The Dark Knight Rises

"What does it mean?" "Rise." Prisoners chant in an old language, encouraging, or taunting, the ones who risk everything for freedom. To an untrained ear, it sounds like they are chanting for the broken city, This is Gotham. No, this is Nolan. Rounding out the epic trilogy of Bruce Wayne in glorious fashion. It's the rare second sequel, the coups de grâce of filmmaking. This is Batman.


Set eight years after the events of the second film, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has become an eccentric recluse. He has given up the cape so the world can believe that Batman was the one that murdered Harvey Dent. Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) has to live in the public eye, lying to the people about Harvey's death so that the city can be tough on crime. The organised crime syndicates are dead and the lowlifes and criminals that aren't in jail have moved into Gotham's massive underground tunnels. 


And who is there organizing them? The partially masked villain Bane (Tom Hardy). Famous for being the comic book villain that broke Batman's back, Bane was reduced to henchman status in Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever. Now, thankfully, Nolan has returned Bane to one of Batman's most feared enemies. His plan is to cutoff Gotham from the rest of the world and hold them hostage just to eventually finish them off like Ra's al Ghul wanted in the first film.


Oh yes, The Dark Knight Rises connects very deeply to the first film in the franchise. There is little to no reference to the second film beyond Harvey Dent's death. This is out of respect for Heath Ledger's passing. In some ways it is a bad choice, Heath Ledger was such a pivotal part of the second film, but in others it is a great choice because we have returned to Batman's roots. What makes him tick and if his unwillingness to die shows him to be the craziest of all.


Fans of Nolan's visual style will be pleased. Explosions and grand set pieces abound. Most with the backdrop of the great city of New York. It really is hard to differentiate Gotham and the NYC. The massive fight outside of city hall between the police and Bane's thugs is an epic background to one of the best superhero/supervillian throwdowns of all time. If you are like me, the appearance of the batwing in the trailer was the greatest thing to happen in a movie trailer. Nolan uses the batwing (called just The Bat) gratuitously. Any chance that Batman has to climb into it, he will.


The worst part about The Avengers was the villain. Loki was a very intimidating bad guy. There is no such problem with Bane. Tom Hardy really worked out for the part. The man is massive. And the facemask choice is top notch. Much better than the comic book's Luchador mask. Bane's dialogue is always in short bursts, but what he leaves unsaid is much more powerful than what he says. He boils down the essentials to their ugliest, barest form. Bane is the only bad guy that really makes me fear for Batman's safety. Not only is he smart and calculating, he is Batman's physical match, and in many ways, his superior. He is evil personified. Not just chaos, not just lunacy like the Joker. But the embodiment of the wrong in the world.


Anne Hathaway, surprisingly, plays a top notch catwoman. She was the part I feared for the most in this film. But she really nailed it, playing the sometimes good sometimes bad heroine. 


The problem with a film like this, and any film that takes place years later, is the exposition needed. Clocking in at around 2 hours and 45 minutes, Batman is a hefty view. But even so, I felt it was too short. This feels like the fourth film in the franchise. Like we are missing the third one somewhere along the way. Characters blatantly state morals or reference donning masks like its a common expression. With so many characters running around, like Joseph Gordon Levitt's Officer Blake, many of them don't have time for character development and need to explain their entire motivation in one scene.


But all is forgiven. The gripes I have are overshadowed by the scale of it. The Dark Knight Rises is a great film. This trilogy has raised the bar for superhero movies and the genre in general. It is deep, it is thoughtful and it is one of the most entertaining films of the year. It can get cheesy and there were times when Bale's deep Batman voice made me laugh, but you won't find a film that will cause more discussion about the coolness of the batwing and the degradation of society at the same time. If you haven't already seen it, get to a theater and enjoy one of the best examples of modern filmmaking out there.


He is risen indeed.


3.5 out of 4 stars


-Christopher O'Connell