Viewed in
2012
Formats
IMAX theater.
Premise
In the conclusion of the Christopher Nolan trilogy, Batman comes out of retirement upon emergence of a new threat in the form of Bane.
Loved
Full circle aspect.
Liked
Epic second half, satisfying conclusion.
Disliked
Spoilers.
Thoughts
I had to work really hard to lower my own over-hype, but in the end, it thankfully met my expectations.
The last hour or so was quite breathtaking in terms of execution and scope. There was something poetic about watching Batman and Bane duke it out in the snow, surrounded by thousands of clashing armies. Even with a batch of new toys, the Batcycle still took the cake in terms of coolness. Nolan's use of IMAX cameras and mostly practicals made me brace for dear life, engulfed in the action. It was totally worth the premium charge to see it on the largest screen possible.
I loved how the writing was able to bring back elements of Batman Begins. As I watched, I honestly couldn't tell if Bruce Wayne would come out of this alive, so the connections to the previous titles just added more emotional weight to every dire situation. This was especially true whenever Wayne interacted with Alfred or Commissioner Gordon. In fact, I believed that they should've gone further with the full circle angle; at a certain point, I began hoping Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character was the boy in the balcony from the first film.
One side effect of the great use of integrating the first movie was that it kind of diminished the The Dark Knight's relevance to Nolan's universe. Batman's epic battle with the Joker could almost be a stand-alone tale. While The Dark Knight Rises did incorporate Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes a bit, I felt like they didn't do enough. I expected more direct consequences from Batman being blamed for Dent and more of Wayne suffering from losing Rachel.
The mainstays of the cast were excellent as usual, and Christian Bale's whispering voice was decipherable. Overall, the new blood was very good. Understandably they had gargantuan shoes to fill, following the late Heath Ledger's Joker, and given the circumstances they did their best. Marian Cotillard and Gordon-Levitt were perfectly cast. As a bigger fan of Anne Hathaway than most, I thought she definitely brought enough sexy and savvy to justify her casting. I enjoyed her performance (and outfit and goggles) very much, but frankly, it was not as great a presence as Michelle Pfeiffer's rendition. Poor Tom Hardy had the most difficult role, forced to act through a mask and laughably garbled voice box. He was flat-out imposing at times, but it was tough to get charm out of that villain. There were a couple of unexpected cameos that were quite awesome as well.
My biggest problem was the first hour and a half. There were too many new minor characters that had to be introduced and exposition to explain what had transpired in the eight years since Dent's demise. As much as I love JGL, his character and subplot was technically expendable. Also, in the unpopular vote, I found the open for this title rather underwhelming, even though I knew I was seeing something insane, it never felt like it. By comparison, The Dark Knight grabbed you by the balls in the first frame and never let go. This one took a while.
Some people found a key part of the plot impossible, and I disagree with them. It was plausible in that world to recover that quickly. If you're going to criticize how unbelievable a human body can withstand damage, then that should've been pointed out all the times people fell from great heights and lived from the first two titles.
Two aspects kind of soured my experience. Obviously, watching it the weekend of the Aurora tragedy, I couldn't help but have that sadness in the back of my mind, especially during the gunfights. I was never really able to escape into that wonderful, wicked world. The other aspect was that I was able to correctly guess the outcome of character arcs, thanks to studio carelessness early in pre-production (similar to what happened with Prometheus) and spoilers from a Twitter friend, whose attempt to make a non-spoiler joke actually did the opposite for me. Did it truly ruin the movie for me? No. Thankfully Nolan's a master story weaver, and he sprung a couple of nice surprises on me, including Wayne's ultimate ending. Having said that, I thought the ending was a little cheap and inconsistent. Having said what I just said, if the false ending was the true ending, that would've been kind of lame in terms of the how. Am I making sense yet?
It will take a while (and more re-watches) to determine where The Dark Knight Rises ranks. I will still put The Dark Knight as my favorite for actually exceeding, nay blowing away, my expectations. Whether it's #2 is hard to tell, since you need to watch Batman Begins to truly feel the emotional punches. Nevertheless, considering the Nolans already threw the kitchen sink in the second film, this was a very satisfying conclusion to the amazing trilogy. The list of quality third movies are short. This won't touch Toy Story 3, but it belongs in the pantheon with Goldfinger, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Return of the Jedi, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
