The Dark Knight Rises

“I'm sorry, Master Wayne, I failed you...” -  Alfred J. Pennyworth

Okay, an off topic post from Rara and The Ricketies posts but, I think I need to jot it down.

I've always been waiting for a week after a particular movie was on theatre screen. I have had three main reasons why. On top of all, I'm too lazy to get into a very long queue and wait for another hour to see the movie. Other reason is that I'd prefer a more vacant auditorium than its premiere week-shows. And last, the ticket is always cheaper than its premiere. Haters gonna hate, haha!

Well, this time, it's The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) I've been waiting for. My sister and brother had already watched it and they really adore how thrilling it was. Thank the gods, I also always expect less than other people talked about, it's just to make sure that it would blow me off and make me cheering or otherwise, I wouldn't disappoint too much (consider the movie really sucks). My expectation comes while the film is throwing premises. Clues. At least if your expectation was wrong, you'd like to be surprised and mind-blown in an entertaining way.

OK, haters gonna hate, with all due respects to Chris Nolan whom has had us great times with Inception and The Dark Knight, TDKR is ill-favoured. Perhaps The Dark Knight and Inception has had me subconsciously expect that TDKR should be like them or... I don't know.

Why do I claim so? Spoiler alert, mate. So please stop and close this note if you haven't seen the movie yet. Otherwise, you would have your expectations ruined by my utter nonsenses.

First of all, as I have claimed before, I always expect less. I don't want epic car-chasing or bullets whooshing around or explosions or some superheroes kick some arses. I just want the movie or particular scene has you GET INTO it. You want to feel the thrill, the joy, being fun at, the sadness, being punched or hurt by the villain, or you-name-them.

On the opening acts, we see Bane has an awesome mission (at least that was stuff I felt when I see how Bane hijacked an CIA aircraft). And also until Bane brings Wayne into the pit, I was hoping he will bring Gotham into chaos, panic amongst the residents of being cut off of the world. I wanted to feel like one of Gotham's resident, being in confusion and fear perhaps, because there were blasts all over the city, the 'Bastille prison' is happening, and a 'French-revolution-wannabe' starts.

Alas no. None of the feeling was present. Instead, I just saw the newsmen and football spectators gawked, watched Bane talking gibberish about a nuclear bomb at the stadium and reading Gordon's letter on top of some accustomed bat mobiles. What if the bomb is a fake? What if the letter is phony? What if...  -Okay you're thinking too much. Just enjoy it, yeah?-

Then we see Wayne was exiled into a godforsaken pit at an Arabic desert after being beaten to pulp by Bane in the Gotham sewer. Wayne was stripped off of his bat costume and left to die, both his soul and his body. It's a cool way to torture a person as naïve as Wayne though. No ID, no gadgets, no smartphones, no shoes, no Lucius Fox, and no Alfred while seeing Gotham's being destroyed slowly (for 5 months! Whoaa!). Yet Wayne conquers the tests and managed to escape the pit after about four months and dozens of efforts climbing the pit. Actually this is a good message to make you rise from failure!

But how the hell does he manage to get into Gotham in less than 10 hours and pops out then meet Selina???!? From Arabic desert? No ID? No smartphones? No Fox? No Alfred? Blablabla?

My possible explanation is that Wayne has had the auto-pilot codes patched into 'The Bat' software six months before and then helps him get out of Arabic desert. But how the hell does he call it?? He was stripped off of his bat costume (and of course, his gadgets) for gods' sake!!

Actually I was really hoping TO SEE Wayne outwits Bane get off the deserted land and get into Gotham after all the premises the movie had thrown at me. Batman is not Superman. He has gadgets, skills, determinations, fortunes, and above all, wits. He already did it when he escaped the pit without gadgets but... -Okay you're thinking too much. Just enjoy it, yeah?-

No, mate! My mind is blowing in an uncomfortable way! There are more stuff I'd like to talk about but I think it would be too long to read. Some of them are: Batman suddenly popped out of nowhere to save Blake,  Batman fire logo on the bridge, and there was a tunnel to go outside Gotham and apparently no one knows about it but Wayne and two members of League of Shadows (euh, I'm not sure about the name, CMIIW yeah?)...

If you let me compare this with TDK - despite some flops on its editing and I don't actually like or adore any superheroes – I could feel how evil and insane Joker was, more than anybody else told him so. Daggett clearly said, “You're pure evil” to Bane, but it sounded wrong. I suppose he did it as his loyalty to his duty, to his organization, to Ra's Al Ghul's ideology, and to his master, Thalia Al Ghul.

I think another comparison comes from Pixar's animated movie, Brave. It was hillarious, heart-warming, and I was nearly burst into tear, really. There were also two female college students sitting on my right, laughing a lot and having their eyes wet and their noses full of tears after the movie ended. These small clues brought me to conclude that 'Brave' has successfully had us GET INTO its world.

I know some of you would suggest that I shouldn't compare Brave and TDKR since they have different genre. Alas, genre is genre, a movie is a movie. If you went to see a thriller movie, you'd want to be thrilled. If you went to see a romance movie, you'd want your heart thumping and hold your-someone-you-love's  hand. If you went to see a horror movie, you'd want to be freaked out and had the ghosts of the movie terrorize your sleep.

But hey, I think Alfred left Wayne was a memorable scene of the movie, though I didn't really like the way he went emo.  I suppose Batman/Wayne needs someone to cling onto, an advisor, and a friend who mocks him gently when he fails and says, “Why do we fall, Master Wayne?” (okay, I forgot the next line - I think it's "so we can get ourselves up"? :D) instead of someone who leaves when having some different opinions about life and stuff. When Alfred left, Wayne lost another part of his soul, perhaps like he lost Rachel, and made anger conquers Wayne that leads him to failures.

And perhaps... 'failures' is one of TDKR's tag names.