"I WILL BREAK YOU, BATMAN!!!"

[Radrappy]

besides being physically superior to Bats, he's a capable strategist; he knows Batman's secret identity; he's (temporarily at least) Ra's al Ghul's heir. The latter point is especially appropriate.

This sounds like a resume. A capable strategist? I don't even know how to approach that one. Where is the depth? I scanned the wikipedia article and found nothing interesting apart from the fact that he and Batman teamed up once. He's been a killer since he was a child, was raised in prison, and is now the victim of experimentation. But his philosophy as a villain is unclear. What does he want? He's still just a burly, boring guy who as far as I can tell lacks charisma. Obviously they could do him brilliantly in the movie but it still feels like a lame character to start with. Not that the riddler would have been a good choice.

[Senbei]

I imagine that the movie will be focusing on the Bat's struggle as a wanted murderer and the public's perception of him. Bane makes for a great supplement to this conflict, particularly if they play up the Ra's connection. If I thought he was going to dominate the film a la Joker, I might share your apprehension -- but, as you mention, none of the other villains could match Joker, at least given the series' semi-realistic tone.

Anyway, I have a lot of confidence in quality considering the last two films. I personally dislike the inclusion of Catwoman, but I'm sure it'll be stellar!

[gr4yJ4Y]

The first picture of Selina Kyle is out for speculation.

[cjmcray]

The Batwing.

[Brazillian Cara]

It's a f*cking mecha.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's a f*cking mecha.

[Yami CJMErl]

I wonder how WayneTech R&D's gonna explain THIS one.

[Esrever]

Uh... crop-dusting applications!

[M.C.Dillinger]

You don't need to explain why you're making a Mecha. The fact that you're making what is the explanation itself.

[Team Mecha]

So they're ripping off Big O? They've come full circle then.

[cjmcray]

"What are you building for him now, a rocket ship?"

Apparently, yes.

[cjmcray]

Here's Catwoman.



ehh.

[Locit]

Boy she sure does look sort of slightly unimpressive in that amateur photograph taken from thirty feet under studio lighting, yessir.

[cjmcray]

"When Gotham is.. ashes, you'll have my permission to die."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx2rhzcIVxo

[Farmer]

So I went to see it last night. It's enjoyable and definitely worth the admission, but it's not without its problems and, in my opinion, doesn't hold a candle to TDK.

To start, the complaints about Bane's voice being indistinct are well-founded; sat up by the subwoofers, he was practically unintelligible at times, especially if there was other noise in the scene. The standoff between him and Batman quickly turned into a battle of silly voices that was hard work to take seriously. Secondly, the film has some pretty serious pacing issues. The first half is a slow boil, whereas the second half is one long, exhausting climax.

And the plot holes. Oh, the plot holes. Maybe I missed something, but exactly how does Bruce get back into Gotham? Where did those motorcycles come from in the stock exchange? How did Bane get out of that pit if Talia is the only one to have escaped? I think that last one might have had an explanation I missed.

Not to mention that scene at the end with John Blake. The "Robin? That's a nice name." one. The reference may just be to his assistance to Batman in TDKR, but considering the trend with naming superhero movies after the protagonist's main attribute (The Dark Knight, Man of Steel etc.) I can see "Whining, Irritating Fuckwit" coming to theatres in 2014.

TLDR: Who'd have thought that Alfred was Catwoman?

[Senbei]

Talia found Ra's and had him save Bane; this was an explicit part of her revelation flashback.

This film was entertaining, but not very good. There are a lot of things wrong with it, so I will settle to describe what I think is the biggest issue:

Batman Begins and TDK were both phenomenal films because each featured a distinct central theme to which everything related. In Begins, it was fear. In TDK, it was anarchy or corruption. Both stories were sprawling with tons of major and minor characters, side-stories, and plot twists, and all of this could have fallen into a disjointed tangle if not for that central theme. In Begins, everything has to do with fear -- Scarecrow uses fear gas, Ra's teaches Bruce to face his fears, Batman is a symbol of fear, the mobsters are alternately users and victims of fear, the ultimate threat to Gotham is the fear gas. The theme of fear is both an inspirational and material backbone of the plot.

I can't place the central theme of TDKR, and so it fell into that disjointed tangle. Lots of things happen that don't really relate to what seems to be the central conflict. Revelations and plot twists occur when they don't need to. There are major and minor characters who do nothing but distract from the plot. This is all because of a lack of cohesion; none of the film's elements relate to each other. (There is a vague notion of "rising" that affects certain elements, but not enough to be a central theme.)

A lot of criticism can be thrown at the way the story was told -- Farmer hit it with his mention of pacing issues. Still, almost miraculously, I was able to follow the action clearly, and I doubt anyone who's paying attention will get lost. There's also a lot of cool moments that would probably never be seen on film outside of this strange world that Nolan's created -- thousands of blue uniforms storming into battle, prisoners chanting as the strongest of them reaches for an impossible hope, and Batman punching the shit out of a guy.

It's not the movie it should be, but it's okay.

[Radrappy]

haha you know what didn't make any sense? Remember at the beginning of the film when Bane was hijacking the plane he opened a body bag and started a blood transfusion between the doctor and the person inside of it? Anyone care to explain? Oh yeah and the movie was garbage.

[Wombatwarlord777]

I really liked the movie and thought that whoever played Bane was excellent for the character, in the same way that Heath Ledger played a phenomenal Joker. Aside from being unbelievably competent and lucky in carrying out his schemes, I enjoyed the way that Bane was portrayed in this movie. And for me, the villains are what make the Nolan Batman films so enjoyable.

Remember at the beginning of the film when Bane was hijacking the plane he opened a body bag and started a blood transfusion between the doctor and the person inside of it? Anyone care to explain?

That was apparently done because Bane needed genetic evidence that the Doctor had died when he staged the CIA's plane crash, so the authorities wouldn't investigate further and hunt the Doctor down. I'm no forensic scientist, but I find it hard to believe the way it was done in the film would actually work.

I have another question that's been bugging me: How the hell did Bane escape from that prison in the past? The movie makes such a huge deal that only one person had escaped before Wayne and that person is eventually revealed to be Talia al Ghul. So was the legend wrong or did Talia al Ghul eventually come back and release Bane? Does anybody have a definite answer for this?

[Senbei]

Talia found Ra's and had him save Bane; this was an explicit part of her revelation flashback. Geez, did I watch the same movie as everyone else...?

In case anyone hasn't heard, a 24-year-old shot up a TDKR midnight premiere in Aurora, Colorado. Lots of people are hurt and 12 are dead.