A Flawed, Disappointing End to the Trilogy

Rating: 7/10 (4 September 2012)

"The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) is the third and final film in Christopher Nolan's trilogy about the comic book superhero Batman, created in 1939 by Bill Finger and Bob Kane. The franchise, starting in 2005 with "Batman Begins" and continuing in "The Dark Knight" (2008) is brought to a conclusion, and traditional Hollywood thinking is used by the Warner Bros. Studio here: everything is bigger, louder and more explosive and with higher stakes than before. Yet this expansionism hasn't translated into greater quality; if anything, it is the most flawed of the trio. Continuity errors, plot holes and logic defying events plague the film incessantly. The screenplay, by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, feels like it is two or three drafts away from being a finished product. Geopolitical significance is constantly strived for, especially in the latter part of the film, yet it fails to fully grasp its own half-articulated ideas and ends feeling like the pat, smug "safe" hawkish ideologies of a studio executive more interested in profit margins than ideas. All these mistakes are a repetition of the previous entry in the series; in many ways this perfectly encapsulates Hollywood: nothing forgotten, nothing learnt.
Still, Nolan's direction is as impressive as ever, really delivering in the large scale set pieces that dot the picture. He brings a real energy to the screen that almost papers over the cracks in the story. The dynamic action scenes are hardly original though and the opening sequence is straight out of a James Bond movie.
The acting is generally of a high standard, with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Tom Hardy all very good. Unfortunately, the Oscar winning Marion Cotillard is given nothing to do and struggles to create a performance out of a poorly written character.
The cinematography by Academy Award winner Wally Pfister is good and a cut above the usual standard found in the average superhero blockbuster, the same of which can be said for the editing by Lee Smith and the booming music score of Hans Zimmer.
If then this climax to the Batman series is a disappointment, torpedoed by a below par script, then at least Christopher Nolan directs so well that you will be immersed in the film to the point where perhaps you will be more forgiving of its flaws and be swept along by this enjoyable spectacle.