Christopher Nolan is my favorite director. Inception was my favorite movie of 2010, the same for The Dark Knight in 2008 and his no-budget debut film Following 1998 is better than most films you’ll ever see. That being said, and with what seemed to be an impossible feat to accomplish, Nolan’s latest and final Batman installment rises to the occasion to meet its ridiculously high expectations. The Dark Knight Rises is the cream of the crop when it comes to summer blockbusters and superhero flicks (not to mention filmmaking in general), a culmination of veteran acting, intense action and—most importantly—top-notch directing.
Rises is so impressive in part due to a dynamic Nolan (along with directing, he co-wrote the screenplay with his writing partner/brother, Jonathan) has created which finds this film similar in some form to its predecessors Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, while still standing alone as its own very different work. It functions well as an end of a trilogy because it actually wraps things up and comes full circle. In closing out the series, Rises plunges mainly into themes of redemption and purpose.
We pick up eight years later from when The Dark Knight ended. Batman hasn’t been seen since fleeing from Harvey Dent’s murder scene, and as such Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become a recluse. Butler Alfred (Michael Caine) wishes master Wayne would find an existence beyond hiding inside and having no life, or serving as a vigilante until his life is taken from him. This leads to some emotionally-charged dialogue between the two characters when Wayne’s hand is forced to put the mask back on.
Why? A storm is coming in the form of Bane (Tom Hardy), a massively built and intellectual terrorist with a breathing apparatus covering half his face. He’s building an underground army with plans of bringing Gotham back to its roots—which consists of all chaos and no order. Meanwhile, Selena Kyle (Anne Hathway) is making her rounds through town doing her best Robin Hood impression by stealing from the one-percenters. And on the law enforcement side, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) puts his trust in John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who has better detective instincts than his superiors, to help combat Bane’s army.
So many characters (I need mention Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate, a business partner with Wayne Enterprises, as well as the returning Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox), and thankfully, enough screen time for all of them. A noteworthy characteristic of Nolan is that he reuses the same actors in his films. Here it’s Hardy, Cotillard and Gordon-Levitt (all in Inception), plus the addition of Hathaway to round out the top-billed cast. Gordon-Levitt and Hathaway in particular stole the show for me, which isn’t to knock down the other two’s work. Hardy’s portrayal of Bane is intimidating and terrifying (in other words, awesome), making him one of the best adversaries in superhero lore. As he turns Gotham into his own private island, we see Batman in his absolute weakest form.
Let me step away from all the praising for a moment and acknowledge the fact that having absurd standards to live up to doesn’t make a film immune from criticism. Rises has its blemishes. Similar to this summer’s The Avengers, the “bad guy uses energy source for global domination” isn’t exactly new territory for a superhero movie. It’s considered a trope for a reason. And also not unlike Avengers, as long as that formula is executed well, then it’s a rather easy offense to forgive. The villain in this scenario is Bane, and he unfortunately takes a bit of a backseat in the latter portion of the film, losing some of his bad ass, tough guy cred which had been built up so convincingly in the first few acts. In the grand scheme of 164 minutes of epic cinematic entertainment, though, these are nothing more than minor quibbles.
Not that winning Oscars is an accurate way of determining what’s superior and what isn’t, but The Dark Knight Rises deserves to be in those award considerations to penetrate the idea that superhero movies don’t belong. Adding to that, the same goes for Nolan, who is more than just a dignified Michael Bay (sorry, buddy) making things like “blowing sh** up” look good on screen. He’s a storyteller first, and just happens to also be great at doing everything else. And what better example of that sentiment than The Dark Knight Rises.
Critic’s Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Daniel Feingold can be reached at dfeingold91@gmail.com.
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