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The Dark Knight Rises

Just saw The Dark Knight Rises. It’s about Bruce Wayne and his one man war on crime. This time it’s eight years after the last movie, The Dark Knight, Bruce’s body is worn down (like an athlete) and so is his faith in people. There’s a plot to destroy Wayne Enterprises and Gotham, which bring both Bruce and Batman out of “retirement.”

The good; the movie is about three hours long, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. It had me pretty much on the seat of my pants the entire time, beautifully edited.

The acting is great. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, love me some Anne Hathaway. Much like Charlize Theron in Prometheus, Anne Hathaway’s in that catsuit most of the time, no complaints there.
Gary Oldman as the ever faithful Gordon. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Blake. Tom Hardy as Bane. Michael Caine as Alfred the father-figure. Everyone delivers a wonderful performance.

The Bat, flying thing, what’s great about these movies is the science and logic behind the technology, they make it believable. From the movie physics of the Bat-Pod to the Bat vehicle, I just love it all cause when you watch it move on screen you think, “yeah, that’s how that would move.”

The bad; oddly enough, I do have some complaints. There wasn’t enough Batman, when you’re watching the movie you don’t really notice this, but thinking back, Bruce Wayne is Batman in the end of the first act, and then at the of the third act, I kinda wanted more Batman-time… on screen that is.
Bane’s voice – in the comic books he’s supposed to be Latin-American, I don’t know what accent he has in the movie, but it’s obviously dubbed and very stage present-ish. In a shot where he’s in the far background of the scene his voice is still coming in very present at the center channel, that bugged me.

*SPOLIER* When Bane breaks Batman’s back, it doesn’t take him long to recover, there could’ve been more passage of time at this point. His back goes from a vertebrae protrusion to doing push ups and scaling the wall to freedom.

*SPOILER* The ending, very easy, almost too easy, and predictable. Much like Nolan’s previous movie Inception, this one ends in a montage and we’re given information visually. Alfred is away on holiday and sees Bruce just like he’d imagined years and years before Batman showed up, he’s sitting at a table with Selina. I wonder how it would’ve been if they’d taken the ambiguity of Inception’s ending and applied it to The Dark Knight? Leaving us with Alfred’s forming smile instead of cutting to Bruce at the table? And then to have Blake’s character’s real name be Robin? That almost felt like the studio pushed that onto the movie. Don’t get me wrong, I liked that the cowl and mantle would be passed along, but why dumb it down?

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, despite the criticisms I state above. I guess I’m so critical of this new film because I extremely enjoyed the previous films
Definitely worth watching on the big screen, and what a way to end a trilogy.

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

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I saw Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol at the Irvine Spectrum in true IMAX. The reason for this, was to see the prologue to The Dark Knight Rises. It’s quite the experience, mostly to showcase Tom Hardy as Bane. I won’t go too much in to it, but it involves two planes in flight and amazing use of the IMAX camera.

On to Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, it’s about Tom Cruise in pretty much his only well to draw from these days. He again dons the guise of Ethan Hunt on an impossible mission. This time it directly follows MI:3, but now the team faces the threat of nuclear war, a premise long since defrosted. Throw in some great action, BMW cars, spy espionage, and Cruise’s trademark running, then add Brad Bird taking the director duties (live action) and you get a pleasant action movie.

The good; action, action, action. The action is very well executed. Modern action films should take a page from Ghost Protocol in that we can see things, there’s a sense of direction and coverage to avoid any confusion or nausea. In no way are any actions scenes shot in a way that leads you to believe that they are hiding the lack of physical dexterity of the actors on screen. I guess what I really like is that there are wide shoots, lovely lovely wide shots.

The story is placed in to the continuity of the film franchise, after the third one, but you can also jump directly in to Ghost Protocol with no problem. In addition, there’s a real sense of urgency and danger, I care for their mission and if they succeed or fail. That may seem like a no brainer, but you’d be surprised how some movies miss this.

The hardware, they gave us what we expect, tons of gadgets. Especially in the skyscraper climbing scene, no words can describe it. From cameras in contacts, to the magnets, right down to the cars… it delivers what I want and expected.

The bad; Ethan Hunt seems a bit too smart. This can probably be attributed to the fact that it’s Tom Cruise’s character. Don’t get me wrong, he does get physically beat, but he always comes out of it glowing. The other team members do get their moments to shine though. Tom Cruise runs, and he runs well, there’s even a shot with what appears to be a specially built “run cam” that keeps up with his strides at a low angle.

Oh and they all have tailored suits, it’s ridiculously sickening and covetous at the same time, I don’t know whether to applaud or shake my fist.

Overall, definitely worth watching in the theatre. Good job Brad Bird on your first departure from the animated medium. I can’t say more without spoiling, but go see it for the action, stay for the espionage.

Official The Dark Knight Rises Trailer!

[wu-e]

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Tag Archives: bane

The Dark Knight Rises

Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Official The Dark Knight Rises Trailer!