Ultimate 2000s Blogathon: The Dark Knight (2008) by MovieRob

Next up is one of the most avid and frequent movie reviews in our blogging community, MovieRob. If you haven’t been to his blog, he just reached his 5000th review milestone. His reviews are straight and to the point, features a cool quote, some trivia. Its a blast to join in and see everything he watches and reviews. If you haven’t been there before, you should definitely head there and check it out.  This time he takes us to a great film in the 2000s, no doubt a lot of people’s favorite, The Dark Knight, the second film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. Do I really need to introduce it more?

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“I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself. Look what I did to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple of bullets. Hmmm? You know… You know what I’ve noticed? Nobody panics when things go “according to plan.” Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it’s all “part of the plan”. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fair!” – The Joker

Number of Times Seen – More than 10 times (Twice in Theater including opening Day, DVD, Jun 2012, 13 May 2014, 20 Apr 2017 and 8 Jan 2019)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – After a new villainous threat begins to terrorize Gotham, Batman teams up with Gordon and the new DA, Harvey Dent to try and save the city.

If you have never seen this movie, I urge you to stop reading this post, read my two original non-spoiler reviews (linked Here and Here), watch the movie and finally after you’ve seen it, absorbed it and even cheered a bit (I did every time that I’ve watched it) then come back here for a review and analysis full of spoilers.

I have always been a fan of superhero movies and always enjoyed watching the Tim Burton version of Batman.

When Christopher Nolan made this film he found a way to completely raise the level of genre and it no longer was considered just fun but it now also could be a powerful storytelling device.

Bat man Begins was also great, but this film did so much near perfect and remains even after 11 years the very best superhero movie ever made and will probably remain that way for quite a long time.

No one (not even Nolan) himself have been able to find a story to top this one no matter how hard they have tried.

Heath Ledger does a superb job as the Joker and also remains the best portrayal of a superhero villain on film.

With this performance, he was able to break free of the stigma that Superhero movies are not just for kids.

Ledger won an Oscar for his performance and the film itself caused a change in the whole Oscar voting system because how could a film this powerful fail to get an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.

The music by Hans Zimmer is haunting and allows us to get into this complex and amazing story of good vs. evil so well it resonates for days after watching it.

The action sequences are planned extraordinarily and the story is filled with so many twists and turns that you are in for a helluva thrilling ride.

This is no children’s superhero film because they let some of the main characters die which helps make this story feel even more realistic because no one is truly safe from the terror of the villain.

The kinds of ‘tricks’ tat the Joker plays works really well because they give the viewer so much to think about.

This isn’t just a villain who wants money or carnage, he is one who will do anything to mess with the minds of those trying to stop him.

This is all apparent from the first scene because we see how the bank heist moves in ways that are quite unique and allow us to get an idea as to what kind of chaos the Joker is trying to put Gotham through just for the very fun of it all.

The fact that we learn nothing about the Joker also works really well because it adds to the unpredictability of it all.

The Joker pours his heart out twice during the film about how he got his scars but both stories contradict one another which leads us to believe that he just likes to tell crazy stories and it doesn’t matter if they are true or not.

It’s too bad that playing this character put such a toll on Ledger that he ended up accidentally overdosing while trying to recover from this transformation.

He was quite deserving of his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this role and remains one of the best screen villains to date.

The story is very dark, yet still feels so realistic throughout and this is still Nolan’s best film that even he will have trouble topping one day.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The bus crashing backwards into the bank in the opening sequence was much harder to pull off than was anticipated. The bus had to be taken apart and reassembled inside the building (a disused post office), concealed behind a large false wall, and then propelled backwards with an air cannon. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10)

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A huge thanks to MovieRob for joining us with this fantastic choice to share his favorite film of the 2000s. Its one that ranks pretty high with us as well. Remember to head over and check out his blog and give him a follow!

As always, you can find the full list of entries updated daily HERE!

