The Dark Knight Rises review

Woohoo!! I got to watch this on Wednesday night at GSC Signatures

The epic conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy is finally here, after the awesome Batman Begins and the even more awesome The Dark Knight.

Is it a worthy conclusion? Read on to find out (Spoilers-free).

The new Bat signal was rather collateral-damage heavy on Gotham.

First of all, let's get it clear, this movie clocked in at 2 hours 45 minutes, before you go in, empty your bladders and get drinks. It's a long ride, not that most people will feel it.

So, anyways, without spoiling too much, the story goes like this:

8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne has not donned the mantle of Batman and has become a recluse, while Miranda Tate (Marion Cottilard) has been trying to get through to Bruce regarding a free-energy project.

Meanwhile, Bane is making his way to Gotham City.

And that's all you're getting from me, revealing anymore would be detrimental to your first-time viewing.

Overall, though, I have to say that the story is not that great, especially when compared to the previous two movies. 

There were plenty of plot holes in The Dark Knight Rises, though most of it occurs in the first half of the movie, and some of the plot points took some massive leaps of logic. Also, DKR introduces a few new characters, and time is divided to introduce them to the audience.

By the halfway point, everything kicks into high gear. I only remembered the plot holes AFTER the movie.

Bane: You need to see a doctor for throat cancer.
Batman: You need a hair transplant.

But, make no mistakes, it is still an epic conclusion, and quite satisfactory. 

It is the darkest entry to date, with plenty of downer moments and deaths.

The cast is, once again, excellent at what they do.

Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, has done a great job here as the older Bruce Wayne,  still feeling guilty over the incidents of The Dark Knight, particularly Harvey Dent's death. He has since become a recluse and has not moved on at all. DKR puts the emphasis back on Bruce Wayne/Batman, showing the effects being the legend has on on him and the people around him.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is also excellent as John Blake, a cop who gets promoted by Commissioner Gordon to detective. His character is somewhat a symbol of idealism, not unlike the traits shared by Bruce and Gordon during their early crime fighting years. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is starting to become one of my favorite actors.

Anne Hathaway makes a very compelling Selina Kyle/Catwoman. At first, I was a bit wary when news of Christopher Nolan cast her as Catwoman, but, I had faith in his choice. After all, so far his choice of actors and actresses has not failed at all. Why should this one?

DIBS.

Anne Hathaway once again proves that she's an extremely capable actress, hopefully all the fandumb will stop crying that franchise is ruined foreverrrrrrr.

>_>

Anyways, the other big bad of the movie is Bane, played by Tom Hardy. Many people have made jokes about how ridiculous his mask looks, but personally, I thought it looked unique. And, bloody hell, certainly looks better than the last one he had.

Amigo?

I felt that Tom Hardy played a very menacing Bane, especially with that British accent and very morbid sense of humor. He is also an excellent fighter, more than a match for Batman, which is saying something, considering that Batman has that tough ass body armor to protect him.

The only problem was that Bane had not much of a personality, the movie portrays him more like a force of nature. A very terrifying and effective force of nature though. If the CIA is scared shitless of this guy, then you know he's bad news.

Then there's Miranda Tate, played by Marion Cotillard, a eco-friendly minded member on the board of directors of Wayne Enterprises. Lucius Fox and Alfred both try to make Bruce go for her so that Bruce can finally have a LIFE and be happy and move on with it.

Dibs again.

Finally, we have Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman), Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), who return as the awesome old men. Unfortunately, they have smaller roles this time around to make more screen time for Bane, Miranda and John Blake.

Which is too bad, I especially enjoyed their performances despite their short appearances.

Also! Our favorite doctor, Doctor Johnathan Crane (aka Scarecrow) has a cameo. Definitely be on the lookout for him.

Special mention also goes towards Bruce Wayne's first outing as Batman, coming out from a long retirement.

IT. IS. FUCKING. AWESOME.

It's best described by one of the senior policeman on scene, who is genre savvy enough to recognise the significance of the sudden turn of events: "You're in for a hell of a show tonight, rookie!" (paraphrased, can't remember the exact quote)

The Dark Knight Rises has a lot of action scenes, all lovingly choreographed by Christopher Nolan.

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So is it any good? Yes, yes it is. Although, out of the three movies in the trilogy, I think that The Dark Knight Rises is the worst. But, to make it clear, I love the movie, but it's really a hard act to follow after The Dark Knight and the plot for this movie is not as good as Batman Begins, and the plotholes certainly didn't help.

Make no mistake though, it's still an awesome movie.

But, here's an even bigger question: Which is better? The Avengers, or The Dark Knight Rises? Some people may say that it's not a fair comparison, but let's face it, it will come up.

In my opinion? The Avengers is the better movie.

Point Marvel Comics.

This is not from a the fact that I'm a huge Avengers fan. But it's from this viewpoint: The Avengers set out to make what is basically a superhero crossover action movie, and it succeeded in that. It was fun, and it was freaking awesome. In that sense, The Avengers is a huge success and now Marvel is practically swimming in coins ala Scrooge McDuck style.

On the other hand, The Dark Knight Rises has issues with storyline and some scenes which were, unfortunately, a bit dumb for Nolan's standard.

You can argue that The Avengers also  has some silly/dumb movie moments, but it's not exactly rooted in realism like the way Nolan handles his movies.

Still, it's a very close call, and the comparison is basically between a one-man movie and a movie which brings together an entire team of superheroes. Seems a bit unfair, huh?

Regardless, The Dark Knight Rises is an extremely satisfying ending to a trilogy that basically helped to breath new life in the superhero genre movie. This is the last of Nolan's Batman movies, and the last in which Christian Bale plays Bruce Wayne.

Will it be a continuation after this? Or another reboot? Will DC finally make a Justice League movie?

We'll find out in a few years time.

In the meantime, go watch this.

The Legend Ends.