The Dark Knight Rises

[Eric]

Spoiler

I was going to avoid this, because I hate talking politics on the internet (and I really tried to look over some of these aspects to try to enjoy the film), but the politics of the scheme, and in many ways, the film, are so flawed that it still doesn't make any sense to me. It's been a while since I've seen Batman Begins, but if I remember correctly, one of the things that Ra's is against is the decadence that leads to evil. And perhaps I was taking the term incorrectly, because the scene was set in the middle of a billionaire's party, but I equated this to the self-indulgence of the rich and powerful at the expense of others.

Here, though, we get what felt like a parody of the Occupy movement, with Bane running a seeming working-class army from the sewers consisting partially of orphans, apparently, that march on attack whatever the Gotham version of Wall Street is, drag the rich into the streets, and quite literally occupy their homes while sentencing them to death via kangaroo court. But aside from Bane's army, it seemed like there was still a lot of good in Gotham.

So I'm still not sure of the point Bane/Talia, and/or Nolan and Goyer were trying to make, nor am I sure that point is still valid after eight years of what was apparently pretty good, wholesome, peaceful living in Gotham City during which The Batman was not needed. And if the mission is that important, why would the leadership of the League of Shadows essentially commit suicide while doing it? Surely there's an easier, less complicated way than driving an atom bomb around town in a truck?

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[veryweirdguy]

EKM, I'm glad you like Batman: Gotham Knight! I am the webmaster for one of the writers, who has also written a fair number of Batman comics.

Which one? I might geek out a little.

[Anian]

@Eric:

Spoiler

Yeah, the twist is they switched Thalia's and Bane's backstory, I thought it was pretty cool to throw off even some of the fans.
And the police charging, was kind of a fail for me as well, I think Nolan kind of messed it up and the scene wasn't as epic as it should have been, but it's still pretty good.

I don't really understand what you meant with the billionare's party? I mean Bruce is holding up the party to keep up the fake playboy role by celebrating his birthday. Ra goes there because it's Bruce's house and then they burn it to the ground. THe plan was to show there really is no hope by providing a false one. Yet cops and others gathered up behind another symbol (Batman) as protector, that's why it was important for him to fight with them in the end. Once that Gotham was taken back again, and the whole city found real strength (not the false one that Dent's death provided and just prolonged things, then Batman went away with Robin standing ground to help out and start a new slate just as a protector and not a symbol.

There's no putting down of the Wall Street movement, Bane clearly states that they just offer this vision of control for a moment to keep them in control and not thinking of might happen soon. But on a similar note, when you think about really closely, did the WS movement actually do anything?

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Are we talking Gotham Knight the dvd cartoons? That was a pretty good collection, although I'm not a fan of anime style, this was still at high quality and the stories were really cool, so I didn't mind it.

[Eric]

Spoiler

I've looked around to see if anyone else felt as I did, and found a massive, spoiler-filled review that better addresses some of what I felt about the film, especially the section titled "The Politics of Rises are Repugnant." I don't agree with everything the reviewer says, and I think the politics of DKR are not as clear-cut as he insinuates. That's what I'm sort of trying to get at above -- I feel like Nolan/Goyer are trying to make a political point (or series of points), sort of needlessly, but they're not very clear on what that point is. I'd still give the film a thumbs-up, but I have to not think about it too much to do so. The other films were the opposite -- I gave thumbs up after thinking hard about them (especially the second). Maybe a second viewing would help.

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Greg Rucka is my client. He's currently writing Punisher for Marvel, and a webcomic called Lady Sabre & The Pirates of the Ineffable Aether on which he and artist Rick Burchett (who drew many of the comics based on Batman: The Animated Series, among other things) have been very kind to let me have some creative input.

[Eric]

Whoops! Double posted due to a FastCGI error!

[Snarky]

That's awesome, Eric. I was a big fan of Queen & Country and Whiteout, and I've heard he's done good work with Batman and now with the Punisher. I should check out the webcomic.

[veryweirdguy]

He co-wrote Gotham Central, which is the best Bat-related series ever (one of the best, anyway.) I'm starstruck!

[Eric]

Gotham Central and Queen & Country are my favorites of his work...and were before he hired me. I too am starstruck, still! It was a series of lucky breaks that put us together.

Please do check out the webcomic. I feel amazingly lucky to get the first peek at Rick's artwork. When Greg called to let me know Rick would be the webcomic artist, I had just bought a stack of his run on Blackhawk from the back issue bin.

Greg's also a fan of adventure games, I'm pretty sure. I made a crack about going to the SCUMMBar once, and he told me to avoid the vichyssoise.

Anyway, sorry to name drop and take this topic off course. To get things back on track -- I've been struggling to figure out what Bane's voice reminded me of, and it turns out, it's the cartoon character Ludwig Von Drake.

[ig299]

I thought it was wrong when the cat lady bit off the apple  the kid had.

[Eric]

That's why she's an anti-hero.

[Armageddon]

I think I'd be okay if Anne Hathaway bit off a part of my apple. Wait...

[ig299]

Yeah that was a joke.