Game Warp Podcast: ‘Batman: The Telltale Series’ Review

Game Warp Podcast’s new episode is here!
We are looking at our March featured game, Batman: The Telltale Series!

This episode, Elwood and I sit down with Youtube Gamer Slaymate, aka Insomnia Knights, to talk about Batman: The Telltale Series. We talk about what we thought about the story arcs that Telltale Games choose and how they made it their own. The conversation lead to the choices that tailored the story and game flow along with the game mechanics which are mostly the quick time events based. We end the conversation with whether we think there will be a sequel and what heroes or villains we’d like to see if it did happen as well as pitch other franchises that Telltale Games should do that could be fun.

Thanks for watching!

Remember if you enjoyed to like and subscribe! It’ll help us out a ton!
If you have any games to recommend, do tell us.

Also, remember that we’ll be streaming this weekend over at Twitch.
Follow us on Facebook/Twitter @GameWarpPodcast to get the announcements.
I’m looking at Saturday afternoon some time. 🙂

Game Warp Podcast: Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

Over at Game Warp, Elwood and I have been getting into the Christmas spirit as we dove into Batman: Arkham Origins which is set on Christmas Eve in Gotham. Batman: Arkham Origins is a 2013 open world action-adventure game and the third installment in the Arkham trilogy. We start with a younger Batman who follows a lead to track down Commission Leob who may be in danger at the Blackgate Penitentiary and learns that Black Mask is behind everything and has put a bounty on his head which eight assassins have gladly accepted. While he could hide away from all of them and stay as Bruce Wayne, Batman just couldn’t let others get caught up in his mess so he goes out to follow the lead to put an end to this.

We would like to apologize for the minor audio issues! Its something we are working hard to remedy.

Hope you enjoyed it! If you did, don’t forget to subscribe!

Happy Holidays!

 

Opinion Battles Round 16 Favourite Batman Villain

Its time for Round 16 of Opinion Battles! Its all about our favorite Batman villain. Of course, I chose to be extra unique and pick Catwoman who is kind of a villain but I love her the best. Regardless, its no doubt that I think the choices are great and everyone was as I expected with The Joker being a fave.
Drop by and check out the other choices and vote!

Movie Reviews 101

Opinion Battels Round 16

Favourite Batman Villain

Suicide Squad is hitting the cinema with a host of Batman enemies getting their own film, we always need a good villain to go up against the Dark Knight and we have had plenty to pick from.

If you want to join Opinion Battles our next subject will be Time Travel Movies, if you want to enter the closing date is 20^th August 2016 and email your choice moviereviews101@yahoo.co.uk

Darren – Movie Reviews 101

Scarecrow

Scarecrow first appeared in Batman Begins and was his first appearance in film universe, this was a risk to do because in the reboot we could have just jumped in with a more iconic villain for the non-comic book fans like myself could relate too. Scarecrow isn’t even the lead villain in this film but his scenes come off as the scariest in the superhero genre and…

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Unboxing: 1UP Box [July 2015]

I’m sorry that this is a little late.  I received this the same day as the Arcade Block but since I didn’t do a video for this one, it took me longer to put together. Now that Fantasia Festival is officially over and I only have one post left to do (which will be posted soon), I have a few of these backlogged posts to catch up on.  Let’s kick it off with an unboxing!

This month’s theme for 1UP Box is JUSTICE!

Let’s unbox July’s box!!

1) Justice League Wind Ups – Green Lantern

I’m starting to really enjoy these boxed up figures.  Be it wind ups or Pop! vinyl ones.  I think I need a new glass cabinet.  Question is where to put it. I’m not a huge fan of Green Lantern since it brings back bad memories of the movie but Justice League is cool 🙂 I’m down for superheroes.

