Having been a huge fan of Chris Nolan's previous two Batman films, couldn't wait to watch this when it was released. And The Dark Knight Rises didn't disappoint. The conclusion to the trilogy is fitting for the franchise, for Batman, and for Bruce Wayne (though I have read rumors that Nolan might come back for another film in the series or maybe a Batman/Superman film hope some of this is true!).The film starts with a frail Bruce Wayne having pretty much retired and living a private life eight years after he eliminated the Joker. The peaceful Gotham City where police officers feel they will soon be "chasing overdue library books" is rocked by a series of events orchestrated by the ferocious and calculating villain, Bane.
The pace of this film is slightly slower (and heavier) compared to the previous two films, partly because there are a lot more characters in this film, and Nolan being the master storyteller that he is, gives each character enough time in the film. It could seem a bit lengthy at 3 hours of thereabout because of this. Lucius Fox and Alfred return in their usual roles of being Batman's brains and soul respectively. Michael Caine's performance as Alfred is simply remarkable even though his screen time is somewhat limited in the film. Christian Bale, as usual, has done a great job portraying the battles within Bruce Wayne overcoming his hears and rising from being as good as dead to come back to save his beloved city. His character comes a full circle from the first film as Thomas Wayne's words "why do we fall down Bruce" echo through this film and Bruce seemingly understands their meaning here as he prepares to pick himself up and "rise".
New characters added a refreshing touch to the series. Anne Hathaway is brilliant in her role as Selina Kyle. She lightens up the serious macho overdose of the film with her flair and flamboyant ways. Bane, with links to the League of Shadows, brings a dark element unlike any Gotham has witnessed before. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays John (Robin) Blake perhaps a younger version of Jim Gordon. He seems to be set to take over the reins from Commissioner Gordon, but eventually chooses to stay free of the shackles imposed by structure and protocols by the GCPD. Marion Cotillard (I thought she was brilliant in Inception) plays a convincing partner and love interest of Bruce Wayne.
The conclusion is definitely a lot heavier in terms of content and pace compared to the previous two films. This film requires focused attention to the dialogue and sequence of events, previous 2 films seem somewhat lighter compared to this one. The fact that Bane's voice was muffled with his mask doesn't help in this regard, it only increases the level of focus one needs to have which watching the film. In addition, the film has more characters with their place in the film. Chris Nolan has spent a fair amount of time with each character to fully bring out their roles and let the audiences savor the nuances of their personalities, inner conflicts, and goals. I personally think the editing room could have shaved off a good 15 to 20 minutes from the film, but this is Nolan's signature style of storytelling. Also some scenes make Batman seem too human, like the street fight scene with Bane towards the end. Batman is a superhero and it feels somewhat strange to see him battle his enemy bare hands in the middle of a street-fight. That being said, there are plenty of new toys in his arsenal and the Bat, in particular, is awesome!
Yes, the performance of Heath Ledger and the compelling storytelling of The Dark Knight are hard to match, but TDKR is an appropriate and epic conclusion to what I think is one of the best series of super-hero films made to date.
The story of 'The Dark Knight Rises' takes place eight years after the events of 'The Dark Knight' Gotham Ciy is seemingly crime free and the Batman hasn't been seen since (still wanted as a fugitive after the events of TDK). In steps Bane: a super-strong, methodical terrorist leader intent on destroying Gotham and ends up forcing Batman/Bruce Wayne out of retirement. There's a lot of elements at work in this dynamic story (taking obvious influences from the Batman comics Knightfall, No Man's Land and Dark Knight Returns) and the movie's almost 3-hour length is felt, but Nolan's strong directing and script manage to bring it all together and he keeps things moving at a brisk pace.
