Review Detail
9.7 17 10
(Updated: May 22, 2023)
Overall rating
10.0
Audio/Video Quality
10.0
Audio Editing
10.0
Visual Editing
10.0
Narrative
10.0
Enjoyment
10.0
The Dark Knight Rises is my least favorite entry into the trilogy. It's a mess of a film, and at times I wonder if Nolan was pressured by the studio to wrap up his trilogy before he was appropriately ready to, what with the DCEU on the horizon and all. That said, it's not a bad film by any means, it's simply Nolan's weakest film to date. If you agree, this edit is for you.
If you don't, I still recommend this edit, because DonkeyKonga has managed to take the most unwieldy Batman movie and streamline it to something far more digestible. The movie opens on a far more evocative edit of the plane assault, one wherein Bane comes off more as a cold and calculating strongman, and less like a hilariously cliche Bond-villain parody. Gordon's character has been reworked into a man with a heavy heart and burden, who is just an old dog waiting for one final hunt. Batman and Catwoman are largely the same, though, and I still don't enjoy Anne Hathaway's take on the character, but that's my gripe with the source.
There are narrative changes I feel work better here than the original. Gordon knowing Bruce is Batman offers a better dynamic, and re-contextualizes his final line to him in a way that left a stronger impact on me this go around. Bane's dialog reworking (and possible dubbing-over?) is fantastic, keeping him a cold, unfeeling assassin who is slowly being corrupted by the power he feels he has. Talia is a machiavellian chameleon who manages to infiltrate the film and, like her father, uses theatrics to make you believe she's on Bruce's side, even going as far as taking control of Wayne Ent. and sleeping with our hero!
Much of the looney tunes logic has been gutted (1 minute bomb timer detonation yet everyone stands around talking, broken-spine punches), but thankfully most of the humor is intact. I laughed more than I thought I would.
One particular emergent quality was the highlighting of Matthew Modine's character, who, due to the changed narrative circumstances (and tighter pacing) of this edit, comes off far more sympathetic, and his death hit me particularly hard by the end. This edit actually granted me a new perspective on the source, and that is priceless.
If you don't, I still recommend this edit, because DonkeyKonga has managed to take the most unwieldy Batman movie and streamline it to something far more digestible. The movie opens on a far more evocative edit of the plane assault, one wherein Bane comes off more as a cold and calculating strongman, and less like a hilariously cliche Bond-villain parody. Gordon's character has been reworked into a man with a heavy heart and burden, who is just an old dog waiting for one final hunt. Batman and Catwoman are largely the same, though, and I still don't enjoy Anne Hathaway's take on the character, but that's my gripe with the source.
There are narrative changes I feel work better here than the original. Gordon knowing Bruce is Batman offers a better dynamic, and re-contextualizes his final line to him in a way that left a stronger impact on me this go around. Bane's dialog reworking (and possible dubbing-over?) is fantastic, keeping him a cold, unfeeling assassin who is slowly being corrupted by the power he feels he has. Talia is a machiavellian chameleon who manages to infiltrate the film and, like her father, uses theatrics to make you believe she's on Bruce's side, even going as far as taking control of Wayne Ent. and sleeping with our hero!
Much of the looney tunes logic has been gutted (1 minute bomb timer detonation yet everyone stands around talking, broken-spine punches), but thankfully most of the humor is intact. I laughed more than I thought I would.
One particular emergent quality was the highlighting of Matthew Modine's character, who, due to the changed narrative circumstances (and tighter pacing) of this edit, comes off far more sympathetic, and his death hit me particularly hard by the end. This edit actually granted me a new perspective on the source, and that is priceless.
T