The Dark Knight Rises

Alright then, let's talk about the end of a trilogy that has made movie history and so many ways. First let's briefly talk about Batman as a whole and me.

• Batman: This is my favorite. It's not because the fact it's directed by Burton, it just had the right feel to it. Its dark, its got nice colors, good characters and felt like a comic book. Keaton is my favorite Batman and Nicholson is my favorite Joker. 
• Batman Returns: I love this as well. Yeah it has exaggerated, goofy moments but that's what made it really grab your attention and not let go. Danny DeVito as the Penguin is one of the few roles that actually works for him. I love how they made him so gross yet believable. Michelle Pfeiffer plays the Cat Woman everyone wanted to see and in my opinion is one of the greatest portrayed female villains in a movie. I'll go into more comparisons with her and Hathaway in a few.
• Batman Forever & Batman & Robin: These movies are stupid and everyone in the world knows that. But you know what? They're still entertaining as hell. Sure they're bad movies, but in my opinion what makes a movie god awful is if it is incredibly boring. These are far from it. These two probably have some of the worst casting in any movie. The only actor that fit was Jim Carrey as the Riddler. Everyone else could have been good if they just took it more seriously and didn't go for all out goofiness.
• Batman Begins:  I don't think there's a whole lot of people that fell in love with this movie. For me, it just wasn't memorable and nothing grabbed me. Of course the whole thing with it being more realistic is a good idea, but it lost that comic book feel. Sometimes I really look forward to that and then it just turned into a movie that's not my cup of tea. I'm really not a fan of most action movies in this style to be honest, not really sure how to explain it. I'm part of the minority that doesn't think Chris Nolan is the best director ever; even Inception was just decent to me. I think the difference between this and the other movies is just a really disappointing villain. Batman has probably the best villains out of any and there's a lot you can do with them. I felt like not much was done here was Scarecrow. 

• Dark Knight: Once again, I'm part of the minority that didn't think this movie was a godsend. Sure it was good and I liked how the Joker and Harvey Dent was portrayed, but it just wasn't for me. I remember wondering if they would throw Harley Quinn into these movies (as it turns out, Hathaway thought she was auditioning for her) but I had to remind myself she is more of a character in the animated series.  

 Anyways, I suffer from Avengers-Syndrome. I've found it very hard to look at movies the same way ever since seeing it twice. It was a ballsy move for DKR to open the same summer as The Avengers but it was a good thing it came out a couple months later. As I mentioned before, I think it was The Amazing Spider-Man that came out during the most awkward time. I wanted to see DKR for the sake that it is a huge deal and I wanted to see how Bane and Cat Woman would be portrayed. I think I am part of the many that did not like Hathaway being casted for that role. I really love looking at female villains and seeing how they act and I really didn't see her playing the Cat Woman I wanted to see. I imagine her as just ruthless, sinister, and above all, crazy as hell. Pfeiffer did a great job at all that an made people really engaged in her character even if she would be over the top. In my opinion, if it can be done right, go all out. So what did I think of the movie? BULLET POINT TIME *spoilers*:
Characters:

• First and foremost, Hathaway was the biggest throw away character in this series. After watching, it was obvious she was thrown in for the appeal. I felt like she didn't do a damn thing. They didn't even refer to her as Cat Woman, it was always Selina Kyle, it takes the fun out of it. There was only a few parts that were cool, but they were no big deal when you compare them to other villains we saw. There was so much potential with her and they could have made her as crazy as the Joker possibly. For this, an older actress should have been picked. Females in comic book movies are either hit or miss and there's been a lot of misses. It's the reason companies are practically afraid of making a Wonder Woman movie and didn't do a whole lot with Black Widow. Also, I know Cat Woman isn't totally a villain, she did kill Bane and hooks up with Bruce. The way I look at it, she is. She's still a thief and very deceitful. I really didn't get why she was at the table with Bruce at the end, and I was kind of hoping they really weren't married (we'll never know! yay for open interpretation!). Anyway, bottom line is that it just wasn't a good payoff.
• Bane was good. Just good. Nothing perfect. He truly was badass and brought fear into the film. The best parts of the movie were the ones with him in it, with or without Batman. The main issue everyone has been having with him is that voice. My god, was was the thought process in that? I was expecting something scarier, not goofy. Yet again, I think they made it so it wouldn't be so raspy and go against Bale's stupid voice (more on that soon). Having some sort of accent did help make him stand out more. When he first starts talking it did throw me off. Was there a microphone in there or what? I bet if you and him were on opposite ends of a mega-store you could hear him. I must have not been listening very well either because they didn't explain how he got his face stuff (no better way of calling it). If you were to ask me how he got it and what exactly it was I couldn't tell you. Still, decent villain, but not my favorite.
• I don't like Christian Bale's Batman/Wayne. He isn't a likable character that exactly leave you rooting for him. Batman is one of the most complex characters out there and it is extremely hard to decide how he should be presented. I just really don't like how he was in any of these movies. And yes, I hate the voice. You can't understand him sometimes and there's so many times were I laugh at parts that are unintentionally funny ("SOMEONE KNOWS WHERE HE IS!" "I'M NOT WEARING HOCKEY PANTS!" "SWEAR TO MEEEE!"). Bale does play crazy quite well-as seen in The Fighter as well. Keaton is still in my heart as the best Batman.
• The other characters are just...whatever. That's all I could think about them. I wish they took out the whole thing with Miranda (Tila Al Gol? Whatever). I really didn't care about her at all and didn't see her purpose even with the twist. From all the villains that are in the Batman universe and the build up of the 2 main ones this is the real villain? At least make her into Poison Ivy to get people to shut up. I heard that she was in some episodes of the animated series and such, but sometimes going for a character only a handful of people know can be a let down for the rest. Perhaps it was for the best they just went with a lesser known character, I don't know. I also don't get why Miranda and Bruce needed to be banging each other. They didn't even talk or do anything. He was crying earlier about how he missed Rachel and now he's doing this? Guess he got over her quick. As for Robin (screw it, I'll just call him ROBIN if they're going to cock-tease the audience like that) he wasn't too bad, he just didn't stand out a whole lot. Everyone else was...dialogue makers...or something.
 

