The Dark Knight Rises Review

 

I always felt that the series was originally going to be a two-part saga. It felt obligatory to Christopher Nolan that he at least make a final entry, just to have a trilogy under his belt and rake in more cash for Warner. I consider this one to be the weakest of the bunch. Mind you it’s not bad or a slog. Although, it was always a hurdle to try to outdo The Dark Knight, especially have a villain that can make an impact just like the Joker. With that The Dark Knight Rises is a good conclusion to a trilogy that is considered the best. SPOILERS will appear in the review.

1.      Story

The film takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Commissioner Gordon instates a law called the Dent act which imprisons all criminals without hearing to jail. Amid that, a domestic terrorist with connections to the League of Shadows named Bane invades Gotham City to “liberate” it from the affluent. Unbeknownst to the civilians, he brings a bomb that will destroy the city.

            Meanwhile, earlier Selina Kyle steals fingerprints from Bruce Wayne in exchange for an expunge system to wipe her criminal record. The fingerprints were used in connection with Bane to blow up parts of the city and to not let any civilian to leave.

            Between the three of the films, this one was very plot heavy. Extremely interconnected due to Bane and having to know who exactly the League of Shadows are. Though I feel that it is a downgrade with what happened in the last one as Joker just subverting everything and being unpredictable. That’s what I think is missing, the unpredictability and a villain who actually puts Batman through the ringer. Bane does so but, well I’ll elaborate it.

2.      Bane

The entire marketing showed Bane being a formidable villain. It was a near impossible job to outdo Joker. Tom Hardy does a good job portraying the villain. They somehow made his iconic mask which in the comics is a luchador-esque mask into a breathing apparatus. For most of the film, he looked as he commanded his own army.

My favorite scene of him includes his first fight with Batman. The fighting is very gritty with no music playing. Batman tries everything but he couldn’t beat Bane. I was not expecting the scene of Bane breaking Batman’s back to ever make its way into the silver screen. They did it and, it looks silly. I think it works in the comics since, the villain was juiced up with a drug called venom, which is how he got his ungodly strength. But when you have a series grounded in reality, I just couldn’t buy a very buff man picking up another man and breaking his back.

I might as well include the character Miranda Tate in Bane’s tab since she goes by the name Talia al Ghul. Watching it the first time, I had no idea who the character was, mind you I didn’t read the comic books or the animated series or watch Batman Begins. Watching it now, there are subtle clues to her real motives. One scene in which Bruce, Lucius, and “Miranda” visit Wayne Enterprises new reactor. When mentioned that the reactor can be turned into a weapon, a music sting and subtle face tic that Talia has, made it clear that she is the bad guy.

It would’ve been appropriate to have Talia be introduced in the sequel instead of just being the new CEO of Wayne’s company for the sake of the movie. I guess I have so much grievance on Bane since I wanted him to be better than Joker. Hell, he gets killed by Selina. I guess that’s why I feel that this is the weakest in the trilogy.

Lastly, Talia’s character played by Marion Cotillard, she was actually the antagonist in Nolan’s film Inception, I feel that she got herself typecast in Nolan’s filmography.

3.      The Dark Knight Formula

After watching the trilogy in order and pondering about it, I noticed the formula in terms of how it handles villains and other story threads. For the villains, it always has someone who is working for someone and gets deposed of. In Begins, Falcone works with Ra’s, gets turned insane by Scarecrow. The Dark Knight has Lau working with the Mob, along with Gambol getting killed by the Joker. This one has Daggett working with Bane, getting killed by him through strangulation. Not that its bad to repeat, but it was something that I noticed and actually paid attention to.

It’s something brief that I felt should be warranted attention.

4.      Suspension of Disbelief

The third act of the film is where I originally had some problems. Not the final fight or the Gotham City PD going against Bane’s army. It’s after when Batman gets the bomb away from Gotham when it blows up in the sea. There’s a moment where the audience is left to assume that Batman/Bruce died. I for one would’ve liked if Bruce sacrificed himself to the city as one last noble act. But, when Lucius goes to R&D to make sure if the Bat vehicle still had autopilot problems, the workers told him it was repaired. Thus, making any attempt or interpretation of Alfred seeing Bruce with Selina a hallucination obsolete since Bruce wasn’t piloting the Bat.

I feel that the entire picking apart the final moment feels like a nondebatable situation to accept regardless of how anyone feels. It’s not so much as how exactly Bruce tracked down Alfred and be within sight of seeing his butler, but more on Alfred having to see Bruce finally have a comfortable life without being Batman. As well as having Wayne escape from the pit and making his way to the isolated Gotham. It’s established in Begins that he managed to travel around without any money and be able to survive before joining the League.

One last thing is Bruce having a motorized knee brace giving his knee strength to break concrete. It was dumb, but hey it’s a comic book movie not a work of art.

5.      The Trilogy as it is

Without a doubt, The Dark Knight Trilogy belongs to a very exclusive club in terms of best three film series such as the original Star Wars Trilogy, Back to the Future, and The Lord of the Rings. Each film keeps the stakes high and makes this interpretation of Batman so beloved. Christopher Nolan had a vision he wanted to tell and managed to pull it off successfully. I don’t think any superhero, or any future interpretation of the caped crusader can’t come close to what Nolan did. Sure, another actor can be better than Christian Bale, but the overall grounded realism and believability can’t be matched.

6.      Overall

This one is a good conclusion to a Batman story. It does falter on some points but, the overall emotional investment with the characters and the story makes it a worthy final chapter of Batman’s adventure. I still believe that The Dark Knight was supposed to be the final movie in the saga, though it just felt right to have a third movie. Rises didn’t try to be bigger than the last one, which manages to be good with its sum of its parts.

The Dark Knight Rises gets a four out of five.