The Dark Knight Rises

I don't know if it's just I expect so much more from Batman films or what, but the latest installment of the Batman saga, even with the villain that 'broke the bat' just didn't do it for me.

Best thing I can say about it was at least I wasn't bored watching it.

I think my biggest issues always come from the weird way that stories get conflated and massacred in the movie universe that simply reduces the rich story-telling history of legacy of the Batman franchise. Similar to my problem with The Amazing Spiderman last month, the mixed details of both the Al Ghul story arcs and Bane's just kind of make me feel like it's a story told slightly wrong. The story feels off, though at least they've managed to gracefully migrate from the Bruce Wayne to Dick Grayson as the Batman in future series.

Also, and this is a personal thing, I hated the way R'as Al Ghul has been hashed up by the movies. Probably because R'as Al Ghul was one of the first story arcs I ever read as a child (in fact I had a giant supersized collection of the first R'as Al Ghul stories), I've despondently watched as they slaughtered that storyline (and Liam Neeson? Really!?! I mean, c'mon... does that man look Arabic at all?!?!)

Anyhow, it was an ok watch at least. For a two and a half hour film I have to say I didn't get bored at all and at least Bane was interesting. I kinda also liked the way they made Catwoman more of a cat burglar than a supervillain (though please bring back Halle Barrie.).

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