So I watched The Dark Knight Rises. It's got a lot of bad points, a few plotholes and some of the scene hoping is way too fast. Yet, yet, it was the greatest conclusion they could come up with and was a fantastic end to Batman the legend, but more importantly and I do not think he gets enough credit in the comics, Bruce Wayne the man.
I'll start off with the bits I really liked.
[Spoiler]First of, I know some might hate it, but personally I loved how much Bruce had to go through in this film, a broken body, a broken company but the one thing that he never lets go is his love for Gotham and it's people. He may not have any fancy powers, but his will to protect his city is what made Batman one of my favourite comic book character.
Bane was awesome, whilst the Joker was all out crazy and laughs, Bane was more badass, his one liners and poses were brilliant. I loved Catwoman too, smart and sexy, glad to she she finishes off as Bruce's girl in this continuity. Yes they had no kind of relationship here but hey Bruce somehow loved Rachel, so I suppose his standards are low or no women for 8 years got to him.
Seeing Gotham in complete and utter chaos was done excellently, felt like Arkham City all over again! I loved Crane coming back as a judge but in the back of my mind I would have loved it more if Joker was the judge and Crane the defense lawyer but both basically wanting to get the guy killed, it's a shame that Ledger passed away because I feel Joker deserved a cameo but respecting Ledger was for the best. But yes Crane, loved his little bit with Gordon "Fine... DEATH... BY EXILE!" Still I felt like they could have done so much more with a dysfunctional Gotham. All we got was a 2 minute scene of rioting.
The action scenes are all fantastic, Catwoman and Batman tag teaming a gang, Batman's first confrontation with Bane, the stock market crash, the plane scene and the last bit, it was all glorious. What a complete shame Bane died so quickly, really was hoping for more but alas.
The last bit, the ending, almost got me to cry manly tears. Batman reminding Gordon of their first meeting when his parents were murdered, seeing Batman ride off into the sunset as the nuke set off, seeing the Wayne family fortune carved up and given away to various charities, Batman's legacy restored but what really got to me was Alfred crying at the grave scene saying he failed Thomas and Martha Wayne.
Also the music is awesome, another film soundtrack I need to purchase.
Now for the bad bits and boy are there a lot...
How the hell did Blake know Bruce was Batman? "I saw you in my orphanage and knew that look was fake! LOL THAT'S HOW I FIGURED OUT YOU WERE BATMAN! LOL!" what type of shitty lazyass writing is this? It made next to no sense. No one else could work out he was Batman because they were not orphans? But he could tell from his look and added a billionaire playboy and a masked vigilante and came up with him being Batman? Please, that has to be the least realistic thing about the trilogy and that is saying something!
Talia climbed out as a child? Right... Then she somehow, as a 9 year old at most but looked more like a 6 year old, managed to track her father down? A man who would eventually go on to lead the most dangerous secret organization the world has ever seen? I'm sorry but I am just not seeing how she would be able to do that, especially as she would be growing in a cave and have limited knowledge of the world itself. Sure, it should be no sweat tracking him down what so ever!
One thing I found funny was when Talia said Bane's only crime in the League of Shadows was that he loved her. DUDE SHE WAS LIKE 6 AND YOU WERE AT LEAST mid-20s, WHAT IS THIS?! I surely hope she meant more of a fatherly love but I very much doubt it. So from now on I take it Bane is a pedo.
Also, Batman's back being fixed in the cave by someone punching it. Goddamn shut down stem cell research and get that guy over to every paralyzed person in the world, could work wonders!
John Blake. Blargh, the character is good and all but honestly felt like he took screentime away from Gordon and for what? A cheap Robin reveal at the end and shows how the Batman legacy continues? For what? Gotham is clean and no longer corruptible now, the reason Bruce Wayne became the Batman in the first place, who is he exactly going to take down? And why does it end with him? Should it not rather end with Bruce Wayne in the final scene, bah Robin ruins everything, even when he is not in the film.
That's actually a pet peeve of mine of comic books. Bruce Wayne is Batman, I do not really feel anyone else should become the new _______ of anything, including other superheroes. Oh well, I usually am alone in this compliant, just as I am in disliking how the Marvel/DC world shares one world, which is what I love most about Nolan's Batman, no other DC characters.
But yes, I feel Gordon did not get much screentime as he did in the Dark Knight. Everything Blake did, Gordon could have done too. Infact I felt the trilogy was as much about him as it was Wayne and Alfred, meh whatever.
As mentioned before, the romance was really terrible in this film, especially Talia. BRUCE I HATE YOU SO MUCH FOR KILLING MY FATHER BUT LET'S HAVE SEXY TIME! I wonder if she had no relationships for the past 8 years too.
Bane's voice. Seriously does Nolan not listen to the dialogue in his films. Batman was bad but Bane takes the cake. Which is such a shame, even though he sounded like Sean Connery he had a lot of awesome one liners.
Lastly, Bane breaks out thousands of criminals out of Blackgate and all of a sudden every single one of them is loyal to him? Is he paying them large amounts of money? What exactly is keeping them loyal to him?[/spoiler]
There are definitely many more positives and negatives I could list but I will leave it at there. It's not a better film than The Dark Knight, but it is the conclusion I feel the trilogy deserves. A fantastic end to Bruce Wayne's story.
