The Dark Knight Rises [M]

Since the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent eight years ago, Gotham City has been living peacefully with the absence of Batman and eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne. But from underground rises a new villain called Bane, once a member of the League of Shadows, who plans to tell Gotham the truth about their White Knight, “liberate” the people, and then rid them of their corruption once and for all, continuing the work of his mentor whom Batman killed years ago. Now, with the help of a seductive cat thief, the Dark Knight must come out of the shadows and save Gotham City, one last time. 

The final instalment in Christopher Nolan’s dark trilogy of the Caped Crusader, The Dark Knight Rises is just as thrilling and great an action movie as its predecessors, though more in keeping with the steps of the first movie and lacking in the awesomeness that was provided in the second by the late Heath Ledger (may he rest in peace). Nevertheless, this much-anticipated climatic end to the trilogy is well worth taking the time to sit down and watch because, like Nolan’s previous Batman movies, it’s pretty damned rippin’. 

Since the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent eight years ago, Gotham City has been living peacefully with the absence of Batman and eccentric billionaire Bruce Wayne. But from underground rises a new villain called Bane, once a member of the League of Shadows, who plans to tell Gotham the truth about their White Knight, “liberate” the people, and then rid them of their corruption once and for all, continuing the work of his mentor whom Batman killed years ago. Now, with the help of a seductive cat thief, the Dark Knight must come out of the shadows and save Gotham City, one last time. 

The basic style of the movie is very much the same as its predecessors; Nolan’s dark and gritty timbre make his movie’s easy to spot. The story, co-written by Nolan with his brother, is packed to bursting with unforeseen twists and turns, which makes it a fine action/thriller and not some mindless action superhero movie, which none of these ever were to be honest. 

I do have to say though that the ending, to a certain level, sort of sucked (for want of a better word). This is just my personal opinion, but I found the last 5-7 minutes of the movie to be unbelievably predictable and glossed over with a thick coating of Hollywood hope: that stupid and annoying everything-seems-lost-but-then-there’s-a-sentence-or-glimpse-of-something-that-preempts-maybe-a-follow-on. I honestly cannot wait for the day when someone makes a wholly real and depressing movie with no hopeful ending and see how the American audiences take that! Because, and I’m not trying to be offensive here, but the whole Hollywood hopeful ending is primarily an American thing, audiences in the Land of the Free can’t really deal with something without a happy and hopeful ending. 

Having bitched to my heart’s content about the ending, I still maintain that this movie is pretty damned fantastic. The achievements in technology and special effects are every bit as mind blowing as they were in the first two movies and special applause has to go to Tom Hardy who plays Bane. Tom delivered a most memorable performance; unfathomable and liberating, a bit like a cross between Robin Hood and V from V For Vendetta and, to be honest, the story felt that it was a bit of a cross between those two stories as well…with an unforeseen dosage of revenge thrown in there for more spice. 

Starring Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Caine, The Dark Knight Rises is a great end to a fantastically dark trilogy, filled with heaps of action, amazing special effects, incredible gadgets, memorable performances, romance, and a very good script. Aside from the predictable ending, which just made me burst out laughing, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and will be adding it to the collection.