As much as I like the story in 'The Dark Knight Rises' it's the characters I found myself most vested in. Regular greats Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman return as Jim Gordan and Lucius Fox, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays honest cop John Blake and Anne Hathaway the thief Selina Kyle (each giving the film both an every-person to follow and moments of comic-relief). Marion Cotillard gives protagonist Bruce Wayne a business partner as well as a love-interest in Miranda Tate. Tom Hardy doesn't make Bane as memorable as Heath Ledger's Joker (no one could) but he's an imposing presence and a terrific foil to Batman in terms of strength and ingenuity.
All the characters in 'The Dark Knight Rises' have a chance to shine, especially in their personal journey's and relationships but the one holding it all together is Bruce Wayne/Batman himself. It's fun seeing Batman drive through the dark in the Bat-Pod, stealthily take down criminals from ceilings and dodge gun-fire between muzzle-flashes. Watching a middle-aged and physically impaired Bruce Wayne build himself back up (especially after a nasty beat-down from Bane) is almost as awesome as watching him become Batman for the first time! Christian Bale's amazing performance sells this character in every scene and I especially liked how his relationship with his Butler Alfred played out (an equally compelling Michael Caine with much more screen time). This is the hero I wanted in the first two films!
While the direction is sharp and the story exciting, 'The Dark Knight Rises' does have some obvious faults. Hans Zimmer's musical-score is strong as ever but the film's sound kept drowning-out character's dialogue, even during some key moments; Bane's voice-box really didn't help matters either. Nolan's usual self-seriousness is also most apparent in this film, and while the dialogue is less artificial this time around (with much more humor) the movie still got a bit heavy-handed.
Even with it's short-comings 'The Dark Knight Rises' is an original and exciting superhero epic. Most fans will probably still favor 'The Dark Knight' as the best of Nolan's trilogy but I'm just glad TDKR is such a great conclusion.After watching this film the first time, I wasn't quite sure what to think of it. I knew it wasn't a bad film, but at the same time it just didn't sit right with me for whatever reason. So I went back and watched Begins and TDK and I think I figured out why I didn't really care for it. In my opinion it doesn't seem to fit with the other two films.
Warning: Some spoilers
First there's the setting. The concept of a broken and retired Batman living as a recluse is interesting, but it seems to sort of contradict what we saw in the other films. We learn that he hasn't been Batman for 8 years since Dent was killed, which made me wonder, why is he in such bad physical shape then? Rewatching The Dark Knight, I didn't see anything to show where these injuries came from. Why is his leg screwed up? The last scene of Dark Knight was him running away from the camera. If he hasn't been Batman since then and has been living like a hermit, how did he screw up his leg? Also, why did he stop being Batman? Rises seems to suggest it was stress over Rachel, although that happened midway through The Dark Knight and didn't seem to stop him. He sort of suggested at the end of Dark Knight that since Dent died, he had to be the hero. That was sort of the point of Dark Knight that Gotham's savior had to be either Dent or Batman and since Dent died, it had to be Batman, but then Rises suggests that Batman just kinda went home literally right after that. Rises sort of gets around this by introducing what I consider to be a highly implausible "Dent Act" in honor of Harvey Dent, in which all of Gotham's criminals are apparently just straight locked up with no sort of legal due process, the streets become clean as a whistle, and Batman "isn't needed anymore". The Dent Act also asks you to believe that everyone now believes without a question that Batman killed Harvey Dent, despite having saved him very publicly from the Joker in Dark Knight. I find it strange that things like this are considered realistic, yet more cat features on catwoman's suit are not. Anyways..
