It comes as no great surprise that after a stunning track record of great movies, including his two previous Batman films, that Christopher Nolan once again delivers the good (and then some) with the conclusion of his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. While many will miss Heath Ledger’s turn as the Joker, some will find the pace too deliberate in the first couple of acts and the tone far gloomier than might be their preference, but there’s no doubt that the film delivers the goods in the emotion and spectacle departments.
As with Nolan’s other films there’s an awful lot going on during the film, working on multiple character arcs, various story strands and exploring many different themes throughout the duration and it’s a huge pleasure that the man doesn’t treat his audience like idiots. While many of the film’s detractors have savaged the film for various reasons, let’s remember this is no Revenge Of The Fallen or Batman & Robin; this is intelligent, art-house film-making on an unprecedented blockbuster scale and the rarity and joy of that fact should not get lost because certain expectations were not met.
The story of The Dark Knight Rises brings the trilogy full circle with a return to The League Of Shadows who dominated Batman Begins. It feels like a proper sequel to both Batman Begins (Bruce Wayne’s story arc is constantly referenced back to the 2005 origin film) and it continues the story of 2008’s The Dark Knight by examining in detail the consequences of the death of Gotham District Attorney Harvey Dent, and the decision that was made to pin the blame on the Batman. In look, Rises like a midway point between Begins and Knight having the more comic book feel of Begins while retaining the more realistic location shooting of Knight. In terms of tone, Rises is by far the least positive of the three, being far darker, more intense, less humorous (although there is traces of dark wit) with the stakes far, far bigger than ever before. Grim, serious and epic don’t begin to cover it.
Technically the film is a marvel being the most beautifully shot, the most impressively designed and the most impressive stunt work of the three. Cinematographer Wally Pfister is a genius and should be referred to as such in all future reviews, the sets are epic and even Bondian in nature from the gigantic prison where Wayne is confined to in the second act and the network of huge underground locations from the nuclear laboratory, the new Batcave, Bane’s lair as well as the vast array of tunnel systems that are hidden beneath Gotham. Stunt wise the opening hijack sequence (pretty much the best Bond pre-title set-piece never shot) takes some beating but an epic car chase an hour in as well as a brutal convoy chase near the climax ensures that bone-crunching, non-CGI action remains at the forefront of the series reputation for bruising, realistic set-pieces. The action is also the most superior of the three films, with the camera content to stand back and let the bruising fights play out in all their glory, rather than the frenzied, fast cutting close ups of Batman Begins.
The returning cast have never been better. Christian Bale in the dual role of Bruce Wayne and Batman returns to the fore of the story after sharing the plot with Harvey Dent and the Joker last time around, and demonstrating like never before why he was the absolute perfect actor to take on the lead character in Nolan’s Bat-franchise. He’s on superb, award winning form as he ably portrays Wayne journey from physically and mentally scarred recluse to reinvigorated badass Batman. Anne Hathaway is excellent as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, in role that requires extreme subtlety and depth, while Joseph Gordon-Levitt mirrors his Inception role with a performance that’s equally stoic and heroic. Tom Hardy makes a brilliant villain as the masked brute Bane. He might be less complex and quirky than Heath Ledger’s Joker but he makes up for it with the sheer raw presence of his physicality and vocal dominance. And yes, you can hear what he’s saying through the mask. Come Oscar time though, I think it will be Michael Caine’s moving performance as Alfred that will get the Academy’s attention. He show an, as yet, unseen side to Alfred that’s very moving and a powerful contributor to the success of the telling of Bruce Wayne’s journey.
With this being the concluding chapter of this trilogy the story doesn’t have quite the original edge that it’s predecessor had, but that’s just fine since the story they are telling is toweringly mythic. Structurally Rises reminds me of a lot of existing plots covering lots of different forms of storytelling. In terms of comics, Rises lifts elements directly from Batman stories Knightfall (the introduction of Bane) and No Man’s Land (Gotham is cut off from the rest of the world). Nolan himself has confirmed that A Tale Of Two Cities is heavily referenced throughout Rises it being a similar story about a man sacrificing himself for another (of sorts) so that they can find peace, in the face of violent revolution. And oddly, it also reminds me of a few completely unrelated films. There’s a Die Hard With A Vengeance vibe to Rises which is down to a Stock Exchange-centric caper that masks the true intentions of the bad guys who are holding the city hostage while a lone hero tries to foil their plan. And now the Dark Knight franchise has reached a third entry, it’s also reminiscent of The Matrix trilogy where the three films were about birth, life and death respectively. Sam Raimi’s Spider-man 2 is a similar comic-book movie in which all elements of the hero’s life are gradually striped away from him whether it’s love, money or health. And with America’s largest metropolis cut off, isolated and controlled by murderous criminals it has a distinct Escape From New York feel, right down to the bassy, electronic score by Hans Zimmer.
