Overall, The film was pretty damn good. “The Dark Knight” was
better, but they are both fantastic films.
SO to get it out, here are a few quips that totally stood
out.
1. Understanding
what batman says is one thing, but understanding Bane is another. Both of their
voices were so altered at times that it was difficult to keep up with what they
were saying, especially when they were talking to each other in one of their
fight scenes.
2. Cheesy
one-liners were amazing and modestly done too. They got it out and moved on,
but I am very very glad they held on to the cheesy one-liners.
3. There
were a few plot twists (which I dislike) that altered very important information
of the film. (I will discuss this later)
4. Once
again, lots of use of bombs and the classic ticking clock to build suspense.
(I’m sort of over the whole ticking clock plot device, it’s been used too much
in Nolan’s movies and I felt like I was just going through the motions.)
5. Did
anyone notice the giant Saks Fifth Avenue sign that was total product placement
during the climax of the film?
Alright, so:
WRITING:
The first Dark Knight film was perfectly done. It fit script
structure perfectly and was extremely well executed. It was a model for the
perfect cookie-cut movie. The Dark Knight Rises on the other hand was a little
bit looser and felt more organic with its storyline.
Being looser had some good and bad side effects.
It has an overwhelming world-view, too much. There was no
centralized or focused law or balance of the world like the dark knight has.
The Dark Knight is very Taoist and has a great balance between light and dark,
good and evil, etc. The Dark Knight Rises on the other hand seemed to be
cluttered with too many opinions and I’m not sure if Nolan knew exactly what he
wanted to say about the world, so he crammed everything in. It kind of made the
story lack unity; the scenes didn’t seem to fit together as well this time.
The arc was a little bit more subdued beneath the
straight-foreword diction of the main characters bluntly stating their opinions
of the world and politics.
The plot twists were a bit annoying too. Nolan knew what
scenes he wanted in the film, but spent more time finding out where to put them
than creating a cause and effect chain that helps the story grow. (Dark Knight
was brilliant at this, it was like a Rube Goldberg Machine)
The discouraging thing about the plot twists, is that they
would lead you to believe one thing, and then change it. I feel lied to (The
flashbacks made it worse) because it should have been done where the bad guys
create suspense by telling the audience something vague (it HAS to be vague)
and it is revealed later that it was a step backwards so they could take 3
steps foreword, or there is a much bigger plan at stake: playing things out
like a chess game.
(X-files and Battlestar Gallactica do this very well: “we
have other plans for Mr. Mulder”)
Instead, the information was told to the audience (very
pertinent information to the storyline), which was then changed after we are
strung along for two thirds of the movie. This is very aggravating, because you
cant go back and change facts.
Yes, it is okay to go back and change perspective or a new
way to look at the motivation as to why someone did something, but to go back
and change who did what while turning a supporting character into the lead
villain (as well as breaking the reality bar) is just bad writing.
(They also tied loose ends of plot points from the first film
through flashbacks, and I found this to be more distracting and dwelling on the
past rather than moving foreword- although it is a trilogy which is sort of
bookended.)
ON A BRIGHTER NOTE:
Anne Hathaway’s character and performance was amazing and
brilliant.
(Anne Hathaway plays the protagonist who overcomes her
inability to trust people.)
What I like about her character is:
She understands her identity and doesn’t rely on anyone else
to know who she is, which makes her a very independent and strong-willed
character, unlike many protagonists in most movies, and also unlike many
people.
At the same time, she is also very weak, since her flaw is
her inability to trust people. This makes her a great character facing a double-edged
dilemma that she has to overcome.
What brings the character to a whole other level is the fact
that she is desperate and somewhat depressed.
Her being “broken” is what makes her passionate.
It’s like how we can have no light without the dark, there
needs to be some value of contrast for either to exist.
It is this balance of opposites, and the use of these
opposites in correlation with one another in order to create contrast that
makes the writing (and more importantly the characters) in these films great.
In one scene, Bane even says, “without hope, there can be no
suffering”
(Which in a way is also kind of saying that war is balance)
Catwoman is a perfect paradigm of this perpetual balance that
Nolan creates.
Furthermore, I would also like to say that it was really nice
seeing catwoman NOT being slutty. It was wonderful seeing a woman portrayed in
a respectable manner again.
As for the rest of the writing, I feel like it was mostly
cluttered by trying to tie up loose ends and having too many sub-themes.
· Bookending
“Why do we fall Bruce? So we learn to pick ourselves up.”
· Lots of
flashbacks trying to prove what they said earlier in the first film.
o
Reminds me of “Austin Powers: Goldmember”:
“We have more in common than you think – Yeah, uh huh, I said
that. ”
· Heavy
exposition in some spots
o
Too much explaining what’s going on, and too
much regurgitating backstory.
o
I can’t recall which scenes had this, it was
minimal, but when it happened, it was pretty blunt.
· The plot
started off really good, but then got cluttered as the film progressed.
· Characters
died, then surprise, they’re not really dead. Please stop it.
Essentially, I feel like the movie is kind of about the world ending, in a way saying, “if the world were to end tomorrow, and you knew it, what would you do?”
(In a way of encouraging/inspiring the audience to become
more humane and look at their own morals)
CINEMATOGRAPHY
The locations were much simpler in this movie, which made it
feel much more down-to-earth. The angles were a lot less bold/edgy, so they
didn’t look as cool, but I think it was a really good choice and helped the
audience get absorbed into the story more.
(I love the framing when Bruce speaks to Alfred for the last
time in the mansion: the frame is nicely balanced by a window in the
background, nothing more. Brilliant. That one stood out to me as a beautiful
shot in its simplicity.)
As for the action and fight scenes, those didn’t appeal to me
too much.
The fight scenes didn’t have much choreography to them, it
was mainly just a bunch of punches and cuts back and forth. It could have been
so much more. They also sort of detracted from the story and often times it
felt like the scenes should have ended sooner and got back to the story. (Ip
Man and Princess Bride are 2 great examples of great fight choreography.)
SOUND DESIGN
The sound design was really interesting. There were a lot of
lines which were spoken almost as a whisper (mostly by Catwoman) and it brought
a new intensity to the series.
On the down side, Bane and Batman were hard to hear.
I can’t really remember the music too much other than the low
French horn tone, so it must have been good if it was so invisible.
And that is pretty much it for the dark knight!! It was very
enjoyable regardless of my picky filmic nature, and I highly encourage seeing
it.
