The Dark Knight Rises

I better start by declaring that I am no fan of super-hero movies. Men and woman in improbable costumes, often with unexplained powers, prancing around uttering breathless dialogue supported by shitloads of CGI. No thanks, although I would make an exception for the recent, rather fine, Chronicle. I also better declare that I am a fan of director Christopher Nolan. He had me at Memento and as far as I am concerned he has never made a bad film. He serves up lashings of entertainment without treating his audience like simpletons; so when he took on the Batman franchise and delivered Batman Begins, I went along for the ride. It was good, but The Dark Knight was even better; helped by the stand-out performance by the sadly late Heath Ledger as The Joker. A hard act to follow, but now we have the final film in the trilogy; The Dark Knight Rises.

Eight years on from The Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne is a broken man. Batman is retired, which does give an opportunity for Christian Bale to act rather than grunt, and time to fill in some character alongside his faithful servant Alfred, reprised by Michael Caine. It takes the arrival of a thug by the name of Bane to waken him from his apathy. Bane is played by Tom Hardy, who can certainly act (watch Bronson) but spends more time grunting than acting courtesy of a face mask.

Also in the mix is Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle (a.k.a. Catwoman). I recall the collective groans when she was originally cast, what a terrible choice to put a piece of fluff in such an important role. But she turns out to be the star of the show. Sexy, funny and smart and, as she who must be obeyed remarked afterwards, displaying all the characteristics of a cat by being told what to do and then going off and doing precisely what she wants. She also gets some of the best lines:

“There’s a storm coming Mister Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Cause when it hits, you’re all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.”

The storm comes courtesy of Bane, who creates an uprising in a disaffected Gotham city managed by the corrupt, the idle and the rich. It’s the Arab Spring meets Al-Qaeda meets Occupy Wall Street meets the French Revolution. There are riots, looting and kangaroo courts where Cillian Murphy dispenses rough justice with the option of “exile or death”, with the former being, literally, a more chilly alternative to Eddie Izzards’s cake or death.

What we need is Batman to rise and sort out the mess; but he is busy being stuck in a hole with Tom Conti playing Tom Conti with an accent; the only mis-step in the casting.

As is traditional, the last section of the movie brings everything to a conclusion, and it is a satisfying mix of action, reveals and resolution; such that it is hard not to leave the theatre without the feeling that Nolan closed out his trilogy with some elegance, while leaving space for the franchise to continue.

I must admit I left feeling a little disappointed; but it is hard to pinpoint why. At 164 minutes, it’s a longer sit than my bladder can manage, but I was never bored. The acting is first class, the script is solid and the plot is a little fussy but ties it all up nicely at the end. There are themes relevant to the state of the world running through the film which Nolan offers for our consideration without taking a stance. And it is of course beautifully made. Perhaps it was the lack of any really memorable moments (like the Joker blowing up a hospital in Dark Knight), or the lack of a character such as the Joker to lighten the consistently gloomy mood. Perhaps I just need to watch it again, preferably on IMAX.

She who must be obeyed was more effusive. “I can’t wait to see the next one with Batman and X and X” (characters removed to avoid spoilers). She may have to wait a while. Whatever you think of the final instalment, Nolan has taken the Batman franchise and explored the man behind the mask more than ever before, and perhaps truer to the spirit of a character devised in the dark days of 1939. He has also delivered three cracking action movies that have made huge amounts of money at the box office. It will be a brave director who chooses to follow him.

Comments 🔗

2012-07-20 | Grant says

Sadly he has also risen in Denver, Colorado. I’m no fan of superhero movies either, especially when thanks to some weird homicidal maniac life imitates art in such a dreadful way…

2012-07-20 | Clive says

See, you can’t go quoting Eddie Izzard sketches in an article without mentioning “Death Star Canteen”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw

And I wonder if it’s possible if Spike’s cat isn’t related to Simon’s Cat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s13dLaTIHSg

2012-07-21 | Spike says

Come now Grant, an intelligent man like yourself can do better than that; you sound like the Daily Mail. Let’s not forget to also blame video games and heavy metal music whilst ignoring the elephant in the room.

There have always been deranged people, and if you put them in a country that allows the purchase of four guns by a single person is a two month period, including an assault rifle with a circular magazine that can hold 100 bullets; this is the inevitable result. Has happened before, will happen again, and no amount of hand-wringing and finger pointing at popular culture is going to stop it.

2012-07-21 | Spike says

I think I just did.

Startling resemblance to one of our cats.

2012-07-21 | Spike says

With this mentality, there is no hope: Luke O’Dell, a spokesman for the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners, a Colorado-based group that fights gun control measures, said private gun restrictions may well have had “tragic consequences” in the shootings. He noted that the theater chain that owns the Aurora movie house bans firearms on the premises, and said that if other patrons had been legally able to carry weapons, the death toll might have been less.

2012-07-21 | Clive says

There is always hope, it’s just that it might not always be quite what you expected. As the old saying goes, “Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.”

In this case, the hope is that those stoopid enough to think that it is still OK to carry firearms in a reasonable and allegedly civilised 21st society will, in true Darwinian fashion, remove themselves from the gene pool. [Sadly, that might take a while].

Exhibit One for the “In Favour” camp:

http://www.snopes.com/crime/dumdum/gunshop.asp

2012-07-21 | Clive says

21st Century

Doh!

2012-07-22 | Grant says

Thank you for the comment, flattery will get you everywhere. I’ve never heard the Daily Mail, so I don’t know what it sounds like. What I would have said, and didn’t because it was very early in the morning and I had an aeroplane to catch, is that for me superhero movies, action movies, and indeed as I get older any movie that has almost any degree of special effects at all come across as just so much light-weight pointless rubbish. Thank Dog what’s left of the British film industry is still capable of turning out, from time to time, charming and lovely little movies which still make full use of that whole sub-nation of splendid character actors which only Britain seems able to produce. These are the movies I want to watch in my dotage, not infantile deranged criminal superhero action crap made for vacant minds by greasy cynics.

2012-07-22 | Grant says

Mr O’Dell is clearly a gun-hugging nut-case of the first order. Reading between his lines, it is possible that his preferred outcome may have been a fire-fight, I think they call it. Wouldn’t THAT have been worth filming…

2012-07-22 | Spike says

While I can assure you that Mr. Nolan has never made anything for vacant minds, perhaps more pleasing to your taste would be the utterly charming “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” which features, in no obvious order, Judi Dench, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith and many other familiar faces. Remember who recommended it to you.

2012-07-22 | Grant says

Already seen it old chap, twice. Exactly to sort of movie to which I refer, proves my point, case rested.

2012-07-23 | TheSon says

“any movie that has almost any degree of special effects at all come across as just so much light-weight pointless rubbish.” .. wow.

2012-07-23 | Spike says

Indeed, quite an extreme view. Pretty much eliminates many of the best-loved films of the last forty years. Forget a great script, score, cinematography, acting, directing, story; it’s all for nothing if you use special effects. I went to see the Dark Knight Rises again today, .Enjoyed it more than the first viewing.

2012-07-24 | Grant says

Extreme views are a useful mechanism for stimulating debate and discussion, provided people are prepared to be more than just reactive. My own views, of course, are much more moderate…

2012-07-24 | TheSon says

Ohhh, I didn’t realise you were simply an internet troll. Good one!