The Dark Knight Rises

Words by Leo Graziani

Well, here we are: just past opening weekend for The Dark Knight Rises, the last installment in the newest Batman trilogy, which is also, coincidentally, the third installment of this summer’s superhero blockbusters.

I was a little nervous about this movie. I mean, how in the world can you top The Dark Knight? In fact, to prep for this I watched The Dark Knight again, and was again blown away by Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker. Still, it’s the question a lot of us have had on our minds regarding The Dark Knight Rises: will it be as good as its predecessor? And the answer is, well… yes and no. It’s actually very hard to compare the two because they are wildly different films. The Dark Knight is an insular film loaded in psychological terror, whereas The Dark Knight Rises is huge in both scope and ambition, and more political. The stakes are way higher here, and the film presents a serious threat not only to Batman himself, but to all of Gotham City. As it turns out, The Dark Knight Rises has more in common with Batman Begins than with The Dark Knight.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Batman is long gone, still blamed for the death of Harvey Dent, and Gotham has enjoyed an unusually long stretch of peace on the streets because of the Dent Act, which slammed the gavel hard on organized crime. But it is, of course, the calm before the storm. And that storm’s name is Bane.

Bane is not the dumb muscle-head he was in Batman & Robin (the film that killed the Batman franchise in the late ’90s). He’s intelligent, well-trained, resourceful, immensely powerful, and something of an anarchist. In a way, he’s a distorted mirror-image of Bruce Wayne. And that’s how he’s supposed to be; that’s how he’s portrayed in the comics. In fact, you could say that about many of Batman’s villains.

And then we have Selina Kyle. Catwoman. If you haven’t already done so, please erase all memory of that horrible Catwoman film with Halle Barry (but keep your Michelle Pfeiffer memories). Anne Hathaway makes for a cunning and deadly master thief as well as conflicted love interest to Bruce Wayne.

Gary Oldman is a marvel in anything he plays. The man is a chameleon. He’s been the perfect Commissioner Gordon throughout this entire trilogy, and he doesn’t disappoint here. Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes a great hotshot young cop, and Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine both play their minor roles quite admirably. There is also a great cameo plus a twist at the end that I, as a comic reader, really should’ve seen coming. And of course, Christian Bale delivers as Bruce Wayne. He’s even toned down his Batman voice.

The whole film is beautifully shot and framed, and another thing that impressed me were the nods to several famous story arcs in the comics: specifically No Man’s Land and Knightfall (in the same way that The Dark Knight referenced The Killing Joke). Some of the vehicle stunts left us gasping with delight.

If I have a complaint about this movie, it’s this: I can’t understand everything Bane says. That is, the special effect on his voice sometimes distorts his words to the point of incomprehensibility. But I suppose with repeated viewing—because of course I’m going to see this again and get the Blu-ray when it comes out—those words will eventually make sense.

The Dark Knight Rises is a worthy successor and a fine closing film to this trilogy. Personally, I prefer The Dark Knight, but I have nothing to whine about here, really. Director Christopher Nolan ties up everything neatly, but leaves a couple of outs in case Warner Brothers wants to make another Batman movie. But they’ll have to do so without Nolan—he’s told his story, and I’m going to add my voice to the chorus here in saying that this trilogy is the best superhero film trilogy ever… at least until the second and third Avengers movies come out.

 (Originally posted on mississaugalife.ca.)