The toughest challenge facing Chris Nolan when he finally committed to making The Dark Knight Rises a few years back was trying to outdo himself. In the summer of 2008, almost four years ago now, he released the definitive Batman movie with the definitive Batman villain. A movie bigger on scope than any on screen story previously involving the Caped Crusader and a movie whose imagery became a modern pop culture icon that has been adored by comic book fans and no doubt watched a thousand times.
The Dark Knight became The Godfather II or The Empire Strikes Back of its time, an analogy that is perhaps fitting in this discussion as Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas (who unofficially co-directed and wrote/produced Return of the Jedi) both returned to deliver a second sequel that couldn’t withstand the pressure of the perfection that came before it. In fact, cinematic history tells us the third entry in any franchise is a film too far for both their original directors and the ones who take over the helm; Spider-Man, X-Men, The Matrix (although that dip happened in film 2), Superman, Terminator, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alien and countless others.
In many ways the expectations that Chris Nolan’s name and his prior work brings on The Dark Knight Rises almost makes his third movie doomed to fail from the get-go. And yet the awesome trailers, his ambitious grand-scale scope and brave story-making decisions in setting the movie so far away from the last and trying to give his series a closing chapter has us excited for what might be in store for us on July 20th, 2012.
And the early word from those lucky few who have seen the movie that is still a month away for the rest of us, is extremely positive.
Peter Sciretta, the chief of /film wrote on Twitter last night;
“I’ve now heard from two people who have seen The Dark Knight Rises.”
“Both of them loved it even more than TDK (something i wasn’t expecting to hear)”
I agree, I wasn’t expecting to hear that either. Could The Dark Knight Rises really, REALLY be better than the last movie?
Sciretta goes on to suggest that the reaction he has heard likely comes from industry folk as he responded to questioning from a follower; “@DeusExCinema they don’t preview the batman films ” hinting that the reaction does not come from the general public.
So Bat-fans, three weeks away now from The Dark Knight Rises. Will it live up to expectations? Could it possibly be better than The Dark Knight?
Comments welcome…
8 Actresses Who Tricked You Into Thinking You Saw Them Nude
11 Irresistible Movie Moments That Wore Out Your Pause Button
100 Things Wrong With The Dark Knight Rises [Video]
10 Scenes You Won't Believe You Missed in 2012
10 Most Infuriating Movie Cliffhangers
10 Major Plot Holes You Probably Missed
10 Happy Movie Endings That Probably Had Horrific Consequences
12 Ruthless Movie Villains Who Were Defeated By Complete Fools
Want to write about the stuff you're passionate about and have your work read by an audience of over 10 million a month? Click here to become a contributor.
17 Comments
Either way it will still be a hell of a lot better than that kids film The Avengers.
Paul I agree, I watched Avengers and I expected a awesome movie way Reviews and Friends of mine buzzed over it. So I went to watch it, and it was utter crap, a let down I must say. It felt like they was never any real Threat.
DARK KNIGHT RISES is gonna be the best MOVIE of this year in my opinion.
Better then Dark Knight EASY it’s NOLAN Brothers! Yet it’s not about been better then Dark Knight, its about continuing the Dark Knights story.
Batman either Dies, or he Kills Bane..
Batman Begins
Do you have what it takes to become more then just a man. Bruce/Batman was asked to kill for Justice. He Refuses too kill.
The Dark Knight
I have only one RULE! Well thats the Rule your gonna have to Break!
Joker wanted to Break the Bat, make him kill to Save Gotham, too show Gotham that there Hero, was nothing but a Killer/A Freak liek the Joker. Batman couldnt kill the Joker though. But the Joker won in away, Batman took the fall for Dents killing. GOTHAM wanted rid of the Dark Knight, the hunted him.
Rises
You have given them everything.. NOT EVERYTHING, NOT YET!
8 Years have passed since The Dark Knight, Batman is on the wanted list. No-One knows where or what happened to Batman. BANE is destroying GOTHAM. The People need a Hero, they need a Hero, a Symbol to step up and save them.
BANE is a destroyer, a brute, an unstoppable force. Batman has been out of the Game for 8 years, his weak, and by the looks of it very ill. (Cancer Maybe?) Anyway BANE like a T-800! Will not stop til Gotham and Batman are DUST!
“Spoiler BELOW Kind of, More FanMade Spoiler, something me and my friends thought of”
Too save the people Batman will have to Fight Bane to the Death, becoming a Killer for Justice (and Maybe Both Die).. Or either Bats Defeat Bane. And Later Dies of Cancer or Something. Batman then Becomes the Hero Gotham needed.
He’s the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now!
I agree. Finally a comic book film not made for babies and those with low IQs. Dark Knight Rises will be a great piece of filmmaking.
I just hope people don’t expect this to be better than The Dark Knight, or even Batman Begins. As long as it’s on par with them and doesn’t make the same mistake as many other franchises, by trying to do too much in one film, or departure too much from the same formula that made the first and second great.
