The Dark Knight Rises
It's time for the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. However, does this movie help Batman go out with a bang, or should it have ended at The Dark Knight? Let's find out.
Eight years after the events of the previous movie, crime has been at an all time low thanks to the Harvey Dent act. However, a new villain has arrived to terrorize everyone. His name is Bane (Tom Hardy) and everyone wants to know what's behind the mask he wears. However, he doesn't have time or really care to tell them since he crashes the plane he was on. Later on, a ceremony is held in remembrance of Harvey Dent and for others to talk about how much they hate Batman (Christian Bale) since they blame him for Dent's Murder.Bruce has since hung up his cape and hasn't found a whole lot he can do with his life. However, a thief, Selina (Anne Hathaway), tries to steal some of Bruce's jewelry. She escapes, but Bruce goes to the Batcave to figure out who she was. After some time passes, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) is informed that Bane is residing in the sewers. So he and a group of police officers enter the sewers, but are quickly overtaken by Bane's henchmen. They take Gordon to Bane, but he manages to escape from them after someone shoots him. He stays in a hospital and Bruce decides to pay him a visit. They discuss Batman and if he should return. Bruce ultimately decides he should, so he sets out to defeat Bane.
From the moment I saw the first trailer of this movie, I had two issues that I hoped would be fixed by the time I saw it. Bane's voice and Catwoman's outfit. In early trailers of the movie, Bane was nearly impossible to hear, but thankfully they fixed it. Now instead of sounding like a mumbling idiot, he sounds and looks like a destroyer. As for Catwoman's outfit, they actually got creative with it. While it's not the full on cover that most of us are used to when we think of Catwoman, the placement of everything and how all the different parts of her suit work is fascinating. There's actually a reason why the mask only covers her eyes and not most of her head. Something else I really liked was that this movie did seem to focus more on Bruce Wayne rather than Batman, meaning there's some more time for the last bit of character development, but comes at a sacrifice to the action, which I can accept since it improves the story. I also really liked the ending to the movie. It does end the Batman trilogy, but leaves it open just enough for a sequel series.
However, I do have quite a few problems with this movie. Let's start off with our main villain, Bane. While Bane's voice made him sound evil and his muscular physique and mask made him look evil, his actions didn't really reflect any of that. Pardon this segment since there will be a lot of comparisons to the previous film, The Dark Knight. As I was saying, all Bane really does in this movie is dislocate some of Bruce's bones, throw him in a pit, and then blow up a football field in order to inflict fear into the people of Gotham. Sounds all well and good, but compare these actions to those of the Joker and Two-Face from the previous film. The Joker was a sadistic man who wanted to destroy Batman mentally instead of physically. He did everything in his power to get Batman to break his one rule, which is he will never kill someone. He does a lot of damage to Batman without really ever fighting him. Joker wanted to prove to the people of Gotham that even their precious symbol of peace could become dangerously insane, which you could argue one way or the other if he did accomplish that or not. Then look at Two-Face. He pretty much threatened anyone that he thought played a part in causing his injury or any other pain he suffers from. This leads to a lot of people dying and a confrontation or two with Batman, but not a whole lot of fighting went on. Bane is different. He just wants Gotham to be in ruins for no real reason other than it's what his master wants. He states that he wants the people of Gotham to be in control instead of the rich and the police, but what does he do other than terrorize Gotham? This brings me to my next issue, the title. Usually, the word "Rises" has to do with overcoming or returning. However, where does that happen here? If the title is about Bruce's journey to become Batman again, then that's only in the first half hour. So it must be Batman having to overcome his fear to protect those he cares for. Well all that leads up to is a few lines of dialogue that don't really mean much of anything. Now for some problems I had with the story, namely two gigantic plot holes that never get answered. First off is my problem with the Pit. Why is no one guarding this thing? Most of the people in Gotham and most likely nearby cities of the Pit know that someone has escaped before. This is a place for some of the worst people in the world, or at least in India. So why does no one guard this thing in case another person does actually get out? It just makes no sense. What makes even less sense is when Bruce returns to Gotham later in the movie. Once Bane takes over Gotham, he blows the bridges that connect the city to the mainland, except for one that's guarded by both Bane's men and some military personnel that Bane has convinced to work for him. Now with this set up and knowing that Bruce is outside of Gotham when this happens, how did he get back? You could argue that he just walked across the frozen river since it's winter when this happens, but the movie has already shown us that the ice is incredibly hard to walk on without falling in. Maybe he convinced the military men to let him pass. Well no since Bane said he'd blow up Gotham if they let anyone in. SO HOW DOES HE GET BACK?!?!?! This part has gone on for long enough, so I won't bother talking about the silly Batman voice being back annoying me.
So should you see The Dark Knight Rises? Well considering this was the most anticipated movie of the year for many, I highly doubt you haven't seen it already. If you haven't, I'd say if you're a big Batman fan that can overlook all the issues I had, go see it. It's not a terrible movie, but it's really underwhelming since it has to follow in the footsteps of the mighty Dark Knight.