Perhaps most bizarrely, the Rocky films feel like they’re familiar stable mates too! From Rocky III there’s the parallel that the hero has two face to face fights with his nemesis; losing the first and winning the second. It has a Rocky IV feel as the hero’s opponent is seemingly superhuman and invincible. It echoes Rocky Balboa as the hero is now a fighter way past his prime, gets to fight a superior adversary which ends in him both winning and losing. And finally there’s Rocky V, in which there hero goes bankrupt, is confirmed to have brain damage (due to his earlier bouts) and goes onto have a brutal street fight in the finale! Who knew Christopher Nolan was such a big Stallone fan!
As with all Christopher Nolan films, the scripts are epic, emotionally rich and character-centric yet structurally tight as a tiger. Every scene is essentially and attempts to have multiple purposes to move the complex story along as simply, as richly and as swiftly as possible. Take the party at Wayne Manor at the beginning of the film. Apart from Bane and Blake, it sets in motion ALL of the character arcs of the film as well as the more initial, subtle strands of the League Of Shadows plot to take down Wayne/Batman and Gotham. Key elements are reused for different purposes to make the story as lean as possible. Take the concept and use of orphans. It’s used to create a common connection between Wayne and Blake, so they can be used as workers for Bane’s master plan, so they can be used to put Blake in a moral dilema at the film’s climax, to highlight the economic woes facing the poor and needy in Gotham, to highlight the idea of ‘Batman as Legend’ and if the mythic figure will be returning. And it also allows us to see the events in Gotham through the eyes of a normal citizen.
Rises also has a literal’ ticking bomb’ plot which adds tension once the true nature of Bane’s plan becomes clear.
Thematically, there’s a lot going on.
1/ Rises. The fact that the word ‘rises’ is in the title is no mistake as the central idea of ’upward mobility’ is key to what is happening on a micro and macroscopic scale. This can either mean literally as Wayne seeks to climb out of the Prison where’s he’s been sent to rot or socially as Selina Kyle hopes to acquire wealth and riches to move up the class system.
2/ Socialism vs. Capitalism. Much of the political subtext of Rises seems to be a warning of the dangers of socialist populism when taken to the extreme. In Rises case, a society in Gotham is created where everybody appears to be equal. Except, as is always the case as history has taught us, it is co-opted by a totalitarian regime for its own uses. We’re also shown the flipside of this through corporate big shot Taggert, who isn’t interested in investments that are for the betterment of mankind (the clean fusion reactor) but those which selfishly line his own pocket. If socialism is about the good of people as a group and capitalism is about the good of the individual then perhaps Rises is suggesting that both are true. In the endgame Gotham comes together and rises against the tyranny, and within that collective it is individuals that make change happen. It’s a familiar tale that Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and many others have used over the years that we can come together to defeat evil and that the individual can make a difference. Batman can be anyone, we’re told, as can the masked Bane, the mysterious
Ra's al Ghul (and his offspring) as well as the unknown triggerman to the apocalyptic neutron bomb. We can all be game changers.
3/ Politics. There’s a lot of political references to past and present events that informs Rises back story. The Harvey Dent Act which has allowed the streets of Gotham to be cleaned of organised crime is both a reference to the freedom impingements of the Patriot Act as well as the current US policies to detain terror suspects indefinitely at Guantanamo Prison. It’s a vision of America in which an uprising, of the like which has swept across the Middle East in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, takes hold and what that might be like. It reflects our current Wikileaks culture where defenders of government transparency expose major lies which have been keeping the people in check as Bane exposes Commissioner Gordon’s lie regarding Harvey Dent’s squeaky clean image. Terrorism once again gets a look in as Bane is the ultimate suicide bomber, not one with a strip of dynamite strapped to his chest, but one with a nuclear fusion device. The Occupy / 99% movement is reflected in the anti-capitalist stance that Bane and his buddies take, but one that’s mixed with a more edgy, dangerous and radical feel of the Tea Party movement from a few years back if the gun loving, God fearing extremists had their way.
4/ Mythology. Batman, as the story is played out here is a reworking of the hero myth, or “Jesus allegory Batman” to put it simply. By the end of the first act, Bruce Wayne has lost his entire wealth; he’s a man of the people. His quest to fulfil his life leads him into a cave (thanks to the misdirection of a trickster) where he must face his greatest fear from which he will eventually be reborn. He gives his life for the betterment of all, ascends to a place of self-contentment with the promise that he could return from death in a second coming to save us all. Afterward, his image and his symbol inspire hope in others as well as inspiring others to do good deeds as he once did. That sounds pretty biblical to me.
