My Thoughts On The TDKR Hate

I don't think it's a stretch to say that The Dark Knight Rises has been the most anticipated superhero film of the past few years. After The Dark Knight broke all sorts of box office records, earned critical acclaim, etc., many were dying to know how Chris Nolan would do to try to top Dark Knight's success with a third film. Now, we're about ten months or so from the film hitting theaters, and it seems like the overall anticipation for the film has died down quite a bit. Crazy, I know, but it appears to be just that.

Ever since the release of the teaser trailer back in July, I've heard all sorts of complaints about TDKR not quite reaching our expectations with what it's offered so far. The negativity continued with the set photos (especially the ones which revealed our first full look at Tom Hardy's Bane) and reached a new high when Warner Bros. released the first image of Anne Hathaway's Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Especially with The Avengers' marketing campaign about to ramp up, comparisons have been made more than ever, and every day I see a war in the comment sections about which movie's gonna be better. Of course, we can't answer that question yet, as the films aren't close to being released right now. Anyways, in this editorial, I'll be discussing some of the things that TDKR has shown us so far, many of which have been condemned quite a bit.

1. The Teaser Trailer

This is where the negative feedback started coming in the most. Many have bashed the film for not having enough footage, no Catwoman, too much old footage, etc. I'll be honest - I really loved the trailer. Sure it didn't reveal a whole lot at all other than a brief shot of Bane heading for Batman, but I'm surprised we've gotten any footage at all this soon (the teaser for The Dark Knight, also released a year in advance, had no footage at all, just dialogue and a Joker laugh with the Batlogo breaking). Which leads me to this question - what makes or breaks a trailer? Is it how much footage can be squeezed in, or is it what the trailer's even about? This is why I prefer the TDKR trailer over the Avengers teaser that was in the after credits of Captain America. While The Avengers trailer obviously got me more pumped because of its presentation, in the end it's the TDKR trailer that wins it for me, due to its story-telling and question-provoking scenes (why is Gordon in the hospital? What does the Batlogo/building sequence exactly represent?). And that's coming from someone who's looking forward more to The Avengers.

2. Tom Hardy As Bane



We haven't heard a lot of complaints about Hardy being Bane, from what I remember. Even when the first image of Hardy donning the new Bane mask was released, reception was mostly positive. But it wasn't until set photos gave us a better look at Bane's new look that the criticism began. Many were saying that the mask looked terrible, that Bane looked like a Scooby-Doo villain, etc. I don't really have a say, to be honest. While I certainly would've preferred something closer to the comic version, I don't really mind the mask much. Besides, the mask may end up being important in the film (it could be a breathing mask, something to help Bane digest Venom, and so on), so I'll wait until I see the film or find some legit details before I can really judge. I've also heard complaints about Bane being 'too small' in the film. To that, we don't know. For all I know, the Lazarus Pit may make Bane massive. Whether or not Bane's actually very big won't be answered until we see a proper trailer (hopefully by the end of the year).

3. Anne Hathaway As Catwoman



This is probably where most of the complaints were for. Hathaway wasn't exactly the most praised casting decision of the film, but I love the choice. I actually wanted her for Catwoman since I heard she was auditioning for a role in the film, and obviously I was excited to hear that she got the part. Expectations skyrocketed as to when we would see Nolan's take on Ms. Kyle, and when the first image was released about a couple months ago, feedback was incredibly negative. Many were bashing the look basically for not having a cowl, the odd goggles, and I can go on. Personally, I myself was underwhelmed with the pic, especially since I was expecting something similar to the Arkham City Catwoman costume. However, seeing set pics and manips made me warm up to the new look, and the recent set photos of Hathaway donning cat ears got rid of my main concern about the costume - if the goggles weren't cat ears and/or she didn't have a real cowl, how would anyone see a picture of Hathaway's Catwoman and know whether or not that's Catwoman?

4. The Set Photos



IMO, this is where the most unnecessary complaints are made. Since the film has a LOT of editing to do in post-production after filming wraps in November, we shouldn't expect a lot of official stills from the film anytime soon (which aren't exactly the same as the set photos). Also, I've heard complaints about crazy things going on on set such as the above image...I haven't heard anything about Chris Hemsworth kicking around, shaking his hair, and staring at ScarJo's ass on the Avengers set, nuff said.

All of these points lead to my final question - were our original expectations too high? A few months ago, I posted an editorial suggesting that we should lower our expectations for TDKR, comparing the state of the franchise to Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (in which the third installment had HUGE expectations, and we all know how that went). Of course, many said in the comments that I had a nonsense argument, Raimi and Nolan were two different beasts entirely, etc. because we expected TDKR to be yet another ground-breaking masterpiece. But now, if I posted the same editorial today, many may actually agree. As a matter of fact, every other day on a TDKR article, I see people say something about the 'threequel curse' plaguing the film. Nothing about Bane, Catwoman, the trailer, etc. have been what we expected, but should we trash them for different from what we originally assumed they'd be like? I think that's what helped kill some interest in the film. We were expecting Catwoman to look like she was from Arkham City, she doesn't, and everyone goes ape shit over it. I'm keeping true to my original point in my TDKR-Spider-Man 3 editorial - we shouldn't have had our expectations THAT high in the first place. Then again, especially for Nolanites that'd be pretty difficult.

In conclusion, I'm still anticipating The Dark Knight Rises as much as ever. Will it be the best of the series, as Wally Pfister and Gary Oldman have proclaimed? I don't know, but what I do know is that Nolan has yet to churn out a bad film, so I can believe that TDKR will be, in the very least, good. I guess we'll all know how it'll be when the film hits theaters July 20th, 2012.