Never looked at it that way.
TDKR feels like a poor man's Batman Begins and Dark Knight to me. It feels like they took the two of them and smashed them together like play-doh. I know how you feel about Terminator 2: Judgement Day Khev, how it's sort of a "rip off" of the original. And while I agree with you there as much as I love it, TDKR is way worse. In fact, it could probably recommended to just skip 5 hours of watching Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and just skipping to TDKR.
- The name "Dark Knight" is a household name now, just as good as Batman, INCLUDED IT IN THE TITLE AND CAPITALIZE OFF TDK.
- Hey, our unique 6 minute villain prologue in 2007 was so well received, let's open this movie like that too! But how? Rewrite it. Instead of a cool Bank Heist sequence, make it a showy plane scene to show off effects instead of caring about the story. Make the Bank Manager a CIA guy. Make the villains cronies willing to give their lives instead of being tricked by the villain. Have an "unmasked" reveal showing said villain.
- Start the movie after that with a cityscape shot and a Mayor Garcia voice over just like the last film. Maybe that will trick the audience into thinking this one is as good as that.
- It took us 50 mins to carefully establish Bruce Wayne becoming Batman in the first film, let's do that again, but this time make Bruce Wayne a mopey, POS and have Batman degrade. BATMAN GOES BACK!
- LoS 2.0
- Ra's Al Ghul 2.0 (I am da leuge of shedoooows)
- Ducard twist 2.0
- Villains nab Wayne Enterprises Tech, Wayne Enterprises Tech is used for the city's UTTER DESTRUCTION.
- Hospitals, Hospitals, Hospitals
- Remember how Bruce Wayne overcame his fear of falling into the well with the bats and his dad came in and helped him out? Remember how that was resolved in film one? Let's do that, BUT BIGGER. Now Bruce has gotta relearn da fear and instead of a backyard well, WE'LL PUT HIM IN A BIG HOLE PRISON THING.
- Bruce interacting with Morgan Freeman in every film is a running gag, pure box office gold, but just in case the audience didn't know already, LET'S REFERENCE DOES IT COME IN BLACK FOR HIS NEW BATMAN THEMED VEHICLE. Lol
- BUT WITH A TWIST! Instead of giving Batman Tumblers, Bane gets them and makes Bumblers.
- Shots and scenes lifted right from The Dark Knight of Alfred walking into Wayne's bedroom with breakfast, looking peeved, then going to his Bat Lair to ***** at him.
- Remember that chase sequence in Batman Begins with the cops and the Hans Zimmer music? LETS DO THAT AGAIN, ACCEPT MAKE IT BIGGER, FILM IT IN LA INSTEAD OF CHICAGO, AND DO IT WITH DA LOBSTER VEHICLE. What about the music? USE THE SAME TRACK, BUT MAKE IT LOUDER.
- How do we top that great scene of a terrorist playfully blowing up a hospital? Make a scene of a mumbling terrorist seriously blowing up the Steelers. Wait, what's that have to do with a Batman movie? Oh, Thomas Tull was a part owner and CEO of Legendary Pictures. Politics and $$$.
- Despite Batman Begins not relying on a IMAX prologue and montage ending and being it's own thing, TDKR shark jumps and rapes the Dark Knight with not just a prologue . . . but a BATMAN IS BOSS montage ending . . . . WITH THE SAME MUSIC. Zimmerman is so creative!
- $250 Million budget, gives Batman the same suit he had in the previous film. Oh, and he somehow conveniently had two of them at two different locations.
- The audience was stupid in 2008 and demanded flashbacks. GIVE FLASHBACKS FOR EVERYTHING. Who's Dent/Two-Face? SHOW IT. What's a Ra's Al Ghul? SHOW IT. FLASHBACK, FLASHBACK, FLASHBACK.
- What about the Joker, we keep regurgitating everything from the previous two films, what about him? He was great. "What's a 'Joker'?"
- How do you top two actresses playing the same preachy, undeveloped character? TWO actresses playing TWO DIFFERENT preachy, undeveloped characters.
- Joseph Gordon Levitt reenacts that great scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne goes back into the well he fell into as a child and slowly overcomes his fear of bats, right down to the same torch light. The difference? Joseph Gordon Levitt isn't afraid of Bats and this isn't Bale, Bruce Wayne or Batman.
- Batman/Bruce Wayne lies to succeed, again.