Eight years after the events of the previous movie, crime has been at an all time low thanks to the Harvey Dent act. However, a new villain has arrived to terrorize everyone. His name is Bane (Tom Hardy) and everyone wants to know what's behind the mask he wears. However, he doesn't have time or really care to tell them since he crashes the plane he was on. Later on, a ceremony is held in remembrance of Harvey Dent and for others to talk about how much they hate Batman (Christian Bale) since they blame him for Dent's Murder.Bruce has since hung up his cape and hasn't found a whole lot he can do with his life. However, a thief, Selina (Anne Hathaway), tries to steal some of Bruce's jewelry. She escapes, but Bruce goes to the Batcave to figure out who she was. After some time passes, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) is informed that Bane is residing in the sewers. So he and a group of police officers enter the sewers, but are quickly overtaken by Bane's henchmen. They take Gordon to Bane, but he manages to escape from them after someone shoots him. He stays in a hospital and Bruce decides to pay him a visit. They discuss Batman and if he should return. Bruce ultimately decides he should, so he sets out to defeat Bane.
From the moment I saw the first trailer of this movie, I had two issues that I hoped would be fixed by the time I saw it. Bane's voice and Catwoman's outfit. In early trailers of the movie, Bane was nearly impossible to hear, but thankfully they fixed it. Now instead of sounding like a mumbling idiot, he sounds and looks like a destroyer. As for Catwoman's outfit, they actually got creative with it. While it's not the full on cover that most of us are used to when we think of Catwoman, the placement of everything and how all the different parts of her suit work is fascinating. There's actually a reason why the mask only covers her eyes and not most of her head. Something else I really liked was that this movie did seem to focus more on Bruce Wayne rather than Batman, meaning there's some more time for the last bit of character development, but comes at a sacrifice to the action, which I can accept since it improves the story. I also really liked the ending to the movie. It does end the Batman trilogy, but leaves it open just enough for a sequel series.
However, I do have quite a few problems with this movie. Let's start off with our main villain, Bane. While Bane's voice made him sound evil and his muscular physique and mask made him look evil, his actions didn't really reflect any of that. Pardon this segment since there will be a lot of comparisons to the previous film, The Dark Knight. As I was saying, all Bane really does in this movie is dislocate some of Bruce's bones, throw him in a pit, and then blow up a football field in order to inflict fear into the people of Gotham. Sounds all well and good, but compare these actions to those of the Joker and Two-Face from the previous film. The Joker was a sadistic man who wanted to destroy Batman mentally instead of physically. He did everything in his power to get Batman to break his one rule, which is he will never kill someone. He does a lot of damage to Batman without really ever fighting him. Joker wanted to prove to the people of Gotham that even their precious symbol of peace could become dangerously insane, which you could argue one way or the other if he did accomplish that or not. Then look at Two-Face. He pretty much threatened anyone that he thought played a part in causing his injury or any other pain he suffers from. This leads to a lot of people dying and a confrontation or two with Batman, but not a whole lot of fighting went on. Bane is different. He just wants Gotham to be in ruins for no real reason other than it's what his master wants. He states that he wants the people of Gotham to be in control instead of the rich and the police, but what does he do other than terrorize Gotham? This brings me to my next issue, the title. Usually, the word "Rises" has to do with overcoming or returning. However, where does that happen here? If the title is about Bruce's journey to become Batman again, then that's only in the first half hour. So it must be Batman having to overcome his fear to protect those he cares for. Well all that leads up to is a few lines of dialogue that don't really mean much of anything. Now for some problems I had with the story, namely two gigantic plot holes that never get answered. First off is my problem with the Pit. Why is no one guarding this thing? Most of the people in Gotham and most likely nearby cities of the Pit know that someone has escaped before. This is a place for some of the worst people in the world, or at least in India. So why does no one guard this thing in case another person does actually get out? It just makes no sense. What makes even less sense is when Bruce returns to Gotham later in the movie. Once Bane takes over Gotham, he blows the bridges that connect the city to the mainland, except for one that's guarded by both Bane's men and some military personnel that Bane has convinced to work for him. Now with this set up and knowing that Bruce is outside of Gotham when this happens, how did he get back? You could argue that he just walked across the frozen river since it's winter when this happens, but the movie has already shown us that the ice is incredibly hard to walk on without falling in. Maybe he convinced the military men to let him pass. Well no since Bane said he'd blow up Gotham if they let anyone in. SO HOW DOES HE GET BACK?!?!?! This part has gone on for long enough, so I won't bother talking about the silly Batman voice being back annoying me.
So should you see The Dark Knight Rises? Well considering this was the most anticipated movie of the year for many, I highly doubt you haven't seen it already. If you haven't, I'd say if you're a big Batman fan that can overlook all the issues I had, go see it. It's not a terrible movie, but it's really underwhelming since it has to follow in the footsteps of the mighty Dark Knight.