Poll: The Dark Knight Rises - Was Bane a good villain?

[Scars Unseen]

I really need to rent the blu-ray and watch it sometime. I saw the movie in theater, but because of Bane's mask and the ridiculously low volume that the theater played the movie at, I couldn't understand even half of what Bane was saying. Needless to say, I did not find him particularly compelling at the time.

 

[Eddie the head]

I really need to rent the blu-ray and watch it sometime. I saw the movie in theater, but because of Bane's mask and the ridiculously low volume that the theater played the movie at, I couldn't understand even half of what Bane was saying. Needless to say, I did not find him particularly compelling at the time.

If you have a PS3 you can rent it for like 2 or 3 bucks. You do have to download it but that usually doesn't take that long.

 

[Asita]

He was pretty fatally undermined by the revelation that the Evil Plan was Talia's idea. It was a good twist plot-wise, but it made Bane into essentially an elite mook rather than a criminal mastermind.

I'm not sure that's really a good point against him. After all, at the end of the day Darth Vader was 'essentially an elite mook' to Emperor Palpatine, and yet Vader's widely considered one of the most iconic villains of all time. I think this case is really more a symptom of Talia seeming lackluster in comparison to Bane, which brings both of them down a peg. Using the Star Wars example again, Vader was shown to serve the Emperor, yes, but his own competence coupled with the Palapatine's apparently effortless evil created a strong dynamic between the two which worked to both of their advantage. Conversely, whereas Bane seemed threatening, Talia seemed...well, I want to say opportunistic at best. We were more told that she was a villain than we were shown it, and saw little evidence of the history we were told about her. Honestly, I really can't help but feel that Bane's 'elite mook' status would have worked out a lot better if his boss was revealed to be a still living (or ressurected, given his typical characterization) Ra's Al Ghul.

 

[Cookiegerard]

I thought that at the beginning, he was a really good villain, very faithful to the original comics, while still offering a modern twist...but as the movie went on...he got less and less awesome...but the twist at the end..and the way he is defeated...ughh...also the internet basically killed him after a week...

Speaking of which, I feel as if you missed an easy target there. "Do you think Bane was a good Villain? Of Course!"

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

He was a pretty decent villain. A bit of a shame that he didn't grow into a Hulk but for what they did it was pretty good.

Spoiler

But then Talia had to come in and reveal that the plan was all hers and that Bane was just following her orders. Then Bane gets shot by fucking Catwoman and dies. What a fucking waste.

 

[Shocksplicer]

I voted no, simply because his "plan" was so fucking retarded and nonsensical that I could never consider him a competent villain, let alone a good one.

 

[recurve6]

No, because I don't like his voice actor.

But seriously, he was pretty much there just for the intimidation factor, especially near the end. His fucking voice.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Tom Hardy's performance was great, and the movie effectively used the music and camera to give him a good presence. Even the voice, while stupid, wasn't enough to really detract from it.

Spoiler: You know what DID ruin Bane for me?

The revelation of Talia. The whole movie he's being built up as the successor to the League of Shadows. That he's a master planner and a criminal mastermind. And they even made his backstory very similar to that of his origin in the comics, for the most part. A vast improvement over the big, dumb grunt he's normally portrayed as.

And then Talia shows up. SHE was the successor to the League of Shadows. SHE was actually the mastermind and planner. And SHE was the one who had the backstory. So what did that make Bane? Just a big grunt. And right after that, just to salt the wound, he gets killed in one shot.

 

[tippy2k2]

I have only seen it the one time so maybe there's more detail that I missed but...

Spoiler: I doubt these are needed anymore but just in case...

I had no problem with the Talia reveal. Yeah, she was the driving force behind his actions but that doesn't mean that HE wasn't the one who planned and set everything up, does it? That's how I interpreted it at least...Talia wanted Gotham to burn; Bane created the plan and did all the heavy lifting.

Secondly, I found it funny that people think the Joker was such a great villain in the second movie but think about it: What did he actually accomplish? Bane accomplished exactly what the Joker wanted (anarchy and chaos); Bane actually succeeded where The Joker's only real success was robbing a bank and lighting the Mob's money on fire (same with Rises, I have only seen DK once so maybe there was more that I just don't remember).

