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Review:
Grand, epic in scope but also unnecessarily bloated, The Dark Knight Rises is the final installment in the immensely popular and critically acclaimed Batman trilogy from writer / director Nolan. If it does cap off the best comic book adaptations ever put to the screen, this installment is the weakest of the bunch. Oh, there sure is plenty of eye candy to enjoy, from the luscious cinematography, to the blockbuster-level action sequences (a night chase across Gotham, the "money-shot" of a crumbling football field, etc.) all the way to the sleek new Bat-Plane and Hathaway's skin-tight leotard. Gone, however, is the multi-layered, complex tale of
The Dark Knight, replaced by a typically ludicrous one that's schizophrenic and convoluted even by comic book standards.
Nolan likes to plunge into the darker sides of human nature, here taking on
American greed and apathy; but the political and social commentaries (from Take Back Wall Street protests to fascist responses to 9/11 terrorism) only add shallow
sub-text instead of adding layers to the grandiose entertainment. At worse, there's a feeling that Nolan was tired of the character and was finalizing a contractual obligation. Setting up such epic melodrama on such a grand canvas seems to be too much - whereas the previous films took a more "serious" crime drama approach to the comic book material, this chapter seems to embrace the silliest things from the comic-books: a ridiculous plot to keep the city hostage for months on end, with a handful of criminals, with all the cops trapped under rubble (don't ask), all to take revenge against Bruce Wayne; it seems petty and complicated for that.
It's also at this point that the film loses all sense of urgency - the bad guys are just waiting for Batman to come back, so we get an abundance of sub-plots that could have been excised completely: Bruce Wayne in prison lock-up, a handful of cops leading a
resistance movement, the origins of the fusion bomb, etc. The climactic action sequence - as everyone runs around trying to disarm and otherwise stop the military truck carrying the fusion device - is well enough executed, but uninspiring
(Charlie's Angels 2's opening sequence did it better). As for the thundering score, it's terrific but so loud and overused that it drowns out the dialogue and sound effects.
The film is at its best when it works on a smaller scale, such as with the character relationships,
especially with the two new love interests, Cotillard's strong businesswoman for Bruce Wayne and Hathaway's fun and sexy jewel thief Catwoman for Batman, hinting at an interesting love triangle that, unfortunately, never materializes. The rest of the cast is also back, most in fine form; leading man Bale is convincing in both roles, Oldman is as good as ever as the Commissioner, and Caine and Freeman round out the supporting roles. Unfortunately, the characters we got to care about (Wayne, Alfred, ..) act in a way that confounds what we know of them, partly to get them to do what is required of the story instead of the other way around. As for
arch-nemesis Bane, the comic-book villain high on chemical-enhancing drugs, he's the man who (literally) broke Batman and you can feel the physical savageness in Tom Hardy's take on the character, yet when they fight, there's no feeling that he's a power-house or that every blow could crack bones.
What Nolan does set his sights on -
and mostly achieves - is bringing a bold, epic feel to the classic character
akin to a tale from Greek mythology. If much of this review seems negative, it's
because of the profound disappointment of getting served a story with so many
plot holes and lazy scripting, nowhere near topping Nolan's own masterful The
Dark Knight. The truth is that it's still boisterous, engaging stuff
that entertains and will surely please grownup, mainstream audiences.
Entertainment: 7/10
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