12, 2012, Directed by
Christopher Nolan
Starring: Christian
Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman
When Christopher Nolan unveiled his incarnation of the caped
crusader upon the unsuspecting world in 2005’s Batman Begins, it is doubtful that anybody – let’s craftily include
Warner Bros in that – anticipated the extent to which Nolan’s talents would
enthral the globe. The Dark Knight
followed in 2008, resetting the precedent to a seemingly-insurmountable height
(not solely due to the late Heath Ledger’s unforgettable Academy Award-winning
turn as The Joker); and now The Dark
Knight Rises, the final part of Nolan’s ‘planned’ trilogy of Batman films, providing closure on an
epic scale to a series of films, that has already edged its way into the
history books (record-breaking sales for the BFI Imax – days before release.)
It may be easy to assume that this is going to be a showstopper...but the
question remains, is it much cop?
Four words: Of course
it is.
The beauty of the
trilogy is that these have not merely been Batman
films, but Chris Nolan films, a true filmmaker in the purest sense. This guy,
in an industry progressively growing more obsessed with 3D, refreshingly sets
out to craft standalone flicks as they were always meant to be seen. Not to say
The Dark Knight Rises stands on its
own two feet, mind; if Begins was the
prologue that moulded Bruce Wayne into more than just a billionaire playboy
that dons a batsuit, but something the past entries in the sparse Bat universe
have somewhat lacked: a character, then The
Dark Knight took Wayne’s ideals and, through The Joker, pushed them to the
very edge of what he believed in most. This means Rises is the (164 minute) epilogue, profiling the conclusion to
Bruce Wayne’s story, concluding where the previous left off but coming full
circle also to tie up loose ends you never imagined required tying.
From the offset, the
feeling of finality feels imminent with every new scene. This is helped
largely, perhaps, by the big bad at the centre of the piece: Bane. Churning out
dialogue behind a horrifying-looking mask that only Nolan would be brave enough
to put on a central villain in the most anticipated film of the year, Tom Hardy
does all that is needed using his voice over expression. Yes, it might be
difficult to hear what he’s bleedin’ saying sometimes, but you can tell from
the reactions of peripheral characters that it probably isn’t nice. And all the
more reason for a re-watch, to catch what you might not have heard before. An
element depicted to near-perfection here is the overwhelming danger surrounding
Bruce Wayne; it is staggeringly difficult to recall the last film witnessed
where you truly fear for the hero’s safety as unrelentingly as you do here.
Bane is a monster, a monster that wants – and probably could – break the
Batman. Here, an unstoppable force seriously does meet an immovable object.
Welcome returns from Michael Caine's loyal and
emotionally-invested butler Alfred providing much of the film’s (at times) overwhelming
emotion, an enlarged role for Morgan Freeman's Lucius Fox (handed one of the
film's best lines), not to mention Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon, haunted
by the lie he covered up to protect the name of Harvey Dent. But of the mix-bag
of new characters introduced, the standout - and surprisingly, yet savvily most
underused - is awarded to Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle. Crucially never once
referred to as Catwoman, she is - as you’d expect from Nolan’s Gotham -
grounded with a form of rationality, a feisty, charismatic thief who sets the
screen alight and successfully saves the comic tone for when it is needed. But
be under no allusion - this film is dark. Mention to Nolan-alumni Joseph
Gordon-Levitt (as good, young cop John Blake) and Marion Cotillard (love and
business interest, Miranda Tate) who both slot into proceedings well, regardless
of fear of one too many new characters being introduced. These characters, at
times, both aid Bruce in reminding him what his father taught him: why do we fall?
'So we can learn to pick
ourselves up’. Or, in other words, Rise.
And when Bale’s Dark Knight
Rises, he soars. The action is ramped up, with Nolan further proving he can
shoot an on-location fistfight between a thousand extras as fluidly as he can
shoot a conversation between two - without losing momentum, either. It is the
merging of these two elements that have shaped these series of films into the
phenomenon they are, with every viewer hanging on every word the brothers Nolan
put into their script, co-written with David S. Goyer; Rises is an episode fans have been waiting on for four years.
When all is said and
done, the trilogy's conclusion must sadly draw to its inevitable close before
outstaying its welcome. Once the film's visually emotive and resonant final
climax transpires in an ending (kind of) not dissimilar to that of Inception, with Hans Zimmer’s two-note Batman motif bursting from the speakers
consequently leaving all hairs on the back of your neck on end – only then will
it hit you with the force of Bane’s fist: Nolan has not only reinvented a
franchise, but a genre – and with it, crafted what will endure as the defining
trilogy of our generation.
5/5
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