2) TMNT Turtle Topper

I didn’t even have pencil toppers when I was a kid.  It always felt somewhat useless.  I am a huge fan of TMNT though so this has its nostalgic value 🙂

3) Batman Super Hero Shades

Look, I love Batman.  And its because of this absolutely useless gear that I get a little turned off with 1UP Box.  I guess its because there isn’t a age limit or something.  I’m all for nerdy stuff but unless I want to be Batgirl or Batwoman or something for Halloween, I won’t use this.  Anybody want it? I’d gladly send it to you! 🙂

4) Princess 007 Magnet

I’m not a huge Star Wars fans like a good amount of people out there but I love these mash-ups.  Princess Leia and James Bond! C’mon! That’s so cool! 🙂 Plus, I love magnets.  My fridge doesn’t look so white and sad anymore.

5) Exclusive Justice Tattoos

These are some cute tattoos. I won’t wear it but maybe I’ll pass it on to the nieces and nephews in the family 🙂

6) T-Shirt: Super Rangers

To wrap it all up, we look at the T-Shirt.  Like I said before, mash-ups.  I wasn’t a huge Power Rangers fan, mostly because it didn’t play on TV or at least I didn’t get the channel that it played on.  But I knew enough 😉 Now Super Ranger with a mix of Super Mario Bros which I LOVE LOVE LOVE (!!!) and Power Rangers. So awesome!! 🙂

This is the last 1UP Box for now. My subscription ended and whether I resubscribe down the road is still unknown.  However, I needed to drop one of these subscriptions at least so here we are! Waving my goodbyes to 1UP box.  Its a mixed bag, like I’ve said many times before.  There’s a lot of useless geek gear that I can’t think of what to make use with and its turning into clutter. Its nice to be away sometimes.  Let me organize it all and see what I can give away or alternate uses or whatnot.  I still had a lot of fun opening these boxes.  When it was cool stuff, it was pretty awesome 🙂

What do you think of this month’s 1UP Box? 

1UP Box: April 2015

What do you know?

1UP Box got their act together and got back on track with April’s box and it arrived on last Thursday!

What’s even more awesome than arriving early? Its that this month’s theme is in anticipation for the opening of Avengers: Age of Ultron and themed HERO!

How many of us aren’t even a little anticipating Avengers: Age of Ultron? So this superheroes theme comes right in time!

Let’s check it out!!

Funko Pop! Captain America

I’m not exactly sure how to not geek out over this! Other than the fact that I like Captain America and its all Marvel and whatnot, its because I’ve been hoping to get an ACTUAL Funko Pop! figurine thing since I’ve been ordering these boxes.  I got the weird Walking Dead one that winds up and the keychain but finally, an actual one!

I probably shouldn’t start another collection but isn’t this one just awesome!!!!

Super Key Cover: Batman

Super Key Cover: Batman

Remember how I geeked out over getting Boo in the last box.  I really like this one as well.  It was 50/50 that I might have gotten Superman.  I’m not a huge fan of Superman so this one was perfect 🙂

Legendary Hero Necklace

Legendary Hero Necklace

This is possibly a Zelda item again.  At least that was me and my boyfriend’s deduction.  It does look pretty cool 🙂 I don’t think I’ll wear it ever but it might look nice as decoration or maybe just put it in my display cabinet.

Superhero Iron-On Patch

Superhero Iron-On Patch

I haven’t ironed on a patch since elementary school.  That’s quite a while back.  This does look incredibly nice so I’m actually thinking where I could iron it on.  Probably on a messenger bag or a backpack? I don’t know yet.  I’ll think about it 😉

Spiderman Air Freshener

Spiderman Air Freshener

If you sniff this stuff long enough, its going to be bad for you.  This air freshener looks alright.  I like Spiderman but I don’t love the smell of this air freshener so I think this might end up going into the trash soon.  Its making everything in the box smell like it and I’m trying to air it all out as this goes up. I’ve been trying to figure out what the smell is.  It might be a really strong citrus smell or at least its trying to be? But then, smells are pretty subjective so who knows…maybe someone else enjoyed it more than me.

