As if Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t long enough, Warner Brothers are now promising fans an extended (see even longer) Director’s Cut when the Blu-ray & DVD finally hits stands later this year.
The site Nuke The Fridge is reporting that despite the 3 hour theatrical cut causing severe sore bum syndrome for millions of cinema goers this summer it is expected to be even longer when it makes the transition to DVD and Blu-Ray in time for Christmas.
The site reports that according to their “reliable sources” extended scenes and additional footage will include longer flashbacks featuring Ras Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) as well as a glimpse into the dark origins of Tom Hardy’s balding bad ass Bane, something lacking from the cinematic version. The exact report is below:
Sources have informed Nuke the Fridge that not only is a Director’s Cut being developed by Warner Bros. for The Dark Knight Rises, but it’s going to include Bane’s origin plus a bit more screentime for Ra’s Al Ghul (Liam Neeson) which were omitted from the current theatrical cut of the movie….According to our reliable spies…The new Director’s Cut is said to make the film about thirty minutes longer.
Whether or not this is just another Bat rumour remains to be seen, but the thoughts of an extended cut of the superb The Dark Knight Rises is enough to get our attention, but one cannot forget that Nolan – a director who refuses to milk cash from fans hence the lack of 3D – has always described his theatrical cuts as the definitive versions so it would be unusual for a padded out DVD/Blu Ray to be on the cards.
What do you think? Was The Dark Knight Rises long enough? Have your say below.
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12 Comments
Perhaps Nolan recognises that since TDKR was, in effect, a big dumb action movie, he doesn’t need to think of it as so sacrasanct as his past films. In which case I tip my hat to him. I admit I’ll be eager to see the longer cut, but I’m hoping for more substantive changes than just “more flashbacks”.
How about cutting it down to 90 mins and making a version that doesn’t totally suck?
i want to know how Wayne comes back to Gotham after India,the scene when young Blake recognizes Batman in Bruce,a scene with Miranda and Wayne flirting really and a scene with Batman treating the injury caused by Miranda
The Dark Knight Rises does present an interesting sociological case study in how a corporation’s marketing machine can convince the pheeble-minded that a subpar piece of filmmaking actually has merit. If the same picture was released with the name Michael Bay attached to it, then the fanboy legion would deride it for the incoherent mess it is. However, because of their Palovian conditioning to praise all things associated with Nolan they afford the atrocity of the Dark Knight Rises a free pass. Interesting….
It’s funny how many people bash TDKR but praise the TDK, all because one actor died, funny really.
The trilogy is perfect with 3 epic films, when Batman Begins came out it got some bashing by critics 65% by top critics, TDKR is just full of people bad mouthing it yet TDK everyone seems to love?? All because an actor went 6 feet under, it’s funny how no one bashes dark knight, do you really think if Heath didn’t die it would have gotten 94% on RT? Maybe 86/87 but not 94, I can’t find one critic or fan who bashes Heath’s performance, why not? Yes it was one of the best acting performances ever but not everyone thinks the same thing, there will be at least a few fans/critics who didn’t like him and thought he was overrated but are scared to say so because he’s dead.
All 3 films are brilliant and is one of the best trilogies out there, anyone bashing the films are just nit-picking at little things that are there.
So you want people to criticise the Dark Knight more, and in particular Heath Ledger’s performance, but think any criticisms of any of the trilogy is just nit-picking?
Who knows what the response to the film would have been if Ledger had lived but I don’t think people liked the film because he died. That’s a pretty interesting point about critics being afraid to do their job though. It’d a be a difficult situation to be in.
No I don’t want people to criticise TDK I’m just sick of people bashing TDKR for the same reasons, all the plot holes, but that they aren’t actually plot holes they’re just things that weren’t explained on screen but can be explained with a little thought,
and yes if Ledger did live then the film would have still been well received but not AS well received, maybe trim 5% off the RT rating,
all I see on this site is articles with comments bashing TDKR, don’t people bash other films
You don’t understand what a plot hole is. If something can’t be explained by what’s presented on screen via imagery dialogue, sound, etc. then it constitutes a plot hole. Batman returning to Gotham makes no sense because of the pains the film took to establish how locked down Gotham was. We know Batman is resourceful but that’s not enough. It’d be like a heist movie where the film establishes that a vault is impregnable even by a world class safe cracker but there’s one extraordinary safecracker who could possible crack. Jump cut to the safe cracker inside the safe with no explanation how he did it. And here’s the definitive conclusion to this argument no one will be able to repudiate: if given the choice what would you really pick? A bad ass sequence of batman breaking back into Gotham or all the scenes with Mathew Modine? Exclude his character, add in batman’s journey to Gotham and his breaking in. Problem solved. A better movie and an obvious choice. But Nolan just didn’t care about anything except cashin a cheque.
You are 100% right about the Ledger thing.
My main point is why is TDKR being made out as the worst film ever on this site? There are far worse film that have come out this year but no one’s bashing them
I agree with you there. It was a far better film than Prometheus or Spider-man. I, personally, by no means disliked the film and I think the extended criticism it’s received on this site is down to the fact that it has a very big and very rabid fanbase who are keen to take it to pieces.
There have been some good lists commending TDKR with ‘reasons TDKR is better than TDK’ being a a good example. The site is flooded with negative TDKR lists at the moment and it’s because it’s trending heavily. Those lists get more views therefore more of those lists are written.
Back on topic: I’m really looking forward to the extended cut.
I don’t see it as the worst film ever.
I do see it as a movie that has several stupid moments in regards to all achieved previously.
One plot hole or two, is fine in a movie, but in TDKR there’s too many in quick succession. And this coming from a team that delivered one of the most “tight” movies in terms of plot and characterization ever, TDK. So with that in mind, you have to do wonder…what was going on in their minds? Nolan was always about a realistic take with Batman and we got a huge dose of that in TDK, which is generally put aside in TDKR with all the plot holes. I didn’t expect the story or even acting to be the of the level of TDK, I did expect some sense to the plot without it having shortcuts…or too many of them.
This is the general sentiment me and my friends and most of the people I’ve read online share in regards to this movie. And the biggest fact and let-down is that it all could’ve easily been fixed with a lil extra dialogue, a extra scene or two, one less scene or two, etc. The fact that it went generally neglected, generally shown as laziness, gets people riled up. You could argue that the movie is long enough, that in a comercial level making it longer with extra scenes would be unwise for the sake of plot…but Return of the King had an extra 30 or 40 minutes and people still went to see it.