Second, the villains. I found Bane to be just plain underwhelming. Physically intimidating sure, but I felt like they had to seriously water down Batman's competence in order to artificially make Bane more threatening. In Begins and Dark Knight Batman would fight using his surroundings. That's basically how he fights, something he learned from the League of Shadows and Ras Al Ghul. "Always mind your surroundings." Yet when confronted with Bane and reminded of the League, Batman simply charges at him swinging like a brawler. No tech, no using the environment around him, just straight fisticuffs. I realize that he's been "retired" for 8 years, but again, that felt forced and unexplained as I mentioned in my first point, which just reinforces my belief that this was done simply to make Bane seem more threatening. As for Talia, she just felt too much like Ras, and a lesser version at that. Not only does she not get the character development that Ras got to make him interesting, but in the end she's only doing it to carry out Ras' will, which just made her feel like a pawn. The main villian and she doesn't even have her own plan. Overall they felt too similar to the Begins villians. In Begins the villains worked within the system, using it to try to destroy Gotham. In Dark Knight the villains worked to try to destroy the system and induce chaos in Gotham. In Rises, I was expecting another progression to give the villains an overall theme to work with, but it just feels the same as Begins. Talia manipulating the system to try and destroy Gotham.
Third, not enough Batman. Having Bruce trapped in a pit for the better part of the film's second half served no purpose imo. I don't think anybody thought that he wasn't going to escape this pit and return to face Bane. I realize this sort of had to happen based on what we know of Bane and Batman in the comics, but the way it was handled only served to take us away from Gotham and Bane where things were getting interesting, and into a dull situation miles away in which we already know the only possible outcome. Obviously the movie won't end with "And then Batman died in the pit" It employs odd and often confusing time jumps that the previous films didn't have, taking away from the pacing and making the film feel frantic. Once Bane starts implementing his plan and things start to pick up, there's literally a 5 month time skip that glosses over Gotham transitioning from normal society to anarchist warzone in favor of Bruce's previously mentioned antics in the pit.
Warning: Spoilers!!!!!!
Fourth, John Blake. I liked the character and portrayal but I felt the "big reveal" about him at the end was totally unnecessary and handled in the worst possible way. First off... his actual legal name is Robin? ....... I'll leave that at that, but what bothered me more about how this was handled is that again, this doesn't seem to be consistent with the previous films. In Rises we get Bruce spouting a bunch of nonsense about how Batman was supposed to inspire people into action and that "anybody can be Batman" Oh really? What about those guys in The Dark Knight who were trying to help Batman take down Scarecrow and some drug dealers? They tried to be Batman and Bruce responded by kicking the living cr@p out of them, breaking all their weapons and then making fun of their outfits. They did exactly what he's talking about in Rises and he personally beat them up for it. Just seems weird is all.. Also, how did Blake know Bruce was Batman? You can assume that since he's a cop he could've done the detective work and figured this out, but he doesn't say that's what happened. He says he literally figured it out by having met Bruce once a long time ago and recognizing he had the same hidden pain that Blake had from losing his parents? Really?! That's it?! How can you reasonably make such a huge assumption based on meeting someone once and looking at their face?
Fifth, Catwoman. Again, nothing wrong with the performance, but I felt her character was unneeded. Nothing she did in the film seemed to matter, except of course for the fact that they decided to let her be the one to kill Bane. The romance between them felt forced as well imo. I don't see why he would be attracted to her. Her ideology is almost the direct opposite of his. In the comics there's a sense that she genuinely cares about him and a lot of that is due to their long history, none of which we get to see here. I never really get the sense that she saw him as anything other than a 1 percenter or necessarily cared about his well being. When Bane "breaks" him, she doesn't seem concerned about him, just concerned about what Bane will do to the city and how it will effect her. It's all about her and I just don't really see what draws him to her in this film.
Finally, the ending. I get it, he retired. Batman gets to live a happy life in Europe or whatever with Catwoman. Great for him I guess, but isn't Gotham gonna be worse than ever now? Gordon will likely lose his job as commissioner because of his 8 year lie to the public and for knowingly framing Batman for Dent's murder. Dent has been revealed as a murderer, meaning the Dent Act will likely be repealed and all these criminals are gonna come pouring back to the streets, including Joker, who isn't dead and who happens to be the direct cause of almost everything that happens in Rises to begin with. I get that they can't use Ledger anymore, but I for one found it strange that they deliberately chose not to once mention the Joker even though nothing in Rises would be as it is without him.
