So, I thought it was very very entertaining but hollow, unconvincing, had a cheap-ass, unearned ending, and featured a Batman that bears no relation to any Batman I've been reading for most of my life. Totally agree on the lack of any natural human interaction as well...the Bruce/Selina relationship was particularly hard to buy, other than on sheer 'match.com' style bulletpoints (i.e. She's hot! He's hot too! She's into cosplay! So is he! BOOM)
That lead to the whole thing feeling cold and distant. I can see Batman getting beat down, but I don't actually CARE the way I should because he is such a cipher. He only ever spoke to Rachel in plot summations so I never bought that they were that deeply in love. They barely even smiled at each other for two whole movies....
Bane was a great villain up until the ol' switcheroo at the end which made a nonsense of his whole cause - turned out he didn't really give a shit about the oppressed 99% at all and was just trying to impress some hot chick he was hung up on.
The 8 year retirement - this is the hero Gotham needs? Batman gets shot in the leg and just gives up? His whole deal is supposedly boundless determination and devotion to an ideal. Yes, it makes for an entertaining (if super predictable) story to see him torn down, then rise up...but it's alien to me. This is the tension caused by trying to have character growth in a comic character that only makes sense if it never changes.
The happy ending - very enjoyable to watch, because of course it's always nice to see the beat-down hero win and get a shot at happiness. But it wasn't organic at all. There was no internal struggle with continuing the mission. Despite the 8 year retirement, as soon as something 'interesting' happened (Catwoman appearing), Bruce just becomes Batman again. As if all he was waiting for was a hot chick or something to stroke his ego. Mere muggers or rapists literally weren't worth his getting out of bed. But once he does become Batman again, there is no agonizing over whether it is the right thing to do or not. It's all externalized in the incredibly heavy-handed bitching from Alfred. There was no 'I'm too old for this shit' or 'Oh God, Catwoman is SOOO HOT I want to sex with her but this Batman thing is getting in the way'. The big decision to quit just happens literally in a flash, with Batman offscreen. Not a single human moment of indecision or longing or anything to justify what he did, unless you count looking miserable for the entire duration of the film. It is also reasonable to ask - if he wasn't happy being an idle billionaire playboy OR a crusading CEO OR a sexy masked vigilante....why the fuck is he going to be happy sipping cappucinos in Florence or whatever? What is his conscience telling him for the rest of his life?
oh crap well past TLDR gif territory so better stop there for now.
The weirdest thing about it is that I genuinely enjoyed the crap out of it, for the most part! But for a movie that invites you to think about it, it sure gets worse and worse the more you do...
Bruce and Selinas attraction seemed obvious to me, there are the points of her being smokin hot, kicking ass and into cosplay too (which is enough to drive the relationship for me, how complex do you want this thing?!) but it's made out that Wayne is clearly intrigued by her background and motivations; while he's always had everything and acts out of a sense of duty to Gotham, Kyle acts out of necessity and self preservation.
As for Wayne being retired then jumping at the chance to get back in the action after so many years, who wouldn't be intrigued by a smoking hot catburglar who robs your house, cracks your uncrackable safe but really only wanted your fingerprints? Not to mention the references to organised crime in Gotham being dead since Harvey Dent died. Batman didn't have a job to do, but suddenly there's the League of Shadows, Bane and TERROR and general villainy afoot. When in the history of Batman does he just roll around the city fighting 2 bit crims for the sake of it? There has to be a worthy villain for Wayne to don the cape.
Bane was great, the definition of a terrorist, while his actions came with a strong political message about equality and class systems he also wanted to see a city writhe in fear and flaunt his power as a super criminal then watch it all go up in smoke. I interpreted destroying the city as being part of the message, Bane and Talia come from some super serious twisted philosophy where, for some reason, Gotham is the center of all that is wrong with the modern world and must be destroyed, hence ultimately destroying the city declares their rationale to the rest of the world that, whatever Gotham was doing wrong will not be tolerated. No exceptions.
My only problem with Bane was when Batman first came into the film he seemed silly by comparison, all of a sudden nobody could shoot straight and the comic book action took over. I eventually got comfortable with it, but the first few scenes with Batman felt pretty awkward. There were a bunch of other things which sucked, specifically Alfred being a whimpering puss and the ending was shoddy and unsatisfying (the twist was far too forced). But on the whole I thought it was a damn fun flick.
