The Dark Knight Rises Review

(Some Spoilers, but nothing about the Ending)

Since I was a young lad I've been a fan of Batman. I frequently went to our local toy store and would purchase (with my parent's money of course) different Batman figurines. I like most children had the Cape Crusader's mask and I with my mother's help made I made suitable cape. The Batman I knew was the one from the "Animated Series" and the Tim Burton's film "Batman." I knew the Dark Knight as he was intended to be portrayed. I got chills when I beheld his blade like eyes in the Animated Series and when he interrogated the two thugs in the beginning of Tim Burton's Batman. I knew the Joker only as Jack Nicholson and for a time I was content.

Then came the advent of Joel Schumacher's "Batman Forever." A film that enthralled me as a child, but now is repulsive to me today. I don't think Val Kilmer was a horrid Batman, he donned the bat garb well, but the entire film wasn't the serious tone that was familiar to me. Then came the abomination that was "Batman And Robin." Schumacher took the ridiculous aspects of Forever and amplified them for what is rightfully considered the worst adaptation of Batman in history. Even Adam West's old Batman Series was less corny and predictable (I actually enjoyed Adam West as Batman growing up, he was like watching William Shatner as Captain Kirk in Star Trek the Original Series.)

Finally a reboot was in order. A director who was once obscure to audiences, but now is heralded as the Shakespeare of film was chosen. His name, Christopher Nolan. Nolan decided to begin the new Batman narrative with the origin story. This film would be known as "Batman Begins," and it would depict the Cape Crusader as he was intended: dark, gritty, and a little creepy. Christian Bale was to assume the duo role of Bruce Wayne and Batman. He brought with the character a new charisma and an interesting voice. Batman Begins gave fans who aren't readers of the comics the genesis of the Dark Knight. We learned that Bruce Wayne learned how to fight and his tricks of using the shadows and stealth from the League of Shadows, a organization of Ninjas who purge the world of corruption by destroying empires. This shady confederacy of assassins is led by Ra's al Ghul, Wayne's mentor and later advesary. Batman Begins ends with unrequited love. Bruce Wayne cannot win the heart of his love interest, Rachael, because the Batman is in the way.

In 2008, Batman Begins was followed up by the next installment, "The Dark Knight." This time Batman has an ally in a prosecutor known as the White Knight, Harvey Dent. However, Batman is also faced with his nemesis, a psychotic sociopath named the Joker, played by Heath Ledger. The Dark Knight took realism and the darkness of the first film to new levels. The entire film feels clouded with some foreboding power, as if the Grim Reaper presided over It's creation. I suppose it is fitting, since Health Ledger died tragically after finishing the film. The Dark Knight quickly became more than another Batman sequel, it became a memoriam to one of the most talented actors to ever live.

Finally, today, in the year of our Lord 2012, the trilogy is completed with The Dark Knight Rises. The task of trying to follow up the brilliance of the Dark Knight was not an easy feat for the Nolan Brothers. For some time there was speculation over who would be the villain. For sometime it was believed that the Riddler would be the choice and that Johnny Depp would play him. Other rumors spoke of Ra's al Ghul's daughter, Talia, coming after Wayne for revenge. Finally it was settled that Bane would be the antagonist Batman would have to face in the climax to the Dark Knight Trilogy.

My first reaction to learning that Bane was going to be villain was suffice to say devoid of excitement. Fresh images of the weak and pathetic incarnation of Bane in Batman and Robin was still in my head. When I heard Tom Hardy would be portraying this brute, I didn't gain much faith in the character. For at the time I hadn't remembered who Tom Hardy was. Skepticism prevailed over me until at last I saw the Official Trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. I was swept away like most who viewed it. I found myself clicking on YouTube to re-watch it over and over. I was bespelled by Bane's muffled voice. In that moment hope was kindled. I finally believed that this could be a good movie.