So for me, it doesn’t have to be better, just as long as it fits the trilogy and offers just as great of story telling, action, cinematography, and character development as the previous two, that’s all I need. It can be better than both, or not as good as both, but as long as it’s the same quality, and the debate is there for which is the better movie, then it’s a winner. There’s some who prefer Batman Begins over The Dark Knight, so let’s hope this movie is good enough to join that argument.
Joker and Two-Face are my favorite 2 villains in the Batman franchise, thus they are hard to top for me. However, Catwoman and Bane’s, and the look of this movie thus far, has the potential to make that argument of which is best possible. It’s all about follow through. Expectations are through the roof, and I hope Nolan delivers on what’s expected, and offers a great enough story and ending, to go above people’s expectations just as with the previous two.
Most importantly however, I just hope if it’s not better than The Dark Knight, it isn’t just considered crap. There’s a lot of fans out there that are either extremely impressed, or extremely disappointed. They don’t allow themselves any shades of grey, only black and white. Either it’s amazing or it sucks. So I hope people can allow themselves to love the film if it delivers a great story, but doesn’t quite reach The Dark Knight level. I think the best thing about the films, is that they all feel different. Batman Begins is very different than The Dark Knight. So far, The Dark Knight Rises feels different in tone than the previous two. Most sequels either become too different and lose what made them great, or rehash the same stuff and give you more of the same with nothing new to make it feel necessary(That’s how I felt with Iron Man 2 personally).
I believe in Christopher Nolan. This was never a franchise to him to just phone it in for a pay check. He has only made a sequel if the story was there that he felt was worth telling. With that said, i’m sure this will be great.
Early reports from an unconfirmed source that i just saw in an article online say that the dark knight rises is a near flawless film and better than the dark knight. The source claimed to have seen a rough cut of the film before the integration of the CGI. The source went on to drool over the movie
The Avengers was not a kids film. You know very little of film; that is evident by your one dimensional comment.
Paul you are an idiot.
ha ha so now u are a kid who is defending Avengers………
I loved The Dark Knight, as I love Nolan’s films and the character of Batman in general. Do I believe that ‘Rises’ can critically surpass it’s predisessor? Absolutely. I honeslt believe “The Dark Knight” was/is extremely overrated (largely due to the hype surroundig Heath Ledger’s shokingly unexpected death). I actually thought Batman Begins was a better and more entertaining film than “The Dark Knight,” as well.
TDK had the best villain, great scenes, great lines, but overall i found it cumbersome. i found batman begins flowed much better. the end just is too much, it clashed with the joker’s nihilistic anarchist character, just too planned. how nolan made the joker is how nolan should have made batman. meaning more raw, different from the comic book/superhero version.
This is a story? Don’t you need a story to write a story? This is “TDKR is better than the last one… but we’re not sure who said it or if it is true… what do you think?”
Who said journalism was dying out when we have a genius like this typing away in his bedroom?
When folk go around claiming others who liked Avengers have low IQs look stupid and insecure by insinuating they themselves are somehow smarter because of taste in film.
All you guys insinuating a higher level of intelligence based on tastes of films just come across as both insecure and possibly dumb so needing to boost your own ego
Oops! didn’t mean to be redundant. I thought my first comment didn’t take, guess it takes a while for it to be accepted
Nolan’s films are great and all, but why does everybody behave as if Jesus got reincarnated or something? They are just films, nothing else. Nolan’s films contain flaws too, but his fanboys refuse to see all that, and blindly support him.
The only reason why Nolan sometimes receives (unreasonable) praise is because there is too much garbage in Hollywood today, and Nolan is one of those few people who (so far) hasn’t bucked the trend. Then again, there are people (other than Nolan) who also prefer quality over money – Tarantino, Fincher, Aronofsky, Coen Bros, Scorsese, Ron Howard, etc. I personally would pick Quentin Tarantino over Christopher Nolan any day.
The ONLY reason why Nolan has become a more public figure than the other aforementioned auteurs is because he has made the Batman films watchable for grown-ups. That’s it.
Early reports from an unconfirmed source that i just saw in an article online say that the dark knight rises is a near flawless film and better than the dark knight. The source claimed to have seen a rough cut of the film before the integration of the CGI. The source went on to drool over the movie.
I have to laugh every time I see someone make the claim that Batman is for adults, or its realistic. Really? Yes, because it is dark, and has dark themes… Really? Yes, an all the gear is based on real military gear, it can all really exist… Really? Batman is a real guy and his villains are real, all of this can really happen… Really?
Seriously it is all comic book stuff, the characters, the villains, the gadgets and even the “dark themes” are not realistic they are all just the stuff of comic books. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I love comic books, super heroes, and all that stuff. But Batman is as much fantasy as Avengers, Spiderman, Super Man, and the rest. Just look at the preview, in what world would you have a known terrorist, along with an army of terrorist assemble in the city streets, and have a big fist fight with the local police department plus one cape crusader.
Some make like the style of Batman more than other comics but it is not more adult, or intelligent, its the same thing different package.
Nolan’s Baztman trilogy is intelligent