The Dark Knight Rises Review

After skillfully propelling his cinematic vision on the Caped Crusader to the heights of the greatest superhero movies with ‘’The Dark Knight’’ Christopher Nolan returns one more time to conclude the captivating trilogy with ‘’The Dark Knight Rises’’ and it serves a brilliant and satisfying end to a beloved vision.

Eight years have passed since Batman took the blame for Harvey Dent’s/Two Face’s death and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is losing his way as Batman, having sealed himself inside his manor as his company falls apart and his allies, including Commissioner Gordon and Lucius Fox struggling to keep the truth from the people of Gotham City. Our heroes our unprepared for the arrival of Bane, a man mountain of a villain bent on destroying Gotham and its way of living. Many new characters are introduced to begin the film including Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) an anti-heroine just as concerned for stealing expensive items as she is for assisting Batman later on, and John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt, it seemed inevitable that he would join the Batman cast!), a loyal Gotham City policeman with the wit and intellect to guess Batman’s true identity as well as deduce that a storm is brewing over the city. The many new characters combined with a few complex plot strands such as Wayne Enterprises going bankrupt can make the plot slightly difficult to follow at first but nonetheless, the plot picks up about two thirds of the way in as Batman and his allies ‘’rise’’ up against the villains threatening Gotham; By the time the final battle begins, you’ll be invested and immersed, hoping and praying that the heroes somehow manage to topple Batman’s greatest foe which also hurls in more set piece moments than any other Batman movie to date, from the showdown between hundreds of Gotham Police forces and criminals to the bomb chase sequence involving both the Bat and the Bat Pod . From the ominous opening, it’s clear that the third entry in Nolan’s trilogy is by far the darkest; the problems caused by the previous film’s events escalate and everything keeps getting worse for the fabled city; Instead of the manipulation behind the scenes used by Heath Ledger’s Joker, Tom Hardy’s Bane forms an elaborate project to force the people into panic, build an army of criminals then seizing control of the city piece by piece.  On top of this, he is more than a match for the world’s greatest detective physically, heavily stacking the odds and making the overall conflict all the more thrilling.

While the ensemble cast has expanded, leaving more characters to keep track of, the performances in the trilogy’s finale remain consistent and emotive as ever. Christian Bale maintains his profile as the composed and gruff Dark Knight, but it’s his performance as Bruce Wayne that is brought forward even more and strides beyond the titular hero in this iteration as he witnesses the destruction of his city and feels utterly powerless to stop the terrorists controlling Gotham. This performance is counter balanced well by the debut of Catwoman, a role in which Hathaway easily succeeds at capturing the seductive nature of the flirtatious feline. Selina Kyle herself begins as a simple cat burglar, stealing precious items from Wayne Manor but after witnessing Bane’s brutalities committed upon Batman, resolves to assist in stopping the super terrorist. While we learn little to nothing about her origins as a super heroine, she compliments Bale’s performance almost seamlessly.  Despite the supporting actors being downplayed for the final act, each brings their own set of characteristics and themes to the plot. Michael Caine is as believable as ever as Batman’s butler Alfred, whose loyalty to his master is declining and constantly raises the question as to whether Bruce is even fit to be Batman anymore. The relationship with his master is strained further than ever before through Bruce’s continuing insistence on being Batman despite the fact he is poor condition for crime fighting. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) takes a lesser role through half of the film and yet the guilt of lying over the death of Harvey Dent in the previous film evidently haunts him. Joseph Gordon Levitt as John Blake, a seemingly unimportant character to start off with who soon (after being promoted by Gordon to run the force in his absence) develops into an intelligent and vital ally who could be the key to saving the innocent citizens of Gotham. But by far the strongest addition to the roster is Bane (Tom Hardy); who matches the Joker’s outspoken yet devious insanity with pure brutality. What Hardy cannot accomplish with his mouth (covered by a mask through the film), he more than makes up for with his hugely intimidating gaze, zeroing in on his victims before going in for the kill. The only sore spot in an otherwise stellar cast is Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate; while she contributes a decent layer of humanity to the multimillionaire, this is never developed far enough for her to sit at an equal level with the other supporting characters, making the secret twist in the film’s final act lack impact.

‘’The Dark Knight Rises’’ provides an emotional and worthy end to the legend Nolan created six years ago; from here Batman may go on another extended hiatus but the legacy and status given to the caped crusader is undeniably tense, exciting and altogether well told.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars