Batman looks up at the sky in The Dark Knight Rises
The Dark Knight Rises
A+
A Review by Frederick
Cholowski
After four years and massive
amounts of anticipation the final chapter of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy
has been released to the public. The standard has been set high with Nolan
having to follow one of his masterpieces The Dark Knight (the other being the
brilliant and backwards Memento). Plus Nolan has the added pressure of taking
on the deed of creating a good threequel (for the bad ones see Spider Man 3,
X-Men 3 etc.) that wraps up what has been an unforgettable cinematic trilogy
while still creating a film that can stand on its own. There is good news out
of all this because the Dark Knight Rises doesn’t disappoint. The film is big,
dark, ambitious, and, despite it not quite being the masterpiece The Dark
Knight was, it’s a fantastic film that comes very close to being able to stand
toe to toe with its predecessor.
The Dark Knight Rises
follows an older, beaten down Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) eight years after
giving up the cape after taking the fall for Harvey Dent’s murder. Gotham City
has been at piece throughout this time but its best and brightest lead by Jim Gordon
(Gary Oldman) have been decrepit by the lie they have been basing the piece on
for so long (those who have seen the Dark Knight or are at all familiar with
Batman fiction will know what happened to Harvey). Cue Bane (Tom Hardy), a mercenary
who begins taking advantage of Gotham letting their guard down by beginning to terrorize
the city. Throughout the film another player is prancing around the city a
thief of sorts named Selina Kyle (Ann Hathaway) (also known as Catwoman). Then there are the players who try to get Bruce
out of his hole such as his trusty butler Alfred (Michael Caine), the tech guy
Lucious Fox (Morgan Freeman), the hothead young cop that wants the best for
Gotham John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and the perky Wayne enterprises
executive Miranda (Marion Cotillard). All the players intertwine in Bane’s
massive plot that may spell the end for Gotham City.
The Dark Knight Rises works
really well especially after about an hour in. In the Dark Knight Christopher
Nolan mastered the art of never giving the sense that the hero was going to
come out on top and he captures that lightning again here. Just when you think
you have this film figured out it throws something different and amazing. As
well this isn’t a happy movie as Nolan puts Bruce through hell pretty much the
entire film with very little redeeming happiness, especially through the middle
of the film. Nor is this film like an average superhero film, or, for that matter
a superhero film in general. It’s much darker and a lot more ambitious than any
superhero movie to come out other than Nolan’s past endeavors in the superhero field.
Nolan is trying to say something with this film and as a result it’s dark,
heavy, and emotional; that is something special.
The reason that this film
won’t go down as a pure masterpiece in my eyes, like the Dark Knight, is that
it lacks a little bit of energy especially within the first hour of the film.
It’s a mix of smaller things that cumulate this problem. The first is that,
despite the fact that everyone in this film is fantastic, it lacks the once in
a lifetime performance, like the one the late Heath Ledger gave in The Dark
Knight, that gave The Dark Knight its spark. This is to be expected though as
again that was, as previously mentioned, a once and a life time performance.
The other thing that detracts from the energy of the film is that the plot
during the first hour can be a little murky.
While the first hour is still really good and key to justifying the rest
of the film it runs into the problem of having some murkiness. While I won’t
get into specifics due to fear of spoilers there are some things that go by in
the first hour that are interesting but aren’t spent enough time with or some
that too much time is spent on. It’s very small but it does take a little spark
out of the film.
That being said though The
Dark Knight Rises still manages to completely justify its 165 minute running
length. One could even argue for a director’s cut that helps flesh out the
first hour of the film. This is a big film that tries and succeeds at
presenting viewers with a ton of material and action that combine together for
an amazing cinematic experience.
Nolan has always had a knack
for ambiguous endings and The Dark Knight Rises is no different. While it’s not
as maddening as the ending to Inception or Memento it still leaves very large
questions on the table. The ending is great because most of it is up to your interpretation.
It never cheats nor feels unsatisfyingly incomplete, instead it allows the viewer
to play “personalize my Batman” which is much more satisfying than giving the
answer right in front of the viewer.
Christian Bale is really allowed
to shine here as a tortured broken Bruce Wayne. This is Bale’s best performance
of the trilogy as he is allowed to show so many different sides of this character
that he hasn’t had the chance to show before. The other show stealer and the surprise
of the film for me is Ann Hathaway as Catwoman. Hathaway adds so much grit to
the character as well as keeping the same dry sarcastic quips that Catwoman is
known for. The practically unrecognizable Tom Hardy is big and menacing as Bane.
Never before in a film (other than the Dark Knight) has a villain seemed so powerful
and unstoppable. The rest of the supporting cast is all fantastic as usual with
Michael Cain, Garry Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, and Marion
Cotillard being at the top of their game here. Nolan never casts bad actors and
the trend doesn’t end here.
Another thing that Nolan
knows how to do extremely well is a since of spectacle. If you thought the
Avengers was big near the ending than you definitely haven’t watched this film.
The best part about the action is that it’s not CGI loaded or really flashy.
This is a dark visceral battle that this film depicts and the action definitely
accentuates that. There are so many great moments but the one I will mention is
the opening scene (as most people already know the scene) with Bane infiltrating
a plane. The scene is so breathtaking and fantastic and brings together a
fantastic mix of bombastic music and fantastic visuals. It feels so much like a
bond villain intro that is more brilliantly done than any Bond villain intro.
This isn’t even scratching the surface of the action sequences as they continue
to build to a spectacular climax.
Another thing is that this
film should be watched in IMAX. About an hour of this film is shot in IMAX and
the ways these scenes are incorporated are simply amazing. Nolan does cool, creative
things with IMAX as well as just accentuating the action sequences (which I won’t
talk about again in fear of spoilers). IMAX is essential as well because of how
big and bombastic the film is. Bigger sound and bigger visuals helps realize
the pure spectacle of the film, and while the film would still be great in
normal theaters, shelling out the cash for IMAX is defiantly worth it.
The Dark Knight Rises is a fantastic
film and the best film of the year so far. This is a dark, emotional, and
powerful film that is worth every last penny of the price of admission. While
it may not be The Dark Knight, the finest film of the trilogy, The Dark Knight
Rises ends the greatest trilogy of comic book films ever made with the bang it disserves.
If you see one blockbuster film this summer make it The Dark Knight Rises.
