THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Director : Christopher Nolan
Year : 2012
Genre : Action / Superhero
Rating : ****
Christopher Nolan concludes his hugely successful 'Dark Knight' trilogy with 'The Dark Knight Rises', an epic superhero movie which eclipses all other 'Batman' movies made. It is a beautifully made, complex, stirring movie which continues the dark mood laid down by both 'Batman Begins' and 'The Dark Knight'. Unlike the original 1960s movie and the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher franchise from the 1980's and 1990's, Nolan brings a realism to Gotham City which makes the movies feel much more serious and realistic, contrasting the film noir, comic book styles of the previous installments in 'Batman' movie canon. This makes the 'Dark Knight' trilogy much more believable and I feel that this is the main reason why this series has become one of the most successful movie franchises of all time. It is a shame that Nolan will not be making any more 'Batman' movies as I'm sure that we would be more than happy to see 3 more films to see how much more he would reinvent the comic book movie.
'The Dark Knight Rises' begins 7 years after the events of 'The Dark Knight' and Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, haunted by the death of his love, Rachel Dawes. Harvey Dent is still seen as a hero in Gotham's eyes and keeps the city in a state of peace. Even though he had tried to murder Jim Gordons son when he became Two - Face, Gordon keeps this secret because he believes that if Dents true self was revealed, it would blow Gotham's morale to pieces. Batman isn't needed and after years of the terror caused by The Scarecrow and The Joker, Bruce Wayne hangs up his cape and is hardly seen in public. Everything finally seems to be balanced in Gotham until a masked mercenary named Bane arrives in Gotham who plans to destroy the city by causing a revolution between the citizens and the police. This forces Wayne to don the bat-suit again to save Gotham once more despite his better judgement.
The first thing to say about 'The Dark Knight Rises' is that the acting is the best that it has been in the entire trilogy. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne as a damaged individual who cannot forget the past and doesn't care who he hurts in the process. His Dark Knight is the most mysterious and complex Batman ever seen and is public enemy number 1 in the eyes of both the citizens and law of Gotham. Tom Hardy is just perfect as the masked Bane who is just as terrifying as The Joker was and to me is more of a complex villain than the insane Joker. I loved Ledger's Joker and he was the deserved recipient of the posthumous Academy Award, but to me Bane is a more interesting villain as he doesn't show his emotions, just tilting his head to the side when he sees something that either interests or angers him. His quietude is much more chilling to me than the outward insanity of The Joker, but I realise that they are two completely different psychos so it's almost impossible to compare them. However, I think that unlike Ledger, Hardy won't get the recognition he deserves which is a shame. Amongst these 2 performances, the supporting cast is brilliant including Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.
Just like the previous movies, 'The Dark Knight Rises' looks beautiful, shot by one of the best directors of photography working in the movie industry today Wally Pfister, who brings sweeping shots of the skyline of Gotham and incredible set pieces, including the collapse of a football stadium. As I mentioned earlier, 'The Dark Knight' trilogy is set in a much more realistic world, rather than the film noir 'Blade Runner'esque palette to Tim Burtons' Batman movies. I am a huge fan of the 1989 movie and I think that it is one of Burtons best ever films, but giving Gotham a much more lifelike setting enables us to fall into the movie much more easily, recognising the infrastructure of a typical urban city and identifying with the citizens of Gotham.
There is much to admire in 'The Dark Knight' and Christopher Nolan continues to prove that he is one of the most prolific directors in the movies today. However, just like 'The Dark Knight', 'The Dark Knight Rises' is too long, jumbling the multiple narrative strings and stretching storylines to their absolute limits. The movie is just under 3 hours which is way too long for a Batman movie and by the end of the movie, I had really wished that it had ended half an hour earlier. I was never bored at any time during the movie, but I got the feeling that the story is really being stretched out just to keep the actors on the screen for the longest time possible. To me, this is the only problem with 'The Dark Knight Rises' which is one of the best blockbusters of 2012 and should be seen by as many people as possible, although I'm sure that my review won't deter people from seeing 'The Dark Knight Rises', which is obviously a good thing.
