The Dark Knight Rises Is a Good Movie

Comics Movie Reviews
The Dark Knight Rises Is a Good Movie
By Hervé St-Louis
July 21, 2012 - 10:52

Studios: DC Entertainment, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy, Warner Brothers Pictures
Writer(s): Bob Kane, Bill Finger, David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Mathew Modine, Nester Carbonell, Liam Neeson, Daniel Sunjata
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Produced by: Michael E. Uslan, Thomas Tull, Benjamin Melniker, Kevin De La Noy
Running Time: 164 minutes
Release Date: July 20 2012
Rating: PG13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
Distributors: Warner Brothers

This is the last film in a trilogy by comic book and film writer/director Christopher Nolan that looks at the core Batman character through the lens of the realistic Batman lore from comic books begun in Batman: Year One. Here, Bruce Wayne must face Bane, an excommunicated League of Assassin terrorist that wants to destroy Gotham with a nuclear bomb and create chaos from by letting the people judge the rich. By completely defeating Batman and breaking his back in a fight, there is nothing stopping Bane from achieving his ends, or is there?

Whereas Batman Begins’ photography was caught in a perpetual sepia look The Dark Knight Rises is very different, showing a world of daylight colours where Batman fights in broad daylight. Scenes’ colouring themes are adjusted to what their meaning is about. In The Dark Knight, most of the action occurred at night and we didn’t. Batman was a creature of the night. The cinematography in this film proved that Batman can look real even when he fights Bane in a street filled with cops and terrorists. That scene where the two fought in the midst of the other assailants was breathtaking. They slowly moved towards one another until the fight just erupted.

The integration of the bat jet was also impressive. It didn’t look like a 3D batwing at all. It felt as solid and real as the batcycle used throughout. Really, the special effects team outdid itself with this movie. In terms of film editing and pure cinematography, this may be Christopher Nolan’s best Batman film.

The story was incredible. I was expecting a poor movie with something unreal and less entertaining than The Amazing Spider-man released just a few weeks ago or even The Avengers. The Dark Knight Rises is in my personal opinion much better and with a more breathtaking story than either of the Marvel Comics-inspired blockbusters. Not once did I get bored in this film or even assumed I knew where the film was going next. Usually you can tell where the film is going, what the next arc will be. Of course towards the end, you just know Bruce Wayne will rise again and come back to Gotham City, but the movie is too involved to even allow you one second to ponder where it’s going next. If you lack focus and or have attention deficit disorder, this is your film.

First, call me a fool, but I had no clue about Talia. I will leave it at that. I was totally taken by surprise even if it had been foreshadowed way back in a love scene at the beginning of the film. Truly pitting Bruce Wayne’s two main love interests against one another was a stroke of genius. I don’t recall seeing something like that even in the batman comic books.

As for Bane, without any special drug, he is still the man who can defeat Batman any day of the week, until the end. That’s the Bane I like. He’s more than the parody he has become in comics and way smarter than most of Batman’s villains. I’d say even in Young Justice and the recent Justice League : Doom, Bane was not as impressive. This Bane ranks all the way with the likes of the Joker and Ra's Al Ghul in terms of villainy. He’s really an exceptional match for Batman.

I really feel that the Aurora shooting will shed a negative light on this incredible movie, where within its own continuity, Batman clearly states how he disdains guns. Many scenes in the film did echo the shooting in a prescient way and that made for a very delicate viewing. Fiction was no longer edgier than reality in many parts of this film.

Another thing I noticed in Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises was the echoing of the 99 Percent and Occupy movement very lightly but never completely. It’s hinted there, but Nolan clearly says that anarchy is bad and that order and the police should be the uncontested power. I enjoyed the second cameo by the Scarecrow played by Cillian Murphy. He’s been in all three movies now. That rocks!

If you’re not too squeamish about visiting your local movie theatre, I would suggest that you go catch The Dark knight Rises. In the theatre I went to, there were at least five local police officers patrolling the area and paying attention to movie goers. This is not the type of society where I want to live, where cops are even policing movie theatre. I keep remembering that quote about giving up our freedom for more security is giving up everything. Some people may feel more secure with the police officers on site, but are we really gaining anything when we can’t even go to a movie theatre without all of us looking like suspects?

Rating: 10/10