 

[Goofguy]

Bane as a presence of power and force was great. His purpose and motives were pretty confusing:

 

[EHKOS]

The character was great, and while his voice didn't really help in that particular situation, I loved it like Stephen Fry's. Not to mention, not everyone has a villainous voice, I'm 6'3" and fat but my voice is really high. But yeah, the [bold]hole[/bold] plot of the third movie is retarded.

 

[bastardofmelbourne]

snip

I think bringing up Darth Vader is a good comparison, but the big difference in their roles is that while Darth Vader played a critical role in the resolution of the plot, Bane pretty much stops being relevant after Talia is revealed. He dies almost instantly and the focus of the plot shifts to Talia driving a truck.

If Bane had stayed alive for a final showdown with Batman, or if it had been Bane driving the truck, he would have felt a lot more important. As is, he's the star of the show until the last fifteen minutes when he suddenly falls flat. It's almost as if Nolan had no idea what to do with him for the final act.

 

[sXeth]

His voice sounded like it was on a separate sound file, or whatever you call it. It stuck out from the rest of the movie's sound like a 30-foot sore thumb.

And seeing as his voice was basically the only thing used to give him character, having it not work made the entire character not work. I don't know much about Bane within the Batman universe, but from what I've seen, he's always struck me as a roid raging lunatic.

A part Tom Hardy excels at.


Don't know why they went with what ultimately appeared in Dark Knight Rises.

Well, you had Knightfall Bane, who actually was one of a fair few of Batmans rogues to figure out hwo he was using intelligence and deduction, then used a fair strategem to really weaken him out before they actually met (and he invaded Wayne manor and caught him unarmored). Then Azrael threw him off a building and any aspect of depth he had apparently went to crap, becoming the general "Giant strong angry dude".

On-topic, he had potential, but really got marginalized due to the over-crowding of new characters, and by the end reveals is effectively made pointless as anyone couldv'e fit the role.

 

[JimB]

I don't feel I can vote in good conscience, since I lack the perspective necessary to offer an informed opinion: What of his voice I could understand through the distortion of his mask was drowned out by the apparently deliberately overwhelming soundtrack.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Not as good as the Joker but still great. I liked Bane because of how imposing he was. I was never worried about Batman when he went up against the Joker because I knew that he could beat him (since it's more about the mind games for Joker) but Bane was just a beast. When they had their first showdown and the gate closed behind Batman, I knew right away that he was fucked.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

"Somewhat lacking"

Aye, that's a rather posh and controlled way of putting it into words that are not filled with expletives or otherwise offensive.

I was thrilled when I first heard about Bane being the big bad of the new, post Heath Joker Ledger Batman movie. I was looking forward to see Tom Hardy in that role, as he impressed me - lots - with Bronson, a movie that pretty much came out of nowhere and smacked me in the face. That movie actually made me go forth and buy Solitary Fitness, Charlie Bronson's minimalist workout book. It's also a real life little book of calm, really. I love it.

Thing is,

aw,

gosh darn.

Here, have this: http://youtu.be/DGKStgDaxxU?t=38m34s (Batman spoilers! - but it sums it all up nicely...)

Can't seem to work the starting point into a proper escapist-markup-friendly link, so it's got to be that one link above. Sorry 'boot dat.

 

[Xman490]

Half the time I couldn't really hear what he was saying, so I couldn't understand his motives (if there were any besides feeding off suffering and establishing Raas al Ghuul's vision or something) and I couldn't catch his possibly terrifying monologues.

 

[Terrible Opinions]

Bane was awesome. It was

Spoiler

Talia

who dragged things down.

 

[Lugbzurg]

Was Bane a good villain? I think HISHE laid it down pretty nicely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXpcYvnV6GY

 

[Nexxis]

I'm not sure if I consider Bane a good villain or not since I could stop laughing or mocking his voice every time he said something. I couldn't take him seriously. And this:

His voice sounded like it was on a separate sound file, or whatever you call it. It stuck out from the rest of the movie's sound like a 30-foot sore thumb.

I found it distracting.