You'll like this if you liked : The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2
'The Dark Knight Rises' begins 7 years after the events of 'The Dark Knight' and Bruce Wayne has become a recluse, haunted by the death of his love, Rachel Dawes. Harvey Dent is still seen as a hero in Gotham's eyes and keeps the city in a state of peace. Even though he had tried to murder Jim Gordons son when he became Two - Face, Gordon keeps this secret because he believes that if Dents true self was revealed, it would blow Gotham's morale to pieces. Batman isn't needed and after years of the terror caused by The Scarecrow and The Joker, Bruce Wayne hangs up his cape and is hardly seen in public. Everything finally seems to be balanced in Gotham until a masked mercenary named Bane arrives in Gotham who plans to destroy the city by causing a revolution between the citizens and the police. This forces Wayne to don the bat-suit again to save Gotham once more despite his better judgement.
The first thing to say about 'The Dark Knight Rises' is that the acting is the best that it has been in the entire trilogy. Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne as a damaged individual who cannot forget the past and doesn't care who he hurts in the process. His Dark Knight is the most mysterious and complex Batman ever seen and is public enemy number 1 in the eyes of both the citizens and law of Gotham. Tom Hardy is just perfect as the masked Bane who is just as terrifying as The Joker was and to me is more of a complex villain than the insane Joker. I loved Ledger's Joker and he was the deserved recipient of the posthumous Academy Award, but to me Bane is a more interesting villain as he doesn't show his emotions, just tilting his head to the side when he sees something that either interests or angers him. His quietude is much more chilling to me than the outward insanity of The Joker, but I realise that they are two completely different psychos so it's almost impossible to compare them. However, I think that unlike Ledger, Hardy won't get the recognition he deserves which is a shame. Amongst these 2 performances, the supporting cast is brilliant including Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.
Just like the previous movies, 'The Dark Knight Rises' looks beautiful, shot by one of the best directors of photography working in the movie industry today Wally Pfister, who brings sweeping shots of the skyline of Gotham and incredible set pieces, including the collapse of a football stadium. As I mentioned earlier, 'The Dark Knight' trilogy is set in a much more realistic world, rather than the film noir 'Blade Runner'esque palette to Tim Burtons' Batman movies. I am a huge fan of the 1989 movie and I think that it is one of Burtons best ever films, but giving Gotham a much more lifelike setting enables us to fall into the movie much more easily, recognising the infrastructure of a typical urban city and identifying with the citizens of Gotham.
There is much to admire in 'The Dark Knight' and Christopher Nolan continues to prove that he is one of the most prolific directors in the movies today. However, just like 'The Dark Knight', 'The Dark Knight Rises' is too long, jumbling the multiple narrative strings and stretching storylines to their absolute limits. The movie is just under 3 hours which is way too long for a Batman movie and by the end of the movie, I had really wished that it had ended half an hour earlier. I was never bored at any time during the movie, but I got the feeling that the story is really being stretched out just to keep the actors on the screen for the longest time possible. To me, this is the only problem with 'The Dark Knight Rises' which is one of the best blockbusters of 2012 and should be seen by as many people as possible, although I'm sure that my review won't deter people from seeing 'The Dark Knight Rises', which is obviously a good thing.
You'll like this if you liked : The Dark Knight, Spiderman 2
Good review Dan. Yeah, Bane’s no Joker, but then again, what villain really is?!? Hardy is great as Bane, and plays up his physical intimidation, as well as his intellectual one as well. However, everybody else is great here too and gave me the performances I need to hold onto when everything was all sadly said and done.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Nolan really does know how to get the best performances out of actors and I think that The Dark Knight trilogy will revolutionise both action movies and the superhero sub genre in the future.
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