Like many other movies, such as Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises had a ton of hype around it, and was widely anticipated to be a summer blockbuster. Well, mission accomplished! But, how good is it, really? Over at Rotten Tomatoes, it gets very high marks, but one thing you seem to see a lot is “it was great, but I expected more.” And that’s the problem with a highly anticipated movie.
I’m not much of a fan of the first one, but really liked the second one. Like with the Michael Keaton Batman, it was the Joker taking over the movie, with Heath Ledger doing what Jack Nicholson did, albeit in a much darker, more deranged manner. It’s hard to meet those expectations, which is why I’ve held off in writing despite getting out around 5pm.
So, I’ll give it a B-. I’m torn on whether or not it is really an evening full price movie or just an afternoon matinee and save a few bucks movie, but, since it is, what, 5 hours long (well, 2:45), I’ll give it the “it’s worth seeing at night” endorsement.
The bad guy, Bane, was good, but can’t live up to the Joker. Really, almost no character could have. It was more drama than Batman kicking the crap out of everyone. And, unfortunately, Ann Hathaway was wasted. Not really “The Catwoman”, it was like she was thrown in as some eye candy, and they forget to make her eye candy, because her lines were kinda lame, and she really didn’t add much. She’s sorta bad, sorta there. Might have been more fun if they had used Harley Quinn instead. That said, it was still well worth the time and money.
There’s a nice little twist at the end that you should enjoy. Leave your expectations at home, and just enjoy.
BTW, not sure if the preview for Total Recall makes it worth seeing or not. The short TV commercial is booooooring. Somewhat better for longer theater trailer.
