Criticisms of The Dark Knight Rises? (spoilers)

The 2012 superhero epic about Batman's struggle to overcome the terrorist leader Bane, as well as his own inner demons.
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JMan
Posts: 245
Joined: July 2012
I think it could easily have been a 3 hour+ film, and I would have watched it all. I think there are a LOT of places where an extra 30 sec (a long time in film) could have added depth to a lot of scenes that feel rushed: the funeral/burial scene especially.

But I did like the movie a lot. However, if Nolan wants to release a longer cut, I'll be first in line to buy it.
JMan
Posts: 245
Joined: July 2012
cchriswake wrote:I don't know about anyone else but I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud during the plane sequence solely because Bane sounded like he was on helium at times. It was as if Nolan was giving a big middle finger to the whiners back in December about how unintelligible Bane was in the prologue.
I thought Bane sounded like Sean Connery in the plane sequence, and everyone I was with thought so too. But it didn't sound like Sean anywhere else in the film.
mratm23
Posts: 353
Joined: August 2011
Location: In The Shadows
TheExtractorCobb wrote:-pacing. more so in the 2nd half and not the 1st or 3rd.
-exposition. Eh. These talented writers didn't handle it to so well
-monologues
-development became non-existent after a certain point and it was just a matter of wrapping things up
-too many characters
-too many subplots
-Zimmer's score is rather good, but it never stops.
-scenes aren't given enough time to breath and yet the film goes on too long
-tone. Absurdly dark and then sometimes absurdly silly
Did I like it? Yes, despite all this. I did have problems with it.
I agree with most of them.

Zimmer's score didn't really seem to have anything new. I just felt like he patched things in from TDK and BB.

The parts that were absurdly silly I was like "What the hell". Like when that stupid cop ruins the moment of Batman being back and shoots his new radar gun or whatever it is.
mratm23
Posts: 353
Joined: August 2011
Location: In The Shadows
JMan wrote:
cchriswake wrote:I don't know about anyone else but I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud during the plane sequence solely because Bane sounded like he was on helium at times. It was as if Nolan was giving a big middle finger to the whiners back in December about how unintelligible Bane was in the prologue.
I thought Bane sounded like Sean Connery in the plane sequence, and everyone I was with thought so too. But it didn't sound like Sean anywhere else in the film.
I felt like Bane's voice had been changed a WHOLE LOT from what it sounded like in the prologue.
"WITH NO SURVIVORS!!!" was the worst. That sounded pretty silly.

Tom Hardy playing James Bond in Nolan film? :oldmanface: It's a sign.
UltraDangerLord
Posts: 278
Joined: January 2012
Location: Limbo
mratm23 wrote:
JMan wrote:
I thought Bane sounded like Sean Connery in the plane sequence, and everyone I was with thought so too. But it didn't sound like Sean anywhere else in the film.
I felt like Bane's voice had been changed a WHOLE LOT from what it sounded like in the prologue.
"WITH NO SURVIVORS!!!" was the worst. That sounded pretty silly.

Tom Hardy playing James Bond in Nolan film? :oldmanface: It's a sign.
Lol they only left "Crashing this plane" untouched. And that was my favorite line in the prologue. :clap:
mratm23
Posts: 353
Joined: August 2011
Location: In The Shadows
UltraDangerLord wrote:
mratm23 wrote:
I felt like Bane's voice had been changed a WHOLE LOT from what it sounded like in the prologue.
"WITH NO SURVIVORS!!!" was the worst. That sounded pretty silly.

Tom Hardy playing James Bond in Nolan film? :oldmanface: It's a sign.
Lol they only left "Crashing this plane" untouched. And that was my favorite line in the prologue. :clap:
I noticed that one too, and it was also my favorite as well.
Arthur John
Posts: 3
Joined: July 2012
The following post contains spoilers for the entire film. Kindly do not click unless you have seen the film.

If you have, I would like to discuss the following points:
1. The entire film has been filled with promotional material regarding THE FIRE RISES, yet we are never given any explanation as to what it means.

2. Miranda Tate. I feel much of her appearance was made to feel like she was there solely for the plot twist. Why would she sleep with Bruce Wayne? How does that help her plan?

3. Ducard - what the hell does he mean about immortality taking many forms when he is appearing in Bruce Wayne's dreams! And how can Bruce Wayne believe the conversation with Ducard when it is in his dreams. Also, if the conversation does actually take place, when Bruce identifies the heir of Ra's as Bane, Ra's does not correct Bruce, again FALSELY wanting us to believe that Bane is indeed the main character.

