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Mundane.

That’s my initial reaction to the conclusion of the Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises. 

To be fair, it is a monumental task to try to even come close to the lofty expectations that have been set by the masterpiece that is The Dark Knight. That movie worked for quite a few different reasons, the main one being how it managed to balance everything. The inspired and unmatched acting of Heath Ledger‘s portrayal of the Joker; The largesse conveyed through Christopher Nolan‘s particular style of filmmaking; the well-written script that powered the movie and among other things allowed Christian Bale to really grow into his character after the first instalment; and most importantly how it all tied together in the final act to bring us the proper, fitting conclusion that propels a movie like that to greatness.

Unfortunately, with The Dark Knight Rises we get a film from a filmmaker who has grown weary of his subject matter.

The plot is simple enough. It’s eight years on and we find Bruce Wayne (Bale) in seclusion as the rest of the Gotham applauds the myth of Harvey Dent. Gotham has the lowest crime rate ever as the police have been given sweeping powers to lock up every bad guy within city limits. Why do we need The Batman is the question they all have. All but Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) who knows the truth of what really happened. Never giving up, Gordon remains vigilant against crime knowing that it’s never really over as there is always a threat looming. In this case, his instincts are correct as this threat shows up in mercenary that is Bane. As Bane arrives in Gotham, so does this final chapter unfold.

There are SPOILERS in the rest of the review so stop reading this if you haven’t seen the film yet. If you have please scroll down.

Last Chance

The main problem I am having with The Dark Knight Rises is that when you are attempting to bring such an iconic character like Batman with such a rich history and a vault full of stories and villains to pull from, there is no reason whatsoever that any of the movies should simply be passable. Nolan conveyed that in Batman Begins and than elevated that in The Dark Knight. With The Dark Knight Rises, he seems to be phoning it in.

Don’t get me wrong. Technically, from a filmmaking perspective, the movie is fantastic. Nolan is a talent when it comes to the art and craft of filmmaking and that is easily conveyed here. Problem is the story. It is so bloated and tries to achieve so many things that it starts to implode on itself long before the climax of the movie hits. In fact, I found this particular film’s story so lazy that it is bordering on X-Men 3 travesty level. And that is saying something considering that the film is powered by a fantastic cast. Outside of giving us the great performances this amount of hype demands, their jobs also ended up being to ensure that this film didn’t fly off into the abyss it constantly teeters on.

Anne Hathaway‘s performance leads the way as she brings us an empowered and modern Selina Kyle who is equal to the task of working with the Bat. How her character is introduced is simply inspiring and one of the best things I have seen on film in a very long time.

Tom Hardy delivers an incredible turn as the baddie which struck me as being the same level of dread as when I first saw Darth Vader. Mask and augmented voice aside, his presence commanded a very particular type of attention and that is what makes us believe he is one of the few who can actually defeat Batman, (more on him later).

The nice surprise (but not really) is the performance given by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Not only is he a joy to watch, he manages to rise above the muddled mess that he finds himself in at some points to keep us on track. His dialogue and the leaps of faith we have to take with his character are too ridiculous, even for me who loves that kind of thing. In spite of that, he still manages to reel in all that crazy and provide us the beacon of light to follow through to the end.

And then there is the huge lost opportunity that is Marion Cotillard‘s character. I won’t go in to details, however when the reveal happens and the amount of time the movie spends on it, such a waste.

Which leads me to Michael Caine‘s Alfred. I love him in this film. He is absolutely brilliant as Alfred (as per usual). He is finally the Alfred we know in the comics. It’s a very tough task to be the heart and moral compass of Batman and that is what Alfred is. And this why when they take him away about a quarter of the way into the film, I knew we were in trouble. In fact, its at this point that the movie starts to teeter into that abyss I mentioned.

So what of Bale? That is a tougher one to call. He did a great job as Batman and an even better as Bruce Wayne. The difference is key to note as this was notsomuch a Batman film as it was a Bruce Wayne one. When I go in to see a movie about Batman, you would think there would be a lot of Batman actually in it. When the title character is relegated to a supporting role, it’s tough to assess the actor’s performance. In this case, I will give Bale a very enthusiastic pass in the same manner I did with JGL. He did well in spite of the mess around him.

Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon is great as expected as is the minimal time that Morgan Freeman‘s Lucius Fox is on the screen. We also get wonderful performances from a supporting cast that is led by Matthew Modine and includes some inspired casting in Burn Gorman, Nestor Carbonell, Brett Cullen, Juno Temple, William Devane and personal favourite Josh Stewart who plays Barsad, an excellent Lieutenant to Bane’s madness.

It really comes down to this. Sure there are some parts that are brilliantly epic, however like the movie itself you’re lead up to the water only to find a dry well. It never really gets there.

A perfect example is the scene we have seen in the trailer over and over again that starts with so much potential. We see thousands of polices officers lined far down the street (and watching it on the big screen, its even more impressive as those were all real people and not CGI) and then when they all start fighting, instead of this vast battlefield we get to absorb it cuts straight to the inevitable second fight between Batman and Bain. An opportunity wasted like many others.

Which leads me to the final act.

What a mess.

Basically we spent three hours waiting for this epic conclusion to happen and all we get is a stunted attempt at what the movie really should have been. Bane gets relegated back to Schumacher’s Batman and Robin level; one of the greatest characters in the Batman canon is reduced to an afterthought, really a Maguffin; and the main character simply just stops being all the things that we love about him. In fact, I think Batman was never really Batman in this film. His first fight with Bane was very unBatman-like and it just went downhill from there.

I did love the homage to Knightfall that Nolan threw in there. There were a bunch of other little nerd nuggets as well that I will leave up to you to find. Unfortunately, while the parts that delight do not make up for the problems that make the whole lacking, this is a fine film that by itself would be a fun watch. However with the expectations of the character of Batman coupled with Nolan’s vision (when he is inspired), this movie never really seems to get there.