1UP Exclusive T-Shirt: Mushroom-Signal

Mushroom-signal T-Shirt

This T-Shirt just won me over to think about whether I want to continue subscribing to 1UP Box for another round.  Mario & Batman themed shirt! Let me go freak out with excitement first, k? Go ahead judge my life choices but 1UP Box just upped their game even more.

April 2015 1UP Box pin: HERO

And that’s a wrap for April 2015 and my 3 month subscription for 1UP Box! I’m putting some serious thought into whether to subscribe again. One of the main factors is money. I’m still human and gotta worry about the bills 😉 It also depends on the theme.  Decisions, decisions…that I will ponder.  We will see if I’m back for more, right?

This box (and the last one here) is all sorts of awesome! Funko Pop, Mario, Batman: all of these things win my heart over so easily! I’m pretty pleased with it all (except the air freshener).

Happy Monday! 🙂

Arcade Block Unboxing: March 2015!

A month passes by so quick! We’re at March’s Arcade Block unboxing! Just received on Monday and I headed over and unboxed it!

This month is a special one because there’s two shirts in the box! It also marks the end of my first 3 month subscription of this block.  While I had originally wanted to give the other two blocks a shot, the final decision was that we’d continue with the Arcade Block for a 6 month subscription because we just love gaming stuff too much 🙂  I probably will give Horror Block a go at the end of the year around October. As for Nerd Block, I ordered the Nerd Block version of Grab Block which is stuff from last year’s inventory or something. I don’t quite mind.  So a few things coming in the mail soon! The fun never ends! 🙂

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s check out the March goodies!!!

Arcade Block

Gameboy Notebook

Gameboy Notebook

Guess who is using this? 😉 Same as for the Tetris notebook in January!!

Stress Controller 

stress controller

I’m really hoping that they stop with stress balls in whatever cute style it is.  If I keep up with this, I’ll have to start giving them away or using them to cushion the wall or some other useful substitute for its original purpose.  I’m stressed but not THAT stressed…

Street Fighter  LED Flashlight

I’m not great at combat games but Street Fighter was iconic.  Mortal Kombat and Tekken was also a phase but nothing really compares to Street Fighter and the awesome characters.  I’ve already found a use for this flashlight in my new and really not very well lit neighborhood.  Haha!

Batman: Arkham Knight Comic Book

Batman Arkham Knight Comic Book (Arcade Block Exclusive)

This looks really cool. The whole exclusive item being Batman Arkham Knight and honestly, its one of the reasons I want to get a PS4.  The upgrade will happen eventually this year.  But all this is right now is paper in a plastic bag because the boyfriend is forbidding me from opening it.  Apparently its how comic books retain their worth x amount of years down the road. Excuse me, if thats the case it works, how do you read comics, eh? I don’t understand….  I’m too practical for this hobby apparently.

Double T-Shirt Month!

Far Cry 4 (?) T-Shirt

Super Smash Bros T-Shirt

I’m not gonna lie! I had to research that Kyrat shirt up there.  Far Cry 4 was never anything I was interested in.  Still, I’m not even sure if it actually is that.  Haha! But, I like love Nintendo so I know about Super Smash Bros.  I haven’t played much of it but I do know what it is 🙂

Here we go! March’s Arcade Block! Everything was really cool! 🙂

I should have another unboxing sooner than the next month!
And unboxing will get its own spot on the menu up top. Look for it!

Thoughts? Anything goodies this time that you like?

My Weekly Adventures!

First, a massive THANK YOU to Laurie at Pride in Photos for suggesting to give my weekly personal updates this title 🙂 Now, I don’t need to get all fancy and can just use this lovely simple My Weekly Adventures.  I just learned the whole  acronym of KISS –> Keep It Stupid Simple.  This however is not stupid in any way and its recaps exactly what the weekly posts are about.  Thank you for being so awesomely genius, Laurie! I owe you one! And if you haven’t visited Laurie’s blog Pride in Photos, I advise you to because she is an amazing photographer and I love her posts to bits.

