they had said Christopher Nolan directed a masterpiece.But I digress... "The Dark Knight Rises"
I would just like to say I was more hyped for this film than I think I've ever been for any film in my life. I love Batman, I grew up on the Keaton pictures, the 60's show (re-runs of course, don't be silly) and the one that solidified it all 'The Animated Series' which is un-dated and possibly the greatest animated show of all time because (for my 2 cents) its style fits in its own world, unlike GI Joe, X-Men and other 80's - 90's cartoons are dated within there own styles that you can obviously pinpoint the time it was made.
Batman has had 1'000's and possibly millions of stories (and maybe even billions or more because ever fan of this character has imagined and maybe even written their own ideas of what makes a great 'Batman' story) some as ridiculous as Batman meets Judge Dredd (Which I liked actually. Judge Dredd after all is my favorite comic - but that's a different story entirely.) and as wonderful as comics like 'Hush' and 'Arkham Asylum' & even his smaller parts in ensemble stories like 'Kingdom Come'; possibly the greatest comic book of all time, Batman has shown to be slightly and even drastically different depending on which artist draws him and which person writes him…and Christopher Nolan is no different. (Love him or hate him, I personally um like his trilogy a lot…but I'm not yet ready to love.)
Batman Begins ~ I like slightly more every time I see it. Manly because I love Liam Nesson as an actor.
I don't own it and haven't ever owned that particular film, though I borrow it more often than most films. (That said I've never owned a copy of 'The Godfather' mainly because a good 50% of my close friends do own that movie and I can borrow it anytime I want to.) The main thing I don't like about Batman Begins is the asthma device (as I call it) to take down the city. Um a device that could radiate microwave energy large and powerful enough to vaporize water would melt any human being standing next to it. It's a ludicrous device (and I know what you're thinking, well it's a comic book movie stupid - yes however Nolan said, even back then, his goal was to make a realistic Batman film, that device caused me to seriously suspend my disbelief. But as I watch it and just take it for exactly what it is I do enjoy it more.)
The Dark Knight ~ is the Empire Strikes Back of the series, the undeniable best.
Oldman got Jim Gordon to a T, Morgan Freeman was Lucius Fox as much as Lucius is a real character (basically he's Q from the James Bond series. That's pretty much his character, slightly more complex in the comics but only slightly) I like his character he ads a much needed pause before mayhem happens and (like Alfred) a sense of 'hey Bruce hold on now, this is a little too much', a conscience, also Q is one of my favorite characters in the James Bond series and Morgan plays Lucius with humanity and humor, which is much needed for a somewhat downward spiral style bleak series. The glue that makes this film really click is Heath Ledger, playing the most legendary iconic villain possibly in the history of stories, though I still think Satan probably takes that crown. The Joker is my favorite because he can be so unpredictable…same is true in this movie. He can murder and even torture someone in cold blood…and then blow up a hospital after he knows it's completely empty in a scene that still makes me laugh just by the way he plays that the batteries may be short on the bomb fuse, a nice realistic human touch to the scene that makes the audience take a step back for the sheer audacity to make us laugh after seeing him frighteningly torture a young boy to death in a meat factory. (Implied of course this is still one of the hardest PG-13 movies I've ever seen.)
My only problem really with The Dark Knight (after multiple views, I initially nitpicked the crap out of this film but since it's come out to DVD and Blu-Ray I've watched it a bunch of times and picked up on details that added a weight before I thought were missing. Nolan's smart like that. Almost all of his films with the acceptation I think of 'Insomnia' are designed for multiple views…a brilliant way to tell stories and my favorite way. All of the surprises can't be obvious some have to be subtle gems in the backgrounds and under the surface lines that resonate after a second view.) The main thing that still bothers me in 'The Dark Knight' is ---- monologuing, now the Joker's monologging is fine, but when Alfred or Harvey Dent does it it feels a little hammy and doesn't feel like the characters would naturally talk that way…well Harvey's I've never warmed up on, but the way Michael Caine monologues I've become fine with it, after all Alfred is Batman's conscience and occasionally he needs to tell him a story to either inspire or ground him…but Harvey doesn't need speeches that spell out subtext to the audience. 'Or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain' (um thanks clunky and obvious foreshadowing that wasn't really needed…but that's just 1 line in 1 scene and it's fine really, just nitpicking, like I do.)
