If you asked anyone what two films they were most excited for this summer they would more than likely say The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises. The Avengers have been a box office smash and now sits 3rd all time for highest grossing film (Thanks in part to 3D). So does Christopher Nolan and Co. have what it takes to overthrow The Avengers? Find out below in my spoiler-free review of the film. Also, if you are adventurous, I have included a brief spoiler rant after the trailer below but you will have to scroll down past the trailer and warnings and countdown to read that.
There is really no need to explain to you what The Dark Knight Rises is about because unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you know what you are going into. I will state that the film takes place 8 years after the events that transpired in The Dark Knight and Batman (Christian Bale) taking the blame for Harvey Dent’s death. After basically retiring and growing old and gimpy, Bruce Wayne is forced to jump back into the suit he hasn’t dawned in years and take on the terrorist Bane (Tom Hardy) to help liberate Gotham City from his reign of terror.
So lets start with the good. The first thing that I was very pleased with was that you could actually understand Bane in the film, although it is still a bit difficult at times. Tom Hardy did an amazing job with the role and as much as I wasn’t a fan of Bane in the Batman comics/graphic novel, Hardy really impressed me with making the character his own. There are numerous points in the film where I couldn’t believe that was Hardy because he looked so different. There were also concerns that Bane wouldn’t be big enough and Hardy was too small. Well thanks to some trickery with the camera, Bane is much bigger then I expected and is a force to be reckoned with. While we are on villains, lets talk a bit about Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. At first I wasn’t sure about her in the role but after watching the film, I can’t think of anyone else I would have liked to have seen in the role. Hathaway really surprised me and brought a Catwoman we haven’t really seen before, which was very refreshing.
Enough with those two, lets get to the character people are wondering about the most. Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s, John Blake. Who is this character and how does he fit into the story? Well without spoiling anything in this section, he plays a huge role in the film and actually has more screen time then anyone else. Blake is a Gotham City police officer who later becomes a detective. He is a strong believer in The Batman and knows who Batman really is and has since he was a little boy in an orphanage. If there was anyone who was going to win an award for their role, it would be JGL. Everything this man touches now, he kills, and let me say that without him, the film wouldn’t be nearly as good as it was.
The last 30 minutes are really when the film gets juicy and picks up steam but the final 10 minutes will leave fans with a flurry of emotions. There are so many things happening your mind doesn’t know how or what to process first, which is a good thing and as you leave the theater you get t dwell on what could be!
Now the bad, was the film the epic classic that everyone was expecting? Hardly not and here’s why. There were a ton of holes with the story and even though the film was almost three hours long, it felt like some important aspects of the film were rushed while other not so important aspects were drilled upon and would have been better off on the cutting room floor. The film drags quite a bit in the beginning and has a few slow points throughout which allows your mind to start questioning things about the stories. I didn’t like how they failed to explain the gas that Bane breaths which is known as Venom. This is the stuff that makes Bane, Bane and it was never mentioned. The closest we got was that we find out that it helps ease his pain, but no mention of Venom. Also, while I appreciated Nolan’s take on the Bane storyline, it seemed as if they wanted to do so much with the character that they just decided to mix a bunch of his origins together to get the Bane we see today. This isn’t really a bad thing just an interesting take.
The biggest disappointment with the film had to be the fight scenes or the lack there of. There are two major fight scenes between Batman and Bane and both were very anticlimactic especially if you know about their battles in the comic. Were they still entertaining? Yes, but when you see the film, you will understand what I mean. If you are go
ing to build up two strong figures like Batman and Bane and prepping for a huge battle, at least make it something people will leave talking about. It seemed that more people were talking about other things rather than these battles.
In case you missed it above I want to reiterate that there are so many holes in this script which is to be expected in such a massive film, but it is so blatantly obvious that it was sad. There is a scene (which this doesn’t spoil much) where Bruce is walking in another country trying to get back to Gotham. Next thing we see is Bruce back in Gotham somehow even though he had nothing on him. The only story that was fully developed and didn’t have holes was the John Blake character. It seemed as if there was more focus on the political messages which is obvious in the film rather than on the characters. I know that some of the film was shot during the Occupy Wall Street stuff but come on, don’t make it so blatantly obvious, we get what’s going on!
I don’t want it to seem like I hated the film because that couldn’t be further from the truth. I very much enjoyed it and will definitely be seeing it again and purchasing it on Blu-Ray when it comes out, but it was lacking something. It really isn’t fair to compare this film to The Avengers because they are polar opposites and just can’t be compared. Will The Dark Knight Rises surpass The Avengers on the All Time Box Office Gross list? I don’t think so as it will take a lot but anything is possible, I think The Avengers being in 3D will put this accomplishment out of reach for The Dark Knight Rises. I wish I was going to a midnight screening of the film so I could watch and listen to everyones reaction to the last 10 minutes of the film. Let me just say that everyone is in for an emotional ride.
Overall: While pleased with the final chapter, it was still missing that epic moment to really set it apart from The Dark Knight (7/10)
If you are still reading this, now is time for the spoiler rant of mine, so if you haven’t seen the film or don’t want me to ruin the final act of the film, STOP READING NOW! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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Lets do this!
Ok, I’m a Marvel fanboy over DC but have always enjoyed the Batman comic, the one thing I always wanted to see in Nolan’s Batman series was his take on Robin. Everyone knows that Nolan has said numerous times that he would never put Robin or any other version of him in his films. Well he lied and it was one of the greatest moment for me when we found out who Robin is. At the end John Blake goes to pick up a bag that Bruce has left him, the only issue is when he tells the woman his name, she says she doesn’t see that name on the list. Blake then says it is probably under my real name and hands her his drivers license. She smiles and hand him the bag and says he should go by his real name and the she really like it, she then proceeds to call him Robin. Now I was in a private screening for the film but I kind of peeked out for a moment and others did as well. Even though we never see him in uniform, it’s still nice to see Nolan did add him into the trilogy in his own way. I also really liked that it ended with Robin/John Blake finding the Batcave and walking through the water only to be risen up by the platform and it leads into the credits. There are different ways to take this. Could this just be Nolan’s way of saying, hey I’m done if someone wants to continue this story line here you go? Or was it more of DC saying leave us something to work with so we can try and work the series into a Justice League film? Who know and only time will tell, but damn it I want to see the Robin suit!
The next spoiler thing I want to touch on is the nice little twist at the end. The whole time we are led to believe that Bane is the child who was born in the prison and climbed his way out of the pit. Also Batman while down in the prison/pit recovering from his “broken back” learns/has a vision that Ra’s Al Ghul is Bane’s father. Once he heals and battles Bane in their final showdown, Batman comes to realize after getting a knife in his side that Bane wasn’t the child that climbed from the pit, it was actually Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) who is really Talia Al Ghul the daughter of Ra’s and Bane was her protector while in the prison/pit and he has to wear the mask because of the beating he took helping her escape. This was a hugh and exciting turning point in the film and for a moment you actually have sympathy for Bane and feel sorry for him, especially as you see him tearing up.
Finally I could have used a little more Michael Caine I loved him as Alfred and it sucked he wasn’t in the film more then what he was. It was a bit emotional when we were led to believe that Batman was dead and watching Alfred break down and blame himself. Also where the F were the Joker references? There were plenty of Harvey Dent/Two Face references and hell even Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow makes an appearance again. At least say he is still locked up in Arkham or something!
Ok enough with the spoilers, go see the movie so you can comment and discuss your takes on the film!
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