The Dark Knight Rises

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Seen July 21st, 2012 in RPX at Regal Fenway 13

*NOTE: I don't consider anything I've written below a spoiler - I'm not talking about intimate plot details or reveals. However, there are some pieces from this movie that, when discussed, may give you a pretty good idea of the film's direction. So if you draw a conclusion because of something I write and it turns out you're correct, don't say I didn't warn you.*

I'm not sure this quite qualifies as a review as much as a collection of my thoughts on the film and the series as a whole, but being so driven to write after coming home from a movie happens so rarely anymore, so I'm just going to run with it.

Much will be made of the conclusion of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. I suspect lots of well-deserved good things will be said. There will be some bad things said as well - to that, I can only say that everyone is entitled to their opinion. I know only what I saw, heard and felt, and I witnessed one thing that tells me that Nolan's film is a winner.

I've never seen, nor did I ever expect to see, so many people cry in a Batman movie.

Now, it's not all that surprising, I suppose. Nolan and Christian Bale's version of the Dark Knight has been a very different take from the very beginning. He's vulnerable, flawed, and so very, very human. And between the first two movies and this one, there's been over seven and a half hours to connect with him. What's astonishing is how well Bale makes that an incredibly difficult task until the very end. Every time you get close to identifying with Bruce Wayne in this series, he tends to go and do something deeply stupid to screw it up. Finally, in The Dark Knight Rises, you're able to feel for Wayne, because he's finally allowed to truly put on the table all the pain and suffering he's endured, and be weak because of it.

Of course, that's not to say he doesn't get over it when he has to...

The best part of this movie is that Nolan couldn't have possibly made it without making Batman Begins and The Dark Knight first. In one respect, it's a true sequel, drawing closely from the world and relationships established in the first two films to color its entirely self-sustaining story. There are strong ties to both Begins and Dark Knight, though I think it ends much more firmly connected to the first. That in itself is something that franchises run into trouble with, particularly action/adventure/superhero movies - this is not just another tale from Batman's long history featuring a new villain. In order to fully appreciate it, you need the understanding of some of these characters that can only be gained from the first two. But more than that, this movie reveals Nolan's plan for the franchise, and the Batman character as a whole. The strongest point of Batman Begins was its origin story, the birth of the hero. The Dark Knight outlined the villain, so strongly epitomized by Heath Ledger's Joker. It's important to specify that brilliant though Ledger's portrayal of the iconic archenemy is, "The Joker" is not the villain that Nolan needed to define in that movie. It's less about the actual man, and more about understanding what type of man would serve as the villain - the lengths they were willing to go to, the amount they were willing to risk, and their motivations for doing so. All of those elements set the standard for Tom Hardy's Bane, but more importantly, it draws the tightrope-thin line that divides these villains from Batman and Bruce Wayne himself.

So if the first two films established those standards, then The Dark Knight Rises establishes the stakes of the battle and wages the war. Because despite being "about" Batman, this movie is about Gotham. The whole series has positioned Gotham as the logically-derived theoretical end point of America's current social and economic predicament - a jewel of a city celebrated by those who can enjoy it, and whose weight crushes an ever-growing number who cannot. For all three movies, that unsustainable tension has been at the boiling point, and it takes very little for Bane and his backers to supply the small push needed to break. Much of the movie focuses on the backlash against the upper class, though the warning is blunted a bit since the "oppressed" used are, for the most part, rightfully-convicted criminals. But not all. There's one scene during the breaking that shows horrendous acts being carried out by prisoners as an in-uniform doorman does the same side by side. While the orange jumpsuits give a small barrier, look closely enough, and it's not hard to see some version of our own future, defined only by how far some of the marginalized are willing to be pushed.

Even more telling about Nolan's final Batman film is how little Batman is actually seen in it. I've always marveled that in Begins, the first shot of Bruce Wayne in the costume comes a full hour into the movie. Nolan was very dedicated to establishing how that persona came to be before we got the payoff of watching him jump off buildings and hit things. The same goes here - so much precious time is spent showing exactly why Gotham needs to be saved, and who it needs to be saved from, before the hero has an opportunity to do it. Ironically, my mind goes to the end of Marvel's The Avengers, when someone asks Nick Fury how he knows the supergroup will be back. His response is simply, "Because we'll need them to." Nolan painstakingly establishes his city in peril, all the while building up the people who would be integral in saving it. It's a beautifully planned trek through the muck to get to the icon, and it works, because when Batman finally comes in to save the day, we know exactly why; we know what is at stake and how it came to be endangered. The city's savior could not have returned at any other time, nor could it be anyone other than Batman. It's a phenomenal commitment to world- and conflict-building that is unparalleled in any other franchise that I can think of.

As expected, your normal cinematic elements are airtight as well. Bale's Bruce Wayne is still deeply layered and interesting, as are the people he surrounds himself with. In each of the movies, someone close to Wayne has been tested by his methods and disregard for law in the face of what is right or necessary, though the test in Rises is much more personal, heartbreaking and effective than the other two, great though they were. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman (neé Selina Kyle) doesn't fit as cleanly into the overall arc of the films, but she's a still fun addition that gives Batman both a foil and an ally as needed. There are enough hints of a backstory to keep her interesting and to tie her into Gotham's story, though not really enough to warrant another disappointing spinoff. Much focus has been placed on Joseph Gordon-Levitt's previously-unknown beat cop and how he may factor into the Batman canon, but his strength comes from being a phenomenally relatable everyman. Levitt plays John Blake so cool and controlled that in the rare moments when he does break out, whether from frustration or awe, it's really fantastic. I've been a huge fan of his for a long time, and between this and Inception he's finally begun to be the star he's capable of being. I guess I owe a lot to Nolan for that one...


But as always, Nolan's role as writer-director is what ties everything together, and he's done it masterfully once again. He has woven these stories, settings and characters together in such a way that links them inextricably - this story could only be about Batman, and only Batman could fit into this world. It's something he could only achieve by knowing exactly where his story begins and ends, and planning it to fit that structure from the very beginning. I'll be incredibly interested to see where Nolan goes next - what Nolan will be allowed to do because of his success with this trilogy really has no boundary; his is a blank check that will undoubtedly be paid in full once the project hits the screen.


I'm sure I'm not the first to make this comparison online (I haven't looked), but it's sort of unavoidable for me. Nolan laid out a three-part structure in The Prestige. How Begins is the Pledge and Dark Knight the Turn could each be a discussion unto themselves, but there's no doubt that Rises is the Prestige for Nolan. This film will be the one that lingers. Origin stories may be judged by Begins, and villains may be compared to Ledger's Joker. But more than anything else, Nolan delivers a complete, fully-functioning story arc in Rises, and I would guess manages to keep everyone happy. Fans of both the movies and Batman's comic-based canonic legacy can all leave happy. Nolan even manages to keep Warner Brothers happy, since he leaves the door open for someone else to pick up the franchise without another reboot, if they so choose.


And let's be honest - we all know they will. Nolan's legacy, his prestige, is how incredibly daunting those shoes will be to fill.