The Dark Knight Rises

Just came back from a 3am screening of the third movie in Nolan's Batman trilogy. What a disappointment. I can't believe all the positive reviews online. Were they watching the same movie? Don't read on if you haven't watched it. If you're going to watch it, dial down your expectations.

What I didn't like:

- Batman is chased by cops on his bike to a dark alley and then flies off with his plane the bat. Did he just leave the bike in the alley for the cops to grab or is he able to store it on the bat? Whoever did the CG for the bat did a poor job on it.

- Alfred getting all weepy just because he's seen a video of Bane taking people out. I don't buy his fear because Bane is strong. Batman's got all sorts of gadgets in his utility belt.

- 50 day fusion bomb hostage situation where the hostage is Gotham City. In a movie about a guy dressed as a bat who doesn't use guns or kill. The movie needed 10 extra minutes to sell me on this cause I just don't buy it. It somehow did not seem believable to me. The scope is so big that short scenes of some army people talking, Scarecrow running  a mock court and people going nuts outside a hotel are not enough for it to seem real.


- Cops with guns running headlong into bad guys with guns?! I know Nolan wanted his Tale of two cities image but WTF? 300 people with guns don't rush at people with guns in a confined area. They take cover and have a shoot out. All the cops should have been mowed down. Batman comes in with the bat, shoots/disables a few batmobiles and the flies off. Uumm, how about gunning down some baddies. Oh yeah, Batman doesn't use guns to shoot people.

- Bane's got the time to smuggle an injured Bruce Wayne out of the United States into some prison somewhere (let's assume Africa) which is at the bottom of a well and is unguarded. Wow, hope no one comes across this 'prison'. Anyone thought about making some rope with cloth, attaching it with a something to grapple on and maybe throw it up from the halfway point of the climb?

- TDK had 'plot holes' but there wasn't enough time and the narrative was strong and tight enough that it didn't matter. We didn't need to know when and how Joker managed to put bombs all over the hospital because I bought the big picture story of Batman vs Joker for the soul of Harvey Dent. We've got head scratching stuff like Batman rescuing Gordon and then straight after that rescuing Robin which is happening in another location. The movie depicts Gordon and Robin's life as being in danger at the same time and I was expecting Catwoman to rescue Robin. 


- Nolan had big ideas but TDKR is lacking execution. The narrative was all over the place. The tale of two cities stuff was unnecessary. The have vs have nots narrative didn't lead anywhere.

What I liked:

- Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Wow. Imagine if Nolan had kept the story simpler.

- Thanks goodness the ending wasn't Batman flying off into the sunset and exploding into a mushroom cloud.