How to use this Page

Could this be split into parts, maybe????

What evidence do you have that Bush was a billionaire from a family of billionaires? USA Today shows the total wealth of both Presidents Bush as $43 million, slightly more than Bill Clinton.

Your analysis is great and very detailed, but the politics and economics that pervades it leaves a lot to be desired.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/02/wealthiest-presidents-jfk-father-george-tr/1#.URf8GRBhiSM

This synopsis demonstrates what I found so frustrating about Dark Knight Rises: there are many thematic ideas present which at different timesseem to overlap or work against each other. Partly this is due to so many characters playing dual roles or having hidden identities, but it prevents seeing the story with a clear “diagram”. This frustration only comes up in retrospect. While in the theater I found it enjoyable and was able to overlook jumps in logic.

One of my favorite elements was the gradual transformation of John Blake. He starts off in a beat cop uniform, drops the blues to become a plain clothes detective, throws away his official gun after accidentally killing a suspect, then throws away his badge with disgust. After disposing of all his official police identity, he rises in the Batcave to become the new Batman. But I find it hard to believe Gordon wouldn’t know he he was the first time they meet at the Bat signal!

I found the movie long and depressing.
I wondered why Batman, having had his back broken and so on, would try to fight Bane in the street. Why not just shoot him? Oh, because it is against his oath or something.
I looked around in the theatre, bored with watching Batman getting beaten to death, and found myself wondering what people were reading and texting on their phones.
I like smart heroes and smart movies. But not smart phones at movies.

This reads better than the movie watches. I am on a bitchy DC hating kick right now but a snow storm left me with no other option but to watch this. I could not get round the terrible pacing of the film, also the prison what? where are we? what country are we in? Oh wait we are back in Gotham? Nolan is a wonderful film maker, Momento I am talking about you, but I feel he never really embraces the superhero. The fantastic-ness of it is never embraced, the child-like wonder and awe is nowhere to be found. Whedon and Donner have both captured superhero lightning in bottles, Nolan caught a tremendous performance by Ledger but everything else seems ponderous and the fantastic is always held at arms length.

I loved DK and BB and was sooo excited for DKR but it was a complete fizzler. The mistakes are almost to many to chronicle: Batman being retired for 7 years, the whole Talia thing, Bane, Catwoman, the nuclear bomb, the action sequences, every scene with grodon in it, keeping the cops in prison underground . Dud, Dud Dud. There were some interesting possibilities, like Bane holding the whole city hostage, but none of it was developed. Strange for such a long movie.

An analysis this long is a clear indication that the story was overwrought for a guy who dresses up at a bat to fight a criminal / terrorist. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the movie… but many of analysis / reviews that I’ve read on this movie spends a good deal of time filling in blanks, motives and the various subplots.

Todd Alcott wrote a good piece and surmised the points well, but the fact that he has to cover *so much nuance* speaks volumes about the execution of the film.

The detailed synopsis just reminds me of why I didn’t enjoy this movie. The gaping plot holes made it impossible for me to “let go” and watch the movie. I’m generally okay with plot holes as long as they’re not distracting, but throughout this movie I kept thinking “Wait, what now? That’s not how (stock markets, leg braces, fusion reactors, fill in your own) work.” Granted, some of the things that bothered me are obscure and wouldn’t bother anybody else, but EVERYBODY balked at the magic leg brace. I heard people muttering about it in the prison scene.

Finally, and possibly more importantly, Hathaway was the only one who seemed to enjoy her role. Bale, Levitt and Oldman seemed bored, and Hardy was muzzled.

Thanks for another great piece!

I am amused by all of the “Understanding nuance is HARD” comments.

Reading this reminded me of how great some of the scenes were in the movie, and how muddled down the whole thing actually ended up feeling as a whole.

What I wonder is why they didn’t start the movie with the reactor/bomb being hijacked? That’s what sets up some of the film’s most compelling ideas — Gotham being taken hostage, criminals being set free, etc — but it ends up all being tremendously rushed through, and never feels tangible or all that believable. That set-up also arrives so late in the film that it feels wearying.

I just got finished watching the Batman: The Dark Knight Returns pt. 1 & 2. Now that was a batman movie.