Does it live up to the hype?? Read on to find out.
I
went to see The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) having just heard how Rotten Tomatoes, for the first time in
their existence, had to block user comments given the number of abusive and
threatening messages they had received following a few negative TDKR reviews. Such is sometimes the mindset of
Nolan and Batman fans. For them the
failure of this movie was not an option.
Now that the movie has finally been released, they’ll be happy to know
that it wasn’t.
I’m
not a DC fan nor a Batman fan. Anyone who
knows me will know that. I never liked
the way DC would give wacky names to cities.
The often neo-gothic Gotham or the constantly stuck in the 1940s
Metropolis, it made the locations unrelatable to even if it was obvious that
the cities were intended to be New York etc.
Then came the characters themselves.
Every kid loves Superman, I was the same. Bet getting older he now comes across as a
little too extreme, as if the DC guys sat down and said “hey, let’s make a
character that can do everything, he can fly, has super speed and strength, ice
breath, laser eyes, everything!!”
Then
we have Batman. A rich guy with no
powers but lots of inner turmoil who eventually goes out on a quest for justice
in a fancy suit. If you were in that
situation wouldn’t you rather go down the Iron Man route?
I
haven’t really been a fan of any of the Batman films so far either, whether you go
back to the Tim Burton / Keaton movies (though I still think Keaton makes for a
great Bruce Wayne) or whether you're referring to the more recent Nolan movies.
Batman
Begins seemed like a huge contradiction.
Faced with having to kill a pig stealing farmer to complete his
initiation into The League of Shadows, Wayne declined and then seemingly proceeded to kill the people who had been taking care of him and training him for seven years or so and then destroyed their temple. Also his fighting
style was so limited by the Bat-suit almost as if he couldn't move his arms above
the elbow or turn his head – something they try to address in The Dark Knight,
which I also, unfortunately, did not enjoy.
It was long, draggy, dark and all round pretty depressing. Batman would lose everything, his name, his
woman, his place. He was literally, for
lack of a better word, a loser.
So
it pleases me a great deal that I actually really enjoyed Dark Knight
Rises. Perhaps because I went in with
ultra low expectations, but more likely because it was actually a very good
film.
The
story takes place eight years after the death of Two Face / Harvey
Dent. To maintain Harvey’s good name and the
hope of the people of Gotham City, Batman took the fall for Harvey’s death all
those years ago. As a result, Batman
hasn’t been in active service for quite some time and is no longer remembered
as a hero but as a murderer. Only Commissioner
Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Alfred the butler (Michael Caine) know the truth while
Wayne has become a recluse in his mansion.
Bane
is introduced to us early on as a feared mercenary in an elaborate in-flight
airplane hijack escape. There were no
issues hearing his voice as some had feared from initial screenings of the
movie. In fact, I loved Bane’s voice and
playful tone as he enunciates every syllable clearly in every word. Despite being a brute it is clear from the
outset that he is also a mind to be reckoned with. Tom Hardy was indeed excellent as Bane, as a nemesis and as a follow on from the Johnny Depp-esque Mad Hatter style Joker of the last movie.
Wayne’s
interest in the outside world is re-ignited thanks in part to Anne Hathaway’s
Selina Kyle / Catwoman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s
Detective John Blake. It is obvious to
Wayne that the apparent jewel heist in his mansion was in fact a cover to
steal something much more important.
With the subsequent events that take place Batman
has no choice but to return to the streets of Gotham in search of Bane. Well, he finds Bane and interesting things
happen, forcing Wayne to
rediscover himself and what it means to be Batman.
All this takes quite some time, during which Gotham
has fallen under the control of extreme terrorist Bane. There is no other way to describe it. Bane is a terrorist, an extremist the likes
of which no one in reality, thankfully, has ever seen. The tension builds and the desperation is
palpable. This is when the movie is at
its most exciting. We see the resistance
trying to plan and mount some kind of comeback, usually unsuccessfully, such is
the watchful eye of Bane. These moments
are driven by strong performances from Gordon-Levitt and Oldman. It actually feels like Batman is out of
action for ages but that never makes the movie less enjoyable, the story is
driven along regardless.
When we reach the finale we get what we want, a
superhero movie. Batman comes to the
rescue. It doesn’t become camp or cheesy
as some reviews have suggested. We still
fear for Batman as his mortality is never in doubt and, as such, it’s nail-gripping
edge of your seat stuff right to the end.
I really enjoyed this movie, much more than I
thought I would. It’s not perfect and in
retrospect it seems like there was actually very little Batman in this film,
but this only served to make his moments more effective and the finale that
much more rousing. Performances all
round were good though it was never really explained why a jewel thief could
suddenly do everything that she does at the end of this.
This is a very good film which I can easily
recommend. This is saying a lot coming
from guy who doesn’t like Batman or the previous two Nolan movies.
Is it the best movie ever? No! Is it better than Avengers?? Also no! But should you check it out? Definitely!
Rating 4/5
Bobby
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