From the beginning, actually. Right off the bat, a red flag came up. And that came in the form of Bane's delivery in the first six minutes aka the plane heist sequence. In the prologue in December, Bane's voice was perfect: menacing and foreboding, and a little hard to hear being modulated by that mask, but that is exactly what made it frightening. It was pitch perfect and the timing was excellent. Cut to the movie and now Nolan has re-recorded Hardy's lines and it just sounds.... awful. You can clearly tell that Hardy is trying to hard to sound clear and proper and it is just not menacing in any way shape or form. Even the timing is off and even a word is cut out from the original prologue. In the original prologue, Bane says, "Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favor of yours. We have to find out what he told you about us. (pause) "Nothing. I said nothing." In the finished movie: "Dr. Pavel refused our offer in favor of yours. We have to find out what he told you- "Nothing. I said nothing." The delivery is abysmal and the timing is completely compromised. Why did Nolan do this? Did he give in to fans' cries and their inability to hear? Even Nolan responded, saying he would NOT change it and that viewers would have to "pedal faster". It seems he compromised, and sadly, it undermines the original tone and tension of that opening scene.
Moving on: the movie drags immediately following that opening scene, but oddly it works as we're introduced to Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle (one of the few things that make this movie worth watching.) Her introduction is absolutely magnificent; the way she goes from shy to sly -- in an instant is amazing to see. Hathaway is perfect, and the definitive Catwoman has finally been put to screen.
After this, we get a lot of dialogue between Wayne and Alfred (most of it exposition) to establish the current state of Wayne and his undertakings (or lack thereof). What bugs me is that even after two films, two films where Alfred seems to understand Bruce's lust for being Batman and accepts it, he strangely seems to be opposed to the persona of Batman and wants Bruce to give it up. There's a lot of contradicting in this movie and this really creates a lot of logic holes in the film and doesn't gel with the previous films. What was really disappointing about this is that most of the vital info (Bane being in the LOS, Ras al Ghul, etc.) is relayed in simple exposition with no big reveal in any one character digging up this info.
When we meet Bane again underground it is a fantastic intro to the character's brutality and I absolutely loved this scene. his voice here is perfect, similar to what it was in the prologue in December, and the total opposite to what it was in the opening plane scene. Why Nolan changed the voice on the plane is still an absolute, baffling mystery to me. But back on point: one of the main reasons I'm disappointed in this movie is how it ends (there are also many issues I have with pacing, editing, certain scenes in the films, etc.) and I only say this because Bane had so much potential. Let me just say that Catowman shooting him on a Batpod is not a fitting end to this character. Also, the ending is more generic than any ending I could have imagined. To me, the ending violates the whole meaning of the Batman character and the equation that the previous 2 films have so painstakingly worked to accomplish: BRUCE WAYNE + GOTHAM = BATMAN
Yes, that is the equation. Bruce Wayne being in Gotham will always yield the Batman. In other words: as long as Gotham and Bruce Wayne exist, there will always be a need for Batman. And there will always be a psychological need for Bruce to put on the suit. To end the story there are only 2 possible ways to logically do this: subtract Bruce Wayne or subtract Gotham. In order to end Batman, the only solution would have been to kill Batman or to kill Gotham. Nolan does neither and instead opts for a 'happy' ending that generically and haphazardly keeps the series alive in the form of John "Robin" Blake (
) and forms and ending even less exciting than any random fanboy on SHH could have conceived in his mom's basement.
The LOS fail again. Nolan always makes the point that Batman is human and that he is not a superhero. This was put to the test in The Dark Knight and was beautifully delineated in the form of Batman only being able to rescue Dent and having to witness the death of Rachel at the Joker's indirect hands. This was a human moment. Batman is capable of failing. In Rises, he appears to be a superhero: battling Bane, curing a broken back, and defeating the LOS all in the span of the movie. To me, the only way to prove Bane as the ultimate badass and the LOS as a legitimate organization was to have them succeed. How amazing would it have been if the LOS succeeded and the end result was a subtraction to the ultimate equation: - BRUCE WAYNE or - GOTHAM = NO BATMAN. It would have been a fitting end if the LOS got their way.
Also there is a lot of cheese in this movie: the president speaking on television was cringe worthy (did we really need to see another cheesy movie president?), the statue of Batman at the end was corny and lame and just looked retarded, the fact that there even was a television in a hell hole in prison where Wayne was was laughable (wouldn't a radio have worked better?), the whole ending with Blake and the mention of Robin was just downright silly. Batman had to end with Bruce and Bruce only.
There are a few awesome sequences in this movie that make my frustration for the lesser ones grow even more intense. The football stadium demolition along with the city was disturbing and breathtaking; the complicated and rapidly moving plot that unfolds in the beginning; the stock exchange and subsequent batpod chase was excellent; Catwoman and Batman in action was pulse pounding and awesome.
