The Dark Knight Rises **WITH SPOILERS**

Notahandle wrote: ...uninspired fight choreography and no BatGadgets.

Um, the fight scene where Bane breaks him? It's brilliant in the way it was shot alone, but the fighting itself is great. No music and utterly brutal. By far better than anything in that weak turd The Expendables.

And BatGadgets are not necessarily a core part of the character, and if anything, takes away from it. They're more a product of the 60s show, where Batman has a whole cave of gadgets for literally any potential situation. No joke, he has a Bat-3D-Restoration machine which he used when several notable Gothamites we turned into cardboard cutouts. And, of course, it's labeled with a big sign above it, heaven forbid he confuse it for anything else. The gadgetry was sort of echoed in the Burton films, but again, not entirely faithful to the comics. Trust me, I'm sort of an expert. I always felt the gadgetry often detracted from the detective aspect (which, granted, still has yet to be translated properly) and pushed him more into cheesy 007 territory.

FWIW, if anyone remembers Matt Loter's stance on Castle Ravenloft, I'll now be adopting the same ideology to TDKR.

Wasn't talking about the way it was shot, just the choreography. It felt too static, if that makes sense, going toe to toe. Guess I'd've liked it to be more dynamic, fluid, Batman making more use of the environment. Hell, maybe all I'm saying is that I didn't like the feel of it...

Good point re the gadgets not being a core part, but a nod to the idea would've been nice. I'm not suggesting any 60s (don't forget the rehydrator!) or 007 OTT silliness, but using something from the utility belt or a Batarang wouldn't have been out of keeping with the tone of the film.

As for the detective aspect, oh yeah, a film noir Batman, now that would be different and welcome.

I'm far from a Batman expert, but I guess what it boils down to is, is it a film that seems uniquely Batman? Put it this way, if, instead of the lead character being Bruce Wayne/Batman, it had been John McClaine, how much of the film would fail to work?