Monologging a word that means - cutting down just 1 tree.
The Dark Knight Rises ~
My initial reaction to the film is rather negative. I was a little let down but also impressed by the balls it took to make certain decisions Nolan made in the conclusion of his trilogy. I'm in the minority among fans and my friends though…the theatre I was at had almost a standing ovation. Amid moments that had me groan there were great moments that had me on the edge of my seat (even though I saw them coming.) Also 3 of the plot twists or surprises I should say, I already knew going into the film, which is kinda bad for an audience member to know such things and probably left a sour taste in my mouth. 2 were flat out told to me and 1 I simply guessed…and by that I mean guessed back after I saw 'Batman Begins' and heard Nolan was directing a trilogy. And I said 'I bet this is how he will end the series'…and well I won't spoil the film by saying what my guess was…but I was mostly right. Not 100% how I had it in my head but 95% of the general idea was in the film…now it's up to you if you can figure out what that was but I won't say.
Some of the themes in 'Rises' I find hit the nose way way on the head…but then again I thought about it and it's pretty much a theme that's run steady throughout the series and is in the comics enough to justify it. Themes of chaos, greed, and the rich oppressing the poor. In this modern society of 1% (which used to be a biker gang term) and occupy movements it seems to hit the nose on the head too much, but it's been a theme from the comics before so the film serves as like a circus mirror held up to society, like I think great films do, well not always like a circus mirror but this is a wild film so circus mirror not regular mirror, duh.
I do upon initial reaction find this film the weakest of the 3. I feel like Oldman was phoning it in and a few key plot points rather hammy. But after thinking about the film and picking apart the pieces that had me going (hmmm I think I missed something) turns out after remembering what was in the film, yes I did miss something, because the connected dots were subtly in the film. Then again I've seen 'Inception' probably 30 times and I nitpicked that for being obviously derivative of sci-fi themes, clunky exposition, and various other details I didn't like, but over all I really enjoy 'Inception' for it's puzzle-like nature and ambiguity. I still think it has it's problems but on multiple views those problems aren't really that big of a deal to me. On first view they stuck out like sore thumbs.
My main problem is the re-introduction and initial motivations of Bruce Wayne and Batman in this story I find, unrealistic (to Batman as a character) hammy and just plain sad. I also find that Oldman (who I normally love) and Bale (who I also normally enjoy) lost their spirit with the characters…and Nolan lost their motivations in the writing somehow. Bale's performance is more human, more weak, I think I found it more compelling the more I thought about it but still a little too obvious and dare I say unheroic for a superhero film. Oldman I felt was phoning it in. (sad I love him usually) Freeman was exactly as the character has always been in this series and even added some levity and charm, which is desperately needed in this bleak and final chapter. There are these things called emotions which feel a little forced and overcooked in this film especially considering the time it takes place in the Nolan-verse. Have you seriously been crying for the past 8 years like a whiny brat, you're Batman for god sake pull yourself together man? This re-introduction is what really annoys me. Once the story actually gets started it is a little better, the opening scene is such a powerhouse though and Tom Hardy (despite some critics saying he's just a bruiser) does wonderfully well I think. He is played exactly how I'd want Bane to be played. (well not exactly but close enough)
When I first saw this film I had fan-goggles on and my director's hat on. I want and think I need to re-watch it and take it as a different, non-cannon in any normal Batman universe, an offshoot of a Batman universe, like an Elseworld story that's closer to the normal cannon of Batman. 
