The Dark Knight Rises

[TeaLeaf]

Like all franchise films, especially those that follow a series of books, the risk is high that they screw up badly on the 2nd, 3rd etc film - remember the 3rd Matrix film?  However, I am REALLY looking forward to the third (and final?) installment of this Batman series of films.

I loved the last two Christopher Nolan batman films and they remain to this day one of my favourite films for quality of the cinematography (Wally Pfister) and soundscape (James Howard & Hans Zimmer).  

The music in both previous films is outstanding and Zimmer is a 'tour de force' for film scoring.    His previous work includes some outstanding film soundtracks:

The Last Samurai (one of the most brilliantly atmospheric scores of the last decade imo)
Madagascar
Rain Man
Driving Miss Daisy
The Lion King
The Thin Red Line
Gladiator
Pearl harbour
Mission Impossible II
COD:MW2(!)
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Simpsons Movie
DaVinci Code

..and the list goes on and on.  

Anyone remember Hans Zimmer from 'the Buggles'?  Yep, he was a member of that band (Video killed the Radio Star).

Anyway, I'm probably booking into the cinema for this one to see it on the big silver and to hear it on a monster sound system.

[RizZy]

I went to watch The Dark Knight at an Imax, if you've got one anywhere near I'd recommend it as I think there filming even more of Rises in Imax, definitely one to watch at the cinema I think.

[smilodon]

I do have some faith in the film industries ability to make great 3rd films. Recently Bourne anId Toy Story have proved it can be done. And while we can all list endless examples of great first movies swirling down the toilet with the second and/or third instalments I'm feeling 'Glass half full' about Batman.

[Padding]

Christopher Nolan has something special going. Just the fact that he insisted on not doing the movie in 3D is already a HUGE thumbs up from here.

t- minus 30 and counting

[Tutonic]

Nolan makes some great movies (Memento was great), so I'm looking forward to this.

Don't knock 3D - when it's done right (Avatar, Prometheus) it looks fantastic.

I hope he returns to do some more original sci-fi once he's done with Batman. Inception was pretty good, but I reckon he could do even better.

[TeaLeaf]

Booked my tickets to go see this on Friday, looking forward to it!

[Padding]

Probably have to wait a bit to see, but looking forward nonetheless. Surely cant be as disappointing as Prometheus.

[TeaLeaf]

Saw this film last night and I'm sort of in two minds about it.  

PROJECTION
4/10
Technically I watched the whole film thinking that it looked very SD and nowhere near as nice as my HD plasma does for blurays at home.  I'm not sure how much fo the original '4k' resolution they lost in getting it down to the cinema, but it looked either marginally out of focus or too low resolution compared to what I usually see.   So I'd like to thank Cineworld Milton Keynes for what was the worst projection I've seen in a while.  

SOUND
7/10
Musically, I was hoping for great things but was left underwhelmed as they had moved the focus to effect and away from creating an atmosphere.  They carried some themes from the first two movies, but tried to make them different by using a different key and using a slightly more dischordant set of notes which was bizarre as all the listener noticed was that it sounded 'wrong'.   Overall I don't think the lack of impact by the music is much to do with the scorer, it was more to do with the limited time and opportunity to build in that atmosphere, so much else is going on all the time.   What score was there was nice but not the great for  which I was hoping.

I'd also like to thank MK Cineworld for their inability to control audio volumes - it was cranked up to distortion levels and was way too loud - and I'm someone who likes their movie volume up real high!   It might have been the added 'noise' from the D-Max seating, but I doubt it.  Great shame, it put the whole thing on the back foot from the start.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
7/10
Pfister did another fine job and the scenes always looked good.  I think they would have looked even better though had he been allowed to add back in some more of the panning citiscapes and vistas that were such a trademark of the first two films and that allowed time for Howard & Zimmer to ratchet up the atmosphere with their score.  

STORY (no spoilers)
6/10.    There are too many bits that present inconsistency without explanation or where continuity seemed to fail.   There were two major bits of the storyline though where imo they lost the plot totally.   Yes this is fiction, but they're trying to tell the story within their own parameters in a believable way.  Nice twist at the 'almost' end and a predictable from some way off ending.  Without those 2 'believability' faux pas I'd have put it at 7/10.

OVERALL
7/10
Is it worth seeing at the cinema?   Yes on the basis that you'll probably get a better projectionist and sound engineer than I did.  

Will I buy it on Bluray when it comes out?    Yes, to complete the set and also in the hope that watched at home on my plasma the quality will be back to where I expected it to be.

[Sneakytiger]

i'm of to see it tonight at empire cinemas birmingham, i'll give my response after

[Snokio]

Saw this film last night and I'm sort of in two minds about it.  

PROJECTION
4/10
Technically I watched the whole film thinking that it looked very SD and nowhere near as nice as my HD plasma does for blurays at home.  I'm not sure how much fo the original '4k' resolution they lost in getting it down to the cinema, but it looked either marginally out of focus or too low resolution compared to what I usually see.   So I'd like to thank Cineworld Milton Keynes for what was the worst projection I've seen in a while.  

You did remember to take your 3d glasses right :flirty:

good write up, I'm hoping they have not gone for the same number of camera angle changes they did in the last one during the action scenes (changed every other second which made me disorientated and felt a bit artificial).

[Tutonic]

I also saw it last night, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Better than Prometheus (which had an incredible first hour but failed to deliver on it's promise) but not quite as good as The Dark Knight for my money - Heath Ledger being the only difference between the two.

Michael Caine still gets all the best lines, and Gary Oldman is as good an actor as I've seen - pure class.

Is it worth seeing at the cinema? Yes on the basis that you'll probably get a better projectionist and sound engineer than I did.

We're lucky enough to have an excellent indie cinema in the middle of Cambridge. I try to stay away from the big chains now, they simply can't get the picture/sound anywhere near as good. Last time I went to Cineworld they had the volume cranked up so loud it made the speakers crackle so hard I thought they were about to blow. Muppets.

[Sneakytiger]

just seen it at the cinema in birmingham.

all i can say without ruining it for people that havent seen it is.
its a great movie, has nolans mark all over it.very well directed with lost of good storylines
i'll be intrested to see what nolan does next.
it was actully good to watch it without donning 3d glasses,anne hatherway is really good i think.

[DarkAngel]

Got the luxury of watching it on Saturday, thoroughly enjoyed it. And it even gets a huge thumps up from the other half! I thought it delivered on everything i expected, personally i would give it a 9/10.

SPOILER DON'T READ - [SPOILER=pah, rubbish spoiler]Nice to see after batman returns, the first thing he does before putting on his suit (with the clock ticking) is have a shave. That also goes for the 3,000 policemen under the streets, they've been starving but they all manage to be clean cut lol.[/SPOILER]

[Gortex]

Watched last night in IMAX, with Brothertobious. Very good film and going to watch it again at the cinema as I think it is worth it. A couple of issues with it and one of them a big one in my opinion but won’t say as it might spoil it. On the whole though a high rating from me and would really recommend.

[TheDvEight]

I've not seen it yet want tooooo


[spoiler=The Dark Knight Rises]I'm not too keen on the idea of bringing back catwoman though.[/spoiler]