PROLOGUE
A movie was made. Its images, trailers, and tid bit info released...and thus the hype machine began. I finally saw that movie...and my reaction?
It wasnt worth the hype....
I, of course am talking about The Amazing Spiderman, a movie comic book fans will swear is great just because "Toby McGuire is not in it" and "Spidey's web shoots out of a mechanism on his wrist as opposed to just his wrist". However, these comic fans miss one very important element about The Amazing Spiderman....it just was a BAD movie.
See, we the audience, needed more than The Amazing Spiderman,we deserved a better movie....and along came Christopher Nolan and The Dark Knight Rises...but does this film truly Rise above its summer competetion (Spiderman and the Avengers) or even above its predecessors? The quick answer is...there is no quick answer.
SUMMARY
The Dark Knight Rises is a nearly 3 hour finale to a film franchise that rose (pun intended) from the deepest darkest reaches of Schumaker-dom, to become probably the most successful Comic Book Movie trilogy in Hollywoods history. Christopher Nolan took plenty of lessons from Joel Schumakers batman movies, and very intellegently, tossed those lessons to the wayside and used his style to tell the tale of Bruce Wayne.
I say Bruce Wayne as opposed to Batman, because as we learn in Rises, these movies were never about Batman, an incorruptible symbol of good, but about Bruce Wayne, a tragic man whose life became an obsession of an ideal that many believe is impossible to ever truly achieve.
Rises begins with a very long exposition explaining what has become of Gotham City and its inhabitants since The Dark Knight movie. While publically Gotham is flourishing, internally the characters who helped create the flourish are grasping at straws looking for purpose, for meaning, for a direction, all the while a new breed of evil is breeding within the city...that evil? The Human Condition (greed, naivety, acceptance, betrayal, vanity)
The movie continues to confuse our feelings by feeding us emotions coming from our terrifically acted cast, and by the time Bane has taken control of Gotham and Wayne has been thrown into that hole in the ground prison, we the audience find ourselves as lost as Bruce Wayne, questioning the blind pursuit of justification of the ends by its means, naive to the limits the heart and mind create.
Then the third act happens, and like children we start to find the ideals we, up till this point, only had heard about. We silently encourage the return of the masked vigalante as he gathers us to fight for the sake of some long forgotten ideal and we do so at the edge of our seats. We do so long enough to watch him to conquor life and even death, and after all the twists and turns, the last scene solidifies the concept of an ideal. The ideal of what it means to be a Hero. The movie is the definition of an Epic. Long and emotionally draining, yet undoubtedly satisfying and breath taking.
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| The Bat was Epic every time it was shown |
CONS
Like all Comic book movies, Rises shares plenty of plot holes and 'conveniences' none bigger than how a penniless Wayne was able to get to Gotham City after escaping a hell hole in the middle of nowhere, despite the fact that Gotham's only bridge was in constant watch of who coming and goings. Or how about the broken back that seemingly repaired to 100% in a matter of 5 months? Or how about the final battle where Batman and Bane face off one on one...IN A CROWD OF ANGRY VIOLENT PEOPLE.
One scene that really bothered me was Bane's speech in front of Gotham after he had taken over the city. Where he explained how the people would act and feel towards the new beginning he brought Gotham. In my head i was wondering why some brave soul doesn't just take a sniper rifle and shoot Bane in the head. I mean if Holmes can walk into a theater and randomly shoot at an innocent audience, why cant someone just as equally deranged shoot a real life villain? (for all those who are a bit sensitive towards the Aurora Colorado shootings all i have to say is...Too Soon?)
There are plenty more plot holes (Wayne's Magic brace?) throughout the movie. However, the flaws are all so small an trivial when compared to all that the movie does right that it really doesnt change how good the movie essentially is and how deeply rooted it is in its realism
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| Such an Easy Target |
PROS
-ACTING
Bale sells his Bruce Wayne as a borderline schizophrenic obsessed with recluse ideals and a past that he wont let die whether it be the death of his parents, or the death of Ra's Al Ghul. Bale perfectly enacts the role of a tragedy that shrouds himself in martyrdom. Gary Oldman plays an older Jim Gordon, a man emotionally torn by his moral compass, longing to tell the truth about the lie that saved Gotham. Cain and Freeman also return as Alfred and Fox, playing the role of the last sane men in Gotham City.While most will talk about how terrific Bane was played by Tom Hardy, and how he let his eyes handle his facial expressions, i thought the one actor that completely blew me away was Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (catwoman to comic fans, though she is never called that in the movie). I think what really blew me away was that i expected so little from her as Kyle, and she delivered so much more. Marion Cotillard also played Miranda, and I have to admit i didnt recognize the actress until she revealed her "darker" side...at which point I thought "dude its that scary lady from Inception!" though I would have to say aside from being part of the biggest twist in the movie, was a bit bland (relative to the rest of the cast, which is saying a lot).
