Nolan Batman - The Dark Knight Rises

WARNING --- THE BELOW TEXT CONTAINS FULL SPOILERS FOR THE DARK KNIGHT RISES! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW THE PLOT POINTS OF THE MOVIE, DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Opening Thoughts
When I went and saw this movie the first time, I was on-edge. First off, I went in saw in the crappiest IMAX theatre ever, which really irritated me. Second, I went in with the only thought in my mind being there is no way this movie would live up to the hype. And finally, I intentionally didn't rewatch Batman Begins or The Dark Knight because I was afraid it would just show how bad the movie was. Going in this time, I rewatched the previous movies, and I decided to keep a very open mind, trying to be more fair with the movie instead of just trying to nitpick every little thing. So let's see how that went, shall we?

What Works
Christian Bale again does a great job playing both Bruce Wayne and Batman. Bale has a strong connection with these characters, and you can tell he really enjoys playing them, which really makes him shine. There is a clear evolution to both Bruce Wayne and Batman that has taken place over this trilogy, and Bale helpes really bring it to light.

Anne Hathaway gives a stellar performance as Selena Kyle/Catwoman. Another person you can tell really loves her role, she nails the characterizational aspects of the character perfectly. She is able to act innocent, deceptive, and secuctive all within seconds of the same scene, but makes them feel intentional and deliberate.

Tom Hardy is phenomenal as Bane. He gives off a very real sense of danger and is able to reveal a lot of emotion and feeling using only his eyes, since you never see the rest of his face. The voice filter used on Bane makes him a little hard to understand at times (and at others even sound a little silly) but the lines themselves are very good and well put together. He obviously enjoyed bieng in this role and as I have said already twice, that really adds a lot to the character.

Gary Oldman continues to be one of the best parts of the Nolan Films as Commissioner Gordon. Playing the role of a grizzled veteren of streel law enforcement while the city is in a more peaceful time really makes him shine as more and more people come to lean on him, since he's the only one that seems to remember a time when crime was everywhere in Gotham. This is yet another character that is very Well written and very well performed,

Joseph Gordon-Levitt damn near steals the show, however, as Officer Blake/Robin Blake. The amount of energy and spirit his character has turns into a beacon for many of the people in the city, especially once Bane takes over. He is basically an unmasked Batman, fighting with every inch of his body. They are clearly setting him up for a Robin-like role, but never actually put him behind a mask, which I think actually makes him an even stronger character. At the very end they hint that he may take up Batman's cowl, but with Nolan leaving the franchise, it kind of makes me sad to think that we'll never get to see that. I personally think this really sets up the potential for a Batman Beyond movie, but that's just the fanboy in me, I fear.

Michael Caine does a great job playing the humanity side of Batman's equation. When Alfred leaves Bruce to his own devices, it leads to a surprising amount of realization within Bruce's character, as he knows that he is all alone now. While this suits Batman fine, since it elminates the risk of those around him being hurt, he realizes that he already has hurt those around them, or in the case of Rachel, even gotten them killed.

Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia. This was basically done as a fanservice, I feel. However, Cotillard did a fine job with the role. She really played on the emotions of Bruce Wayne and there was several small bits of foreshadowing that really built up to the turn well. Overall, Cotilliard did a good job as both good and evil when it was her turn to shine.

Morgan Freeman continues to shine as Lucius Fox. But is that really a surprise?

Nolan's writing really shines in this movie. This story tells the end of Batman and there are a lot of parallels with Batman Begins because of this. In all of these movies, Nolan has done a great job of building everything up for the 3rd act of the movie. The last movie in this trilogy, when you think about it, is little more than the 3rd act of Nolan's Batman movies. Everything ties up nice and neat and pretty much every character shows clear evolution. It's a hell of a Gotham that Nolan has helped form in these movies, I certainly hope that DC doesn't just tear it all down for a reboot, and instead tries to continues to evolve the world.

What Doesn't Work
While they don't really detract from the overall experience, there are a few editing decisions that I think could've really helped the flow of the story. For example, after the scene where Gordan, Miranda and the cops are captured by Bane, there is the scene where Bruce Wayne is brought into Wayne Tower by Selena Kyle. But since this scene is supposed to take place before the capture, Miranda is still at the tower. After the scenes with Bruce, we are at the sentencing for Gordon and company with Crane, so the whole placement of Bruce's scenes seem... out of place. I don't think anything would've been lost by having those scenes happen before Miranda joins Gordon on street patrol, so I'm not sure the reasoning. Other minor thing, showing Batman that soon before the bomb goes off when he clearly would've had to ejected way before then, seem like a strange move. I know it was supposed to really make you believe that Batman was dead, but it just made me stop and think, "Wait, if he ejected 5 seconds before the bomb went off, he'd still be dead!" Again, simple thing to fix, but that one I at least understand the reasoning.

The end of Bane was a little weak. I would've much preferred that Batman have been the one to beat Bane, since he really never won a single fight in the movie. He either ran, got beaten up, or was rescued. However, this was in part because of Bruce Wayne's deteriorating health, so I understand this. I understand that Bane was basically just a front for Talia, but I would've rather seen his comuppance really come to light instead of being blown away by Catwoman. Not a huge gripe, since they transioned the primary villian role away from him right before he died, but still a bit of a disappointment.

The plot was really accellerated. Overall, you never really felt too far behind the plot, but there are a couple of times where you kind of lose where you are in terms of timing. This movie almost feels like it would've benefitted from being split into two parts because they could've spent more time building up to the major conflict. The movie really didn't do anything inherently wrong, but it felt a bit jumpy at times. Again, minor gripe.

Closing Thoughts
After doing things right the second time, I can honestly say that The Dark Knight Rises is a very good movie and is an excellent closure to the Nolan Batman Trilogy. The one question everyone seems to want an answer to, however, is whether or not this movie is better than The Dark Knight. That question is not really answerable with a clean yes or no, since this is a different movie in many ways. This movie shares way more in common with Batman Begins, as it is more of a breakdown of the character of Batman both physically and psychologically. The Dark Knight was more of a typical summer blockbuster which focused way more on the characterization of the Joker and Harvey Dent, letting Batman be more of the glue that held the story together. Not that I'm saying there is no character evaluation of Batman, but it does take more of a backseat to the other villians in the movie. The Dark Knight Rises, however, spends much more time focusing on how everything up to this point has changed Bruce Wayne and, in turn, Batman.

As I stated above, there are some things that would keep this from being my favorite in the trilogy, but this is still a really good movie. Also, this movie has taught me a lesson about the right way to approach going to see a movie. Going into any movie with preconcieved notions about how the movie is going to go or about plot points within the movie will just make you jaded and give the movie an unfair rap. Make those distinctions based on what the movie gives you, not because you've been burned by so many movies that you don't trust any of them. Hell, there's probably a lesson about humanity in there somewhere too, but I think that's enough analysis for now. Solid thumbs up, and thanks for bearing with me through these.