The Dark Knight Rises The TDKR General Discussion Thread - - - - - - - Part 156

[Gothamsknight]

Yeah, I know it's hard to label it, but you know when a movie hits you and changes you completely? That's TDK to me. Althrough Jurassic Park is very close, I still can't find another movie that's so meaningful, inspiring, thrilling and well done like this. Of course I know it's not perfect, but for me, well... it's kinda of

Agreed! I haven't had a theater experience where I was left speechless since TDK honestly and I've seen A LOT of movies in the theater. Jurassic Park is certainly up there for me too along with Raiders of The Lost Ark and others haha.

And to me, The Dark Knight is perfect. I don't care what anybody says!

 

[AntonGobbs89]

I need some help, I’m going to make a visual retrospective of the hype/release of the film for Reddit. I’ll list what’ll be included, but I need someone to tell me if I’m missing something that stood out to them as an important piece of the marketing/hype.

The Post will include:
The Mountain Dew promo
-The Nokia Promo
-The NASCAR
-Design By Humans contest
-The Imported From Gotham City contest
-Documents from the viral marketing along with the chalk Bat-symbol scattered across cities at the time
-The Tumbler Tour
-The MTV Promo

Is there something else that should be
included?

Also, I know there was a mobile game and another game called The Fire Rises. Are these two separate games?

 

[Filmfreak]

I remember the film being awarded as most anticipated movie of 2012 in the 2011 Scream Awards.

 

[Kane52630]

 

[AntonGobbs89]

I remember the film being awarded as most anticipated movie of 2012 in the 2011 Scream Awards.

Thank you

 

[Gee]

10 years for TDKR. Whew, time flew by...

Let's celebrate with some Baneposting... @Chip Chipperson, where you at?

 

[Chip Chipperson]

10 years for TDKR. Whew, time flew by...

Let's celebrate with some Baneposting... @Chip Chipperson, where you at?

Bane?

AHHHHHHHHHHH NOT THE BANES!!!!!!!!

 

[Brother Jack]

A Critical Reevaluation of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ 10 Years Later

"The final entry of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was reviewed decently upon release, but with time it’s developed a slight but unmistakable air of disfavor..."

What is with the revisionist history that surrounds this film?

The amount of articles or videos that remark that the film "polarized critics and reviewers/was tepidly received" is ridiculously high.

Yes, 87% critic and 90% audience score is..decent, I guess. /s

When every single metric of gauging reception is overwhelmingly positive, why is the metric 'decent reviews' when any other film would be labeled acclaimed or very positively received?

Nothing wrong with taking the film to task if someone feels it should be.

But can we be accurate about the film's success?

Feels like they need to paint it as a failure or letdown to the masses to bolster their opinion.

Even though the movie was a resounding success by every metric I do think it now has a somewhat checkered reputation at least among geek culture. Anecdotally, I have friends who don't like Rises. But from my experience a lot of the negative appraisals of it are based around textual misunderstandings of the film. It always sounds super pretentious to say that, but I genuinely believe it to be the case, as evidenced by some of this article.

 

[BatLobster]

I concur...as pretentious as it may seem, I think there has been very little "intellectually honest" discourse about the movie...or at least criticism from a viewpoint of actually demonstrating a solid understanding of what the film is trying to do. For lack of a better term..'getting it' . People tend to get blinded either their preferences about comic book films, Batman as a character or even political ideology and wrap a lot of that baggage into it rather than engaging with the movie on its own terms. Of course it's understandable that a lot of people simply had a hard time seeing past it being a follow-up to TDK and all the baggage that came with that

I don't mean this to come down on people, more just that it makes TDKR more interesting to me that it generates that type of response.

Also, happy 14th to TDK and happy 10th to TDKR! The two films that cemented TDKT as the seminal movie trilogy of my generation as far as I'm concerned.

 

[JackWhite]

I may find the movie frustrating at times, and whenever I'm discussing the film with friends; I often bring up my problems with the pacing, odd character choices at times or the Gotham POV being completely nonexistent during Bane's revolution. But I'd lying if I said the movie didn't do the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne justice.

The movie maybe flawed, but it gets so much right about the character, IMO. The action and spectacle might be the best of the entire trilogy. And the film has some incredible character moments that I'd consider iconic in terms of Batman on screen moments. But as much as I absolutely loved The Batman, and am totally on board with Reeve's and Pattinson's take on Gotham City and it's inhabitants, I'm not sure anything from that film topped Batman's first appearance in the film, the back-breaking scene, or Bruce making the jump to escape the pit.

