I voted for TDK. I thought TDKR was great, and an excellent end to the trilogy, but TDK was better on its merits. The pacing in TDKR felt rushed through most of the movie, as though they were trying to fit too much movie into too little time. There were also a few things that stuck out for me in TDKR, which made it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. I don't remember that happening in TDK. But again, TDKR is fantastic and everyone should see it.
I voted for TDK. I thought TDKR was great, and an excellent end to the trilogy, but TDK was better on its merits. The pacing in TDKR felt rushed through most of the movie, as though they were trying to fit too much movie into too little time. There were also a few things that stuck out for me in TDKR, which made it difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. I don't remember that happening in TDK. But again, TDKR is fantastic and everyone should see it.
I'm gonna have to go with The Dark Knight, as well. Though that is definitely not a knock against The Dark Knight Rises, which I loved.
TDKR felt a little bit clunky in parts, mainly because they tried to cram too many new characters and storylines into 2 1/2 hours. But Bane was a great villain, and I was really surprised at how much I liked the Selena Kyle character. She was one of the best parts of the movie, I thought.
But, for a movie ostensibly about Batman, Batman has relatively little screen time in TDKR. And while I enjoyed Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow cameo, that scene just made me sad about Heath Ledger all over again, because I thought about how awesome it would have been to have the Joker in his place.
The Joker probably would have tried to blow up the bomb early. I think the movie would be a completely different movie with Joker in it.
How great was that scene where Bane explained his plot to a crippled Bruce? And I think there's a reason, or at least there is reason that it's good that this movie was Bruce heavy. This was about him regaining his identity as a normal man, as opposed to most literature where the Batman alter-ego wins out.
It made sense that Bane would explain his plan to Batman when he was crippled, but it didn't make sense to me that whatsherface-from-Inception would go on about her biography while holding a knife in Batman's side. That felt a little cliche Bond-villainy.