SPOILER ALERT!
CRRAASSSH! BAM! POW! If these sounds get your blood flowing and your pupils dilated then I have the perfect movie for you. It’s the biggest, baddest, greatest comic book and film ever made... The Big Daddy of summer movie epics... Have I got your attention?? You have already seen two instalments of this comic book movie, one proved to be both stark and authentic, the next Oscar worthy. Now we await the crescendo to this epic trilogy. Christopher Nolan, director to both ‘Batman Begins’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ brings to you ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the last and final chapter to this postmodern epic of good versus multidimensional evil.
From the contradicting mix of repugnance and despair to the other extreme bursting with light and energy intertwined with a rich cast of twisted and bizarre characters which only adds to the effect of the film, this movie reeks of Christopher Nolan’s ability to combine civil-anarchy and mass destruction.
For the 2 hours and 45 minute running time, Nolan superbly juggles the main themes from the movie’s earlier instalments including the ‘The Dark Knight’ with the late Heath Ledger's masterful, Oscar- winning performance as the Joker, whose absence is sorely felt.
The movie starts eight years after the ‘The Dark Knight’ left off. Gotham city, the setting to all good and evil is peaceful and crime free through the Harvey Dent Act which gave authorities the power to eliminate organized crime. Batman, who allowed himself to be used as the scape goat for Dent’s crimes has disappeared in to the darkness along with his millionaire alter ego, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) who is a recluse leading a life of mysterious seclusion away from the public eye. The story line continues from the last movie which is what a concluding chapter from a trilogy movie should do and Christopher Nolan does that like a master in this movie.
The movie opens to a spectacular start with a mid-air plane hijacking which is transporting dangerous terrorists including the villain named Bane (Tom Hardy). A menacing man whose face though covered by a grille for majority of the movie is undeniably the biggest threat that Gotham has ever faced, and they do a really good job of illustrating that. He is intellectual; he is physically superior to Batman. However, if the Joker still remains your ultimate villain then Bane in reality, misses the mark!
Also along for the ride are the series regulars Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine), the butler, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the genius inventor Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). The film also supplies its host of new comers with the heroic young beat cop named Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who gives an endearing performance along with two potential love interests for Wayne with Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), a burglar referred to as Selina Kyle, who is both smart, manipulative, sexy and hot-headed and brings a light humour to an otherwise dark and sinister movie. The other woman is Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), a rich philanthropist who saves Wayne Enterprise when it is in financial ruins.
This movie unlike its predecessors does not have the undercurrent of humour in all its mesmerising action sequences but sticks to more serious drama which intensifies when the criminal mastermind Bane, executes a plan aimed at bringing Gotham to its knees with an assault on the Stock Exchange, theft of a nuclear device leading up to a familiar countdown to annihilation and continuous explosions. It is this mayhem that causes Bruce Wayne to come out of hiding and suit up.
The special effects are both breathtaking and outrageous with all the explosions and the multiple chases involving the armed motorcycle Bat-Pod and the cool new one-man jet/ chopper-like aircraft called The Bat that zooms through the city. In spite of all the effects and complex production used in this film, what you will not find is the hint of cheesiness or cartoonlike quality at any point in the movie.
Director Christopher Nolan may be the best storyteller in film today with his attention to detail adding a richness and pragmatism to his Batman films that didn’t exist previously. It is unquestionably a work of wonder at how each Batman movie has been so different but yet kept its core essence similar to one another. Nolan also has the ability, in all of his films, to make you connect with the characters.
The end of an era... I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect ending putting the Dark Knight Trilogy in the same league as Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. The movie stays action-packed with intelligence and visual grandeur taking this superhero film to stakes so high that just writing this gives me goose bumps.
Review by Karin Wijeratne
Await The Dark Knight Rises at Liberty Lite in September 2012!
The Dark Knight Rises
Action | Adventure | Drama
Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham's finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.
Release date: July 16, 2012 (initial release)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Running time: 165 minutes
Music: Hans Zimmer
Writers: Jonathan Nolan (screenplay), Christopher Nolan (screenplay)
Stars: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9DlV9qwtF0
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