The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Christopher Nolan
Story: Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer
Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard 
 Music: Hans Zimmer
Time: 165 minutes
Bottom-line: The dark knight rises; the movie doesn’t

  Christopher Nolan returns to the batman trilogy after four years, to complete this epic series. Statistics say that he was initially reluctant to direct the third installment, and in my opinion, he should have left it there instead of going on to direct. As a concluding film, it is very good: it ends the series on a satisfactory manner (about which I have written more below). As a film by itself, it is disappointing.

Eight years after Harvey Dent’s death (the last four words give away a major twist of the second film), organized crime has almost been wiped out from Gotham city. Yet, feeling guilty for Dent’s crimes, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) writes his resignation, along with the truth about Dent. Bruce Wayne (Bale) has become a recluse and Batman is nowhere to be seen. Cat burglar Selina Kyle (Hathaway) steals Bruce’s fingerprints and gives them to his rival, in hope of having her criminal record erased. Meanwhile, a new villain: a masked man called Bane (Hardy) captures Gordon, who is eventually rescued by Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), another officer. As Bruce discontinued his fusion reactor project, knowing the core could be weaponised, Wayne Enterprises also does not function. Fearing that Bane would take control over it, Bruce asks his friend Miranda Tate (Cotillard) to be in charge of the project. As the film progresses, Bane breaks Batman’s back and becomes a powerful villain who takes control over the entire Gotham city. Bane threatens the people by saying that he has activated the reactor core, which will destroy the whole city. Does Batman escape from the prison Bane has put him in, and rise as the dark knight? Or does Bane destroy Gotham? Watch the third and final Batman film to find the answers.                                         

The Dark Knight had a perfect villain; here, it is just another so called six-pack villain. The Joker was just an ordinary person in terms of muscle: he just targeted the mind of Batman as well as the others of Gotham. Here, Bane just uses raw power to take over the people, and this prevents the film from being as good as the second part. Also, what Nolan has done is that he has just added a new person to both the hero’s side and the villain’s side, kind of like Terminator 2. About the acting: no great acting by anyone in this film. Tom Hardy doesn’t come anywhere near Heath Ledger in terms of portraying a villain. And he doesn’t       even need to act in this film: the mask covers most of his face anyway! Only Anne Hathaway has done a decent job. 

Tom Hardy as Bane

The story is slow, compared to The Dark Knight. Like the second film, there is no flow of events: just lot of unconnected tracks. Here is a comparison between the second film and this one: in The Dark Knight, Batman is still in Gotham City, rich and having access to all sorts of gadgets. Here, he is in a prison with a broken back. In both films, the villain gets the better of Batman initially; but the Joker could cripple Batman even when Batman had all the power he could, whereas here, Bane only takes control of the city when Batman is physically injured. That either makes Bane a weak villain or Batman an even weaker hero, which is kind of weird. 

Now, about the conclusion: Nolan said that he returned to the series for a second time (though initially reluctant) to end it on a satisfactory note, and that he has done well: he has shown how the lives of each character turns out. But, in the end of the second film, there is some ambiguity, which is the trademark of Nolan. Here, tying up everything ‘satisfactorily’ isn’t quite what I was expecting. I mean, where is the satisfactory ending in Memento and Inception? Why create a satisfactory ending only for this trilogy, when he could have still ended on a high note with The Dark Knight?                                               

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/ Cat Woman

Nolan’s collaboration with Zimmer has paid off well. Zimmer doesn’t disappoint here either: the score is very good. The action sequences have been filmed well, and the visual effects are also good. The scene when Bane escapes from the plane is thrilling to see. There is one huge twist in the film: the identity of the child who escaped from the prison Bruce was trapped in. This twist is pretty good.

To conclude, The Dark Knight Rises may be the best ending for the Batman trilogy, but the film by itself is certainly not one of Nolan’s best efforts. In my opinion, he could have ended it with The Dark Knight, but well, this film is not that much of a failure. It didn’t reach my expectations, but Nolan has done a fairly good job. The ending is good, though it is not what you expect from Nolan. Frankly, if you watched the first two films, you might as well watch this one too.

My Rating: 2.5/5
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 88%