The Dark Knight Rises
Director: Christopher Nolan.
Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman.
Reviewed by Ben Carey.
[rating:4/5]
On my sixth birthday I received a scale replica of the Batmobile, complete with a shiny new Batman figurine (which I already had two of). It was the greatest birthday present a young boy with active imagination could have asked for. I played with it day and night, creating different scenarios with my Batmobile and different coloured Batmen. They were fighting an alien invasion; they were fighting giant wolves; they were fighting each other for the driver’s seat in the Batmobile. I guess, in a way, I was making my own little Batman movies.
Christopher Nolan, 17 years my senior, probably didn’t have Batman figurines, but he would have had the comic books and his own wacky imagination. I’m sure he made his own little Batman movies as well. Now he just makes real ones. Big, expensive, amazing Batman movies. He’s all grown up now. But I still like to think that he blocks through the important scenes using Batman figurines.
Eight years have passed since the events of The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne (Bale) has become a recluse after he, as Batman, took the fall for the murder of Harvey Dent, Gotham’s District Attorney. In Batman’s absence several criminal groups have begun terrorising Gotham once again. A rogue mercenary by the name of Bane (Hardy) is heading a massive attack on Gotham City. When Wayne learns of this attack, he races off to the Batcave and once again dons the Batsuit. With the help of Selina Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman (Hathaway), Batman infiltrates Bane’s underground lair, situated in the heart of Gotham’s sewer system. However, Batman is not as fit or strong as he once was and is easily defeated by the merciless Bane. Now Batman must find the strength emotionally, spiritually, and physically to escape Bane’s clutches and save Gotham City from destruction once again.
The Dark Knight Rises is the big conclusion to Nolan’s Batman reboot trilogy, which kicked off with Batman Begins in 2005. Batman Begins was a fantastic film and a great reboot of the Batman series. Nolan took Batman places he had never been before. It was much darker and grittier, more realistic, but it still kept the essential elements of the fantastic and gave nods to its comic-based origins. Somehow The Dark Knight was even better. The dynamic between Batman and The Joker was just mesmerising. We got to see The Joker push Batman to his very limit and force him to question his rules and beliefs. In The Dark Knight Rises we see Batman pushed to the very brink once again, mentally and physically. The poor guy can’t seem to catch a break.
The cinematography in The Dark Knight Rises is as beautiful as ever. I love that Nolan makes full use of his static shots and doesn’t rely on shaky-cam to convey action. I also appreciate that he and the studio weren’t infected by the 3D epidemic either. The fight choreography is wonderful, especially Catwoman’s, she just kicks butt in such an elegant, graceful manner. There is also very minimal tricking the audience with camera angles and rapid editing; it feels like people are actually fighting.
The casting is fantastic, Michael Caine delivers an incredibly emotional performance as Wayne’s deep-feeling butler Alfred (unfortunately there’s not enough of him!). The rest of the cast is great and it’s interesting to note the strong Inception presence here – Gordon-Levitt, Cotillard, Caine.
I did feel like the film dragged a little through the middle. The beginning contains a lot of wonderful setup and the ending is exquisitely handled, but somewhere in the middle it loses some momentum. I also found that there was very little Batman during this part of the movie, which annoyed me to some extent. The writer in me was a bit caught up on some of the internal logic as well; some events that occur seem to serve only as a way to prolong the narrative rather than strengthen or expand it.
The Dark Knight Rises is a wonderful conclusion to Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It is a touch long, but it delivers everything it promises and maybe a little more. It’s thrilling, it’s dramatic, it’s a little bit funny, and it’s a whole lot of fun. A word (46 actually) of advice though, if you go in expecting nothing, you will gain everything. If you compare it to Batman Begins or Dark Knight too much, your viewing will suffer from it; the conclusion of the trilogy truly is its own entity and should be judge somewhat separately if possible.
