The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

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.