So yeah, happy 10 year anniversary to The Dark Knight Rises. I think I'm gonna be giving the film another spin this weekend, lol.

 

[Gothamsknight]

In my experience, the people I know who are somewhat critical only say "it's not as good as TDK", but they also still acknowledge its a great film overall, which it is. I truly believe TDKR is one of the best superhero films ever made.

 

[Brother Jack]

Happy 10th Birthday to Rises, a movie I hold very close to my heart, warts and all. It's maybe my favorite film in maybe my favorite trilogy of all time. And as a superhero trilogy closer and definitive ending for its hero it is still yet to be eclipsed (though some have gotten close). Nolan set the high watermark each time out with something that had never quite been done with a cape film before and though there's been great work that's come out since no one has yet to change the game the way he did, from beginning to end.

 

[BatLobster]

The hill that I will die on is that I still think The Dark Knight Trilogy...three films, still felt like a bigger and more fulfilling emotional journey to me than the 30 (or however many) films of the MCU have. Just something about the traditional model of, you follow a character, you tell a beginning/middle/end and those stories are spaced out 3/4 years apart as emotional investment and a longing to see the characters again grows along the way, and the filmmakers evolve too. There is really something unbeatably authentic about that approach to franchise filmmaking for me, as old fashioned as it may seem now and sadly maybe even impossible to fully recreate.

It's become increasingly more apparent to me how special those movies are. They always felt like something "a little different" from the other blockbusters at the time, but a decade after the conclusion of the trilogy they feel like something from a different dimension/timeline altogether. I guess that tends to happen as blockbusters age, but I think the exponential growth of the superhero genre in particular really highlights that.

 

[Rick190293]

TDKR hits me very hard...as it came in a very decisive time of my life. Dealing with the first job, the first love, new challenges, anxiety and depression all together (still struggling with those)... I felt the pain Bruce was suffering at beginning of the film. Coming after TDK was a huge responsability, and I can say I was very satisfied with the story the Nolans has done. Bruce climbing out of the pit is still one of the most powerful scenes I've ever seen, and it does serves as a pretty good motivational moment, to remember that we all can pick ourselves up when we fall. Seeing him receiving a happy ending still give me the feels.
Can't believe it's already 10 years, still remember going to the teather to buy the tickets today (premiere here on Brazil was on July 27th). The Fire Rises!

 

[The Joker]

Any Batman movie that came after TDK was not in an enviable position because it was always going to be compared and have those big shoes to try and fill.

Heck even now every new Batman movie gets compared to it.

 

[BatLobster]

Any Batman movie that came after TDK was not in an enviable position because it was always going to be compared and have those big shoes to try and fill.

Heck even now every new Batman movie gets compared to it.

On top of that, TDK's ending had a certain level of finality to it IMO. It lightly suggested at possible future stories, but I think it worked as a satisfying ending in and of itself that culminated in a definitive moment that summed up Batman so well. So not only are you attempting to follow that, but it's also adding onto a story which already felt like it could stand alone.

I'm personally really glad that Nolan made a third film to give closure to Bruce Wayne's arc and I think it was needed for a truly complete story that fulfilled the promise of Batman Begins, but I think yeah, TDK is always going to be a high benchmark for the franchise and I think it probably was never going to cast a bigger shadow than in the case of a movie that had to directly follow that.

 

[Brother Jack]

On top of that, TDK's ending had a certain level of finality to it IMO. It lightly suggested at possible future stories, but I think it worked as a satisfying ending in and of itself that culminated in a definitive moment that summed up Batman so well. So not only are you attempting to follow that, but it's also adding onto a story which already felt like it could stand alone.

That's an underrated aspect of the conundrum of Rises. There is a reality where Nolan never came back to make a third film and as a duology there is a mostly complete story told there, ending on a pretty big statement on who and what Batman is. But it would've been a much more tragic story though, and perhaps unfulfilled as an entire (but microcosmic) depiction of Bruce Wayne's journey.

 

[Awest66]

Happy Birthday, TDKR.

No matter how many terminal nitpickers you attract, You will always stand tall as a Batman movie, comic book movie and movie in general.