From now on, this segment will now be MY WEEKLY ADVENTURES.  I will add that on the menu some time this week (hopefully tonight).

Lets see what adventures I went on this week 😉

1) Moon Festival!

Dinner for Midautumn/Moon Festival!

Moon Cake

Last Monday was Midautumn Festival or more commonly known as Moon Festival. Its a time for family and symbolizing the arrival of a new season.  The moon is like a completion of something mostly in the complete family being there and the blessing behind it.  My mom made a delicious dinner and then we had moon cakes later on at night. We even stepped outside for a walk together and to look at the lovely full moon 🙂

2) Another room finished!

Thanks to my boyfriend being super awesome at picking up the pace for painting. Another room in the basement is done 🙂 This color is absolutely adorable and actually turned out way better than I expected! Only 3 more rooms to go and one of them is already in progress.

What do you think of the color?

You think it’ll make you feel energetic? This should eventually be a workout room..haha! So thats kind of important 😉

3) My first Montreal Comiccon!

On Saturday, I went to my first ever Montreal Comiccon! After finally having to go alone, I ended up spontaneously meeting up with fellow blogger and one of my very awesome girl friend, Day’s on the way to the line-up.  She was there alone as well so we paired up and went together 🙂 Very nice turn of events.  I ended up going to 4 Q&A panels and then checked out some exhibits and took tons of pictures of some awesome costumes.  I’m still shifting through my pictures but the detailed post on that one will go up tomorrow!

I’m totally going again next year.  If there is someone awesome, I would love to go do a photo op.  This year, the photo op was full by the time I decided I would like to dish out the money to do it.  Plus, I’m planning on going to Toronto Comiccon next year if I can arrange my finances and find some friends who would like to road trip with me.

4) Little Finds at Comiccon!

Although I did spend most of my day at Comiccon running back and forth between Q&A panels, we did find time to eventually hit the exhibition hall and check out some merchandise.

Our first find was this Moonglow Jewelry.  The concept behind it is that you can use whatever date you choose.  I chose my birthday and looked up the code for the moon that was on that birth date and it a photograph of the moon on it.  Then you can attach it to either a bracelet or a necklace (in various models).  I eventually chose a bracelet and added on my boyfriend’s moon on his birth date as well.  When you buy this, it give you a little card with a description of the personality of the person born on that moon.  I was born at the 3rd quarter of full moon while my boyfriend is the new moon.  These little charms absorb UV light and at night, they glow in the dark.

Pretty neat, right?

Moonglow Jewelry

After debating on getting some artwork to decorate my new place, I eventually came across a place, where I bought a T-shirt (which is going to be delivered to me in 2 weeks) from TeeTurtle but they also sold posters and this one caught my eye. The Totoro bus with a bunch of Ghibli characters on board just stole my heart away.

TeeTurtle Posters

Luckily this poster is still in one piece.  This was a free poster from Warner Bros booth celebrating the 75th anniversary of Batman.

Warner Bros free poster: 75th anniversary Batman

5) One Day Road Trip to Charlevoix

Along the shore of La Malbaie

After taking a few months to figure out when to do it, my friend and I finally decided to go on a one day drive through Charlevoix to take pictures and see the area.  I’ve already been before with my boyfriend a few years back but when my computer got attacked by a virus, those happened to be the only photos that were not backed up AT ALL.  So this trip was essentially for me to do a reboot of those photos except this time, I have a more powerful camera on hand 😉

I’m still sifting through Comiccon pictures so these ones are the next ones to go through.  This post will go up nearing the end of the week 😉 Prepare for some breathtaking moments!

6) Finds in Charlevoix

I love going to different regions and looking at some wine stores because some times they carry some alcohol different from the ones in Montreal. This time, I stopped at the SAQ in La Malbaie before turning around and heading home and found a Rose wine La Rose Gabrielle and a Dry Gin made from herbs called Ungava.  I haven’t tried the gin yet but we did open it to smell (when I got home, of course) and it has a very distinct smell.  I’m intrigued as to what it would taste like 😉

7) Some Funny Moments!

