The Dark Knight Rises!

Now that I've seen the film twice and had some time to simmer down and let the film's resonance bang around in my little noggin a while, I'm ready to give my review on Christopher Nolan's, The Dark Knight Rises as if anybody really had time to care what I think on the matter.  Let's just pretend for right now, Ok?

THER MAY BE WHAT COULD BE CONSTRUED AS SPOILERS!  If you haven't seen the film yet, turn your eyes away unless you want to whine and cry on how a lonely, pathetic blogger ruined your whole movie experience after nearly a month after the film opened.  I will try and keep the spoilers to a respectable level and not try and give too much away just in case you want to peek.

Here we go....

After viewing the film the first time, I was surprised that there was a contingency of geek genre reviewers who were disappointed in Nolan's third and final story of his Batman trilogy.  I was pretty blown away and quite happy with what I saw.  Wondering if I was too wrapped up in the moment, I decided to see The Dark Knight Rises again a few weeks later to see if I was still under the spell of the hype and excitement (I don't know if anybody ever saw my spellbinding review on Star Wars, Ep. I: The Phantom Menace on my old, defunct website after I had just seen the movie.  I thought it was the coolest thing ever!  Yikes.).

I walked out of the theater a second time feeling just as satisfied as I had the first time.  It had me wondering, "What is wrong with people?  Did they see the same movie I did?"  Perhaps Nolan's second film in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight was too damn good of a Batman movie.  No new villain was ever going to replace Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker, no matter who you could have gotten to play the role or what Batman villain you put in there.  That was a touch of magic that was not going to duplicate itself ever again.

Yes, Rises' plot is a bit denser and there's a portion of the movie where you are asked to suspend your disbelief a little more than you usually would have to in one of Nolan's Batman movies (yet not to nipples on the bat suit degree).  It's a movie based on the COMIC BOOK of the dark, brooding character of BATMAN, for crisakes.  Get over it, sit back and enjoy the film.

This film takes place eight years after the tragic occurrences that concluded at the end of The Dark Knight.  Batman has been out of commission for that time and his alter ego, millionaire Bruce Wayne, has been living like an invalid in his big mansion rarely stepping out into the streets of Gotham.  It takes a crazed, masked terrorist known as Bane to get Wayne to don the Batman cowl once again and leap into action.

I felt that Tom Hardy's Bane was far more interesting and frightening than the big, pro-wrestling looking hulk that the character is based on in the comics.  There is no secret "venom" serum that makes him superhumanly strong, just a criminal mastermind way of life and very good training in weaponry and combat that make him a perfect Batman foil.  Sure, Bane is big and physically imposing, but what makes him most dangerous is that he truly is of great intellect.  He is a James Bond villain as well as one of James Bond villains' henchmen all rolled up into one.  He's a man with a dark plan and he will turn Gotham city upside down before it is all said and done.  And he will brutally do away with anybody who foils his plans or gets in the way of his goal without a second thought.

I have to admit, I haven't really followed Anne Hathaway's career all that much.  I always saw her as another beautifull actress who got engaged to a corrupt millionaire, to be quite blunt about it.  When I heard Hathaway was going to play the "Catwoman" roll in the film, I had to wonder what she could bring to the roll.  I went with my gut feeling in trusting in Christopher Nolan.  I have to say that she totally pulled it off!  I really, enjoyed her interpretation of the cat burglar, Selina Kyle.  Her dry wit and take no prisoners approach to the roll was fun and very different than Michelle Pfeiffer's darker and more pulpy version of the character from twenty years past.  On a side note, I found it interesting that I can't recall her character ever being referred to as Cat Woman in the film and Hathaway is credited simply as Selina Kyle.

Christian Bale's Batman is a bit more melancholy in this film.  He knows that far more is at stake and that the safety of an entire city lies on his shoulders.  We know that he's already sacrificed his reputation with the people of Gotham City at the end of The Dark Knight.  This film asks the question, how much farther is he willing to go.  As it ends up, pretty far.  Bale brings back the gritty voiced vigilante we loved from the last two movies.