Basically at the end of a movie like Batman Returns you get the impression that Batman will go on and have more stories and adventures (take the Indiana Jones trilogy for example, they also do that) at the end of this film you will have less of an impression of that. (I won't say why but the emotions are more complex) I sort of feel this film like Alfred Hitchcock's 'Marnie'. Not Hitchcock's best film by a long shot but I commend him for having the guts to try a more complex and emotional type of film especially in a Batman film where it is rather unexpected…some of the other parts need work and fall well outside of his reach…that in the hands of a different director may work better. I just felt like this film was intended to be so huge…Nolan overcooked it. But we will see. Burnt, yet somehow still raw, a little too much fat, a little too chewy but overall satisfying.
Now 80% of Dark Knight Rises was shot in I-Max. I have I-Max tickets for Sunday to see it a second time having taken the film in already should be able to relax with the material and pick up on details.
Some call it a masterpiece - others were extremely disappointed. I initially feel this is the weakest of the trilogy (but it still feels like it was needed and belongs in Nolan's idea of Batman) and I feel some of the acting and character moments hammy. But on second view I may see under the skin motivations and subtle nuances of characters I expect to find in Nolan films from a second viewing that should hopefully enrich my experience of this film…if they aren't there though I will still be very disappointed.
Coming up the stunning I-Max review conclusion of the film. ~ 'He has a lovely, lovely voice.'
Well I saw the nuances, in glorious I-Max. Colliard seemed stilted upon first viewing / I now realized that she was just playing reserved. I missed a lot of good Bane lines (because of the mumbling and action going on) - In I-Max all the wider shots of the city look great. And of course the opening sequence was stunning. This film Nolan made with a lot of guts and passion taking no prisoners in the decisions he made boldly in the final storyline. There is some obnoxious monologging that still bothers me and the gloomy moments still bother me and one particular scene at the end with Catwoman bothers me, but other than that they are minor than my initial reaction of feeling like all the pieces weren't fitting together…upon second views I noticed the ties that glued them together much better even though they are subtle and get lost in the action, they're still there which is important. Some of the themes are obvious and kind of beat into your head which is a mistake in the way Chris and Jonathan Nolan write but over all it feels like a Batman piece through and through and I'm not yet ready to call it anywhere near a masterpiece it is a great one. But the trilogy deserves to stand next to the first 3 Star Wars Films, Godfather Films and the Indiana Jones trilogy (yes no one cares about the 4th one) and even the Die Hard films…Christopher Nolan's Batman Films are now legend.
If you didn't like 'The Dark Knight Rises' the first time around I highly recommend a second watch, take your fan goggles off, take your directors hat off, take all of that extra crap you'd normally bring to a movie like this and take it in for what the film is and intended to be a part of this trilogy and only then can you appreciate at it…if you still don't like it, than that's fine too but I think like me most people overhyped it for themselves and didn't 'give it it's day in court' so to speak, and as a fan of both Christopher Nolan and Batman and His version of Batman, knowing his style of peppering his films with subtle nuances and details, I wanted to see it again, and was very pleased I did, it's not a grand slam, on first view it was just a base-hit, but on second viewing a decent home run.
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***Now about the tragedy that happened in Colorado. I don't know what went through the mind of the killer or what what it even had to do with the film. The film had not even been released by the time of the massacre. He picked a setting where he knew people would be there and shot up the place. "Oldboy" is my all time favorite film and according to the reports after the massacre at Virginia Tech one of the murders favorite films and an inspiration…most of these deranged killers who find inspiration in any form of art be it Novels, Films, Music, ect…are just looking for a scapegoat to justify their awful behavior and would have otherwise found it anywhere else they could point to something big and important and say 'that did it'. It is a tragedy and no one should remember the killer, he wanted fame and doesn't deserve it…we should all pray and remember the victims and never assume we could understand what them or their families went though. Films are not real. Reality is real. The differences are obvious. This tragedy is deeply sad and the filmmakers shouldn't feel any responsibility. This film series brought great joy and positive inspiration to millions of people. That is what Batman is about, love and hope against fear and oppression.***
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