin i guarantee it.
Well, essentially I’m a critic dude. It’s my job to look deeply at the subject matter i’m writing about, so I just don’t have that luxury.
haters gonna hate.
+2 for a hilarious but subtle use of the word ‘disenfranchised’
cringe-worthy dialogue is something every movie/TV show has. be it how the writer writes it, how an actor says it, it will always be present.
“Bane wears the mask in order to receive a constant dosage of anaesthetic to halt the agony of an injury sustained in prison. How then, I’m led to thinking, is he up and walking around?”
you answered your own question.
the fight choreography is, imo, the best out of the series. the first bane fight was brutal yet well performed. yes the suit looks heavy and the lack of quickness that was present in batman begins are down to 2 things which you clearly didnt take in mind.
1) bruce wayne is older, in pain.
2) its been years since he has donned the cape and cowl and is a little rusty.
Can’t agree with anything.
First : which Batman ? Batman has existed for decades, there have been many versions of him. Nolan’s Batman is but one of them.
Also, Batman was born from Bruce’s grief and desire for revenge. Batman was a vigilante. He can fight crime, but will never be the solution. Good stories have insinuated that in a sense Batman is as psychotic as the criminals he sends to Arkham.
Remember what Ra’s Al Ghul taught : “If you become more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal and they can’t stop you, you become something more. A legend”.
Or what Bruce explains to Alfred the first time he tells him of his plan to become a vigilante : “As a man, I’m flesh and blood. I can be ignored, I can be destroyed. But as a symbol — as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.”
That’s what he did. Bruce let Batman die, to prove that Batman’s will to protect would not be bent even by the prospect of death. He became the symbol he wanted.
And for him quitting the cowl ? He overcame his grief. Choosing to die is a coward’s way. Confronting life isn’t.
Oh, and for Blake not up to become a vigilante : he was in the police, he has proved he is smart, and he has everything Bruce left him. Batman died, and should remain dead for the symbol to be everlasting. Blake will create himself another persona around his own strengths. Personnally, I imagine him turning into a Nightwing character at some point.
For the record I agree with a lot of the points you made, which really disappoints me as I was SO looking forward to this film. Perhaps its biggest weakness is how it tries to deal with so much and in the process, characters seem to lose track of who they are or what their purpose is.
I don’t understand the hype for ‘Catwoman’ in the movie (was she even Catwoman? All I saw was a leather-clad, ass-kicking thief). Selina seemed to be in the movie just so that Bruce could be partnered with someone after leaving Batman behind.
Bane and Miranda/Talia had the potential to be the most well-rounded characters, but their deaths were so quick that it cheapened their storyline. Michael Caine’s ‘Alfred’ gets a lot of praise, but like you basically said, he’s there for the sole purpose of spelling out to the audience that Bruce needs to “pick himself up.”
Comic book movies lend themselves to dream imagery just by the zany hyperbolized rendering of everything. So it almost slips by within the context of the comic book action movie, but the movie is actually quite exceptional when you realize that it’s not a comic book action movie, but Nolan’s second foray into action movie surrealism. This is not the end of Nolan’s trilogy. It is the sequel to INCEPTION.
it has less of an emotional wallop at the end than INCEPTION, but it’s still pretty darn neat.
You are seriously nitpicking, turning molehills into mountains. For example, the fight choreography. IMO, it was the best of the trilogy. I mean did you honestly expect Batman to come out all guns blazing in his first encounter Bane? He’d been on a walking stick for 8 years, but you still expected him to do more.
And with regard to the subplots. Each plot advanced the story in a necessary way. Remove one of the plots that you mentioned, and the movie may not have made much sense.
You clearly went into this movie with over the top expectations. Why not just enjoy it instead of looking for minor flaws that over 80000 people (according to IMDB) overlooked. This is no kids movie with only plot, like the Avengers, this is a whole lot more.
