The Dark Knight Rises Again

DirecTV gave us a free HBO weekend a couple of weeks ago, so I DVR’d The Dark Knight Rises. I saw it last summer, of course, but wanted to see it again. Ben and I watched it on Saturday.

Here are just a few random thoughts. SPOILERS AHEAD.

- It really is a huge bummer that at the start of the film, Batman has been completely inactive for eight years. You can’t even pretend that he faced other villains between movies.

- Since he has been retired for eight years, why the heck is he limping and using a cane? Did he never see a Doctor in all that time?

- Anne Hathaway (as Selina Kyle) is really good in this movie.

- How did Bane know about the secret stash of Wayne Enterprise super-weapons (aka Batman’s stash)?

- The three month occupation of Gotham City is just ridiculous, especially the logistics of keeping everyone contained and fed.

- While I get that Batman wanted to give the city hope by igniting a huge, flaming Bat sign on the bridge, the mechanics of him creating it on the bridge belie belief. Not to mention how long it would have taken.

- When all the police go into the tunnels, they are outfitted with their full complement of weapons. When they are brought out of the tunnels three months later, they march in a tight, seemingly unarmed, group straight down a narrow street directly at Bane’s forces who have various super-weapons trained on the street. Apparently when the police were underground they lost all of their guns, and forgot all of their training.

- The police closing with Bane’s army for a huge, climactic, fistfight is ridiculous and silly. A fistfight. Really.

- Batman Begins is a very good movie. The Dark Knight is a great movie, one of the best superhero movies of all time. The Dark Knight Rises is decent, but with some major issues.