Some of you may have missed my funny moment on TV and the post and that was pretty much the most funniest moment of my summer.  YouTube offers mostly hilarious moments from Ellen Show channel and I’m so happy that its back because it means I get to share those again! This week’s video that cracked me up the most was Channing’s Biggest Fear…

Fears, my friends! No matter how awesome you are, it just destroys you.

8) Awesome Music!

You all know by now (if you’ve followed me a while) that I love Youtube artists or in general, independents artists.  I’ve talked about Sam Tsui, Kurt Schneider and the whole crew.  This time, the spotlight is the extremely talented Daniel de Bourg.  This guy has such an amazing voice.  I love listening to his originals and his covers and its pretty crazy that I haven’t mentioned him yet.  Maybe its because he doesn’t have as many covers come out.

I’ve never heard the original yet so I can’t really compare but I’m liking this one a lot 🙂

Thats it for this week! Life’s adventures just never stop and they almost always give me inspiration for something new to check out.

How was your week or weekend, my lovelies? Happy Monday!

Tug of War: Marvel or DC?

I’ve been pretty busy this week so I haven’t dropped by to The Matticus Kingdom to check out your answers but I just did a quick skim and there’s been a lot of comments which is fantastic.  If you haven’t read THIS post, asking you join into The Offical  Matticus Kingdom Tug of War, well, you probably should head over HERE to check it out instead! This should spark a pretty interesting tug of war 🙂 If you are into the DC universe, well, go ahead and tug hard and well, if you want Marvel to win, pull back with all your might.

The question we are tugging for in this war is: Which universe of superheroes (and villains) is superior: Marvel or DC?

Now, the big question here is which side did I pick? I could’ve just answered in the comments but you know, I like to talk and ramble 😉 I’ll try to keep it short, ok?

Just in case you are unfamiliar, because I’m a mega beginner.  I only know about either of them because of movies.  Here’s a poster for each of them.

So, which side am I going to pull with all my force, right?

Its really funny actually.  For all of today before I sat down to write this and search up those images, I was thinking I’d back DC comics because hey, there’s Batman, Catwoman, The Joker and some pretty impressive heros and villains.  I haven’t experienced the apparent awesomeness (from what I’e heard) of Arrow yet so it wouldn’t be fair to include that.

But, as much as it pains me to say this, lets get those apologies out there. I’m sorry, Batman, I had to let you go. I can’t defend DC Universe. If one of my really good friends read this, she will give me a lesson also, but still…

*sigh of relief* Now that thats out of the way. I’m joining all of you tugging for Marvel.

Now, hear me out, ok? I had to pick a side and not just a hero.  If it was a hero, Batman would win hands-down but I took a good hard look at DC Universe and what its had to offer (in terms of movies).  Other than Batman and Catwoman, Green Lantern was a disaster and not to mention a snoozefest. Watchmen was a mega weird one and still so boring (but apparenlty I’m the minority who thinks that), and well, I didn’t see Jonah Hex because Megan Fox was in it and I don’t really want to watch it. Call it a lack of exposure to other DC universe characters but they aren’t winning over my heart right this moment.

Isn’t this concept art poster so cool?

With that said, Marvel has done a great job.  All the characters are fun.  Wolverine and X-men kicked some ass along with Cyclops and Rogue and the whole bunch.  Even the villains were pretty bad-ass.  I mean Xavier to Magneto, epic! 🙂 Then, just look at The Avengers. Would you want to mess with The Hulk? I wouldn’t.  I mean, thats one of the reasons, I would not choose DC either.  I mean, Joker is pretty nasty but some big-ass green dude can probably crush me.  Look over at the positives: Thor is just fantastic, I mean, he’s a demi-god. I think that says it all.  Ironman is not godly but he is quite torn and broken but pretty powerful in his own way.  And then, we have Hawkeye who is a great archer and Black Widow is a femme fatale right now.  A great team right there! Oh and how can I forget, Blade is in this mix also.  Who doesn’t love a vampires? I know I do!

