The Dark Knight Rises – Film Review
- July 21st, 2012
- Posted in Movies . Reviews
- By Eric
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TITLE: The Dark Knight Rises
STARRING: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
STUDIO: Legendary Pictures, Syncopy Films, DC Comics, Warner Bros. Pictures
RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 165 min
RELEASED: July 20, 2012
By Eric Stuckart
Creator, Destroyer
We all knew that The Dark Knight was going to be pretty hard for director Christopher Nolan to top when the third and final of his Batman films finally came around, but after being spoiled to two quite excellent Batman films this generation, was he going to strike out like many superhero franchises tend to at their third go-round? Recent events surrounding the release of the film aside — after all, this is a movie review, not commentary on the acts of someone who clearly had some personal demons of their own — The Dark Knight Rises was every bit the finale that I was hoping for.
Taking place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Gotham City is a safer city than it ever was before, and Batman hasn’t been seen since the death of Harvey Dent, whose death he assumed the blame for. But with the city a safer place, Gotham didn’t really have a need for Batman, causing Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) to become a bit of a recluse and a shadow of his former self. That’s until Bane (Tom Hardy), a cold and calculating terrorist with brains and brawn, shows up in Gotham with plans to raze the city to the ground in an attempt to let the people retake a city built on corruption and crime. Wayne realizes that he has to put on the cape and cowl once again, but at what cost? With all of his loved ones gone except his trusty butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), does he have anything left to lose?
The thing I always loved about Nolan’s Batman trilogy was the humanity behind the spectacle. It wasn’t just about the gadgets, the costumes and the flashy villains. In a sense, his films boldly brought the moody, dramatic overtones that the more modern comics have always touched on that the other films barely even scraped at. We got hints of Bruce Wayne’s psyche in Tim Burton’s first film, but it wasn’t enough to outshine Jack Nicholson’s Joker, let alone Prince’s Technicolor soundtrack. Nolan’s films — for better or worse — spend a lot more time focusing on Bruce Wayne and his struggles to find a place in a world that he feels tragically detached from, and it’s the drama that makes his struggle so compelling. The events of The Dark Knight Rises almost makes the whole thing seem like a final gamble on Bruce Wayne’s part that gives viewers the sense that he doesn’t even want to get out of this alive. He just wants to get out.
With the bulky mask not only rendering most of Tom Hardy’s facial expressions invisible, his voice was augmented through his breathing apparatus as well, giving him a very detached, almost inhuman feel throughout the film. This only helps give him even more of a presence though, because it’s the terrifying lack of emotion in his actions that really carries over through the screen. Even combined with the odd cadence and random inflections in his voice, he completely embodies terror and uses that as his strongest asset. Combined with his brute strength, Bane might not be the way comic fans remember him from the books, but he every bit as menacing, posing an even greater threat to the Dark Knight than the Joker ever did.
With great supporting roles from Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, an idealist cop who still has faith in the Batman, and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, an investor and member of the Wayne Enterprises executive board who seems more than willing to help the company get back on its feet (not to mention the always great performances by Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman), The Dark Knight Rises hits all the right notes, and knows when to pull its punches accordingly. Additional props must be given to Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, who took a role that usually ends up becoming oversexed and too campy, and making it completely plausible in this particular Batman’s universe. And Michael Caine was absolutely astounding in his portrayal of the worn-down butler. Never before did I think that an actor in a comic book movie would be able to nearly move me to tears, but his heartbreaking performance hits like a ten ton hammer.
Equal parts comic book movie, drama, and action caper, its story builds up to a fantastic finale that manages to make the trilogy come full circle without feeling contrived or forced. Is it a little long? Well, yeah; a movie that’s close to three hours long is a bit of a stretch by any means, but to me it felt well balanced and didn’t really feel like a chore to watch. Is it as good as The Dark Knight? Well, not exactly. With the performance that Heath Ledger left us with as the Joker, I don’t think Rises ever could have topped it. But it’s a worthy sequel with its own identity and its own wealth of memorable scenes and subtle bits of fan service, and it never gets lost in the shadow of its predecessors, proving that not all third movies end up being terrible and unnecessary.
RATING: 9/10
Front page image and interior stills from thedarkknightrises.com.
I was prepared to love this movie and cherish it. The opening left me giddy for what was to come, instead we received a total departure from the first two movies: a movie where Batman was either missing for 50% of the movie or was in “The Bat”. Really though, aside from his fisticuffs with Bane and a few goons, Batman fights for only a tiny fraction of the movie.
I do not fault the actors, they were great. The plot just…limped along. The prison was nonsensical, Blake was a blatant Peggy Sue, and a few of our characters were either hospitalized or on vacation for the majority of the film.
Bane’s voice was easy to understand, because it was obviously dubbed, his eyebrows mismatched his voice for a whole scene by a second.
I am certain within a few weeks the fandom for this movie will blow over and we can all be a bit more objective. This movie will be immortalized in the same way Starwars Phantom Menace was: simply due to squatting on the shoulders of its peers.
Drew….
People like you make me sick. There is no need to be that critical. This movie is not a phantom menace, but a nice conclusion to a Bruce Wayne story. I’m sorry you couldnt grasp the direction they took with this film.
I actually didn’t mind the Phantom Menace, and Ra’s al Ghul’s work in it.
In all seriousness though, it is a very different movie than its predecessor. The pacing is completely different. Dark Knight was more of a rollercoaster ride, and Rises was kind of like a lengthy developing novel. In my opinion, that isn’t necessarily bad, but I could see where that might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Some people tend to get sour over post-apocalyptic settings. It can naturally make someone depressed and put a damper on one’s outlook of things. I kind of feel that way when I play Fallout 3, but upon further observation there’s a great deal to admire.
Again, intricate can be too much for people. To each their own. No one should really go into this expecting the Dark Knight (Ledger movie) though. This pretty much is, as Eric mentioned, a bat story told as if it existed in the real world with more of an emphasis on character development and relies less on flash and dazzle.