A quick shout-out to jaded film types who think they have seen it all: think again.
Then go and see The Dark Knight Rises. Now you have seen it all. As you were, then.
Christopher Nolan changed everything when his Batman Begins
brought to life the Batman I’d always dreamed of — no, actually, that’s
not entirely correct, because the truth is that the Batman films I
dreamed of were nowhere close to as good as what Nolan created. But what
he created was the Batman I had been waiting for all my life, even
though I didn’t know precisely what it was I was waiting for. Batman
Begins made me feel, “This is Batman, this is what Batman was always
meant to be, what he has for 65 years been journeying toward, and now
he’s made whole at last.” So it was a shock when, in 2008, magic
happened and Batman got even better on film. The superhero in cinema was
redefined, the simple notion of “comic book genre” rendered obsolete,
by The Dark Knight.
It was a crime thriller, a police and gangster drama set in a world we
could recognize as very close to our own, and in which the main
character happened to wear a Batman costume. After seeing it, I had the
feeling that “my” Batman, the one I’d been waiting for, was now fully
formed, and I admit I didn’t know if it would be possible for any future
Batman films to live up to what The Dark Knight delivered.
So it is that I walked into the theater to see The Dark Knight Rises
with very mixed emotions. This was the end of an era, the final act in
the story of “my” Batman. The character whom I’d known and loved as a
child, who saved me on many occasions from sadness and let my
imagination grow to escape the confines of a small world, had come to be
embodied fully in this live-action incarnation that was everything I
could hope for in a Batman film series… but now it was all going to be
over in less than three hours’ time. I’d never again experience the
anticipation of this Batman returning, of walking into a theater with
this excitement for a new Nolan Batman movie. Something that had been
with me as long as I could remember had come to life in front of my eyes
as an adult, and now it was going to go away forever. As much as I was
excited and ready to see this film, then, I was also a little sad and
overwhelmed by the mixed feelings involved.
I also had some fear that it might just be impossible for any Batman film to have the same impact as The Dark Knight,
including but not limited to the obviously amazing and performance
delivered by the late Heath Ledger. He was mesmerizing, he was
surprising and beautiful, he was perfect. It’s a performance that helped
define The Dark Knight, and it came to represent just how
transcendent the film and the franchise had become. Without that — no,
in the shadow of that — could any sequel hope to compare? Might it try
too hard, push too far, and come up short?
The Dark Knight Rises does try hard, it does
push far, but it doesn’t come up short. Oh, no, it is not content to
merely be a worthy sequel, nor is it even content to be just a fitting
third chapter in a great trilogy. It is not, I tell you, even content to
dare to match the quality and brilliance of The Dark Knight.
This newest film tries harder, pushes farther, and comes up with the
finest Batman film of all time, the greatest superhero or comic book
adaptation of all time, and the best film of the year.
As
for the rest of us - especially those who appreciate an action
blockbuster with brains and brilliance to accompany the brawn - The Dark Knight Rises is a genuine wonder to behold.
To
complete his astonishingly ambitious Batman trilogy, filmmaker
Christopher Nolan swings for the fences as if his life and your faith in
major motion pictures depends on it. Not only does Nolan, as
they say, hit the ball right out of the park, he smacks the thing right
out of this world. As the stunning crescendo that ends The Dark Knight Rises reaches its absolute apex, your jaw will have already bought a one-way ticket to the floor.
Where to start in nailing how The Dark Knight Rises scores such a triumphant result?
An amazing screenplay is as good a place as any. With
so much to remind us of, and yet, so much fresh ground to cover, the
complex plotting of the tale is almost impossible to summarise.
It
is eight years since the tumult that closed The Dark Knight. With both
Batman and his alter ego, billionaire Bruce Wayne, living in
self-imposed exile, it will take a major catastrophe to bring them back
where they belong. It is only when Gotham City - looking more
like downtown New York than ever before - comes under threat from
nuclear-armed terrorists that the Caped Crusader elects to resume active
service. This only scrapes the surface of the immensely
involving tale in the offing here. The bad guys are led by a
metal-muzzled menace named Bane, a supremely confident anarchist who is
not in the business of making veiled threats. Indeed, by the halfway point of The Dark Knight Rises,
Bane and his army of followers have sealed off Gotham from the rest of
the world. In a matter of weeks, a reactor they have stolen from Bruce
Wayne's collapsed business will reach critical meltdown, killing
everyone within a 10km radius of its core.
Performances in The Dark Knight Rises are first-class, considering the daunting scale of the production in which they take place. Christian
Bale has been an anchoring presence across the Nolan trilogy, steadily
working on keeping "The Batman" (as he has been formally known in Gotham
throughout the series) both accessibly vulnerable and toweringly
formidable in the eyes of the viewer. Bale is challenged to
take the role to a whole new level in the closing act, and responds as
an actor of his fine calibre should. The breakout display on
the performance front is undoubtedly the incredible work of Tom Hardy as
the hulking master of chaos, Bane. The job of this character is to
provoke fear and fascination in equal parts.In spite of being
trapped behind an ungainly mask - and speaking in a voice that some
might call "Sean Connery does Darth Vader" - Hardy controls the force
and fury to be unleashed by Bane with a masterful hand.
Dig
deeper down the cast list and you still find plenty of gold. Michael
Caine as Alfred carries a clutch of genuinely emotional scenes with a
veteran's aplomb. Gary Old man has reduced duties this time around as
Commissioner Gordon, but gives great value when the chips are down.If
there is a polarising performance, it might be that of Anne Hathaway as
Selina Kyle (the nominal Cat woman of the piece, though the name is
never purred out loud). Hathaway is asked by Nolan to exude a
wisecracking brashness which is pretty much the only light relief to be
found in this very heavy movie. I thought she got away with a very
tricky job.
Visually, The Dark Knight Rises is an epic
spectacle that completely arrests the senses, but never overwhelms
them. The list of standout scenes is long, and beyond debate. To
quote but one example, the dramatic minutes where Bane unveils his nuke
to the survivors of a bomb blast at a packed football stadium are never
to be forgotten. I could go on and on. Let's just say that the special effects and the intricate action sequences they service in The Dark Knight Rises combine to take mainstream film making to a whole new level. The
highest compliment that can be paid to this extraordinary work is that
it simultaneously meets, raises and defies all expectations.
The Dark Knight Rises is probably the first sure-thing
nominee for Best Picture, and could earn Nolan his first Best Director
nod from the Academy as well. It’ll surely rack up plenty of other
nominations as well, including for cinematography, score, visual
effects, and editing. And as noted earlier, it deserves at least one
nomination for acting, for Mr. Bale.
Christopher Nolan gave us a definitive Batman on film, and he has now
given us the definitive end to the Batman legend. While I still have
that mix of feelings about the end of this film saga I’ve so loved, I
have no mixed feelings about how great a film this is or its status as
the best Batman film of all time. And whatever sadness I feel as we
leave the era of Christopher Nolan’s Batman behind, that sadness cannot
match the endless gratitude and immense joy I’ve felt watching this
franchise, a franchise that delivered at long last on the promises made
to me in my childhood many decades ago.