And who's left behind in Gotham to handle this new mess? "Robin" John Blake, a man who now has Bruce's suit and gadgets, sure, but none of the League of Shadows training that would let you take on dozens of thugs/SWAT officers at a time, meaning the first time he suits up and hops down into a group of 5 guys thinking he's a bad@ss, he's gonna get wailed on. Bruce didn't even bother to train the guy like the real Robin. Not only that, but Bruce only met this guy what... twice, for a total of 10 minutes and he trusts him with the Batsuit? But I guess Bruce isn't concerned with any of that anyways. He's "moved on" and I should be happy that he doesn't have to be the hero and protector Gotham needs like we've come to expect from him over the course of this trilogy, right? I just feel like it sent a strange message where you should do what you feel is right but only until you're tired of it, then you should sit back and have some "me-time" with a foxy lady despite the fact that there's still more to be done. I dunno about you but that just struck me as not very admirable and as something no respectable version of Batman would EVER do...
Overall the film is well acted and looks and sounds great, but it's only mildly entertaining and drags in a lot of places. I also felt it was the least realistic of the trilogy which I found unfortunate since the realism is what drew me to the trilogy in the first place. Things like the Dent Act, an old man in a pit who can heal a broken back by punching it, a usb drive that can erase your name from every computer on the planet and a cheesy imo nuclear bomb plot that emerges somewhat randomly near the end of the film serve to make it the most comic-booky feeling film of the three. All that said, again it's not a bad movie by any means and I'd say it's worth a watch, but it's easily the weakest of the trilogy in my opinion.I wanted to like this movie. Truly, I did. With the production values and people behind it, everything on paper said this movie should be an absolute joy. And I suppose if you ignore the previous films, and franchise as a whole, turn your mind off, and just watch these pretty scenes cut together then it can be enjoyed just fine. Delve any deeper, however, and you might find a story that does not mesh with the series, the franchise, or reality, and one that becomes heavy-handed in its drama. Warning, this review does contain spoilers.
The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after The Dark Knight, and Batman hasn't shown his face since the climactic events of that movie. Wait, what? The previous movie establishes a continued need for Batman, of how this is supposed to be a hero that can accomplish things a normal man cannot, yet directly after establishing that and the credits roll we are expected to believe Bruce Wayne hung up his cowl and sat in his room mourning for eight years...when the death of someone close to him is what set him off to begin with. The idea of a Batman just giving up is...unfathomable. Yet that is the basis this film hinges upon
So we get into 45 minutes of slogging through this plotline, of Bruce Wayne being a crippled hermit slowly brought out of retirement by a thief linked to a greater plot. 45 minutes before we see anything of the Batman. We get things like the Harvey Dent Act, in which criminals are able to be held indefinitely without parole. We get a character knowing the connection between Bruce and Batman...all due to the pain he recognized in Bruce's eyes over the loss of his parents. We get Alfred telling us in exacting detail the ending of the movie two hours before the ending of the movie. We get the great dossier of Bane, of how he escaped from a hellish pit to be trained by Ra's al Ghul, a person whose entire organization was a massive secret yet somehow now has a former members listing. Then there's a great stock exchange robbery, where clearly illegal transfers are somehow allowed to stand, followed by one of the poorest moments of editing I've ever seen, where a daytime chase scene switches very suddenly to night as finally, dun dun dun! the Batman makes his anticipated appearance...