Trying so hard not so come off as a contrarian hipster and failing miserably
its the little oversights in the movie that bothered me the most….like for example…the police are trapped underground for over 3 months, yet when they show them underground and when they emerge….totally clean uniforms and no facial hair…so bane took it upon himself to not only feed these men. he had the compassion to give them razors and dry cleaning? …2.talia al ghuls death scene was one of the worst ive ever scene….i laughed my as off….3.they rob the stock exchange…bane asks how much longer…the hacker says 8 minutes…ok lets make this mobile….it goes from day to night in just 7 and a half minutes??? am i scrutinizing too much…i found these oversights to be insulting….i think nolan underestimates his films viewership…we arent all mindless tweens…i could go on with numerous eye rolling moments but id be here awhile.
you sir, need to just step back for a second and rethink things. the truth is that nolan has given us the first truly adult superhero trilogy, and one that has been immensely successful across many demographics. this is something that i never thought would happen. be grateful for it. don’t be so glib as to think nolan underestimates his viewership as “tweens” because of one scene transition.
This was a great article and actually touched on the problems I had with the film. Just a couple things though:
The initial fight with Bane… I mean come on, the guy had been a recluse using a cane to get around his house. Did you really expect him to just stand up and say “I’m Batman again and I rock at it so much I don’t even have to put in any additional training to strengthen myself again to fight Gotham’s scum.” I was glad he got his ass kicked. He needed to so he could realize that there is more to being Batman than just putting on the cape and mask.
(Who else got goosebumps though when Bane threw Batman’s mask aside? So epic)
The Ending: I agree with you for the most part here, I thought it was not even close to as grand as the ending should have been coming off of “The Dark Knight”, it was if Nolan thought he would show a nuclear blast at the end and then wipe his hands of Batman forever. Yea. Not so much.
BUT… People seem to be viewing this as a reboot to the Batman franchise. Don’t look at it like that. This is a graphic novel-esq type side interpretation of the Batman story. From Batman Begins to The Dark Knight Rises it has always been a story about Bruce Wayne. It was never about Batman. Think about it. Batman Begins- Bruce coming to terms with the hatred in him over his parents death and putting the greater good in front of his own wants. The Dark Knight- Bruce realizing that even though he is in a mask his choices and actions still have consequences that rival even his own parents deaths in terms of emotional scaring. The Dark Knight Rises- Bruce realizes that he and the Batman were never one and the same, that the two can live on separately. Batman is the symbol. Bruce is the man. One will die and the other will live on forever. He was faced with his own mortality and confronted it knowing that even if he did die Batman as a symbol would live on. It was that confrontation of his own mortality that finally allowed Bruce to see himself for who he was, just a person.
Batman giving up… I don’t think Batman really gave up. He did what he set out to do. Provide a symbol for good that people can rally to and enemies can cower from. And if you think about the story arc from Batman Begins to TDKR then it wasn’t crime in Gotham in general that he was fighting, he was continually fighting the League of Shadows. Batman Begins- Literally fighting the LoS. The Dark Knight- Fighting/Cleaning up what the LoS started when they tried to take out Gotham. The Dark Knight Rises- Again… literally fighting the LoS. That seems like a pretty complete story to me. Remember, Batman was created (At least in Nolan’s Universe) to fight against the corruption and crime that ran rampant in Gotham. The corruption and crime that was started and raised by the League of Shadows. So in essence when Bane and Miranda Tate are killed the LoS that was attacking Gotham was killed off as well. SO in my opinion that means that the Batman, at least Bruce Wayne’s Batman, is no longer necessary because he fulfilled what he had originally set out to do.
And there was a scene at the end where the prisoners were either dead or on their knees handcuffed with guns held on them by the police. That ties that one up nicely.
My BIGGEST complaint though about this movie… why the F**K did cat woman kill Bane?????? What the hell? That was a stupid dumb move on Nolan’s part. But whatever. Too late now.
I loved the movie. I thought it was awesome.
Anyways, great article. Thanks man.
Stuart this is spot on. you hit the nail on the head. I couoldn’t agree more with you.
