Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan (based on a story by David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan; based on the DC Comics character created by Bob Kane)
At the end of the first entry of Christopher Nolan's masterful reboot of the Batman film series, Batman Begins, a comment is made about the dangers of escalation, where a response to a threat is responded to with an even greater threat, until it spirals out of control. After narrowly defeating a terrorist plot hatched by his former mentor, it was all too clear to the Caped Crusader (and the audience) that it was only going to get worse.
In the sequel, the tremendously masterful The Dark Knight, escalation came in the form of a crazed psychopath in clown make-up, who was less interested in cleansing Gotham City, but more interested in destroying its soul, and exposing our hero to the possibility that even he could be corrupted. This was true escalation: it went beyond the usual good vs. evil scenario common to the superhero genre, and not only challenged the black-and-white worldview of our hero in terms of nobility and criminality, but challenged ours as well. Even if the hero won in the end, the damage was already done.
After that inexplicably terrific outing by Nolan--smashing box office records and gaining critical raves previously unheard of for a superhero picture-- how on Earth could he possibly top it? It was obvious that a third and final entry was needed to conclude the Dark Knight's epic journey, but with the bar set so ridiculously high, it seemed practically impossible for Nolan to deliver an even better film (or even one just as good). And while his concluding entry, The Dark Knight Rises, is a highly proficient way to close out the trilogy, it doesn't even come close to matching its predecessor in terms of a compelling villain, narrative cohesion, or sheer psychological complexity.
It's been eight years since the vigilante Batman-- secretly billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale)-- took the blame for the crimes of shining knight District Attorney-turned-disfigured madman Harvey Dent. In order to uphold the deceased Dent's reputation as a beacon of hope for the people of Gotham City and subsequently bring about the organized crime-busting Dent Act, Batman and Police Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) shoulder Dent's murders and eventual death on the Dark Knight's shoulders, forcing the fugitive superhero into hiding.
As Gotham enjoys an unprecedented era of peace, the injured Bruce now secludes himself in his mansion, despite the insistence of his lifelong butler and confidant Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) to go back into the world, especially considering that Bruce's inattentiveness to Wayne Enterprises has placed the company-- chaired by weapons developer Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman)-- in fiduciary peril. Despite attempts by board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) to convince Bruce to relaunch a clean energy project, there's also the problem of rival Roland Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn) trying to take hold of the company by way of hiring the enigmatic, masked mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) and cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) to help undermine Wayne Enterprises.
However, Bane has other plans. A musclebound hulk of tremendous intelligence, Bane's escalating machinations to overrun Gotham forces Bruce to come out of retirement and face this new foe head-on. However, Bane proves to be more formidable than Batman expects, and as Bane's plot places the city in increasing danger, Batman must do all he can to save millions of lives, depending on the help of a few, including Gordon, Fox, Deputy Commissioner Foley (Matthew Modine), young and idealistic cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and eventually, Kyle herself.
It was scientifically impossible, honestly, for Nolan to outdo himself after the second entry of his brilliant reimagining of the Batman mythos. While Batman Begins was an intimate and thoroughly enjoyable about-face for a superhero that had previously suffered the cinematic wounds of Bat-nipples and retractable ice skates, The Dark Knight broke all the rules. It revolutionized the superhero movie and steeped it in a dark, gritty, thematically complex environment that was in stark contrast to the colorful, flamboyant tone of the Spider-Man films or even Tim Burton's original Batman films.
It also helped that Batman himself, Christian Bale, was completely outshined by the villainous Joker, played to magnificent, frightening perfection by the late Heath Ledger, who tragically passed six months before the film's release. Ledger's Oscar-winning performance as the Joker stole the show and then some, giving the Dark Knight not only a formidable opponent, but one who dug furiously into the hero's psyche and soul, nearly destroying Gotham just to prove that Batman was just as insane as he was.
So did Nolan have his work cut out for him? Yeah, pretty much. And that's where escalation comes in: if The Dark Knight nearly brought Gotham to implode, then naturally The Dark Knight Rises causes the city to break out into all-out war. It's impossible not to draw any similarities of the "haves and have-nots" subplot of class warfare in the story to the recent Occupy Wall Street protests, not to mention the terrorism plots of Bane and his cohorts bringing immediate visualizations of 9/11 and the subsequent War on Terror. But even if Nolan didn't intend to directly reference those real-world incidents, there's still plenty of thematic heaviness to bulk the sometimes laboriously-long 165-minute runtime.
But while The Dark Knight was a slickly oiled machine that managed to get its point and agenda across with immaculate precision, The Dark Knight Rises at times feels too overcrowded, overstuffed, and over-agenda-ed. Part of the problem lies with the film's attempts to connect to plot points brought about by Batman Begins, including the mysterious League of Shadows. And while it's nice to tie up loose ends, it still feels like there's two movies trying to work simultaneously instead of one, especially in regards to the introduction of so many characters.
And despite Nolan's sterling track record of three-dimensional characterization and dialogue, some of the screenplay and character motives seem unusually forced or ambiguous. For example, while Ledger's Joker had a definite reason for his actions, what are Bane's goals? Is it citywide cleansing/destruction or turning the social caste system on its head? If it were the former, why didn't he just wipe the city out immediately upon receiving his big, bad doomsday device?
Still, this is Nolan we're talking about, so there's plenty to laud here. The visual effects, production design, Wally Pfister's beautiful cinematography, and Han Zimmer's "bwommy" score are once again top-notch, and the cast is, for the most part, terrific (and seemingly a big Inception reunion, considering that the majority of Nolan's mindbending sci-fi flick are showcased here).
Bale is once again great as the tortured superhero (who seems to have partially recovered from the apparent throat cancer he suffered in the previous movie), even though he's Bruce Wayne a hell of a lot more than he is Batman this time around (seriously, the cape and cowl probably show up for only a total fifth of the entire movie). Oldman, Caine, and Freeman are all good in their respective returning roles, though Caine is unfortunately relegated to scenes where he tearfully scolds Bruce and not much else.
Hathaway does an admirable job slipping into the familiar catsuit, less psychotic than Michelle Pfeiffer's turn as Catwoman and more snarky and morally ambiguous, easily making the character her own. As an idealistic street cop who has more in common with Bruce than one would think, Gordon-Levitt makes for a great source of altruism in a world gone cynical and berserk. As the big bad Bane, Tom Hardy (who gave Inception the bulk of its charisma) is rather interesting and admittedly fearsome, he just cannot rise to the terrifying heights that Ledger reached as the Joker. That might be an unfair judgement, but the bar was set impossibly high, no matter how impressive Hardy's performance is. As stated above, Bane's lack of a concrete agenda makes his impact less powerful and emotionally devastating as Ledger's.
The biggest problem I had with the film, however, was the ending. I'm definitely not giving away any spoilers, but if you're ending one of the most popular and critically successful film trilogies, you've gotta do it with a bang, sending away audiences with a lump in their throats. Though it was expertly executed, the climax never felt powerful enough in regards to the fates of certain characters, where they felt either too cheap or too sudden without satisfying resolution, especially a very last-minute character revelation that felt more like desperate fan-service rather than a genuine, pleasant surprise.
All in all, though, The Dark Knight Rises is a successful culmination of a largely brilliant film saga. The film is set up for the obvious continuation/revival/rebooting (though, in my opinion, it would be unwise to try and re-recreate the character so soon after Nolan revolutionized it; of course, box-office hungry studio heads will never think that way), and though it never had a chance of matching its predecessor, The Dark Knight Rises allows the Caped Crusader to take the bow he truly deserves.
Letter Grade: "B"
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