Epic and Grand, ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is a Satisfying End to a Legend
Seven years ago, Christopher Nolan shocked the world with Batman Begins. A dark retelling of Batman’s early days, the world hadn’t a movie quite like this from the superhero genre. And then four years later, Nolan made an even bigger film, and featuring one of the greatest performances you will ever see. It took some convincing to bring Nolan to come back for a third, a simple thought that seems like a downright lie as you watch the newest installment in the series, The Dark Knight Rises. The third and final movie in Nolan’s trilogy wraps up things quite nicely, with the movie being more of a sequel to Begins rather than The Dark Knight. The second film isn’t forgotten by any means, but by bringing the first movie back into focus, it allows the series – and character – a proper conclusion.
The movie begins eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, with the murder of Harvey Dent placed solely on Batman, who has since went into hiding. Similarly, Bruce Wayne has become reclusive as well, isolated inside the now rebuilt Wayne Manor. Not only has he decided to become a hermit after the loss of Rachael, but his body is failing him as well, relying on a cane – in more ways than one – to get around. We are quickly introduced to Selina Kyle, a slick thief who aims to bring more balance between the haves and have-nots. We are also introduced to Bane, an imposing figure who has Gotham in his sights. I would usually go a little deeper into the storyline and explain the positives and negatives of the characters, but the less revealed in this review, the better.
There are plenty of things to love about this movie. The scale is much grander, and by the time the second hour wanes away, you realize just how big of an epic this really is. As of right now, the story seems to be a little tighter than The Dark Knight, which had plot-holes galore. I’m sure the holes will become more apparent on repeat viewings (much like they did for TDK), but this movie relied less on events being perfectly timed or chance than its predecessor. Anytime a movie demands repeat viewings to break down possible deficiencies that you didn’t catch before, the director obviously did something right. Another reason I want to watch this movie again right away is the chance to watch it on an IMAX screen. The camera work on this film is simply fantastic, especially the scenes with Batman’s new toy. And, as always, Hans Zimmer’s score was top notch stuff that always demands mentioning.
This is probably the most conflicted we see Batman in the entire trilogy, and Christian Bale nails it. He goes from lost and isolated at the beginning to thinking that he can solve all the problems in the city once again before being broken down physically and emotionally. And doing most of that beating comes from Bane, played with great presence by Tom Hardy. Hardy has to play the entire movie with a mask on that limits what he’s able to do as an actor, but still manages to convey both the brutality and brains of the character. One of the biggest flaws of this film is the inability to understand all the dialogue, and while they went back and re-worked much of Bane’s voice to make it easier to hear, there were still plenty of lines that I simply did not hear and had to try to piece things together myself.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young cop who other officers call a hothead, but is able to get on the good side of Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon, and the two actors work quite well together. And then there’s the ladies of the film. My French Goddess Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate, who is introduced as a possible love interest for Bruce Wayne, as well as a business associate. I squealed like a little girl and grabbed my friends arm when she was introduced, but I doubt there’s much I can say here other than she is lovely and helps establish much of the emotion that this movie displays. As for the other, many people were skeptical when Anne Hathaway was brought in for the role of Selina Kyle. While the term Catwoman is never said, I would have to say that Hathaway played the role perfectly. Slick, stylish, and full of desire to start a new life different from the one she currently lives, Hathaway is sympathetic and teasing at the same time.
As a stand alone film, this a movie that might be a hair too long and has a few audio problems, but is able to reach a level of greatness because of its final hour. As a final third of a tale that we’ve fallen in love with over the past eight years, it reaches an even higher heights, and is quite simply one of the best conclusions to a trilogy that we have witnessed. More emotional than the other two films, a tighter script than The Dark Knight, and a stronger final act than the Begins, The Dark Knight Rises is not only everything we want from a comic book movie, but everything that we want from a blockbuster in general. A tip-of-the-cap your way, Mr. Nolan.
22 Comments
Great to see another positive review of the movie. I hear the movie is nearly 3 hours long which seems somewhat excessive but for me, the more the merrier. Can’t wait to check this out for myself this weekend.
Yeah, there’s a spot about a third into the movie that it gets a bit slow, but the final hour flies by pretty fast.
I will agree with you about the final act of the film was stronger than other two. I will not outright bash the movie. I will leave it at that.
What didn’t you like about it?
I actually loved the first third of the movie then it kind of bogged down in the middle. The third part was a bit rushed I thought, especially how it seems like so much time goes by, compared to the first two acts. And then the final images kind of let me down because I feel the movie should have ended about 3 minutes earlier if you know what I mean…
Fine review, RG. I’d give it the same the rating, too. Thanks.
Thanks!
a beautiful franchise indeed, but i wish marion and anne’s roles were flipped. marion would have certainly been a far more convincing selina kyle. but the movie is indeed epic. totally agree about Bane though. i could barely understand what he was saying.
After the initial casting was announced, I thought that Cotillard would’ve been a better fit as catwoman, but I’m not sure if she would’ve been able to pull off some of those moves that Hathaway nailed.
I’ve never been a huge Anne Hathaway guy but she really was excellent in this movie.
I’m relieved to see another positive review from a blog! I was beginning to think I saw a whole other film.
Definitely not a perfect film, but it was the perfect conclusion to the trilogy. Dramatic and emotionally exhausting.
Good to see that you enjoyed it!
WOW FUCKING WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’M SPEECHLESS
Lol. Yeah, the more and more I think about it, the more and more I love it. Can’t wait to see it in IMAX sometime soon.
I was blown away. I know the movie has its flaws but wow, it’s really up there for me and possibly my favorite of the trilogy when it’s all said and done.
My initial reaction was WOW, I even clapped at the end! But over discussions and some more reflection on it, I do have issues with it and I don’t see it as a masterpiece because Nolan himself has set the bar high for himself. I’m not knocking it though, I mean it’s still a well-executed film, but it’s far from perfect.
I wonder what you refer as issues. I don’t really want to clarify my beef either as of yet because the movie is still so fresh in my mind and some people haven’t seen it yet but in a few days, we should talk about these issues
We’re not far apart on the final grade, but I think I was far more disappointed in this movie than you were Red (and Cap, too, from reading the comments). I thought it dragged in a lot of parts, and that a lot of the story lines were superfluous.
It succumbed to excess in an attempt to be epic.
I could not get behind Bane. Not being able to see his face, having him speak through a mask, and hiding his origin until the end of the movie were all mistakes that backfired for me.
I still graded it out at like a B+, but I’m the world’s highest grader anyways. B+ was a pretty disappointing grade for me.
This movie is definetely a great one, but I just heard that another fantastic movie is out for online streaming- its famous Metropolis, a remake by Giorgio Moroder! its classy and very interesting to watch. check it out at metropolismovie.co.uk
I keep jumping back and forth on if I want to see this or not. I think I was the only one on the planet that thought The Dark Knight was boring. I think these movies are way too long and Bale’s voice is so over the top for me. Still, I enjoyed the first installment and since I did make it through the first two, I feel like I should wrap it up properly in the theater and not wait for the DVD.
Great review Red. I really enjoyed this concluding part. A enthralling ending to a fantastic trilogy.
There are far too many inconsistencies in editing and storytelling for this to really add up to much more than a big, loud flash in the superhero pan. If someone other than Nolan had made this, I think I’d have liked it more, but Nolan is too good a filmmaker to make a film that’s this dense and stupid.
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