The 1st 2 Batman films were extremely good but this is the poorest entry in the Nolan series. Nolan I think wanted to have joker as the bad guy as the character didn’t die in tdk, but obviously couldn’t have him. I’d say this was the plan for the trilogy and Nlan had to rejig it when Heath passed away. After seeing this, Nolan should ahve just left the franchise at 2.
I think reviewers had rose tinted glasses on for this and wanted it to be good. i think when it comes out on DVD/Bluray and people watch it about 10 times, they’ll realise all of it’s failings.
All of your complaints are kind of shallow. You are mad because the movie is not exactly like you envisioned it.
exactly @misael thats their problem because its not how they envisioned it. summed up perfectly in a couple words. you sir are a genius.
I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.
The fact that i can’t even remember how Bane died, and was surprised when i read it was catwoman who killed him shows how what a terrible misstep that was. Nothing epic about it.
why are everyone taking aim at the plot points saying they are too much or confusing? were they too big for your little minds to digest?
i mean, its not like its freakin inception or a novel full of plot twists every 10 pages.
Your obsession with details is suprising to the point where you have missed whats right in front of you, half of the stuff n this list is either wrong or knit- picking to the extreme. I admit its not perfect but mentioning how you think it is farfetched abot Blake taking up the mantle or Banes back story shows the kind of mindset you went into the movie wth. For someone caught up on comic book canon (“its not batman”etc) you’re over obsessed with realism and details.. Sit back and enjoy the movie. Dont knit pick on the fight scenes (which are awesome) and pointless things such as the supposed “crime wave”
I love this Batman trilogy but I’ve been saying it. This Batman simply isn’t the THE Batman. I dislike the way they portrayed Bruce Wayne as some Tony Stark kind of guy who doesn’t give a sh*t about his company. The Bruce in The Animated Series is how it should have been done, in my opinion.
Also, this Batman lacked the detective niche and superiority that we all know about Batman. He never investigates anything. He just runs head on into situations. He never sits back and analyzes before fighting. There was also a surprisingly lack of using gadgets while fighting like Batman is known for.
I still love the movies but I hope when they reboot it, they make it more like the comics and the Arkham videogames.
Erm…Re: Quipp No.2. I was of the understanding that Batman really did die and that Alfred (film ending) was just reliving his “hullucination”…you know in his grief… of seeing Bruce finally happy with partner… in Italy no less. (as blaringly detailed in his appeal to Bruce earlier in the movie)
While the film in no way deserves above an 8 this was one of the more clever sub points and should be reconsidered by reviewers such as yourself who missed this. Its ok, your upset and a bit surly so these more obvious points can be overlooked. Especially when “ranting”.
The “hullucination” was an appeal to film execs to continue or renew the franchise.
This article had me cringing the whole way through. What was going on in your head while you watched the film? You seem so focused on finding plot holes and nitpicks that you forgot to actually watch the film objectively. I have a feeling you already had the title of this article written before you watched the film. This film was pure entertainment and that’s what I was looking for.
can’t go over all your points but i’ll go over a few things that you brought up against the ending. you have to accept the trilogy in its entirety to understand what’s going on. in Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne talks about how he as a man is corruptible but as a symbol he can become more. By him giving up the cowl the symbol lives on which means anyone can don the Batman mask and be Batman. It was pretty loud and clear when you watch him converse with Alfred. As for the Blackgate prisoners, you see them being rounded up already at the end of the fight with Bane and after the explosion in the movie, since you know, they just happened to be brawling against the cops anyway so they made easy targets. I thought that was kind of a duh statement on your part. For being so nitpicky, you miss a lot of details.
I think if it was anybody except Nolan the batfans would be up in arms about this movie. But for some reason they just want to give this guy a ‘get out of jail free pass which I believe is based upon some fanboy love for ‘The Dark Knight’ of 2008.
The only thing that was wrong with this amazing flim is that bane death but rather than that it was nearly perfect. People had way too high excepatitions for this moive and honstely some critics just look for something wrong with the moive. This moive was amazing and haters gonna hate who the hell cares sometimes. This was ten times better than avengers and amzing spiderman, and its close but its better than Batman begins and dark knight.