The supporting cast also do a rockin' job in their rolls.  Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are always welcome additions to the Batman movies.  They've kind have become the "Q" and "M" of Nolan's Batman films.  And of course the always fan-fracking-tastic, Gary Oldman.  I will be hard pressed to think of any other actor in the role of Commissioner Gordon.  God I love that actor.  Every role he plays is pure frelling brilliance!!!  Joseph Gordan Levitt's cop with a heart of gold is damn good too and we'll get to see him rise up the ladder of Hollywood as more great rolls come his way.  Wether you agree or not with the little twist that is revealed at the end of the film with his character and how it messes with the Batman mythos, he still pulls off a fine job.  Marion Cotillard plays an interesting role as a fellow philanthropist that falls for Bruce Wayne and ends up playing a pivotal role in the story line.  And as a Torchwood Fan, it was fun as hell seeing Burn Goreman playing the role as an unscrupulous assistant to a corrupt businessman.

Any hard core fan of the comics should know there is no way that Nolan was going to do a retelling of the Batman comic story arc "Knightfall" that featured Bane and the crippling of the Batman back in the 90's in its full, down to the letter script.  But, Nolan did bring in some pretty major plot points from that story and infused it with his own tale.  Batman is broken and he does have to RISE to return to save the day.  I also love how he brought back the story line from the first Batman movie, Batman Begins, to help wrap up his trilogy.

Being a Batman fanboy, I caught on to what may be the big plot twist about halfway through the movie when I started asking myself, "What is this one character's purpose in the story?  Something isn't right here."  Then it dawned on me who this character could actually be from the comic book series.  I think I audibly gasped in the theater when it hit me like a lead brick to the chest.  I was right and Gotham City suffered for it.

There are a couple of socio-political messages that we can glean from this picture when it comes to the state of Gotham City at the beginning of the film and what it goes through during the middle and end.  We can look at the beginning and understand Cat Woman's perspective and relate to where we are as a society today in her "....you're all going to wonder how you can live so large and leave so little for the rest of us" view.  the Occupy This and Occupy That movements are happening in the real world for a reason, people.  It is this view that leads to Bane and his terrorist brood into taking advantage of the people of Gotham and making them believe that there is a legitimate reason for the way he turns Gotham into a, shall we call it, anarchist state when in reality, there's something more sinister behind it.  How far do we go to fight the greed of the rich?  Are we willing to sell our own souls?

As for the action sequences, they are every bit as good as they were in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.  The brawls between Bane and Batman are brutal as you can hear every crunch of bone and mash of muscle with every punch.  The grand finally chase scene is almost as good as the one in The Dark Knight.  This time they incorporate a bit of dog fighting finesse in the skies of Gotham.

I'm trying to rummage through my mind to find any major issues that I had with this film.  I can find hardly any at all.  Too long?  At one hour and forty-some minutes it felt like an hour had gone by.  Does it ask you to suspend disbelief too much.  Well, there is the trauma and changes that Gotham city goes through that are a bit more epic than we have seen in the two previous films.  But, that didn't seem to bother me.

Is it as good as the previous two films.  Yes.

Perhaps fans that expected this to be clone of The Dark Knight or wanted the Bane story and Batman mythos to follow the Batman comic verbatim were disappointed.  But, if you have an understanding of what Nolan  has brought to the Batman film story, you'll get it.

After seeing Nolan's work on these three Batman films, I'd live to see his take on a James Bond film.  I can't wait for Sam Mendes, Skyfall this November and I think Nolan could do and excellent job as well.  He's showed interest, so who knows.


In other geeky thoughts.....

The weather has been getting a bit chilly and the Octoberfests are hitting the shelves.  Too soon to get into spookosity mood?  Perhaps.  Perhaps.......

BRUHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Until next time, stay vertical!

Zangz.