Dark Knight Rises Thoughts

(Spoilers)

Initially after watching The Dark Knight Rises I was really happy with what I had just seen and thought Christopher Nolan had achieved what few other directors were able to before which was to create a trilogy where each film is good and compliments the others. I loved the ending and I loved Bane and I loved Catwoman but then I began thinking more about it and now I’m just pissed off with the film that I saw last night.


As soon as I left the cinema I started talking about how slow the beginning of the film was, the first hour didn’t have much going for it and was used to set up relationships and show us what Gotham has become since the last film. We also got a couple of scenes with Bane being badass which I was ok with. Apart from that I didn’t have much of a complaint for the film. Now as I think back there were a few things that really annoyed me.

Bruce Wayne being a pussy. When we first see Bruce with his cane I thought it was just a disguise, one that Batman is famous for but after Selina Kyle kicks the cane from under him and he falls to the floor a crippled mess and she makes a wonderful escape I realised it wasn’t. If we are led to believe that Bruce Wayne hung up the cape and cowl after the events of The Dark Knight and that 8 years have passed how has he not at least recuperated since those events? Also YOU ARE FUCKING BATMAN!! MAN UP!! So what if your oldest friend and want-to-be girlfriend died in the devious plot of a psychopathic clown and so what if the city of Gotham has turned on you and so what if organised crime has now vanished because of something called the Harvey Dent Act, Batman fights crime no matter what. He doesn’t cry into his pillow and cut himself off from the world. No, these things should urge him on, especially the death of Rachel Dawes.

I’ve got to say when Bane lifted Batman up and broke his spine across his knee I wanted to stand up and cheer. It brought a massive smile to my face because I had hoped it was going to happen. Then Bruce Wayne is thrown in a prison in the middle of nowhere and after being punched in the back to sort out a protruding vertebrate is hung from a rope and left to heal naturally. Come on now! How is that going to work, he should be irreversibly fucked up for a lot longer than a couple of months if that’s how he’s healing himself especially when he couldn’t shake off his dodgy knees in 8 years!! In the comics Bruce Wayne stops being Batman after what Bane did to him and instead has someone take over from him. What Bane did should have been treated as something far more severe than what it seemed like on screen. Then after escaping his prison he somehow finds his way back to Gotham even though no-one should be able to get in or out of there. Where exactly was that prison? How the hell did he make it back to Gotham so quickly? How the hell did he get into Gotham? I’ll let the last one slide because he’s Batman and has many tricks up his sleeve. But going from having his spine broken to being put in a prison somewhere far away (India maybe?), then healing himself enough to be able to not only walk but do all the sit up’s his heart could desire and then escape the prison and even though he’s got no money and no resources can find his way back to Gotham in less than three months is a bit silly.

After all that though I must say I really enjoyed Christian Bales performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman, he was probably at his best in this film compared to the other two and although he could have been over shadowed quite easily with Bane and Selina Kyle looming over him he held his own and gave another brilliant performance.



Another awesome performance and one that I was dreading in the build-up to seeing The Dark Knight Rises was Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She was just awesome. The change in character from maid to thief when caught by Bruce Wayne and her kick ass fighting skills made her a far more enjoyable character than I previously thought she would be. Also the suit she wears really bothered me in the promo stills, I thought it looked lame but it really worked in the film and I liked how she was never referred to as Catwoman and that the ‘cat ears’ were accidental and very subtlety done. I also loved the interactions with both Selina/Bruce and Catwoman/Batman. Throughout the film they worked very well and the inner fight for Selina about whether she is good or bad was an enjoyable watch.