Movie Itself:

• Kind of a minor thing, but something was wrong with the editing in this film. Especially during the action, which I suppose is a factor of Nolan's directing. It was like something would happen quickly, a split second would be nothing, and in the end you don't know what just happened. One example is when Kyle is in the prison (why she was in one for men is random) and he breaks that one guy's wrist. It really didn't show a whole lot, it's like either have it or don't. I feel bad for the editors. Working on these movies must be the biggest pain ever.
• What can I say about the plot holes that no one else has? I think this whole trilogy had them. There were a lot of "Why? cuz." moments with a dash of "Disney Magic." Why does Bruce escape from the prison and get to Gotham within a couple of hours? Cuz. How did he make that Bat-Symbol? Cuz. What happens to Bane? Cuz. Why wasn't the Joker, or the 2nd movie in general, ever really mentioned in this? Cuz. How did Bane get that face piece and what is it really? Cuz. What happens to Bruce and Selina and why were they at that restaurant together? Cuz. Why somewhat introduce Robin but not intend on making a spin-off or something? Well we're thinking about it.
• This movie is one of those 2hr 40 min movies that really feel like it. This actually goes for all of Nolan's Batman movies. Why? I think it's all the talking. Sometimes it is hard to fallow and it does get boring. The people don't really talk like those in real life, the serious tone they carry just makes it feel like they don't have a personality and therefore not worth watching, but that's just me. With the movies, I find myself almost falling asleep or my mind goes somewhere else, which then leaves me confused later. There's other movies just as long that doesn't feel like it because it keeps your attention, but this doesn't.

Despite of what I've said, I thought it was good, but that's it. Pretty much the same feeling as Dark Knight. Long and confusing but good action to look at. The set pieces in this were very good and at least this movie had a lot of effort put in it. It didn't feel like just a cash-in. The Avengers is still my favorite movie of this summer as well as a comic book movie. I kind of wish they weren't so afraid to have that goofy comic book feel and just go all out, but at least it is a different take. I think both of them had a chance to be alike, but I think the Avengers will make more since it attracts a bigger audience and even made people want to see it twice (like me). It's funny how the things other people have been critiquing about this are the complaints I have been saying for the other Batman movies. The bottom line is that this wasn't a bad movie, just not something to do back-flips for. There's no such thing as the perfect comic book movie, but this could have been.

 I heard through the grapevine that they plan on rebooting Batman, even though the optimistic side of me doubts it. I have a feeling a lot of people are not going to see this however. I don't see how they're going to top Nolan at all unless they fix all the problems, but it just might end up to what we have seen before. The thing is, Batman makes money and is a big enough universe to keep doing different takes of it. That pretty much goes with any other superhero franchise as well. Who knows what DC/Warner Bros. have up their sleeve at this point. Hopefully they ball up and go forward with their Justice League movie. My hope is that they, and Marvel too, don't overkill these characters. Instead of doing the same ones over and over just go for different ones. I think another Batman should be in about 20-30 years, much like with Superman. People rolled their eyes as is with Spider-Man, so in my perfect world, it'll get to a point when the audience will stop going and ask for original ideas. We'll see what happens, but lets enjoy them now and hate later.

Lettuce also talk about 2 teasers that came out within the past week: Oz: The Great and Powerful and Man of Steel.
Oz: I think people are asking the same 2 things
1. Oh god, what if it's like Alice in Wonderland and doesn't have that great of a payoff?
2. Why not Wicked?
or maybe it's just me asking, but it does stick out a lot. I think this will be interesting to see just as much as Alice, which was a decent movie but not as big as I was expecting. It is also going to take elements from the book more than the original film. Looking at the teaser there looks like some things to love and some things to look at say "We're being duped again." I like James Franco in it, he is mmm-mmm good, but why Mila Kunis? I'm really starting to hate the "lets get a popular young actress instead of a more deserving one" thing. It is also going to apparent that people are going to compare this with Wicked. It is a very popular book and play that could have attracted a bigger audience if it was a movie, but then again it is one of those plays that are better off where it is. I guess we'll have to see how it goes.

Man of Steel: Like with the title of the Dark Knight, I have to ask, why not just freaking call it Superman? There's no need to get fancy. Everyone is just going to call it Superman just like everyone called DKR Batman. Anyway, my biggest worry about this is Zach Snyder directing. It is mostly due to looking at Watchmen and 300. They are both very good comics but I really didn't like the way he told those stories. I appreciate mimicking some of the frames to that of the comics once in a while, but he goes back to doing his own thing. I don't like it when he adds extra emphasis or scenes to certain parts that most of the time just come out as trying too hard to be edgy. Example is the love scenes in both movies, in the book they were minimalistic but in the movie they just go all out and it isn't very necessary. There other parts he does both right and wrong that end up either working or not. I'm not even going to talk about Sucker-Punch since I haven't seen it and I don't plan to after all I've heard. This all makes me skeptical about how Superman will be told. It will be interesting to see a serious take on it and hopefully they don't totally make them like Batman and too serious. I also wished they waited a bit to reboot this because of Superman Returns coming out only a few years ago, but lets face it, no one remembers that movie, it failed. It will be something I look forward to and hope it has some good effects to go with it.

I apologize once again for any inaccuracies. I was writing this with a cold :( Batman's plot holes got me sick!