The Dark Knight Rises Review (Spoiler)

[dxf]

Armando, what did you think of the score?

My major – but actually minor – beef with the series was its hand-to-hand fighting. There was nothing quiet like Batman absolutely tuning somebody up or dismantling them like the Mutant leader in Dark Knight Returns. The Batman-Bane fights in Dark Knight Rises were pretty flat.

But I asked a guy who knows this kind of stuff, and he said, “Bane is big, and Batman’s in a constrictive suit. That’s how they’d fight.”

Granted, I mentioned that to someone, and HE pointed out that Bane spent some time demolishing a stone column rather than turning to face Batman. To which I half-jokingly said, “Roid rage.”

Still, I wish they’d got the combat choreographer from the Bourne movies, you know?

[Default_Prophet]

Armando, what did you think of the score?

My major – but actually minor – beef with the series was its hand-to-hand fighting. There was nothing quiet like Batman absolutely tuning somebody up or dismantling them like the Mutant leader in Dark Knight Returns. The Batman-Bane fights in Dark Knight Rises were pretty flat.

But I asked a guy who knows this kind of stuff, and he said, “Bane is big, and Batman’s in a constrictive suit. That’s how they’d fight.”

Granted, I mentioned that to someone, and HE pointed out that Bane spent some time demolishing a stone column rather than turning to face Batman. To which I half-jokingly said, “Roid rage.”

Still, I wish they’d got the combat choreographer from the Bourne movies, you know?

The moment in that fight when Bane starts speeding up and then destroys the pillar is probably the best fight moment in the entire film

[Armando]

Armando, what did you think of the score?

My major – but actually minor – beef with the series was its hand-to-hand fighting. There was nothing quiet like Batman absolutely tuning somebody up or dismantling them like the Mutant leader in Dark Knight Returns. The Batman-Bane fights in Dark Knight Rises were pretty flat.

But I asked a guy who knows this kind of stuff, and he said, “Bane is big, and Batman’s in a constrictive suit. That’s how they’d fight.”

Granted, I mentioned that to someone, and HE pointed out that Bane spent some time demolishing a stone column rather than turning to face Batman. To which I half-jokingly said, “Roid rage.”

Still, I wish they’d got the combat choreographer from the Bourne movies, you know?

I think the scores to these movies work well, though I have one friend in particular who prefers Danny Elfman’s Burton era Batman scores (more recognizable melodies in those). I thought the score to Rises was probably the most tasteful of all three in that it wasn’t overpowering and even literally got out of the way in the climactic, mid-film fight. I do find it a little interesting to think of inmates in a bottomless pit prison chanting in rhythmically complex patterns though, but that sort of thing has been a cue for “primal” or “primitive” or “earthy” since 1913 and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, so what do I know?

The fight choreography doesn’t bother me as much. Bruce is past his prime in this film and much slower than he used to be. One criticism leveled at “Begins” was how the fight scenes were shot up close, so you can’t see what’s happening, but I really liked that, since that’s kind of the point of Batman’s strategy, at least in that movie.

I did see the movie again over the weekend and found myself liking it a lot more than the first time around. Things that seemed haphazard or messy the first time through really made sense this time (most notably in the Miranda Tate storyline).

[Omra]

I agree with Armando that seeing it a second time makes things a lot clearer. Especially during the later third of the movie where it breaks into multiple storylines.