So, yesterday after putting on my vest and find a seat by the nearest exit I finally saw this summer's blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises. Starring Chritian Bale, Tom Hardy, and Anne Hathaway, TDKR concludes direcor's Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy.
After some initial worries I can say that this film both lived up to expectations and disappointed. At 165 minutes it is Nolan's longest Batman film, but the length serves a purpose. There is a lot of story here, and at times too much. Nolan also focuses the story more around the development of Bruce Wayne and the decline of Batman. The first look at Wayne is eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, where he has become nothing more than a recluse shacked up in his mansion (I think I was the only person in the theater under fifty who caught the Howard Hughes reference). That serves as the theme for the rest of the movie; does Batman have to die for Bruce Wayne to live? From then on, Bane steals the show. Now, myself personally loved and hated Bane. Tom Hardy played one of the best villains ever put on screen (I don't think a lot of people realize how hard it is to act just using your eyes). Created using Nolan's lust for realism, Bane is transformed from his comic book freak show look to a menacing criminal mastermind. Although it is hard to fully buy into Bane's new look, you can't deny Hardy's talent as an actor. By putting emphasis on his intellect rather than his physicality, Hardy has crafted one of the darkest villains in any Batman film.
As great as TDKR is, it also feels rushed and jammed-packed at times. Through the many story lines and abundance of characters, there are many moments in the film where there is too much going on. It looks like Nolan tried to combine the heavy storyline of Batman Begins with all the action sequences of The Dark Knight, which results in a overly produced movie going in too many different directions. Nolan also strays away from the original comic too much in this movie way more than in his previous. From Bane's look, to the multiple different names given to some characters, it's like Nolan just created his own Batman universe, which is hard to grasp for those who grew up on Batman. With all this said, the biggest disappointment is the most obvious one; Heath Ledger. Ledger was the best and worst thing to happen to the Batman franchise. After his award winning performance as The Joker in TDK, a conclusion to a trilogy without him just isn't right. In fact, there is no mention of The Joker at all in this film, which shows how Ledger is gone, and took The Joker with him.
The Dark Knight Rises was a great film to end the Chris Nolan era of Batman films. For the man who resurrected the franchise after the disastrous Joel Schumacher titles in the 90s, Nolan has set the bar for not only future Batman films, but all superhero films in general. I highly recommend you go see TDKR, but watch it with an open mind. Nolan's realism and dark themes work perfectly in ending this chapter for Batman.
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