...and fails to do anything impressive. Remember in Batman Begins, the sequence of taking out Falcone's men one by one? Or crashing in on the Scarecrow? Remember in The Dark Knight how he managed to smuggle a money launderer our of Hong Kong? Or managed to subdue an entire SWAT team before they mistakenly killed a bunch of hostages while taking out numerous armed criminals? Or flipping the semi truck? There's none of that here. Batman's grand entrance consists of a bunch of people getting all excited watching a guy ride a motorcycle. Oh sure he punches a guy or two and o hai! Flying Bat vehicle. But none of this accomplishes anything. These things are just there to be there without any of the jaw-dropping set pieces. But wait, Batman's not done yet! He also...punches a bunch of guys. Lots and lots of guys, in an open space, who don't realize they have guns, or how to attack more than one at a time. Exciting. And how about that fantastic fight midway through the film against Bane, where Batman turns into a full out brawler who suddenly forgot about all the equipment he's shown off the past two films.
And this is supposed to be the better half of the film.
From there the plot is finally unveiled to us and everyone goes full retard. See, the League of Shadows wants to get revenge on Bruce Wayne for his destruction of their base and killing of Ra's, as well as to fulfill Ra's legacy to cripple Gotham. To do so they do things such as seduce and comfort Bruce during his time of need and take months to set off an explosive which could wipe out Gotham instead of blowing the thing and being done with it. To stop this nefarious plot the police send their entire force into a sewer system where they suspect Bane is hidden, with predictable results. Then, to complete his embarrassment of the police, Bane reads a letter from Commissioner Gordon detailing the truth about Harvey Dent and Gordon's lie about Batman's supposed murder of him...and people just believe Bane. But do the trapped police forces die? Nah, of course not. Over the following months Bane's forces keep them well-fed, despite all intention to just blow the city up. Do I really need to explain the problems with all this? So the film takes a turn and focuses on good cop Blake and his stay in a broken city, trying to restore order without any success to speak of. His story is a long wait for no payoff. Meanwhile, we spend another 45 minutes of film without any Batman where he must slowly build himself to recover and don the cowl. Again. For the second time in this film alone.
Then when Batman makes his (second) triumphant return? He appears back in the city. Which is locked down under threat of extreme violence. From the other side of the world. When he has no money or equipment. With no explanation. There's big, epic fights, (obvious) plot twists (Talia al Ghul?! no wai) and a great, climactic battle in which weaponless cops (apparently all lost in the sewers)take on vastly superior numbers of criminals armed with automatic weapons in a gigantic...fist brawl? In which Bane's plot is resolved out of nowhere. In which the true villain dies in terribly acted fashion moments after being formally introduced. And in which Batman can escape a nuclear blast in five seconds and Gotham has never heard the words "nuclear fallout" used together.
But it's ok. In the end it all works out. Bruce runs away with Catwoman, having given up the cowl for good (ironically when the city might need Batman most, considering the state of chaos it happens to be in and all the escaped criminals which happen to be free, not to mention repealed Harvey Dent Act releasing all mobsters back into the world and thus negating everything he accomplished in the first two films) and nobody recognizes the famous billionaire playboy who drunkenly burned down his home, lost all his money and mysteriously died at the same time as Batman. Meanwhile good cop Blake (real name: Robin) takes on the cowl...without any of the training. After having not accomplished a single thing of note during the entirety of this nearly three hour epic film.
When everything's said and done, this does not feel like a part of anything. It uses familiar names and faces, but they don't line up with anything we've ever known, they don't act in any logical manner, the film follows no rules of the series or reality, and it follows none of the established themes. It's as if the writer never read the comics or understood the happenings of the previous film. Remember that chilling moment when Joker said, "I think you and I are destined to do this forever," and you just had to wonder when he might escape and who the next villain might be to show their face? There was an understanding there about the characters and franchise which went completely unrecognized in this story and the movie collapses in on itself because of it.First of all Tom Hardy's performance as Bane is just magnificent as well as his meanacing voice. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was actually pretty sexy and Batman is just a badass plain and simple. I'm a little sad to see the trilogy end...so I would like to thank Mr. Nolan for reviving the Batman series after that Batman and Robin crap. I highly recommend getting this movie, I personally think its a little better than the Avengers(Despite it making 1.5 billion dollars).
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