Saw the Dark Knight Rising at the midnight premiere (NO SPOILERS)

[charlie and algernon]

First of all, this was the first midnight premiere I've ever gone too. I got there a little over an hour before midnight and it was already packed. Had to have been a couple thousand people there. Luckily, the theater had all 11 screens playing it, so the line moved pretty quickly once they opened the gates. Then it became a chaotic mess as people scrambled from one screen to the next, trying to find decent seats. We unfortunately ended up in the front section, but we were lucky enough to get the last row in the front section, so we weren't looking straight up. There were a bunch of people in batman costumes. One guy was wearing an awesome Bane costume, including the breathing mask. I wish I had taken a photo of him. Only saw one girl in a catwoman costume.

The movie was excellent. Tom Hardy as Bane doesn't come close to Heath Ledger's joker, but he was still very good. Anne Hathaway brought the required sexiness as catwoman as well has some nice comic relief. Christian Bale is of course good again as Batman, though they still made him sound very gruff. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines as Gordon's right hand man and plays a major part in the movie. Gary Oldman is also excellent as Gordon. Michael Caine is only in it for a couple scenes, but he shows what an acting legend he is by giving an emotional performance.

The Dark Knight Rises is definitely not your parents' superhero movie. It plays more as an action/political thriller that happens to have a superhero in it. But it is entertaining and while it is almost three hours, it flows pretty well and even the dialogue-heavy second act doesn't slow it down too much. The first and third acts have plenty of action and a fairly high body count for a batman movie.

I highly recommend it and I will probably see it again, but this time on IMAX.

[Orrex]

1. I liked the part where he kicked Superman's ass!

Hardy har har.

Thanks for the review! I won't be able to catch it in a theater, but I look forward to seeing it.

I also look forward to haters attacking it for the usual spate of action movie criticisms.

[charlie and algernon]

2. well, actually, speaking of Superman, you might want to see DKR in the theaters to see the trailers

[HopeHoops]

3. I'll have to wait for it to hit RedBox. I can't sit in a theater for that long anymore.

[RebelOne]

4. Yup, "a fairly high body count for a batman movie."

Considering the massacre in Colorado.

[Frank Cannon]

5. The reviews for this read like those for The Phantom Menace.

Almost every positive review I've read still manages to point out that it's long and essentially boring in parts, has a confused plot involving a not-particularly-interesting, almost unintelligible villain (particularly compared to Heath Ledger's Joker), but THAT IT REALLY IS EXCITING TOWARD THE END. A GREAT WAY TO WRAP UP THE SERIES!

It's like the people who review this movie really, really, REALLY want to like it, but deep down they know how they really feel. Every reviewer seems to be attempting a huge sales job that is targeted mainly at themselves.

Hey, I'm a Batman fan, too. I have been my whole life. I essentially learned how to read via Batman comic books. But I've decided that it's okay not to like this movie. I'll probably just sit at home and play Lego Batman 2 while I wait for it to show up at the RedBox.

[Orrex]

6. It's like the person who wrote that post really, really, REALLY wants to not like the movie

Haven't seen the film, but I've read no review that even remotely comes across like a review of The Phantom Menace. At most, I've seen criticisms that seem like attempts to avoid giving an unambiguously positive review of a superhero movie.

[DerekG]

7. If you were a Batman fan, you wouldn't wait for RedBox

I endured Joel Shumacher's disasters, because dagnammit, they were brand new Batman movies.

And for the record, "Rises" delivers, despite its share of flaws.