Fast forward to today and I must say that The Dark Knight Rises has exceeded all my expectations. During the first twenty minutes of the film I wasn't too thrilled, but as the plot developed and the characters began to interact and the intensity built, I found myself falling in love with Gotham all over again. Bane charmed me with his rhetoric and his brutality. In my opinion he is a more compelling villain than the Joker, even Heath Ledger's Joker. Rather than being a psychotic freak that no one can relate to, Bane has motivations that anyone can relate to. Instead of being a man without a cause, a lose cannon like the Joker, he is determined and zealous about completing his mission. As he so eloquently says to a man he tortures that asks, "who are you?" Bane responds, "I am Gotham's reckoning." Nolan has captured what makes Bane tick. He is a man of great strength and intellect. His words are persuasive and his actions force you into submission.

Christian Bale returns as a Bruce Wayne who has lost touch with Gotham. His body is frail and he finds himself uncertain of what to live for. Alfred urges him to give up his role as Batman and seek a life of happiness with a family. Wayne cannot shake the shadow of his cape. He is compelled to donne the bat suite once more and face his enemy. Shocking revelations may force The Dark Knight to make the ultimate sacrifice. Catwoman or Selina Kyle, is played by Anne Hathaway. I like most fans was skeptical if Hathaway could pull it off and I must say we were all wrong to doubt her! Hathaway is a feisty, smart, and deeply alluring Catwoman. Hathaway brings the right balance of elusiveness and vulnerability. She plays a woman that you can understand, who's motives are white, but her means grey and black. She is the perfect companion to Batman. In fact, it is safe to say that "she completes him."

Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Lucius Fox, the President of Wayne Industries and the secret creator of all of the Cape Crusader's nice toys. Gary Oldman is back as Commissioner Gordon, who is facing a Gotham that is at peace and wrestles with having to perpetuate the lie that Harvey Dent is a hero. Joseph Gordon-Levitt joins the cast as Officer Blake, who is a rookie caught in the wake of Gotham's apocalypse. I won't spoil the secret about his character, but I will say that it did get quite a reaction at the theater.

Finally I must comment on the vibe of the film. The entire feeling of the film is synonymous with revolution. The words, "Deshi Basara, Rise!" shakes the theater and makes you feel compelled to do something about the state of our own country. The setting of the film is not too distant from our own. A great evil rises and seeks to delude people into believing they run a city independent of law and justice. Under Bane you feel anarchy breed and you wish to don a mask and enforce tyranny. Under Batman and the freedom fighters you seek to restore our country to it's Golden Age and eliminate the corruption that eats away like a cancer at our freedoms.

The battle between the two sides in Gotham's streets is something of cinematic masterpiece. You can feel shivers run down your spine as insolent innocent people make a stand against oppression and risk all to save their families, homes, and way of life. You want to march with them, to be led by someone as inspiring as the Dark Knight himself into the capital. There is no doubt that the Occupy Movement and the current administration was inspiration for aspects of the story. I won't say which way it leans, conservative or liberal, because It's much more complicated than that. I will say that it won't offend Constitutionalists and those who believe in maintaining freedom.

I won't spoil the climatic ending. I will wait a couple of weeks for the masses to go see Nolan's epic and then I will disclose my opinions about the revelations in the last minutes of the film. What I will say is that the Dark Knight Rises surprised me. I expected it to be good and I hoped it would surpass the Dark Knight, but I didn't expect that I would enjoy it as much as I did. I feel completely enchanted by it. I can't wait to see it again and pay closer attention to some of the information that puzzles me even now. I frankly don't understand why fans are so critical of this installment. They continue to compare it to the Dark Knight, but I must say this is folly. The Dark Knight Rises is a different movie. The tempo and focus of TDK Rises is unique. It doesn't feel a thing like The Dark Knight. In fact, It feels more closely akin to Batman Begins only with the pacing of the Dark Knight.

I may not be the Batman fan I was when I was a child. But Christopher Nolan has been able to instill a passion for the Cape Crusader that no director, even Time Burton, was able to do. Even now I feel compelled to go outside and pretend to be Bane or Batman. Nolan is a master storyteller, the Shakespeare of our age. His Batman trilogy will undoubtly go down in history as the best adaptations of the Dark Knight ever.