The Dark Knight Rises

In my opinion this was a good solidly made movie. My wife and I left the theater totally awe struck. We plan to see it again to focus on the details. The camera work was well thought out. None of that nauseating unnecessary camera movement like in the Hunger Games.
 
:shrug: While there are many problems, I just don't think that's one.

Granted it's not the biggest issue, but I think it's still a pretty big plot hole akin to Blake magically inferring that Wayne was Batman from watching him visit a boy's home. When you don't give any leadup or foundation whatsoever to a "reveal", it loses all effectiveness.
 
I saw it twice (first time in IMAX second time in Sony 4K) and I was worried that I'd get bored the second time, but I still enjoyed it. Yes there are problems, but some of the initial criticism has answers (I caught more things the second time around). I think some of the comparisons to being the Return of the Jedi are pretty apt for this trilogy, though (thankfully) with no Ewoks.
 
The Dark Knight was genius.

While I agree with you on having a hard time understanding some of the dialogue, I found the two substantially the same, and I have all the same criticisms of both.

In fact, while watching, I thought "great, here we go again; everyone's going to love, love, love this movie, and I'm going to be the odd one out AGAIN." I find it interesting that it isn't so.

Isaac's article touched on more than just TDKR; it critiqued Nolan's Batman as a whole, including TDK, and I agree with it.

I wonder, if over time, people will start to realize how similar the films were.
 
Well, here's one way they weren't similar at all -- in TDK, I was pretty much enraptured the whole time. In TDKR, I was pretty much bored the whole time.

In TDK, whenever Ledger was on the screen, I saw an Oscar in his future*. In TDKR, whenever Bane was on the screen, I saw "Humongous" from The Road Warrior, and I heard "Oscar" (as in, Oscar the grouch).

So, well, to each his own, you can have TDKR and I'll take TDK and we can both be happy. :)

*if he were to have a future, sadly it was not to be.
 
The difference that no one wants to admit is seeing the infamous and much-hyped last performance of Heath Ledger outweighed many of TDK's flaws.

While TDKR had the excellent Bane, his presence in the film is far more polarizing than the practically-universal praise Ledger's Joker received.
 
The whole Tom Waits bit has let some of the air out of Ledger's admittedly brilliant performance for me.
It goes beyond mere "inspiration"...


For the record, I said Brendan Gleeson shoulda won Supporting that year for In Bruges:
(http://www.chadcallaghan.com/cine2.html)


Again, though, I loved Hardy's Bane (and his voice).
I can't think of many better portrayals that conveyed such a true blue, honest-to-god "I-don't-give-a-poo poo" persona
(which, in itself, is scary, scary stuff).


Edit:
*typo
 
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Wait... they went in and DUBBED IT and THAT'S WHAT THEY CAME OUT WITH?!?!?!

Sheesh. They were in there doing the work already, and they couldn't find a better voice to use than the Swedish Chef?

Bah.

Totally agree... His body language totally differs from his audio dialogue......Now I know why it felt so theatrical. Like he was just reading it.

Still cant believe how dissapointed I am with this movie.
 
I'm with Callaghan on Bane. I enjoyed the voice and the performance, and as a villain I thought he brought something new to the table, a real physical threat to Batman. On the whole though I still can't fully defend TDKR against the critics. Many of the plot holes do strain the suspension of disbelief, in a way the ones in The Dark Knight didn't, but the primary reason I think The Dark Knight is a stronger film isn't just Ledger's performance. I think it makes its points more clearly. There is a thematic unity to it that makes it feel like more of a solid statement. The subject of law & order vs anarchy is more starkly drawn in the Batman / Joker dynamic and while some of those themes continue here, its muddled with a revenge plot and murky motivations from Bane. But I thought the general thrust of the story was strong, and I was engaged by Bruce Wayne's story arc here. As a resolution to a story I thought it was fine. That it didn't completely live up to the previous two was not as disappointing to me. I lived through the Star Wars prequels and the Matrix sequels, so I know what real disappointment is. That we got three Batman movies that aspired to this level of quality at all is kind of a minor miracle.
 
Saw it a second time. First time I didn't like it. 2nd time I thought it was good. I guess the problem for me was...it didn't fit my pre-concieved expectations (just like Inception) but once I accepted it for what it was I had a good time.
 
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