The Dark Knight Rises: Articles, Analyses, Notable reviews etc.

[Azrael]

"Top" critics

The Dark Knight Rises, an American genre falls
http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2012/08/the-dark-knight-rises-and-the-american-genre-falls.html

Peter David on TDKR
http://www.peterdavid.net/2012/07/29/the-dark-knight-rises-like-a-souffle-but-then-a-loud-bang-makes-it-fall-my-spoiler-filled-comments/



In-depth articles/ Analyses

Comic Influences on The Dark Knight Rises
http://www.batman-online.com/features/2012/7/29/comic-influences-on-the-dark-knight-rises

The Meaning Of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's Fate In 'The Dark Knight Rises'
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markhughes/2012/07/26/the-meaning-of-joseph-gordon-levitts-fate-in-the-dark-knight-rises-spoilers/#more-4159
(maybe the definitive explanation for the ending)

Imagine The Fire: Analyzing the Dark Knight Rises
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/imagine-fire-analyzing-dark-knight-rises/

Why The Dark Knight Rises Fails
http://www.sequart.org/magazine/13903/why-the-dark-knight-rises-fails/
(even if someone disagrees with his opinion and loves the film, it's an interesting in-depth article)




Lists, "infojunk" etc.

Film School Rejects: Liked / Disliked / Okay
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/11-things-that-did-work-in-the-dark-knight-rises.php
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/11-things-that-didnt-work-in-the-dark-knight-rises-rfure.php/2
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/11-things-that-were-just-okay-in-the-dark-knight-rises.php

Ten Things That Were Stupid About 'The Dark Knight Rises'
The Dark Knight Rises Explained: Unraveling The Unanswered Questions
15 Things That Bothered Us About 'The Dark Knight Rises
4 Things That Sucked, 2 Things That Ruled
The Dark Knight Rises Sequel: 10 Things Warner Bros Must Get Right




Dark Knight Trilogy Articles, lists etc.

The 10 Best Things About Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy
http://screenrant.com/batman-dark-knight-trilogy-best-parts/

15 Reasons Tim Burton's Batman is Better Than Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight
http://whatculture.com/film/15-reasons-tim-burtons-batman-is-better-than-chris-nolans-the-dark-knight.php
WHY fan the flames?


(positive , negative, neutral)



2014: UPDATES

The Dark Knight Sinks (The-Void.co.uk)

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon Take on The Dark Knight Rises

[BatmAngelus]

There are some rebuttals to the Dark Knight Rises criticisms articles.  I saw this rather snarky one on Facebook:
http://www.uproxx.com/gammasquad/2012/07/your-sarcastic-guide-to-alleged-plot-holes-in-the-dark-knight-rises/

I've seen a lot of arguments online regarding Bruce's return to Gotham from The Pit and the only argument supporting the execution in the movie is (via the uproxx article):

How Does Bruce Wayne Get Back to Gotham With No Resources?

He's the ****ing Batman. Seriously, if any fictional character could pull this one off, it's the ****ing Batman. Stop whining.

Give me a break.  This isn't like a Bond/Indiana Jones movie where the characters logically take regular transportation to get from one country to another.  The movie firmly establishes that:
a) Alfred is gone
b) Bruce Wayne is broke
c) Bruce Wayne is stranded in another country with no Batsuit/gadgets/wallet.
d) Most importantly- Gotham City is cut off from the rest of the world.  No one goes in, no one goes out.

So with all these obstacles in place, it's disappointing, dramatically, to see Bruce Wayne walk around in Gotham minutes later.

Is it a plot hole?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But I think it's lazy writing that's caused legitimate criticism.

[thecolorsblend]

There's a certain amount of BS that I'm willing to accept from a brainless action movie. The trick is realizing that, yes, Nolan's Batman films are brainless movies. After you accept that, plotholes and bizarre character motivations matter less.