What wins it for me has to be Spiderman though.  I mean, it was pretty much a battle between Spiderman and Batman in the first place.  I’m not very much Tobey Maguire Spiderman as opposed to Andrew Garfield but Spiderman is quite Amazing in itself.  There’s a god, a few superhumans and some pretty awesome fighting capabilities in this mesh and I’d say Marvel is the winner, for me at least 🙂

Do you agree? Maybe you disagree and you’re more of a DC Universe supporter? Head on over to the Matticus Kingdom HERE.  If you don’t want to do a post, then just leave a comment so that you can make sure that you give a bigger chance to your side.

Keep on tugging! Tomorrow is the last day to help out your side! 🙂

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

After postponing date night, my boyfriend and I finally got around to going to see The Dark Knight Rises at the theatres last Wednesday.  I’ve never shared the same love for this movie as many superhero fans have.  These Batman movies are definitely ranked among the  higher ones.  I had revisited the first two over the course of the last 2 weeks.  This was good because I never had seen Batman Begins and really wanted to get a better idea of how Batman (Christopher Nolan version) got to where it was, instead of Batman just already had made the decision and was fighting the big bad guys in Gotham.  I have been debating how to structure this post but finally decided to not make a quick review of Batman Begins and Dark Knight instead this is just a review of this movie alone (although it is hard to not link to the previous movie).

I did a bit of research and looked into what other movies Christopher Nolan did.  He has definitely made a lot of movies that I’ve really appreciated. I think the first movie I watched from this director according to IMDB was Memento.  That movie was amazing and original.  He did the Prestige as well.  Although this one was enjoyable.  The part that made it less amazing was the fact that around the same time frame, The Illusionist came out and I had enjoyed watching that one a little bit more.  I’m sure that could have a debate going. It just depends which one is more to your taste.  What do I have to say about Christopher Nolan? He makes movies with darker and more serious tones and his ideas are very original, from setup to the character development, etc. I’m into that genre of movies so I’m fine with that. I like Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  Watching those two made me want to go see The Dark Knight Rises.

Going into the Dark Knight Rises, I had taken the time in the last few months to watch most of the trailers released (I think there was 4).  I wasn’t really sure how the movie would pan out.  The trailers made the movie look pretty awesome, in a somewhat vague way.  It gave us an introduction of the cast, but we already know the cast since its mostly carried forward from the first two in the trilogy.  I’m a huge fan of Anne Hathaway so I was really excited to see how she’d pull off Catwoman.  On the other hand, I was a bit worried as well.  I really loved Michelle Pffeifer’s Catwoman as well.  Then we come to Bane.  He is the villain of the final instalment.  Last time I saw Bane was in Batman and Robin, okay, bad memories, especially since that Bane didn’t say anything.  So I have no idea what is the deal with Bane and why does he hate Batman to the extent of ruining him, and wait, was he able to talk all along?  The previews also gave us the very much aged Bruce Wayne, walking with a cane, etc., but that made sense after I finally stayed awake for the final part of The Dark Knight and he runs off into the dark, so that was a bit more clear.  Now all the issues I had are laid out, lets see how my expectations turned out.

Expectations were definitely not failed.   I thoroughly enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises.  As usual, the effects were fantastic and the story had enough going on for me to stay awake through the whole thing (and I don’t even want to talk about how bad my day was).  The final instalment was definitely exactly that.  You probably would enjoy the experience so much more if you had gotten around to watching the first two movies.  I don’t see this as a problem though.  The trilogy was meant to be seen as a whole to portray the story of Batman in a complete way from how he came to be to how he rose up.  I’m not sure who would actually go see the final instalment, after seeing all the previews and expect to be amused.  Well, you would probably still be amused because its a decent storyline and there was enough action and obstacles to keep your attention.  Either way, my suggestion, if you want to see this one, do go see at least The Dark Knight, just to have an idea of what how the characters had developed to where they were, especially how Batman got to this stage in life and better understand what he does.

