The Dark Knight Rises Afterthoughts

I would like to share some of my insights about the said movie. I have mixed emotions for it: (1) I am relieved that finally I know how The Dark Knight trilogy ends.  (2) I am elated that somehow there might be a future to the movies (Read: Robin). (3) I enjoyed Bane’s voice; every time he spoke I had Patrick Stewart in my head. (4) I am amazed at how Anne Hathaway carried her role as Cat Woman. She did very well! (5) I am somewhat left in mystery in some parts. I feel that there were some loopholes in the movie that I would really like to be resolved.. And those are what I want to blog about.

Wasn’t Bruce Wayne’s right leg the one needing braces?

Bruce Wayne at the beginning of the movie was on a cane supporting his right leg; evident because he held his cane on his right hand to support the weakened knee. But eventually he gets this high-tech knee brace and puts it on his left, and now his right was perfectly fine? Was it all an act?

Okay, suppose..

It was all an act. Did he fake the X-Rays?

Answered!

John made a comment about this, and I guess I had canes wrong. Canes are not crutches. And Jess H, in his comment, had a better observation about the leg.

The Mercenaries and Trained Men suddenly sucked in the end.

At the beginning of the movie, I was somewhat convinced that Bane had these mercenaries willing to die for their cause. At one part of the movie, Batman said that they (the mercenaries) could have killed her (Cat Woman) if not for him (Batman) helping her out. They gave me the impression that these men – hardened and unfeeling – were good enough to kill a skilled fighter like Cat Woman. All good so far especially when these capable men, with Bane’s leadership (and bluff), were able to take over Gotham City.

Suddenly, and I mean SUDDENLY, these battle-hardened men started to suck when the good guys fought back.

There was this one scene wherein Commissioner Gordon and his band of merry men were hijacking the mobile bombs’ guard trucks, and this guy with the huge gun at the back of the truck just stood there and watched them as they jumped on the truck (all 3 of them) and kick him in the chest. He was just looking! LOOKING!

Okay, suppose..

He was really surprised from the ambush. I’m just thinking: what sort of battle-hardened man, guarding a bomb-vehicle, would have the initial reaction of just looking and not even a delayed reaction of fighting back while his post was being intruded?

If the Bad Guys wanted to win, why did they feed the trapped Policemen?

There were hundreds (or a couple of thousand?) policemen trapped underground for at least a couple of months with supplies and food being sent to them by the bad guy. Why are they keeping them alive?

Okay, suppose..

They MIGHT have wanted them to stay alive so that they could feel the heat of the Nuclear-Fusion-Reactor-turned-Atom-Bomb’s explosion, but shouldn’t have they been only left alive enough to feel it, but not perfectly-healthy-enough-to-fight-back? Maybe they looked forward to them fighting back?

Shouldn’t they have also been stinky then?

However

I think there might have been something in Bane’s takeover speech I missed.

Okay so Bruce got out of that well-like prison, but how did he get to Gotham City in 6 hours, well-dressed and fully shaved?

The bomb was going to explode in about 18 hours. It had already been some 40, 50, 60+ or more days since his incarceration in that weird prison. At around this time, Bruce had gotten enough inspiration to climb out. (Hint: There was this jump that required a certain resolve in order for someone to make the jump.) When he got out, the scenery looked like he was in some remote desert. The prison was in the middle of pff-I-don’t-know-but-it-looked-like-a-Middle-Eastern-desert and Bruce was without resources, but triumphant.

Now the scene goes back to Gotham City, where after a scuffle, the Cat Woman gives a lesson to a little boy that he shouldn’t steal from people he can’t outrun. Bruce suddenly comes out from the shadows, dressed up and clean shaven. How did he get there so quickly? Didn’t he lose all of his assets? Did I miss anything?

Yes, six hours because when Bruce met up with Lucius Fox, Lucius told him that the bomb would explode in 12 hours.

Okay, suppose..

Bruce had connections. Suppose he stumbled upon someone he knew in the desert, and this friend provided him free airfare back to Gotham City, a haircut, a nice shave, a new wardrobe and maybe a back rub, but 6 hours? Where was he really? His backyard?

Come to think of it….

How did Bruce arrive in Gotham City undetected?

All bridges were being watched. Anyone from the outside going in, or anyone from the inside going out, the Atom Bomb will be detonated. How did Bruce do that? He didn’t have his suit, he also didn’t have access to his bat vehicles.

Okay, suppose..

There was a tunnel. If there was some tunnel that led him back to Gotham secretly and undetected, why didn’t he just tell Officer Blake to have everyone go through the secret tunnel instead?

However

It could have been complicated to direct him there with the Batman voice. “Go to the street over there, turn right, then make a left on the third corner, when you reach this portion, climb the stairs and then.. Ahh screw it, go through the bridge and risk being killed!”

Bane was killed.

Batman scolded Cat Woman when she pulled a gun on a mercenary saying that they should not kill anyone as the duo proceeded to beat the crap out of everyone else. Nice!

However, when Bane was just about to kill Batman, Cat Woman silently barges in with the Bat Cycle and fires a round at Bane. The explosive round that didn’t explode hit him in the chest killing him instantly. She says something like Batman’s rule not working well enough for her.

Batman didn’t mention anything about it to her. He let it slide! Why? Is it because he was just about to die and so in that case his principle changed to “kill or be killed”?

Hmm.. Okay maybe he was more worried about the bomb exploding. I’ll have to think about this a bit more.

Civilians could roam around freely.

I didn’t really get a good feel of how Gotham City was like during Bane’s rule. Was it like Martial Law? Why did people lock themselves in their houses and buildings? Why were the streets always empty? So I don’t really know why the “civilians” roaming the streets weren’t suspicious to the mercenaries.

Conclusion:

Overall though, I was still strapped in my seat. The mystery at the beginning, the build up, the action, their devices, Anne Hathaway, they were all pretty good. The loopholes I mentioned above are evident, but not really important enough to change the story. It could have added more oomph to the climax, but they might have been deemed irrelevant. I’m just saying it could’ve been more convincing if they inserted in a few more scenes or lines to remove the mystery.

Or! I might have missed out on a few parts in the movie.

But! Maybe they really had to cut out a few scenes due to the length of the movie. I mean the movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes long already. Maybe the director’s cut would be less inane on some of the scenes.

Oh and I just realized that scarecrow was the judge.

EDIT 2012/07/22:

I guess the wrong leg loophole was too obvious. My blog’s been getting the following search terms:

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… Among many others like “did catwoman kill bane“, and “the dark knight rises desert jail“.