The Dark Knight Rises

Umm, weak photoshop much?

Well, it was fun while it lasted. In 2005 Christopher Nolan saved the Batman movie franchise with Batman Begins, a great film which reintroduced the character to Hollywood. I loved that movie, but the sequel, The Dark Knight stand as one of my favourite movies of all time. It's a genius film, although I don't have to tell anyone that: you've already seen it. This movie stands as my anticipated movie of all time. I spent four years waiting for this movie and analyzed every trailer and TV spot I saw. How did it stand up? Is it a worthy finale to this great trilogy? Sadly, no. Don't get me wrong: it is a great movie, better than Batman Begins, but could have been much, much better.

First off, the synopsis. Seven years after the end of The Dark Knight which saw Batman take the blame for the deaths of Two-Face's victims to protect Harvey Dent's reputation. Bruce retired the Batman persona and Gotham has cleaned up its crime to become a safe city. However, a mercenary named Bane is coming to Gotham, with an intention to take over the city. Add in mysterious cat burglar Selina Kyle (cough..... Catwoman.....cough cough...) and you have the basic and you have quite a situation. 

Now, for the good. Nolan directs the hell out of this movie. I would say it is more of an epic than a superhero movie. It's filmed mostly in IMAX, has tons of action and an overall larger scale than the previous movie. The action is very good and suspenseful. The fight scenes are great, and the climax is nothing short of spectacular. My favourite part was the first fight between Bane and Batman. Here is Bane:

Yeah, he's a pretty big guy. Much bigger than Batman, and the first fight is punishing. There is no music and the only sound effects are the punches being thrown. Actually, all of Bane's scenes are great. He is a very threatening villain with a great voice and persona. I liked him from the moment he speak. Catwoman is also very good. I felt Anne Hathaway was the standout performer here. She had a great character arc in the movie. Christian Bale is good as always, and his Batman voice didn't bother me as much as it did in the last movie. I felt Bruce's character arc was his best in the trilogy. I won't say much, but it is really well done, especially his "climb." Those who have seen the movie know what I mean. There was also a number of gems hidden throughout the movie, especially the final scene. I won't spoil it, but it brought a huge grin to my face.

Now for the issues. Two words: plot holes. This movies has tons of them. Some minor, some huge, all inexcusable. Watch the movie for yourself and count the plot holes. I expect better from Nolan, who has shown time and again he will only stand for the highest quality in films. These plot holes are obvious and should have been noticed. I also hated the character of Miranda Tate. She was okay until the "twist" at the end, a twist which would make M. Night Shamalyan shake his head. Why? Because I guessed it going into the movie. Her storyline was so obvious and yet they treated it like it was a big secret. Bane's motivation was also a problem. The Joker wanted to take over Gotham because he believed his life style of anarchy was the way to go and wanted to prove a world with rules is the only way to live. Bane was going to nuke Gotham because Batman killed Ra's Al Ghul in the first movie. That was the best they could come up? "Your punishment must be more severe." Not really. In fact, the "twist" shows Bane does not care about Ra's, or Batman for that matter. For a a goal he doesn't really care about, Bane sure seems invested. That "twist" was the biggest problem. I won't reveal it, but it really did take a lot out of the movie. Take it away and I think you could have a movie on par with The Dark Knight. The plot holes would still be there, but I could forgive that.

So in conclusion I loved this movie. It's flawed, but it is a good movie and a good end to the trilogy. It could have been better, but could have been much worse. Nolan proved he is a genius. I'm going to miss the trilogy. Bring on the Superman reboot!