This is why I havent read the NME for years, pretentious crap where the writers head is so far up his own ass its not even funny.
Im all for critique, but most of the points in that article are just rubbish.
The Badddie - Was supposed to be the ultimate mercenary, and the physical superior to Batman. He was. He wasnt incomprehensible at all, I thought. Given that the editing had his dialogue about ten decibels higher than the rest its pretty hard to miss! The fights between them - particularly the first were MEANT to look easy - Bane being Batmans superior with ease, breaking him... kind of central to the character development!
The Cheese - Please, its an action film. A few one liners or a bit of corny dialogue are no issue at all.
The Plot/the Plan - IMO It was a character study, particularly on Bruce Wayne but also the like of Commissioner Gordon. "The film contained great, satisfying character arcs" Well yes, it did, something I dont believe would have been achieved without a pretty basic/linear plot.
He chooses Miranda because she had already invested heavily in the 'Green power source' and he felt because of that she would keep it safe as opposed to Daggett who was clearly a shady character.
I think the whole point of the 5 months until the bomb goes off was to truly break Batman, as was a large reason for the plan, to have him watch his city desperate before destroyed. They never gave him a chance of breaking out, given that only one had masnaged it before and he was in poor shape after his fight with Bane. Also, I think, in Ra's ideal it was to truly break the city down so that it can be reborn. 5 months of breaking down before being wiped out? Pretty thorough :lol:
The Plot holes - Gorodons speech being believed? Well firstly I saw little actual impact from it. Bane read the speech as justification for opening the prisons, but he opened them up not "the people".
Batman shoots Talias truck and kills her? (Well firstly he killed her Dad dont forget so its not like its the first life he has taken) He was shooting at the truck to force it towards the reactor. She saw as much and so tried to push through another way at which point when she was shot at she didnt see the gap in the road and dropped a story off of the fly over - thats what killed her - its not like he just shot her up is it?
The Police force being sent down at once was a bit weak I think, IMO it was because they didnt realise the severity of the situation until it was so late and so tried to react in force. Why the were kept alive I dont know, seemed bloody odd to me.
Bane knows where applied sciences was - who cares? He is a master criminal, surely he has means. If I were to guess I would say he tracked shipments from Wayne Enterprise subsidiaries as Fox explained why they were all under one roof.
Blake figured it out Batmans identity because he cared (though you have to wonder why he was the only one), Gordon didnt want to know.
Pacing - Didnt see any issue with the pacing myself. The blog points out a couple of things that could have used more attention, I wouldnt have minded this - but I dont feel the film was let down as a result.
The Tone - Is down to personal taste I guess, but I thought it was fine. I think the writer forgets that this is, ultimately, an action film based upon a comic book - it is not shindlers list is it?
Complaints about catwoman knowing where Bane was? It was already established it was in her skill set to find people, and even then when Batman was confronted with Bane the first time she confesses setting him up was the only way to save herself. If she had made contact and made a deal BANE would have told her precisely where to go.
The Bomb - As already pointed out, this is a comic book film where the character based focus relies upon a linear plot line. Corny, maybe, but certainly not inappropriate IMO. Why did it take 5 months? So the victory would be absolute, IMO. The people broken, the Batman broken, the US Government aiding in keeping people hostage - it would have been devestating.
Who is to say Bruce Wayne did ALL of those things upon his return? The state of mind he was in when he first went to face Bane (3 months prior) was virtually suicidal - as Alfred feared "he wanted to fail". Makes sense to me then that much of this was done some way before the final sequence. The Bat signal on the bridge at this point was all about theatre, such is the method of Batman. To provide a signal, a beacon, a warning (delete as appropriate)