5/ Redemption. A lot of the characters in Rises are looking for a way out and for some kind of redemption. In Bruce Wayne’s case his way out was represented in The Dark Knight by Rachel who was then killed in that film. Now, although he doesn’t realise it, he doesn’t resist dying as a way out until he realises that his life is something worth fighting for. Selina Kyle craves a new start as well although she is constantly torn about which is the most moral way to achieve this. Commissioner Gordon is looking for a way out from the guilt regarding his and Batman’s lie about the true nature of Harvey Dent. John Blake needs a way out from the shackles of a justice system which keeps his ‘hot-headed’ nature in check. Even Alfred, frustrated and desperate, needs a way out in order to try to save his beloved Master Wayne. All these characters are alone in life. Wayne and Alfred leave each other, Gordon’s family have left him, Blake is an orphan and Selina pushes everyone away or betrays them. Even Talia’s parents are murdered and Bane is hinted at having an unrequited love of the girl he has selflessly dedicated himself to protect.
6/ Equals & Opposites. In many ways Bane and Talia are shown to be the counterparts to Bruce Wayne and Batman. Bane is Batman’s opposite; trained also by the League Of Shadows and he dwells underground in a lair with a waterfall, yet he has more bat mobiles than Batman and is significantly stronger. Talia is Bruce Wayne’s counterpart; both have murdered parents, both have sworn revenge and allegiance to an ideology and both are considerably rich business-persons, although with completely opposing goals for the fusion reactor project.
7/ Fire & Ice. The ice motif becomes a recurring aspect throughout the story. It perhaps describes the mental state of Bruce Wayne who has remained socially and professionally ‘frozen’ over the last 8 years. The precarious nature of ice reflects the shrinking, unstable situation Selina finds herself in as her chances of a fresh start crumble beneath her feet which is represented literally as Gotham’s undesirables are forcibly ‘exiled’ across the crumbling frozen river. And the snow represents the winter that has both literally and metaphorically fallen over Gotham during Bane’s five month reign.
In contrast, fire represents change. Bane constantly refers to the rising fire…referencing the looming revolution, Batman uses it to signal his return and the uprising that follows. And Batman himself is engulfed in the ultimate explosion of fire, perhaps transitioning from life to heroic death (depending on how you read the end of the film).
7/ Hope & Truth. Perhaps the most prominent thread that runs through the film is the relationship between the truth and how that impacts hope. In The Dark Knight several characters decide not to tell the truth so that it may inspire hope in others. Gordon and Batman lie about Harvey Dent’s murderous nature so that the Dent Act can be passes, bringing peace and hope to a criminally overrun city. Alfred denies Bruce Wayne the truth about Rachel’s true feeling about him so that Bruce would continue in his hope that he would someday, post Batman, be together with her. The script explores the consequences of those lies as they burden each of the characters as well as how hope can be used as a weapon by denying it when its promise seems so close. Bane keeps Wayne in a prison where he can build up his hope before killing him. He also does the same on a larger scale with Gotham, giving them the hope of equality before blowing them to atoms.
It also shows the positives of creating hope from lies in the finale as Blake is put in a position where he chooses to lie to the school bus full of orphans about their survival chances to create hope in what he believes will be their final moments.
One of the best things about Nolan movies is that he has often strived for the films to actually become what they are about thematically. For instance, Inception was about the perception of reality. It’s final shot left us thinking about whether we had perceived Inception itself as ‘reality’ or whether the whole thing was just a dream of the main character. And Memento’s story was about a man who could only remember the last ten minutes, therefore it was edited in ten minute chunks so that we experienced it as the main character did. At the end of Rises, a film about hope in all its different forms, we have a scene which Alfred sees Bruce Wayne alive and well. Rather cunningly, Nolan doesn’t tell us whether this is the truth (he’s alive) or a lie (it’s part of Alfred’s imagination as set up in the first half an hour). Are we being given hope or is it a false hope? That, it would seem, is always the question.
The Dark Knight Rises
is a belter of a film emotionally, significantly more so than its two predecessor which had their moments too. With this being the final chapter of the Nolan Bat-universe and with the very presence of Bane (known from the comics as the man who broke the bat’s back) the stakes are considerably raised this time out. The focus is back on Christian Bale again (for the better) and the character arc he has to travel, from broken recluse to resurrected saviour, is much more satisfying emotionally than ever before.
You get to see the end of a great saga with Bruce Wayne’s idea ultimately paying off; Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle, Matthew Modine’s shallow cop and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Blake are all inspired by the Batman, just as he was intended to, and that’s a damn fine thing to witness after seven years of investment in these films. And that final scene, with Blake (his real name now revealed) rising triumphantly out of shot, now that my friends is one hell of a way to end a movie.
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