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| Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is finished. |
But then the reviews started coming in, and they were lukewarm. Suddenly, I imagine a bloated three-hour set-piece, and well... the result is that I waited nearly a month to see the film, and even then I caught it in a mid-week matinee. I was literally the only one in the theater yesterday.
*** Spoiler Alert ***
The rest of this post is going to assume that you've already seen the movie.
So, unlike some critics, I'm not gomna say that DKR was bad, but those folks that said it was a bloated mess were at least partly right. It was certainly bloated. I thought the movie itself made narrative sense, but the angle with Bruce Wayne losing his money was utterly unnecessary, especially since the film ultimately made no use whatsoever of his impoverished state. Even broke, Wayne retained the full power and resources of the Batman. And considering how much JP-8 his in-city helicopter would've consumed, that's really saying something.
Alas, the worst sin of this movie was neither bloat nor plot structure. The worst thing was that it just didn't feel like Batman. Never once do we see Batman as The World's Greatest Detective. Nor does he strike from the shadows, using his mind to craft the perfect ambush. Instead, we're given a three-hour passion play about Wayne's resolve, capped by a straight-up fistfight in broad daylight. As epic movie-plots go, that's fine. But as a Batman story, it leaves something to be desired. This movie would've well as a Justice League story, needing only a few more heroes and villains to fill out the various sides. As a Batman story, however, it needed to spend more time investigating, finding clues, and trying to piece it all together before it was too late.
So, like I said, I assume by now that you've seen the movie. What did you think? Also, was I the only one that saw the swerve with Talia al'Gul coming in the movie's second hour?
*** Spoiler Alert ***
The rest of this post is going to assume that you've already seen the movie.
So, unlike some critics, I'm not gomna say that DKR was bad, but those folks that said it was a bloated mess were at least partly right. It was certainly bloated. I thought the movie itself made narrative sense, but the angle with Bruce Wayne losing his money was utterly unnecessary, especially since the film ultimately made no use whatsoever of his impoverished state. Even broke, Wayne retained the full power and resources of the Batman. And considering how much JP-8 his in-city helicopter would've consumed, that's really saying something.
Alas, the worst sin of this movie was neither bloat nor plot structure. The worst thing was that it just didn't feel like Batman. Never once do we see Batman as The World's Greatest Detective. Nor does he strike from the shadows, using his mind to craft the perfect ambush. Instead, we're given a three-hour passion play about Wayne's resolve, capped by a straight-up fistfight in broad daylight. As epic movie-plots go, that's fine. But as a Batman story, it leaves something to be desired. This movie would've well as a Justice League story, needing only a few more heroes and villains to fill out the various sides. As a Batman story, however, it needed to spend more time investigating, finding clues, and trying to piece it all together before it was too late.
So, like I said, I assume by now that you've seen the movie. What did you think? Also, was I the only one that saw the swerve with Talia al'Gul coming in the movie's second hour?
I DID see the swerve, but I didn't put it together that she was Talia too late. I mean, Bane mentions he takes over the LoA and I was like, 'what about Talia?' After Talia and Bruce hit it, I thought, no good is going to come from this, and when he handed her the gun, I knew my paranoia was validated. :P
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a good film in that it didn't let the comic material box itself in, for better or worse, and I think that goes to your points about Bruce not being a detective or not being a scary motherf#cker.
Bereft of his money, Bruce Wayne depended on the same resourcefulness Selina Kyle did. And that's why they'll make babies.
ReplyDelete@Alan. That's a good point. The movie wasn't slavishly devoted to the source materil, and that is a good thing. Still, there were large swathes of Knightfall In there and more than a little of The Dark Knight Returns, especially in the film's first hour. With that said, the pieces that they took, especially of DKR weren't the pieces I'd have taken. I wanted to see him battle Bane in a mud hole and give us my all time favorite Batman line of all time: "You don't get it boy. This isn't a mud hole; it's an operating table. And I'm the surgeon.". Would've worked GREAT as an ending to that movie.
ReplyDelete@Tony: Okay, but he didn't steal 500 gallons of jet fuel.
And nobody in the real world has successfully undertaken a serious superhero career, either.
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