The Dark Knight Rises Review

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.