By In 2005, Christopher Nolan released “Batman Begins,” which effectively changed the superhero film genre forever. Nolan had managed to bring a reality and humanity to the costumed hero in a way that audiences had never seen before. The film managed to be a crowd-pleaser without dumbing down its content, and it made way for a new wave of “gritty” reinterpretations of comic book characters with varying success.
Audiences everywhere have been wondering if Nolan could finish strong with “The Dark Knight Rises,” the much-anticipated finale to his Dark Knight trilogy. Third sequels in comic-book franchises have almost always fallen short of their predecessors, and after “The Dark Knight” in 2008, some felt he couldn’t do better.
In the end, “The Dark Knight Rises” manages to be a successful finale to a spectacular series. It may not be a better film than its predecessors, but it is definitely a great send-off to Nolan’s version of the character.
Despite some plot holes and incomprehensible character motives, once again Nolan’s film manages to please audiences and fans while still keeping its grown-up themes intact.
“The Dark Knight Rises” begins eight years after the previous film. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has locked himself away in Wayne Tower and retired his Batman alter ego in order to protect the image of Gotham’s “white knight,” Harvey Dent, taking the fall for Dent’s brutal crimes as the villain Two-Face. Nobody seems to make the connection that Batman disappeared just as Wayne decided to stay at home indefinitely, but the citizens of Gotham have always been pretty bad at detecting the connections between the two.
Meanwhile, Harvey Dent has been made into a martyr by Gotham’s government, causing laws to be passed which help to clean up the city’s streets. Police Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) has trouble covering up the truth, but realizes it’s for the good of the city. That is, until the masked killer, known only as Bane (Tom Hardy), takes over the stock exchange by force and bankrupts Wayne Enterprises.
Bane has ulterior motives for taking over Wayne Enterprises. It turns out they may have technology at their disposal that has potential to destroy the entire city. Batman follows “Catwoman” Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) to Bane’s underground hideout in an attempt to put a stop to things, but Bane may be more powerful than Batman could have ever imagined.
The problems with “The Dark Knight Rises” come primarily in the pacing. Nolan and the screenwriters try to pack a ton of things into one three-hour film.
At some points it’s a film about the moral difficulty of keeping the truth from the public when it’s for their benefit. At other times, it’s about Bruce Wayne quite literally rising from the depths to become the man he needs to be to save the city he loves. Also, there’s a large portion of the movie involving John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young orphan cop who knows Batman’s true identity. Blake is an interesting character, but much like other parts of the film, his importance is not clear until well into the third act.
All these plot lines progress while Bane’s insanely complicated plan is taking place in Gotham. The character of Bane has the obvious burden of being compared to Heath Ledger’s Joker from the previous film. Tom Hardy never really reaches the level of Heath Ledger in the acting department, but this is largely due to the fact that he has a grotesque metal mask over his face the entire time. Bane is not just another crazed lunatic loose in Gotham causing mayhem and destruction. Unlike the Joker, he plans things meticulously. He is not an agent of chaos; he has very clear goals that come to light as the film goes on.
The action in the film is some of the best Nolan has ever done. In “Batman Begins,” the action was so spastically edited it was almost incomprehensible, and in “The Dark Knight,” most of the action scenes were vehicle-based spectacles. In “The Dark Knight Rises,” the audience gets the best of both worlds. There are fantastic scenes of Batman’s new flying vehicle soaring between buildings, but the audience also gets to see scenes of Batman beating the tar out of people in the streets. The final 30 minutes of the film is such an awesome visual display, it is worth the price of an IMAX ticket.
“The Dark Knight Rises” works better as a sequel than it does as a stand-alone movie. The plot can get convoluted for fans who haven’t seen the previous films recently, especially “Batman Begins.” Even with its few flaws, it manages to perfectly cap off Nolan’s trilogy and sets the bar for other superhero franchises. Other Batman films will eventually be made, but it is doubtful that the Dark Knight will ever rise to this level again.
