olivia_sutton | Entries tagged with knightfall

Title: The Dark Knight Rises
Director: Christopher Nolan
Date: 2012
Cast: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordan-Levitt, Burn Gorman

The film was AWESOME, though it was very different than I expected. I'm a fan of the Batman graphic novels, and I've read all of Knightfall - all three volumes of it, so I'm familiar with Bane. I also know of Bane from the various versions of the "Breaking of the Bat" story done in animation (both in Batman: The Animated Series, and the more recent The Batman). The storyline in Chris Nolan's film is quite different. Catwoman, also, is quite different in this film -- a complete sociopath who really hates men.

However, that said the film is really, really good, and I enjoyed it. My theater was probably 2/3rds full, not sold out, as I expected, but more about that later.

SPOILERS BELOW

( SPOILERS - The Dark Knight Rises )

END SPOILERS (read under LJ-cut for more).

Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable movie, one I will see again, and will buy on DVD.

Now -- on to the real world. As we all know, some guy went into a movie theater in Colorado and shot the place up -- killing several people and injuring even more. It was horrible -- make no mistake. But to suggest that Batman caused the crime because it's a violent film, is sheer lunacy. Batman, for the record, doesn't use guns and never kills. Even in the Nolan films, which push the violence envelope, he never kills. Second, to suggest Warner's should pull the film? Also nuts! People need to treat the film for the fantasy that it is -- the film-makers didn't cause the violent tragedy. Are there moments in the film that make you wince now? Yeah. But I wince when I see the New York World Trade Center in old movies and TV shows too. Sometimes sh*t happens. In this case, someone was at fault -- but that person is the one who held the gun and the guy who sold him automatic weapons and ammo -- NOT the makers of popular entertainment, NOT Warners, NOT Christopher Nolan, and NOT DC Comics. Oh, and the Republican Congressman now blaming saying Batman is an attack on Judeo-Christian values? What planet is he from and what drugs is he taking? That's the most whacked-out conspiracy theory I've heard in awhile -- and my office cubicle mate comes up with new ones almost daily.

So, the evening went well. Loved the film. Must re-see it.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: My home office
Current Music: nada

Received this link via e-mail from a WB rewards program.

http://youtu.be/g8evyE9TuYk?hd=1

I cannot WAIT for the next Batman film. I loved Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. But what really struck me, and I thought about this at work (there are times when a boring data entry job has it's uses). I've been a fan of comics, especially Batman for a long time. I'm currently reading graphic novels because there isn't much in the way of comics stores locally, and I can order graphics from Amazon. But even when I was spending upwards of $10.00/week on comics -- it was the storylines and the characters I loved. The art always came second for me. Now, I'd guess most fans of graphic art, would say the opposite, or that they needed good art and a good story. But, for me, yeah, at times I noticed a particularly nice piece of art in a (comic) book or a graphic novel, but over all - I read the story.

However, when I think about the character of Batman -- it's images that immediately spring to mind. Batman with one knee down, the other up, clutching the broken, bleeding, beaten body of Robin (Jason Todd), his head bowed, in the rain -- from A Death in the Family. Bane holding Batman over his knee, about to break Bruce's back in Knightfall. Even the classic image of Bruce kneeling in blood of his dead parents, again in rain, the broken white pearl necklace in the foreground (pick any back story book you want, or even Nolan's film). It's always a static image. Even Final Crisis had the image of a dead Batman, Superman holding his body on the cover (an image which isn't in the book, btw). And Long Shadows has tons of 'em: Clark Kent and Diana presenting the empty cape and cowl to Alfred. Clark, Diana, Alfred, Dick, and possibly Tim and Damien -- all standing in a circle, their heads bowed in mourning and sorrow. Dick, sitting in a chair, loose and almost side saddle, in the Batman uniform but with the cowl off, looking completely bereft. And that's followed with a conversation between him and Alfred where Dick says (something like), "I always knew he would die. But I wasn't ready for it to be this soon." Not to mention my favorite line in the book, which is when Alfred, who's to the point of tears, says to Diana, "My son is dead, I am NOT alright!" Yeah, major angst in that book. Which after, Final Crisis, the Bat family needed.

Anyway, between the description in for the preview vid (see clip) for this summer's Batman film, and the surprise revelation of just who the second villain is -- and all I could think about was certain images from various Batman books, and occasionally films. It sounds like it will be VERY awesome!