Before I begin: What I am going to be writing here is very different from my 'normal' 'reviews' and is more along the lines of a list of things that bothered me about Christopher Nolan's final film in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. I also want to state that I actually liked the film overall. Which is scary after all of it's brutal flaws. I guess certain actors just carried the film for me, while others (including the director) did their best to ruin it. To be honest, had the first two movies in the film not been so terrific and flowed through the scenes with such a sense of fluidity, then I probably wouldn't have felt the need to post such a list. However, Nolan set a precedent with his other films, and while the film was impressive in it's own right, it truly missed the bar on many levels. Here are some of my biggest problems/inconsistencies with the film...
- Time frame - the entire bomb sequence in the later half of the film, starting from the football scene up until the explosion, was completely discombobulated. Certain aspects of the film take longer than they should, while others seemed to occur way too fast. I will elaborate on these more throughout the list, but for now just keep this idea in mind.
- Injuries - Batman apparently can barely walk in the beginning of the film. Okay…why? During the moving it is claimed that the last time confirmed sighting of batman was the night that Harvey Dent died. If I remember correctly, Batman was seen running away from a pack of dogs and police in an effort to escape. He seemed pretty fine to me there and if that was his last time out as the Batman then what on earth happened? Did Alfred break his leg to stop him from going out again to fight crime? Bruce also somehow creates this thing on his leg in a matter of moments that makes him strong enough to break a brick wall. Well that is awesome…bravo. Now, why have you been waiting 8 years to do something that ‘seemingly’ takes no time at all and makes you able to walk like the 30-40 year old man that you are at this point? Lastly, Bruce gets his back broken and heals in a record amount of time by a simple punch from an old man and also somehow doesn’t die (or even get hurt for that matter) every time he jumps and hangs himself trying to get out of the prison.
- Travel - How on earth does he get back into Gotham City after the Bane locks it down. I understand that he is “Batman” but he doesn’t get in as Batman; he enters as Bruce Wayne. Let’s also not forget that he somehow gets across the world with no money or resources and without letting anyone on to his whereabouts. (Don’t you think that if anyone actually saw him they would think to themselves… “Hey…that’s Bruce Wayne. He lives in Gotham, how did he get out?”)
- Bane fights Batman. Bane reveals Batman’s identity to Catwoman, and many of his other guards. Bane defeats Batman and removes his mask. Countless people (mainly guards) now know that Batman is Bruce Wayne. Many also know that he is either in prison, in a wheelchair from watching Bane break his back, or dead. So please…Christopher Nolan…explain that when Bruce Wayne gets back into Gotham, and is purposely captured by some of Bane’s guards, that there isn’t a completely insane reaction from any of the guards that he has shown up? This makes absolutely no sense.
- Miranda Tate/Talia is completely ridiculous in this story. Why butcher a very deep character and turn her into a senseless killer out for revenge. Her and Bruce are supposed to have a meaningful relationship and they even have a kid. At one point Bane says “He will come for her”. Why? There was never any real developed relationship between the two. They just had one night together…and Bruce Wayne has had hundreds of one nights with women. She really did nothing to stand out whatsoever. Now I know that this is Nolan’s Batman. That makes sense because this is his version of the well known and established superhero. But why do I feel like I just don’t care about Talia, the random board members who take charge in this film, or the hothead beat cop (Robin).
- Robin - Please just stop. Take this out of the film. It is completely ridiculous and nonsensical. First of all…how could he ever be ‘Robin’ if his name is Robin? Who wouldn’t guess that it was him? Second, how is John Blake short for Robin? The character in the film says to Blake that he should use his full name…not his original name. Please explain how this makes any sense. Oh, and one more thing. How does he have ridiculous intuition? Really…a smile gave away that Bruce Wayne was Batman…really. Do ex-cops normally going swinging from a rope like Tarzan randomly into a waterfall in hopes that they won’t smash into a wall and die instantaneously. Well he is Joseph Gordon-Levitt…and he can do nothing wrong in the eyes of well…everyone...so I guess its fine.
- Bruce’s fingerprints being stolen made him lose like 25 million in the stock market. At some point in the series he had about 50 million. I could be very off about this but just bare with me. He lost about half of it on the renewable energy thing that he created. That would leave him with about 25 million. Someone explain to me how if someone takes my fingerprints I can go into millions of dollars in debt better on stock futures. Oh, and where can I park my motorcycle if I decide to head down to Wall Street and do some trading to try and make my money back.
- Inception? – Did Bruce really escape a nuclear like bomb or do Caine and Nolan just love inception so much that they figured they had to do another level of dreaming in this film as well.
- James Gordon (Gary Oldman) – Commissioner Gordon was quite possibly the best character in the entire series. Nolan actually tried to play down the character's overall dedication and faithfulness to the force in this film. Somehow JGL is the one on top with that little one liner “hands look pretty dirty to me”. What a joke…what an insult to the character, the actor, and the fans.
- Joker- First of all I want to start by saying that I can only imagine the pain and suffering of the friends and family of Heath Ledger following his death. It is sad when anyone dies in this world and even more so when it is a well liked and very talented man such as Ledger. However, to completely remove the Joker from the third film is probably the most outrageous thing I have ever seen in film making. In The Dark Knight, the Joker is made out to be the most intense and unforgiving villain to ever grace the streets of Gotham. It suited that character well because it is well known that Batman's greatest foe has always been the unforgettable Joker. I’m curious though…did we all take crazy pills before seeing this last film in the trilogy. Are we really supposed to believe that the Joker just vanished/ran away after the last film? Okay…well thank you Nolan, you just completely ruined the character and disgraced the entire series. Batman has been doing nothing for almost a decade…what the hell happened to the Joker? Maybe he just stayed in prison this time. Wait, didn’t all the prisoners get released…Oops. Well he was a villain from another movie and he really didn’t fit into this storyline. Wait, Scarecrow was in this film…Oops. What a joke. The actor who played the Joker did die…but the character did not.
I just want to point out again that I actually enjoyed the film. I really just don't understand how we are all supposed to be okay with the Joker being completely absent even in a flashback scene or something. He did kill the girl that Bruce Wayne loved. Shouldn't we have seen or heard something about him during Wayne's agonizing? It would have been the same situation if Michael Caine died of old age and then there was just no Alfred in the final film...lame.
Bane's voice...lame, loud, and sounded like a megaphone.
After all the senseless killing in the film, Nolan's liberties with certain characters and his casting, and a very odd aspect of the entire film where a character (Lucius Fox) ran Wayne's company...when he claimed that he was resigning at the end of the last film. Did Nolan ever even watch the second film and if so does he realize that many people either saw a triple feature of all three films or watched the prequels at home before the final movie?
Movies that I liked better than The Dark Knight Rises:
- Batman Begins
- Superman Returns
- The Amazing Spider-Man
