The Dark Knight Rises

Hey guys. I’m so sorry I haven’t posted in such a long time, but I’m back so let’s get into the swing of things. If you asked me who my favorite superhero is, I wouldn’t hesitate in answering “batman, duhhhh”. I love batman and even more: the Chris Nolan Dark Knight trilogy. His fresh take on the Batman was praised by fans and critics alike, so when I saw The Dark Knight Rises this past summer, I knew I was in for a treat.

The Dark Knight Rises is the last installment in the Dark Knight trilogy directed by Christopher Nolan. We come back to Gotham City, 8 years after the events in The Dark Knight occurred, where an older Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is forced to come out of retirement and become Batman once again after new threats by a mercenary called Bane (Tom Hardy) face the city. With a recurring cast consisting of Wayne’s faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), Inspector James Gordon ( Gary Oldman), and president of Wayne Enterprises and Bruce Wayne’s armorer Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). The film also introduces newcomers including a sly cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), business tycoon Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), and Inspector Gordan’s new sidekick John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt).

I had mixed feelings about TDKR. For one thing, it was long with a running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, the longest film in the trilogy. I think they could have cut some parts out and still maintained the same effect. The film turned out to be my least favorite out of all three. My list goes in chronological order: Batman Begins (which everyone seems to overlook!), The Dark Knight, and finally The Dark Knight Rises. The film was very dark and depressing. Bruce Wayne’s downfall was so sad that I started to not like the film in the very middle of it. Fortunately the film does get better and leads up to a fantastic climax. The ending of TDKR was AMAZING! A perfect conclusion to a somewhat murky and confusing film. Those last five minutes were probably the best five minutes of this year in film.

                      

above: Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, a.k.a Catwoman, and Tom Hardy as Bane

The cast performances were great, well most of them. Christian Bale, my love, is by far the best Batman ever. No one can compare. Tom Hardy was exceptional as Bane. He used his body to create fear, and it worked. Though I could hardly understand what he was saying half the time, Hardy was still as impressive, but will never be as amazing as Heath ledger’s Joker. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine were great as always, and some of the moments between Alfred and Bruce were the best of the film.  I wasn’t too impressed with Marion Cottilard’s performance though, and her last scene in the movie was pitiful. Also contrary to most opinions, I disliked Anne Hathaway as “Catwoman” (she’s never really referred to as Catwoman in the movie though). Please don’t think I did not like her performance just because I don’t like her! I saw the movie before those feelings came, in fact, this film made me not like her. She wasn’t Catwoman for me, just some girl in a tight black suit. The only thing that made her resemble a cat the tiniest bit was the ears on her goggle things. Other than that, she was simply Selina Kyle. I wish she could have said “meow” or something like once! Michelle Pfeiffer  in Batman Returns, now that’s Catwoman! I know Nolan probably didn’t want her to be all cat, but just a little character would really help.

The film was confusing, long, depressing, dark, but I still liked it!  The ending made up for it all and so did the special effects. The film is a visual masterpiece! Nolan’s Batman trilogy was epic and monumental, all superhero films will be forced to meet it’s high set standards but will never reach it. Even though it wasn’t the best, I recommend all to see it. But watch the first two movies first because there are many references to them in TDKR.

ALL IN ALL: The Dark Knight Rises is the most depressing film of the trilogy, but still retains hope as an epic conclusion with its cast and ending.

images from:

• http://www.shadowlocked.com/images/stories/news/2012/005_May/022/The_Dark_Knight_Rises_poster/The_Dark_Knight_Rises_poster.jpg
• http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2012/07/dark-knight-rises-review/_jcr_content/par/cn_contentwell/par-main/cn_blogpost/cn_float_container/cn_image.size.s-anne-hathaway-best-catwoman.jpg
• http://steroidjunkie.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Bane-Dark-Knight-Rises-image-Tom-Hardy1.jpg