The Dark Knight Rises!

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2012)

The Dark Knight Rises! Christopher Nolan knows how to do an entrance. Think Dark Knight and now this - yeah he does. Nolan also does character development better than anyone who has ever done a superhero movie. Even the most passionate B-grade-one-liner-lover can't doubt that. Chris and his brother (Jonathan) gel well - it's a mixture of true literary writing and a brilliant director's eye. It's like a symphony... you'll have the cello keeping beat and building and then the violin breaking out into a solo and bringing it to a crescendo.
It's easy to create a bad guy who seems unable to defeat... it's hard to create a three dimensional protagonist who gives you enough to chew on for three installments. Bale plays Batman well, and Wayne perfectly. I know Nolan uses the same actors all the time (soon his extras will be repeat offenders) but Bale is a lock. And the character development here is brilliant. But as someone with a reconstructed knee I did look at Wayne at the beginning with his bad leg and rolled my eyes thinking, if you had no cartilage in your knee then you just couldn't do that stuff... but I guess that isn't the most unbelievable thing about the movie :P. I can roll with it.
Interesting to see Wayne 8 years on as the modern Howard Hughes recluse! Maybe we saw it coming after The Dark Knight - with his lady and Batman gone his life was gone. And Catwoman made everything intriguing at the start... but for me she paled after that.
I said Nolan does character development well... and he does... but Catwoman was like fat-free ice cream. I can't blame Hathaway, she did all she could with the part. But for me Catwoman didn't HAVE to be in the movie and if I feel that about a character then I very rarely like them. She was somewhat... insignificant. Yeah she had some cool moves I suppose and she plays a part in the ending (but I won't spoil it).
The script - love it. He managed to keep the base superhero one liners in there, while also spicing things up with great conversations, philosophical ideas and political ideology. He likes to have an anarchist dig, doesn't he? This one reminded me of the uprisings in Russia between 1918-1921 and the Eastern Europe uprisings in the 80s-90s. I don't think Nolan does this poorly but it wasn't as good as the point Joker was trying to get across in the last flick. Have a watch and decide. That brings me to Bane...
What an entrance. And then Bane builds... his moves... his aggression... his background... it just sweeps you off your feet. And I started to think, this could be as good as Joker! But then it changes (I wont reveal it). Glorified bodyguard. Enough said. :( ... he should have been so much more. However I do like how Nolan carefully plans things so that you just don't see twists coming! The tie in between the first movie and the last worked. It's intriguing and as a famous film guru said, if you let the audience add 2+2 and get 4 then they'll love you. What he is saying is that if the audience feels they can put the pieces together then they'll love your movie. It flatters the ego ;) One of the reasons I want to watch it again is for the machinery! I remember reading in the Empire magazine about the machinery and all the work that was put in... it paid off! That bike looks even better than last time, I could watch those wheels flip all day. The 'Bat' is wicked! But there was no real bat-mobile for this one... the streak has ended! Every movie had the black bat-mobile chase and now it's ended. Ended in style of course :P I'm not a rev head but that stuff was awesome.
One of my action movie die-hard mates says it was too unrealistic (and yet he watches Crocasaurus vs Sharktapus?!) and despite his hypocrisy he may have a semi-true point. It does get to the point in the movie where you take a deep breath and think, what else you want to throw in there?? But it's still better planned than other movies... and we can suspend our belief for a few hours.
It felt very long. Maybe cause the story time was long? And the Bruce Wayne build up was drawn out? It did feel long... but then again there was 20,000 ads before it started. I need to remind myself not to go to an opening night blockbuster again for that reason. I'm willing to let Nolan take his time to finish though since apparently it is his last Batman. :'( I am amazed at how well minor characters are acted and developed. Gordon, Fox and Alfred are wonderful. Three fantastic actors who don't mind playing a smaller (but still significant) part to put together a great movie. Feels like you have to have this for a movie to become a classic in its genre.
Visually it was stunning. I don't know how they collapse a football stadium or bridges quite like that - and my mind will never understand it. So I'll just go "woahhhhhh" with the others! I can't believe one day people will see that and chuckle! What a movie. It's not as good as Dark Knight but will there ever be a superhero movie to match it?? If Bane kept developing and didn't have to fade into oblivion then it might have done more for me. And if Gotham didn't turn into a silly "war" then I probably would have dug it more. And for the love of God please kill Scarecrow!!!! Oh I almost forgot, smooth line with introducing Robin at the end.
Good acting. Great script. Tremendous cinematography.
9/10