Stemming from that, I loved the fact that they were able to keep ALL the actors from the previous instalments for all 3 movies.  Lets just say, I enjoyed this trilogy because they casted a lot of actors that I liked.  Michael Caine (playing Alfred) is remarkable as usual with his comments and he came out with this one with a bit of a different approach, showing his deep care for Batman/Bruce Wayne and had a pretty heartwarming and heartbreaking moments.  Morgan Freeman (as Lucius Fox) was awesome also.  He captures that role pretty good.  Gary Oldman (as Commissioner Gordan) was fantastic.  The new additions were great.  We have Anne Hathaway (as Catwoman/Selena) which pretty much has convinced me that she can play any role (the anticipation for Les Miserables is growing).  She played a pretty captivating role with a nice side story.  Another actor that was included in this instalment was Joseph Gordan-Levitt (as Blake).  My goodness, this guy is moving up so fast and his acting has improved where he can do well in roles of many genres.  We come to another actress that I love a lot is the elegant Marion Cotillard (as Miranda). I’ve seen her in mutliple movies before and she has always owned up to her character. Finally, Christian Bale (as Batman/Bruce Wayne)…..I’m at loss for words.  He is one hell of an actor, I’ve loved him in so many movies.  He sure kicked most of the previous Batmans in their ass.  So with the characters, at this point in time, we have all bonded with the people on screen and its due to the repeating cast appearances and familiar faces.  We have grown to understand their characters and their influences and significance to Batman/Bruce Wayne.  The only thing that brings on mysteries is now that Batman has retired and we see Gotham City 8 years later after the previous incident with the Joker and Rachel and Harvey’s death, we see the changes that have occurred and the good part of the beginning is set in introducing the new roles and also the new situation being on new dynamics between the cast.

I won’t sit around and say I liked which one in the trilogy I liked more.  I found all of it contributed to  an exciting Batman experience.  I thought this one was great and gave it a nice ending.  The only issue I always had was how the villains were never really awesome.  Jonathan Crane/The Scarecrow was alright but was he an exciting villain, not really in my opinion.  But then, on the other hand, who can comment about Heath Ledger’s The Joker…he was crazy.  What made his character as a villain extremely convincing was he had no reason behind what he was doing.  You never knew what his next step was, and who likes to watch movies where you already expect the next step.  This was my issue with Bane as the villain.  I watched a good part of the movie and the reason why I was intrigued was not that I had no idea what he wanted to do but why? I kept waiting for the reason to come up.  Or at times I wondered if I missed it because of the comprehensible voices for the characters.  I had three movies to adapt to Batman’s voice, but now you give me Bane who has a muffled voice because of the breathing apparatus.

Other than that, this movie was a thrilling watch. As usual, there was character development for Batman even if his appearance was not very abundant.  The only issue was that there was a whole lot of side stories also.  Everyone seemed to have a story but there was not enough time to go in depth for anyone.  I felt at times that Blake could have had more character development especially with how they ended the movie.  The ending was done very well as it tied up the loose ends that were question marks throughout the movie.  So I was pleased with it all, especially since the ending had a slight unexpected factor.

Overall, this movie was an enjoyable movie experience. I would definitely recommend people to go see it, but with the urge that you have seen the previous movies of the trilogy to fully appreciate what this one has to offer.

On a side note, The Dark Knight Rises was so hard to review by itself.  I almost wanted to add a mini review of the first two just to have a more thorough review.  If you had a chance to see the movie, tell me what you thought about it.

Lots of good movies being released..I should be heading out to the theatres soon enough.