Stewball wrote:ayall wrote:Finally saw this movie, I was waiting for the hype to wear off before giving it a fair view.
Overall a success, but i had higher expectations for the series and Nolan.
Although I saw tons of story flaws in this one, props on centralizing the series on Ra's al Ghul and introducing the general public to some of the less known batman villains.
I really enjoyed Bane and think Tom Hardy did a spectacular job (especially having Ledgers award winning 'The Joker' performance to follow).
I wasn't as impressed by Anne Hathaway and was surprised by her seemingly minor Cat Women role.
I would pay her the same complement paid to Katie Holmes in Batman Begins; at-least she didn't royally fuck it up.
The story seemed poorly pasted together and the movie was unnecessarily long with some really stupid scenes ([spoiler]the prison with people chanting = embarrassingly stupid idea[/spoiler]).
[spoiler]Starting 8 years after dents death with this movie coming out 4 years later was unnecessarily stupid.
They could have easily stuck with 4 years (actual time), especially considering not much 'occurred' between the two.
When I say 'occurred' i really mean explained by the movie... this was another huge mistake, not providing any back stories to some key changes and introduction to new characters.
For example; I got the impression Alfreds stance/support on Batman was a complete flip-flop from his 'for now, they'll have to do with you' belief in TDK.
Wayne physical and social demise was barely explained and they didn't explain Miranda (Talia) rise to CEO, or Foley and Blakes appearance.[/spoiler]
I'll skip pointing out obvious/gaping holes in the actual movie plot, but I expected better from the Nolan brothers after proving such talent at these sort of things in prior movies (the Prestige being my favorite).
I also felt the end was rushed with some more embarrassingly stupidly predictable crap.
My harsh criticism is solely based on higher expectations, but let there be no doubt this movie (and Nolan's Batman Series) was head and feet better than iron man, Spider-man, Transformers or any other previous comic book series.
I agree except that with all those flaws I find it hard to call it a success. And my evaluations are the reverse of yours for Hathaway, who I thought was the most interesting character, and Hardy, who I really like but, I mean, that mask was the most limiting of any mask I can remember. Bane is as one-dimensional as the Joker was not.
Unlike TDK where Alfred who had the best line, the "some people just want to watch the world burn" soliloquy , catwoman had it here, "There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."--she hissed in his ear. (Part of the political commentary that got lost in the jumbled story.)
Batman pulling his punches was just way to over the top as is the absurd 9.0 on IMDb. If Nolan had had 6 more months it would have been a completely different movie.
I think the movie was very successful by any definition of the term.
While it could definitely have been better, it still pulled in a fuck ton of money and had a great story with some top notch action scenes.
I too feared the mask hindrance on Hardy (as my original post in this thread), but i thought it wasn't to bad.
Nolans use of full body shots, showing Hardys bad-ass frame, made the mask seem more natural (i.e. not big head small body). I also thought the voice/tone used for Bane was absolutely perfect.
You and I certainly do find ourselves as opposites in terms of Hathaway v. Hardy.
I think Hardy had the best lines and spectacular delivery;
[spoiler]"When Gotham Is Ashes, You Have My Permission To Die"
"It would be extremely painful... for you"
"Now's not the time for fear. That comes later"
"Ah you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding! "
"Ahhh yes, I was wondering what would break first!?! Your spirit... or your body!"[/spoiler]
BTW - definitely wouldn't call it 'soliloquy' (they weren't alone when they delivered said lines, they weren't talking to them selves).