Now on to Bane. The opening ‘reveal’ scene of Bane on the plane was really a let-down for me. It looked amazing don’t get me wrong, seeing the smaller plane suspended by a bigger one and then knowing that they actually did that over the mountains of Scotland is incredible but this film is part of a trilogy and is going to be compared to the other films and this opening is just weak compared to the Joker reveal scene at the beginning of The Dark Knight. Thankfully Bane looked badass and his voice was awesome and apart from a few lines which I didn’t quite catch I thought the voice was perfect and mostly understandable. The way that Bane was speaking, the shift in tone in a sentence or the way he would say words really made the character seem crazy yet intelligent, he’s an eccentric mercenary who takes no shit. I also loved the fights that Bane and Bats had, sure they could have done more with them instead of just having them brawl but I still loved them especially the fight under the sewers and that’s mostly down to the spine breaking bit. I also loved how fast Bane became when Bats broke a bit of his mask in the fight scene near the end; Bane looked like a complete monster that was just holding back until he really needed to unleash some fury. Up until the end I absolutely loved the Bane character and the fact that he didn’t have super strength didn’t bother me but then the reveal of Talia al Ghul and the reveal that Bane was just a dog being held on a leash by someone else, then I wanted to scream what the fuck?! That isn’t Bane! Bane is intelligent enough and physically dominating enough that he shouldn’t be told what to do by anyone. I know it worked well for the story and brought it round back to Batman Begins but to reveal Talia and then kill Bane (well I wasn’t satisfied that he actually died to be honest, yeah that blast from the bike might take out cars and walls but this is Bane motherfucker!) in the most underwhelming of ways and just tell us ‘hey forget Bane he was the guard dog, Talia is the main evil villain’ was just stupid. And then she dies in a car crash after doing nothing anyway! While Talia worked well in the context of the story and was the best way possible that they could connect this film to the first one it still didn’t sit well with me that Bane was thrown away near the end. When something like that happens I can only hope that another film will be made and it starts with a doctor doing experiments on the body of Bane and then he pumps a drug called Venom into his mask and Banes eyes open and he then becomes the monster he should have been in Rises.



I’m a big Tom Hardy fan, same as I am for most actors in this film, so to see him go from ultimate crazy badass who would tear your arm off and then beat you at three layered chess to guard dog was sad to see. This should have been Banes film. Apart from that even with the mask Hardy did an awesome job as Bane, the voice was awesome and he looked huge!!

Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul was an almost perfect fit for the character as well but the more I think about that character and what her unveiling did the more annoyed I am by it and the less I want to talk about it. I will say that Marion was her usual good self and at least made the unveiling and twist somewhat of a shock to people who don’t know that Ra’s al Ghul never had a son but rather a daughter.

A quick few words on something else that bothered me in that happened in the film involving Alfred. After all the Batman comics and cartoons that I have read and seen I’ve been led to believe that Alfred stays with Bruce Wayne no matter what so it was a shock to see him actually leave when he said he would. When Bruce returns to Wayne manor I expected to see Alfred there and expected to see him give a speech about how he would stay with him no matter what but no he just fucks off. Yeah it kinda works in the story, especially so for Alfred’s character arc I suppose but it still made me annoyed to see him just leave Bruce when Bruce needed him most.

John Blake was a new character and one that I had my suspicions of leading up to the film. I had two theories on who he would turn out to be, either he would be Robin or events in the film would lead to him being the new Batman by the end of it. Turns out both were true. I really liked this character and he brought a new energy and interest to the story, the willingness to help people and do what others can’t or wouldn’t do was fun to watch and something that I hope is capitalised on. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an awesome actor and would be an excellent choice to continue the story in that universe as Robin if they can get a good script and a costume that doesn’t look like cheesy shit I hope they go for it.

Now some 14 hours after leaving the screening of The Dark Knight Rises I’m still mixed on how I feel about the film. On one hand, as one of my friends put it, it’s fucking Batman, what’s not to like!? Which is true, and the story, despite my own personal annoyances, was really good and ended the trilogy in easily the best way possible. Ignoring all outside references and focusing purely on the story, ignoring all coincidences and plot holes I guess The Dark Knight Rises was one hell of a film but yet for me upon first viewing is the weakest of the three but ended the trilogy so well that I can’t wait to see it again and see if it grows on me.