The Dark Knight Rises
2012
D: Christopher Nolan
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Pros: Cinematography, Some Memorable Moments, Bane
Cons: Silly Story, Fight Choreography
It’s another 10-year anniversary, and this time I’m reviewing another movie I have not watched all the way through in that timeframe. It’s not the most professional thing to do, but I’m a busy dragon. When the Dark Knight Rises came out, it was considered a massive disappointment for many Batman fans. Those of us raised on BATS had a pretty good idea of how franchise canon was supposed to be, and the first two Nolan movies did a good job staying true to that while being distinctive adaptatations. Rises, on the other hand, ignored much of the franchise themes and turned Batman into an epic trilogy. In recent years I’ve become less exacting about such things, but this movie pushes that. I don’t think Batman would be the one to retire young after faking his death. It also doesn’t help that the movie simply wasn’t that good, either.
Not only does it disappoint based on franchise standards, it also fell somewhat short in its own continuity. The teaser made this movie look far more serious and suspenseful than it ended up being; with a pathetically hospitalized Gordon’s (Gary Oldman) begging Batman (Christian Bale) to help after what seemed like a brutal beating from Bane (he got better rather quickly). The end of Dark Knight also suggested an awesome one-man war between Batman and the police, only for Rises to reveal that Bruce Wayne had been pouting for nine years with a worn-out knee in spite of that inactivity. Unfortunately, he also bankrupted Wayne Enterprises because he forgot to stop diverting money from it to fund his now nonexistent crusade.
Providing aid to him during this trying time is Wayne Enterprises CEO Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), who romances and has sex with Bruce. She turns out to be Talia Al-Ghul, and she’s been manipulating him as part of her plot to carry out her father’s plans to destroy Gotham, a goal which is completely pointless since the GPD have effectively solved the city’s problems by now. For all his talent, Nolan, among others, seems to be under this strange impression that Cotillard is good for playing sultry femme fatales. She’s far too cute for that role, and it’s very awkward to see her in it. She also has a remarkably laughable death scene in this film.
Carrying out her plans is Bane (Tom Hardy). For anyone familiar with this mastermind from the comics, it was very disappointing for the movie’s twist to be that he was merely a competent executor of the actual mastermind’s evil plan. Many were also put off by the whitewashing. Still, Bane seems to have stood the test of time as memorable character. A lot of this was due to Tom Hardy’s creative contributions, such as the voice, the mannerisms, and the eccentric love for knitting. While he’s believable in the role, Hardy’s performance isn’t too impressive from an acting perspective. Bane also boasts a cool character design courtesy of designer Lindy Hemming. In keeping with the series’ more mundane setting, the Venom has been replaced by anesthetic gas meant to keep Bane’s constant pain in check. It would have made more sense, while being more in keeping with the original design, for his mask to feature a pipe, though. Bane’s backstory features a strange role reversal in the Al-Ghuls’ attitude toward him. Ra’s Al-Ghul (Liam Neeson) rejected Bane because he reminded him too much of his dead wife (more so than his own daughter) for some nonsense reason. Despite the movie’s departures from Batman canon, its biggest objective flaw was the obligatory shoehorning of an iconic moment from the comics into an incompatible plot. Bane does break Batman’s back, but Batman recovers strangely fast from it, and without proper medical care no less.
Other cast members include a competent version of Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), and a young cop named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Blake seems like a rather disposable character, but there’s a twist at the end which suggests that he finds the Batcave and becomes the new Batman. In a remarkable failure of fanservice, his real name is revealed to be “Robin.” Ben Mendelsohn is entertaining as John Daggett, a corrupt businessman who is an unwitting pawn in the evil plan. Michael Caine is good as Alfred, and his poignant confession that he failed to protect Bruce by allowing him to become Batman is one of the better parts of the movie. A surprisingly effective arc comes from top cop Peter Foley (Matthew Modine), who starts out the movie as somewhat pusillanimous, only to die selflessly in the final confrontation. Other cast members include Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.
Despite the movie’s flaws, it’s a very well-paced and engaging story with high stakes. The villains free prisoners and exploit class discontent to create the illusion of far-left revolution, when in reality they intend to nuke the city. A solid “fascist” theme that was timely considering the Occupy Wall Street movement. There’s also a surprisingly realistic message in which Batman cannot escape a prison’s pit unless he removes a safety harness. Despite many lofty ideas of heroism, ultimately the strongest instinct is self-preservation. Bruce realizes he will always fail the test if he knows he can do it again. In order to save Gotham, he removes that possibility.
The movie’s visuals are wonderful. Nolan’s faithful cinematographer Wally Pfister provides a distinctive look, and the director’s insistence on practical effects sets the movie apart from other superhero movies. The one moment of terrible CGI was this scene which is literally as goofy as anything that happened in Batman & Robin. I was hoping that the effect was simply unfinished when I saw the trailer but apparently they actually went with that in the movie.
Another visual problem with the movie was its terrible fight choreography. Nolan was always great at things like car chases, but he would usually resort to shakycam when fists started flying. When he began to forsake that crutch it unfortunately revealed his weaknesses. This, however, turned out to be a step in the right direction, as he had definitely learned to fix this problem by Tenet. It’s really nice to see a great director acknowledge his shortcomings and improve upon them, and it goes to show that even the masters have something to learn.
The score is very good, with Hans Zimmer's returning to a more epic, melodic approach after the Dark Knight.
Dark Knight Rises isn’t great, but it was still watchable. It helps that there are plenty of memorable lines in it, which is more than I can say for the more blandly competent Batman (2022). Even Christopher Nolan’s bad movies are still enjoyable.