Joseph Levitt plays a street cop, young and 'hot headed' filled with ideals and a good strong sense of what justice is. I dont remember the characters name used, because in my head I kept calling him by Robin (which is revealed at the end to actually be his real real name). The character i felt was acted fine, but was meant more as special fan service.While Levitt's character didnt encompass one single Robin, comic book fans will notice how he shared similarities with several different Robins, a sort of awesome mash-up. His character to me defined how well Nolan and his brother had studied the source material of the Batman comic books, and created something wonderful out of it.
Fans of The Dark Knight were questioning whether or not anyone would be able to come close to Ledgers Joker, and while no one actor truly was able to encompass the charisma Heath brought with his Joker, I felt the combined efforts of Hardy and Hathaway were able to come dangerously close.
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| Such Elegant Acting |
-PACING
The Pacing of the movie was interesting. I knew it was long more because of how my body felt sitting in those uncomfortable theater chairs as opposed to the internal timer in my head. I thought the movie started off very slowly but in a very informative way, however the second act was very much a blur. The second act was to consist of 5 months which seemingly passed withing 10 minutes and a majority of the plot holes happen here. Supposedly the original cut of Rises was supposed to be 4 hours long, and given how tedious Nolan is, and how rushed that second act felt, i believe it. If there was a chance to watch the 4 hour long version I would certainly go for it. The third act probably was the longest part of the movie in terms of actual time, but the pacing was just perfect here with action scenes and great plot twists coming at you consecutively.-SETTING
I spoke about the Avengers in an earlier review, and how many of the sets and Circumstances were just cliched justification for things to blow up or battles to happen at, and while it worked for Avengers, Rises chose to make every setting matter, every shot, every angle it all held some sort of meaning. The final battle in front of town hall in the center of Gotham with a white back drop of snow, the underground labyrinth where bane brutally defeated batman where the score consisted of Banes lectures taunting and Batman's desperate grunts, all artistic works with symbolism galore. |
| Lots of Black Contrasting White as Good and Evil Face Off |
Compared to Avengers and Spiderman
Many people have been trying to compare the three movies to each other, trying to weed out the best one. A smart person would acknowledge that the three movies were different takes on comic book stories, and thus could never truly be compared. I am however, not very bright. To me The Amazing Spiderman was just a bad movie. While it might have gotten several of the comic book elements right, the characters were often time too unbelievable, the pacing a horrible bore, and the story just all over the place.
Avengers was a fun, energetic movie that kept throwing waves and waves of highly entertaining scenes while also establishing the core values of the movies Heroes and doing a superb job of meshing their personalities into a single movie without diminishing anyones role. However, aside from the heroes, the movie offered very little substance anywhere else.
If Avengers was a roller coaster ride, then Rises was a skydive; lots more at stake, a linear drop that forced you to face deep emotional issues, a thrilling climax and a gentle yet joyous landing leaving you with breathlessness and fatigue. Where Avengers throws waves of entertainment at you, Rises drowns you in emotional tragedy, real time symbolism, and minute details that you might never have cared to known....substance. All the while Rises was able to somehow find a great balance between being a good Realistic movie and a fun Comic book movie.
Compared to Nolan's Other Batman Movies
I'll get it out of the way, in a vacuum...The Dark Knight was better than Rises. Maybe it was because it was far less expected, or maybe I'm truly blinded by Ledger's Death (I'm not), however Dark Knight carried a far better message, with just as much substance in less time. The Joker made the movie much more entertaining, while also far more terrifying knowing the Batman was facing a man who was obsessed with his own ideals and philosophies as Batman was.
However, Rises triumphantly completes the trilogy and lives up to its role as the end of Nolan's franchise in perfect fashion. Rises perfectly combines the aspects of Begins and The Dark Knight, and gives the franchise real closure for the audience. The previous movies were good on their own, but Rises allows the two movies to become even greater by giving them real reason and effect on the audiences perception on Bruce Wayne and the idea of The Batman.
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| the perfect poster |
Conclusion
So was Dark Knight Rises a great movie; Yes. Did it have very apparent flaws in its plot and execution; Yes. Was it the movie that we wanted; maybe...but even if it wasnt the movie that we wanted, it was the the movie we deserved, an epic conclusion glowing in the fire....in the end
The Dark Knight Rises....Truly Rises
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