Of course, that leads you down the dark path that if his Batman movies are brainless, they're also really pretentious because they aspire to be high cinema... while having plotholes that even Jerry Bruckheimer would have problems with but that's beyond the scope of this thread...

[Gotham Knight]

There's a certain amount of BS that I'm willing to accept from a brainless action movie. The trick is realizing that, yes, Nolan's Batman films are brainless movies. After you accept that, plotholes and bizarre character motivations matter less.

Of course, that leads you down the dark path that if his Batman movies are brainless, they're also really pretentious because they aspire to be high cinema... while having plotholes that even Jerry Bruckheimer would have problems with but that's beyond the scope of this thread...

O.O

Hi there stranger! Long time!

[thecolorsblend]

Greetings and salutations.

[The Dark Knight]

There's a certain amount of BS that I'm willing to accept from a brainless action movie. The trick is realizing that, yes, Nolan's Batman films are brainless movies. After you accept that, plotholes and bizarre character motivations matter less.

Of course, that leads you down the dark path that if his Batman movies are brainless, they're also really pretentious because they aspire to be high cinema... while having plotholes that even Jerry Bruckheimer would have problems with but that's beyond the scope of this thread...

Indeed. The opening plane sequence for example is pointless. It looks cool on the screen but it is undeniably silly. And they just repeat TDK's skyhook rescue anyway. They had Pavel with them right there in the car. Why on Earth would you go through with that plan which could fail and risk his life? They could've taken out the CIA on the ground and found out what they knew right then are there. What they did in the movie wasn't clever, it was reckless and easily avoided. And they were going to take over Gotham regardless.

[thecolorsblend]

It's good that you can recognize my observation as an observation. There are a lot of folks out there who would probably read it as an attack. For whatever it's worth, I enjoyed TDKRises a lot more on the first viewing than I did BB or TDK on their first viewings.

[Azrael]

Still reading as I post this reply. I don't necessarily agree with it, but these tend to be a fun read.

20 Blunders in Chris Nolan's Trilogy
http://whatculture.com/film/the-dark-knight-rises-20-blunders-in-chris-nolans-trilogy.php

[Azrael]

Never has such a respected critic written such a condescending article for an entire genre (wait, isn't Ebert the guy that refused to consider video games as a legitimate form of art? Yeah, that one). Critics are true artists when it comes to this sort of thing. Nonetheless, a good read, even though I never agreed with anything written by Ebert since I first passed a "reading comprehension in English" test.

The Dark Knight Rises, an American genre falls

http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2012/08/the-dark-knight-rises-and-the-american-genre-falls.html

[thecolorsblend]

Never has such a respected critic written such a condescending article for an entire genre (wait, isn't Ebert the guy that refused to consider video games as a legitimate form of art? Yeah, that one). Critics are true artists when it comes to this sort of thing. Nonetheless, a good read, even though I never agreed with anything written by Ebert since I first passed a "reading comprehension in English" test.

The Dark Knight Rises, an American genre falls

http://blogs.suntimes.com/foreignc/2012/08/the-dark-knight-rises-and-the-american-genre-falls.html

My beef with this guy's thinking is that it seems to think the superhero/comic book genre is fundamentally flawed in some way. In fact, I'd venture that Chris Nolan feels the same way. If you don't like a particular type of genre, you can keep beating your head against a wall and watching every single genre movie that comes down the pipeline or you can steer yourself more toward genres you do enjoy. But this idea of reinventing a genre just to make it more palatable for the hand-wringing, insecure, apologetic types just strikes me as wrongheaded. And I'm not just saying that because Nolan, good scenes or concepts aside, sucked everything fun about Batman out of his films.

EDIT- I should add that it's for these reasons that I'll always regard Nolan's Batman movies as an alternate universe. There was an Elseworlds Superman comic a few years ago where a real world kid named Clark Kent somehow gained powers and became a kind of Superman. To me, Nolan applied that concept to Batman for the movies.