REVIEW - THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

First, we at Bearded Scrutiny (that’s Novak and myself) offer our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims of the shooting in Aurora, Colorado. For me, there is nothing more satisfying than to sit in a theater, among strangers, and have the flickering light of a film fill the gaps between us. For a few hours, for better or worse, we’re not strangers; we’re a family sharing our time together. So, for me--and I believe many others--this wasn’t a detached tragedy you see on the news (not to detract from the severity of other events, of course), but this was a home invasion. That fact, to me, elevates the feeling of violation I have for this event. The theater is a sanctuary where we escape from this bullshit, and some asshat tried to take that away. He didn’t succeed, however; he can’t. We’ll still see movies, and we will still enjoy them.

I enjoyed this movie, especially. With The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan has put a fitting cap on his Dark Knight trilogy. The three-part series doesn’t have a weak link; every part is fantastic, and every part is a piece to a larger, even better and more intricate puzzle. The masterful writing of Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer manages what so few film series are able to do: tie everything together into one large story, while also allowing each film to stand on its own. That really comes from giving each film a designated purpose, with separate themes and ideas. It’s been said before, so I’m not breaking any new ground with this suggestion, but I do believe Nolan revealed his plan for the Dark Knight trilogy within the plot of his film The Prestige. If you haven’t seen The Prestige, this is not a spoiler for that fantastic movie. Within its plot, we’re told the three parts to every magic trick: the pledge, the turn, and the prestige.

With the pledge, the audience is shown something ordinary. That’s what we got with Batman Begins. I don’t believe the film is ordinary, by any means, but we’re shown a fairly pedestrian superhero origin story. Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and Batman fights crime. Obviously, there is the whole theme of fear and its power, but the general gist is that Bruce Wayne becomes Batman.

With the turn, the ordinary thing is made extraordinary; the general example is making the ordinary thing disappear. That’s what The Dark Knight gives us: the film forces an extraordinary change onto Batman, and he becomes an antihero. Of course, there are spoilerific circumstances which lead to this, but I’ll not go into those. Again, there is the continued exploration of the idea of what fear does to people, and The Dark Knight really serves as a microcosm of the trilogy, in that it holds its characters up as many pieces to a larger picture. Without Batman, Harvey Dent doesn’t even scratch the surface of Gotham’s organized crime; without Jim Gordon, Batman doesn’t have credibility; and without The Joker pushing everyone to the extreme, the ideal that Batman, Dent, and Gordon represent does not succeed. Because push doesn’t come to shove without The Joker, and when push comes to shove, the influence Batman and Dent have had on the people of Gotham is revealed. But the bare bones of the story is that Batman is no longer a hero.

With the prestige, the extraordinary thing has to be made ordinary again; you can’t just make something disappear; you have to bring it back. That’s what The Dark Knight Rises does. How do you bring Batman back? You make it necessary for him to be back. You take a Gotham that is eight years removed of a war, and you foist the unending plight of crime upon it. That’s where Tom Hardy’s Bane comes in, and you’re immediately made aware that Bane is not The Joker; Bane is The Joker, if The Joker was intimidating both mentally and physically. Throughout the first two films, fear has been the main theme, as both a driving force and a tool of manipulation. Here, Bane is the antithesis of that. He does not use fear; what he uses is far more powerful. Bane uses hope. He uses the same hope that embodies every bit of the symbol that Batman is. With that, Bane is able to manipulate the very populace of Gotham which Batman has cultivated; Batman made the citizens of Gotham believe the people can rise up against those who would seek to oppress them. He showed these people that you don’t have to accept a life of less-than. All Bane does is co-opt that, to similar effect as with the 2011 Libyan revolution.

I don’t want to give away any more of the plot, because I know people would like to avoid spoilers and that kind of stuff, and the last thing I want to do is lessen someone’s enjoyment of this movie. To that end, I will merely say that the writing here, as with each of the previous films, is terrific, especially in the way this film is tied to the others, just as The Dark Knight is tied to Batman Begins. And Nolan’s direction just continues to get better with each film he does. The acting: Christian Bale has said this is his last time playing Batman, unless Nolan chooses to do another film, and I don’t believe Nolan will, as this really, perfectly, became his de facto Howard Hughes biopic. For my money, Bale is the best Batman and the best Bruce Wayne. The subtle changes he makes to create, essentially, four unique characters in this trilogy are outstanding. He’s young, naïve, vengeful Bruce; he’s older, wiser, Bruce; he’s billionaire, playboy Bruce; and he’s Batman. I mean, he’s caught a lot of flak for the voice he puts on for Batman, but that’s part of the role; not the role Bale is playing, but the role Bruce Wayne is playing, so I’m fine with it. Then you have Gary Oldman, who is often overlooked in his portrayal of Jim Gordon. The role isn’t has important here, as it was in The Dark Knight, but he, nonetheless, does a fantastic job and is part of, maybe, the best scene of the movie. Then Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine; Caine has a handful of great scenes, as he did in the previous two films. The character of Alfred always seems to get some good moments. I’ve already touched on Tom Hardy’s Bane, but to go further: say what you will about his Darth Vader-Sean Connery voice, he plays the fuck out of that role, in terms of being the menacing presence of serenity. Just as The Joker was chaos incarnate, Bane is disturbingly placid in his actions. Anne Hathaway and Marion Cotillard are much more than just welcome eye candy; they bring a welcome, to me, infusion of sexual tension, and Hathaway’s Selina Kyle is great. Of course, the breakout newcomer (to the cast, at least) is Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He’s fantastic, and his character very much mirrors both Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne. That character is an excellent addition to the movie, and Levitt plays it very well.

So, The Dark Knight Rises brings an end to Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, otherwise known as the best trilogy ever, narrowly edging out the original Star Wars trilogy. What makes this triptych so good, and so much better than all of the Batman films that preceded it, is its sometimes questionably maligned realism. Batman is supposed to represent the idea that anyone can change the world. Whether you believe this is the case with Batman, in general, or not, is your choice, but there’s no denying that this is the point of Nolan’s Batman. And I believe that’s why it works so well. It’s not merely the character of Batman representing the “every man” who isn’t an alien or mutant with special powers; it is that character living in a world that isn’t home to those things, in a world where things don’t just happen because the plot needs them to, and in a world that we’re shown that he has been able to have a significant impact on. That’s the realism that, frankly, inspires me. It affects me; not only for the three hours I’m watching it, but as a person living in a world like the one on the screen. In a world where we do have revolutions happening on the streets of countries most Americans never think about; in a world where there is such social injustice that has created class warfare; and, yes, in a world where lunatics attack people who are just trying to enjoy a movie. That’s why I watch movies: just to feel that way about something; about anything.

- JOHN

For more Batman related goodness check out the podcast review of EVERY BATMAN MOVIE