 

[Gothamsknight]

Nolan had the guts and gusto to make a full 3 film story arc for Bruce Wayne/Batman and for Bruce to accomplish his goal, give the people that symbol of hope and show that Batman is an example of what people can aspire to be. Of perseverance and determination. Bruce retiring and passing that onto someone else is so poetic, especially when a lot of comic fans push back on the idea of Batman retiring. But Nolan did it and made it work beautifully. TDKR is an amazing film and I'll ALWAYS stand by that. Nothing in the last 10 years has touched it for me.

 

[Dede]

A Critical Reevaluation of ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ 10 Years Later

"The final entry of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy was reviewed decently upon release, but with time it’s developed a slight but unmistakable air of disfavor..."

What is with the revisionist history that surrounds this film?

The amount of articles or videos that remark that the film "polarized critics and reviewers/was tepidly received" is ridiculously high.

Yes, 87% critic and 90% audience score is..decent, I guess. /s

When every single metric of gauging reception is overwhelmingly positive, why is the metric 'decent reviews' when any other film would be labeled acclaimed or very positively received?

Nothing wrong with taking the film to task if someone feels it should be.

But can we be accurate about the film's success?

Feels like they need to paint it as a failure or letdown to the masses to bolster their opinion.

Thank you for saying this. I’ve wanted to tear out my hair reading these articles. If they were just saying in there opinion it would be ok but they all talk like it’s an absolute that people hated the movie when it’s looked at as the 2nd best of the trilogy. The trilogy is so great you can make a case for each film being the best of the 3

 

[AntonGobbs89]

I think the best thing about this film is Bruce’s arc. I think it’s ballsy where Nolan takes the character in this movie. I like the idea of him being a broken man that’s become suicidal and the arc of him having to overcome grief by getting outside of that pit and wanting to live life is an interesting place to leave the character.

I also like the parallels between Batman and Bane. Both on suicidal crusades, and being members of the same organization.

However, overall I like the film but I have a lot of issues with it. I think the story presented here is so massive that to squeeze it within an almost 3 hour time frame doesn’t do it Justice. I almost would’ve preferred a mini-series that could really delve into certain aspects of this story. Like what is it really like to live in Gotham under Bane’s rule? How exactly did Bruce get back to the city? There are a lot of moments like that that the film doesn’t have time to answer.

The inclusion of Talia doesn’t work for me at all. I wish the film had taken time to make her an actual character instead of a plot twist. Also how she just takes over as the main villain in the final chase scene over Bane has never sat right with me. It’s been talked about before, but Bane has one of the most anti-climactic villain deaths.

So overall I like the film, and Bruce’s journey is enough for me to enjoy it, but it is one of Nolan’s weaker films.

 

[The Batman]

Happy Anniversary to a film that's nitpicked to death by a vocal minority. All respect to Nolan for actually giving Bruce Wayne a happy ending, breaking an arbitrary fanboy rule. Hardy's Bane is easily one of the most memorable villains in recent memory. All in all, a fitting end to one of the most iconic versions of Batman.

 

[Dede]

Truly happy anniversary. Also after so many years I finally noticed that the line “ I came back to stop you” could be a reference to when Bruce said “I will stop you” to ras right before the manor burned down. Could be just me thinking to much but it could explain why Nolan picked that line and I think it makes sense.

 

[Gothamsknight]

I think some people often forget how heroic Bales Batman was and I think that's one of the many reasons that iteration resonated with audiences so much. He's a perfect example of doing what he can to save the spirit of broken people. I'll always admire how Nolan made such an inspirating version Batman that resonates even more today than it did 10 years. That final scene with Bruce nodding towards Alfred as Zimmer's theme kicks in says it all. "I did it Alfred, and now I can rest". I ******* love it.

 

[BatLobster]

I think some people often forget how heroic Bales Batman was and I think that's one of the many reasons that iteration resonated with audiences so much. He's a perfect example of doing what he can to save the spirit of broken people. I'll always admire how Nolan made such an inspirating version Batman that resonates even more today than it did 10 years. That final scene with Bruce nodding towards Alfred as Zimmer's theme kicks in says it all. "I did it Alfred, and now I can rest". I ******* love it.

Also, people have criticized the choice to write Alfred out of the movie and have him leave, but the ending hits so much harder because that last moment is also a reconciliation and closure for their relationship. You feel as happy for Alfred having peace as you do for Bruce.