4. As mentioned by others, HOW FUCKING CONVENIENT that only one man in the entire Gotham City realises who Bruce Wayne is.
LomDodge
Posts: 125
Joined: March 2011
Arthur John wrote:The following post contains spoilers for the entire film. Kindly do not click unless you have seen the film.

If you have, I would like to discuss the following points:
1. The entire film has been filled with promotional material regarding THE FIRE RISES, yet we are never given any explanation as to what it means.

2. Miranda Tate. I feel much of her appearance was made to feel like she was there solely for the plot twist. Why would she sleep with Bruce Wayne? How does that help her plan?

3. Ducard - what the hell does he mean about immortality taking many forms when he is appearing in Bruce Wayne's dreams! And how can Bruce Wayne believe the conversation with Ducard when it is in his dreams. Also, if the conversation does actually take place, when Bruce identifies the heir of Ra's as Bane, Ra's does not correct Bruce, again FALSELY wanting us to believe that Bane is indeed the main character.



4. As mentioned by others, HOW FUCKING CONVENIENT that only one man in the entire Gotham City realises who Bruce Wayne is.
I agree with a lot of comments on here including yours. To be honest I was really disappointed with the film - I thought it was dumbed down, over explanatory and predictable in places, and bordering on cheesy - I've never seen any of these factors in a Nolan film before.

Big spoilers ahead
Big annoyances:
1. It had a completely different feel from the other 2 films. This was down to a lot of factors written below.
2. An atom bomb?? How simple can you get?
3. IMO there was way too much action and fighting.
4. Simple predictable story line - bad guy defeats good guy near beginning. Good guy has to overcome barriers (the climb out of jail) Good guy triumphs. Yes Batman Begins did that as well but it wasn't all laid out so clearly.
5. Catwoman changing to the good side - convenient and predictable.
6. As mentioned before, too many new characters were introduced - this separated the film from the first 2 even more. It almost felt like the Avengers in places. It also took the lead role away from Batman.
7. One of the most important rules for a film is to make the setting realistic. I couldn't have felt more detached with Gotham. It was on such a big scale it lost all its reality. The 'Bat' (helicopter) didn't help.
8. No strong quotes and dialogue was drowned out by the music in parts - not just Bane's.
9. No unmasking of Batman - in The Dark Knight there's huge focus on revealing who he is and the scene where he's about to reveal himself is so gripping, yet all that falls apart in TDKR when John Blake comes along saying he knows who he is. Then Gordon finds out later so it's all been a gradual thing. If it had all built up to the reveal and then he was unmasked to Gotham it would have been much more tense and rewarding.

The picky things:
9. Expected witty remark from Catwoman every time she was with Batman.
10. Didn't need to show Bruce with Selina in the cafe at the end. It was obvious that they were going to be there as soon as it showed Alfred there. Over explanatory - they could have cut straight to the next shot after showing Alfred suddenly notice something.
11. Some interesting accents came through. Bane's voice was inconsistent and I swear that Miranda sounded Scottish for one of her lines.
12. Bruce climbing out of the jail was very over-hyped IMO. The music in that scene was the loudest in the film that I remember.
13. A TV in the prison of hell?
14. The soundtrack theme for Catwoman was the only new addition to the score that I liked, but even that didn't link in with the previous films sound scope.

I could probably go on about the soundtrack and other small elements but I don't want to put a downer on it for people who enjoyed it. Maybe it's me that's the problem and not the film but I tried so hard in that cinema to enjoy it, yet I came out shocked at what I'd seen - it didn't feel like Nolan had written or directed it. I don't know if he didn't have full control over it or what, but I was sorely disappointed after going to the cinema 2 and a half hours early to get good seats.
CrashingThisPlane
Posts: 28
Joined: July 2012
LomDodge wrote:
Arthur John wrote:
4. As mentioned by others, HOW FUCKING CONVENIENT that only one man in the entire Gotham City realises who Bruce Wayne is.
Big spoilers ahead
s.
I thought about that too.. but Bane put it there on purpose to add to Bruce's more severe torture. Forcing Bruce to watch as Gotham was destroyed while unable to do anything to stop it.
PowerDump
Posts: 3323
Joined: June 2010
Bane's voice sounded like **** in the new prologue sequence, and sounds too cartoony in some other sections. This was kind of disappointing because I thought the Joker had a sweet voice and the new villain sounded soooooo out of place.
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