Fought in the Heart of Gotham Offers Heartless Glitz and Epic Scenes

Rating: 6/10 (23 July 2012)

I never believe the hype, for that is usually the greatest letdown of a film. I had heard the murmurings before I took my seat in the packed theatre to watch the final chapter of the Dark Knight trilogy, but kept my mind and eyes open until the 2 hour and 45 minute conclusion turned to black again, and the credits let me loose from my silence and my now well warmed cushioned chair.
As a director, Christopher Nolan, has had very few missteps if any before this. His track record includes some of the most interest, dark, original and unpredictable films out there. Even has he was given more money to make films, he never seemed to give up the integrity of giving us a great story, that felt real. Sure, it could be in a world of dreams or in the life of a man who short term memory or duelling magicians, it didn't matter, Nolan had that rare gift of making these other places tangible. On top of that, he made us care, infusing each of his characters with a soul or a believable soullessness.
This is what he did for the super hero genre, he gave it new life, made it feel possible, made it's villains seem like Manson or Bundy and made it's superheroes deep, powerful and yet frail with strife and morals. And while the explosions, the hand to hand comment and the gadgets kept us on the edge the entire time, the pay off in the previous two Dark Knight films, especially the second one, is that this sense of epicness was glued together by small scenes, real interactions, and heart.
Dark Knight Rises feels like a bunch of epic scenes stuck together in a plausible sequence of events. It all makes sense for a super hero movie, but unfortunately this finisher could not just be that. There is no heart, and while there are large, non-computerized crowds rioting in the real streets of New York, they just add to the scale of it all, as does CGI, as opposed to adding to the emotional backbone of this film. Bane is a scary dude. He seemed to have so much potential. The question on everyone's mind about him, would he top the Joker? The answer is no. It isn't Tom Hardy's fault, because the fault lies in his relationship with Batman. I won't give away too much, but there is just not that connection between Batman and Bane or Bane and his objective and while the film is long, there isn't time given to each of the characters to just speak from the heart. And while minor characters like Sir Ian's Alfred may weep, as an audience member, it just didn't seem justifiable or fulfilling as the whole before moment that built up to these supposedly emotional interactions is missing.
Everything else has been commented on. The acting was great. The scenes were epic. But the boat was missed. What happened to the long drawn out scenes with the awesome hand-held camera that felt like a member within the party that the Joker had interrupted? What happened to emotional back and forths that left me teeming with anger or excitement? They seemed to all be replaced with catch phrases, prepped one liners followed by a punch or a head butt. We are no longer invited to the party and must watch from a rather far distance, like Batman, on a screen what will transpire.
Has Nolan fallen off? No. This wasn't a terrible film. It just wasn't "it". It felt too much like a blockbuster, instead of kitchen sink drama. And while the pretty lights of the fireworks fascinate and amuse the masses, I guess I am just interested in the constant, less impressive stars that last for forever and make the sky as a whole a darkness that truly comes together and is filled to the brim with that something.