The Dark Knight Rises

[Watchman]

I don't think abridged books include scenes of the characters editing the books that they are featured in.

Unless Charlie Kaufman starts writing novels.

[Starman!]

They're casting for extras age 18+ in Pittsburgh!

[Russell]

I'm going to be so pissed if Catwoman shows up in a skintight outfit and a whip. In fact, if she is meant to exude
any sort of sexuality at all I'm going to be very disappointed, mainly because that seems very out of place and
inappropriate in this particular series.

[Watchman]

I'm going to be so pissed if Catwoman shows up in a skintight outfit and a whip. In fact, if she is meant to exude
any sort of sexuality at all I'm going to be very disappointed, mainly because that seems very out of place and
inappropriate in this particular series.

Would you prefer Maggie Smith, the headmistress of Hogwarts? As Mike Nelson observed: "Mentally undressing her is hard work."

[Russell]

Would you prefer Maggie Smith, the headmistress of Hogwarts? As Mike Nelson observed: "Mentally undressing her is hard work."

A woman can be sexy yet keep her sexiness fairly low-key. I hate to reinforce the earlier post
but Anne Hathaway can be sexy without making it overt and in your face. That's probably why
she was chosen. The sexuality should be incredibly subtle in my opinion. I mean you could
see some very sexy women hanging around Wayne Manor and Wayne Tower in low cut outfits
but none of those women were the main focus of the film, and that's part of what lent Batman
Begins and The Dark Knight such credibility as superhero films(at least for myself anyway),
they didn't rely at all on sexuality to sell the product.

Usually, part and parcel of the comic book movie is outright portraying the femme fatale or main
female character as either a helpless bimbo(A la Mary Jane) or overtly sexualized to an
uncomfortable degree(Halle Berry as Catwoman,as the best, or WORST example depending on your
POV).

Before any of you women out there start accusing me of being sexist, I'm not. Yes, I'm not a
feminist really, but I believe in equal opportunity exploitation. If they can do it to women they should
do it to men as well. (Obviously, it's only fair right?)

[Watchman]

Would you prefer Maggie Smith, the headmistress of Hogwarts? As Mike Nelson observed: "Mentally undressing her is hard work."

A woman can be sexy yet keep her sexiness fairly low-key. I hate to reinforce the earlier post
but Anne Hathaway can be sexy without making it overt and in your face. That's probably why
she was chosen. The sexuality should be incredibly subtle in my opinion. I mean you could
see some very sexy women hanging around Wayne Manor and Wayne Tower in low cut outfits
but none of those women were the main focus of the film, and that's part of what lent Batman
Begins and The Dark Knight such credibility as superhero films(at least for myself anyway),
they didn't rely at all on sexuality to sell the product.

Usually, part and parcel of the comic book movie is outright portraying the femme fatale or main
female character as either a helpless bimbo(A la Mary Jane) or overtly sexualized to an
uncomfortable degree(Halle Berry as Catwoman,as the best, or WORST example depending on your
POV). 

I was just being an ass regarding Maggie Smith. I see your point.

The main thing I'm curious about is whether or not this will suffer from 3quelitis. We started discussing this a few pages back before the thread was hijacked by egg puns. I want to repost RoninFox's post as I think it brings up a good point & best summarizes what I mean by "Threequelitis":

The one sign I can see that this might (I emphasize might) suffer from threequelitis is that there are so many new characters being introduced.  It has the challenge in front of it of spreading itself too thin.  Not sure if Nolan can balance things between Bane and Catwoman and a young version of Ras while still going into what's going on with the mob. 

Do you have any thoughts on this, Gunflyer?

[ScottotD]

There's only 3 new characters who will probably have big roles (Bane, Selina and whoever JGL plays), there were 3 last time (Joker, Falcone and Dent)

[RoninFox]

Hat and a new take on Ras, either flashback or ressurected. Not a new character, but something that's going to likely take a lot of screen time to get through and explain to a partly casual audience.

Not going to say he can't do it. Dark Knight proved Nolan can spin a lot of plates. These at the kind of challenge that other directors have slipped up on though. I have confidence in this and I'm sure as hell going to be in the theater when it comes out. I'm just not going to stand here and say for sure it's going to be incredible because it'll be better if my expectations aren't for a life changing experience.

[Watchman]

There's only 3 new characters who will probably have big roles (Bane, Selina and whoever JGL plays), there were 3 last time (Joker, Falcone and Dent)

What about  Matthew Modine?

[ScottotD]

Yeah, he's in it but there's nothing pointing to his role being bigger than Mayor Batmanuel in Dark Knight.

[daltysmilth]

Yeah, he's in it but there's nothing pointing to his role being bigger than Mayor Batmanuel in Dark Knight.

Ah, if only Nestor Carbonell had been allowed to perform that role in character as Batmanuel.

[Scribblesense]

JGL plays a cop, by the way. And then there's also (speaking of sexy...) Marion Cotillard, who's playing an executive something something for Wayne Enterprises.

I don't think either of their roles are very big.

[Russell]

Do you have any thoughts on this, Gunflyer?

Well, if anybody is up to the challenge, it's Nolan. Though, I do see the challenge. I don't
think I can remember any 3rd installment in a movie series that was really any good.
I mean obvious examples being Spiderman 3, X-men 3, American Pie 3, Scary movie
3, Pirates 3, Revenge of the sith....lol.

Anyway, Yeah DKR has a LOT to live up to in terms of characterizations. I think it will be
quite easy for the movie to go too far in one direction that could easily derail the carefully
constructed narrative we saw in both TDK and BB.

That also being said, portraying both Bane and Catwoman as realistic villains is going
to be a massive challenge in terms of making them look more than your stock comic
book villains who laugh insanely at the tops of their voices and possess more muscles
than Arnie in his prime. If it sounds like i'm being ambiguous, yes, I am. Chris Nolan has
to the best of my knowledge never made a bad movie, but I am not sure even he can
surpass these obstacles to the best of his abilities.

[pezdrake]

That also being said, portraying both Bane and Catwoman as realistic villains is going
to be a massive challenge in terms of making them look more than your stock comic
book villains who laugh insanely at the tops of their voices and possess more muscles
than Arnie in his prime. If it sounds like i'm being ambiguous, yes, I am. Chris Nolan has
to the best of my knowledge never made a bad movie, but I am not sure even he can
surpass these obstacles to the best of his abilities.

I don' t think that Catwoman is difficult to play well, despite the fact that she almost never has been.  I mean, if Nolan can pull off Two-
Face and Joker, he can pull off an acrobatic cat burglar.

[Russell]

I don' t think that Catwoman is difficult to play well, despite the fact that she almost never has been.  I mean, if Nolan can pull off Two-
Face and Joker, he can pull off an acrobatic cat burglar.

See my problem is a Cat Burglar isn't nearly as exciting to deal with as a psycho murderer.
Nolan needs to give Bane and Catwoman similar dimensions to the ones given to Ra's Al
Ghul and the Joker.