The Dark Knight Rises Movie Review by Drewtos
In 2005, director Christopher Nolan gave us Batman Begins; a movie that told Batman’s tale better than any Batman film before it. 3 years later he redefined the comic book movie genre with The Dark Knight. While both films were done terrifically and were true to Batman’s character and the world he lives in they were still not what many comic book readers would come to expect. What I mean by this is many aspects to character’s origins are retold in ways never seen in the comics. From the lack of lazarus pits in Batman Begins and the Joker’s “war paint” in The Dark Knight Nolan instills the fact that these are films that don’t take place within traditional Batman cannon. That tradition continues in The Dark Knight Rises.
The film begins several years after the conclusion of The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne has retired as Batman and has been left broken both physically and emotionally. Gotham is practically crime free because of the so called “Dent Act”, but Commisioner Gordon seems to feel guilty for lying about Harvey Dent’s true nature as Two-Face. Meanwhile, a new villian threatens Gotham. His name is Bane. Bruce Wayne must once again put on his cape and cowl and defend his city from this evil.
I liked the movie. Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine continue to give great performances and are now joined by Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Tom Hardy, who also give great performances and are perfectly cast in their roles. Hardy’s Bane is very menacing and intimidating throughout. I feel Hathway’s Catwoman was what most fans would have expected. She’s sexy, smart, and a total bad-ass.
Christopher Nolan really went all out with the action in this film. I loved the fight scenes between Batman and Bane. The aerial stunts, car chases, explosions, and all out war scenes were off the charts and were a joy to watch in IMAX. You can really tell how much hard work went into this and while their is a mix of traditional effects and CGI, the traditional effects are more dominant. The climax is amazing and the movie is a visual masterpiece.
But did this live up to the hype? Does it surpass it’s predecessors? My answer for you is no. The Dark Knight Rises did not meet my expectations and is probably the weakest of Nolan’s trilogy. While the action was better than anything Nolan has done before I thought the story was a bit convoluted. The movie also took a really long time to get to the point. The writers could have simplified some of the themes in this movie and could have probably made it a bit shorter. That’s it. If I really wanted to, I could nitpick the hell out of this movie and compare it to the comics. I could complain about how Bane never uses venom to bulk up, how Catwoman is never called Catwoman and is never even seen with a cat from what I can recall, and how some of the other aspects of certain characters don’t match up with traditional Batman cannon. But I won’t. That wouldn’t be right. Nolan has already proved with his first two films that this trilogy takes place in his universe. And like Frank Miller’s All-Star Batman and Robin, or Geoff Johns recent work on Batman: Earth One, it’s nice to see a fresh take on the Batman mythology.
All that being said this is not the Batman movie to end all Batman movies. While I enjoyed Nolan’s realistic approach on Batman I look forward to DC’s plans for the inevitable revamp. Hopefully, we can avoid the realism the second time around and feature other villians like Killer Croc, Clayface, and a Ra’s al Ghul who actually stays alive with the help of lazarus pits.
Although, it didn’t live up to my expectations The Dark Knight Rises was a fitting conclusion to Nolan’s trilogy. I give it a B-.
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Did you see The Dark Knight Rises? What did you think? Leave us your answers below.
Notes
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thenewemphinix answered:
Awesome review bro. Good job! I saw the movie last night, and I was pumped. I LOVED every moment, every second of it.
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