So, for the first time in probably two years, yesterday we went to the cinema. Not my suggestion – the wife’s. Even more amazing, she booked us tickets to go watch The Dark Knight Rises. My wife, the honorary geek. (Credentials later cemented as we watched the film and she saw “that guy who died in Torchwood”, and to a less geeky extent the main prowler guy from Queer As Folk). Yes, the last film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy was here. To say I was excited is an understatement. Those of you who follow me on Twitter or Facebook will have seen the regular appearance of #Batgasm. I was excited, but I was being realistic. There was no way they could top its predecessor The Dark Knight. It couldn’t be done. With this frame of mind I felt I wouldn’t be disappointed with the end result, and if they did pull a miracle out the bag it would be all the sweeter. Imagine my surprise when I came out three hours later, answering my wife’s question of “did you enjoy it?” with the answer “I’m not sure”.
Before I get in to this let me say I’m a huge Batman fan, and maybe that’s the problem. Being a fan of these characters, no matter how hard you try to be realistic, you can’t help but have certain expectations. My wife came out and said she loved it! Let me also say that I’m a huge fan of what Nolan has done with Batman. I love Batman Begins. It almost gets swept aside by people saying “yeah well it’s just the origin story, yawn”. Thing is the origin story had never been told on film before. Yes we’d seen hints at Bruce Wayne’s parents getting killed and understood that was the reason for Batman’s existence, but up until this point he was just some rich orphan dude who’d taken a few martial arts lessons and liked running around with gadgets and a cape. We hadn’t seen the real tragedy of Bruce Wayne, the thought that he wanted vengeance for his parents at any cost and was considering murdering his parent’s killer. The years of training, suffering and sacrifice. This was a Batman story.
Everyone knows how good The Dark Knight was, so there's no debate there. The end of that film left an intriguing set up for a potential follow-up – Batman in exile, hunted by the police for crimes he took responsibility for but never actually commited. A lie to protect his less than fair city. Eight years later and the lie is intact but soon to be broken, requiring the return of The Batman. Sounds like a corker doesn't it? The thing is, as you watch The Dark Knight Rises it doesn’t feel like a Batman film. It’s a film about a city being terrorised by some nutter.Batman is just a piece on the chessboard, and not even the King.
I know I'm coming across really negatively here, but there are things that work. Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne: brilliant as always. He doesn’t really play Batman in this film; rather Bruce Wayne dressed up in the suit. He doesn’t become the animal that we saw in the first and second films. He gets close at the end, but then…..nope, SPOILERS!
Tom Hardy as Bane: one scary-as-hell mofo (even if he does sound like a cross between Darth Vader and a Smurf) who would kick your ass in three seconds and fire up a barbecue in the next two.
Anne Hathaway as Catwoman: m’eh. I mean I get why she was there, and despite what people say she was a key part of the plot. And I’m pretty sure all the pubescent boys were sat there thinking that for the first time they’d much rather be the Batpod than Batman, and thus leading to many double entendres around the word "Rise"! But be honest, she wasn’t as good as Michelle Pfeiffer. (There’s probably a reason I think this which I will explain soon!)
I love Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon – perfect casting. With Gordon we get to see that Bruce Wayne wasn’t the only one that suffered in the aftermath of the events in the previous film. Riddled with guilt, wife and son gone, and yet he rises above all the chaos.
Alfred Pennyworth was always Bruce Wayne’s grounding - his conscience, the emotional centre of the Batman films. Michael Caine is barely on the screen for more than five minutes, but the emotion he put across in that time is simply heartbreaking.
Morgan Freeman serves his purpose as the Q style Lucius Fox, Marion Cotillard is effective but wasted in her role. And finally Joseph Gordon Levitt is an interesting addition, particularly when you consider what could happen after the last frame of the film.
The story. You know what, I liked the story. Batman comes out of retirement to stop Gotham going to hell. Brilliant. The concept and all of its branches – Bane, League of Shadows, Bruce Wayne going broke etc. – sounds epic and worthy enough of a conclusion to the Batman story that Nolan et’al claimed they wanted to tell. The problem is the translation and execution of the story felt rushed. There were bits where I couldn’t help but think “they could have done so much more with it”. Hathaway’s Selina Kyle is just one example, here’s another. Bruce Wayne bones Maria Cottilards character Miranda Tate, hinting at him having the chance of a normal life which Alfred is so desperate for him to have. But they bone, and that’s it. You don’t get to see any real emotional connection between the two. (Interesting side-note; in the comics Bruce Wayne is technically married to her. There’s a cue for Gods sake!) If this had been done the last few minutes of the film would have had much more of an impact on the characters and the audience. These are just a couple of examples – all hints but nothing more. They gave you the impression that there was so much more to tell about these characters but never followed through. This happened so much in fact that I couldn’t help but think we were watching a kind of Readers Digest version of the film. There was a big story to tell here, with lots of characters and despite the two and three-quarter hour running time it didn’t feel enough. I wanted to see more. This, along with many aspects of the film was a missed opportunity. This final chapter could have been done over two films. We could have had The Dark Knight Falls, where Bane breaks the Bat and chaos in Gotham ensues, and then The Dark Knight Rises, where Bats gets fixed up and returns to save the day. I mean if they can do it for the last two Twi-shite films, why not for Batman??
The visual flare of the previous two Bat-films also seemed lacking. Two examples for this: firstly the Breaking Of The Bat. For comic fans this is some serious shit – Bane is the one guy who can take the Batman out. Make no mistake, Bane does break the Bat in the film, but it’s just…m’eh. There’s no gravitas to the shot. I mean we see Bruce Wayne suffer for a little and then before you know it his back his fixed, he does a few press ups and sit ups and then he’s Batman again? No!
Another example: Bats returns to Gotham for another face-off with Bane. He’s announced his return by lighting a fire on a bridge in the shape of a Bat – a makeshift Bat-signal if you will, reminding Bane and his crew it’s not their town. Eventually we come to the rematch, and here was the opportunity for Batman to swoop in from the sky, one last grand entrance. No. Instead he walks in through a bit of smoke, exchanges some (frankly awful) dialogue with Bane, and they go at it. I guess it backs up my thought that it wasn’t ‘Batman’ fighting Bane, it was Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman. But you know what, I wanted him to give the people of Gotham that one last hurrah, reminding them of the awe and majesty of The Batman - as if to say “Oi bitches, this is my town!”.
I could go on and on. Ultimately TDKR isn’t a bad film. No it’s not as good as The Dark Knight. It’s not as good as Batman Begins either, and thank Jeff it’s not Batman & Robin!. As I came out of the cinema I realised what it was – Return Of The Jedi. Whether that was because the hoards of Gotham police going to war in the final act reminded me of Ewoks, or that Liam Neeson Ra’s Al Ghul appeared to Bruce Wayne in a Force ghost type hallucination, or that, like I said, the execution of the story was nowhere near its potential. Or maybe like I said, my expectations were too high. At the end of the day TDKR ties the Trilogy of in a nice neat bow, while not leaving the people of Gotham unprotected still managing to give Bruce Wayne the happy ending he deserved. It’s just a shame the film-makers didn’t give the same grace to the audience
Christopher Nolan is an Oscar worthy director, but certainly not off the back of this film. He and his team have been in Gotham for 10 years and have finally moved out, and in watching their final instalment you can’t help but think they couldn’t wait to pack up their stuff and get the hell out of there. I’m not saying they didn’t care, they just didn’t care enough.
Verdict: The Dark Knight Rises, but never soars as high as it's two predecesors.
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