What Goes Up...

Rating: 8/10 (23 July 2012)

This film is recommended.
All the doom, gloom, and high energy action sequences are back in the conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. When we last left our caped crusader in the far superior second installment, The Dark Knight, he was the most conflicted of all anti-heroes. In this latest reincarnation, he remains that most conflicted and angst- ridden anti-hero whom moviegoers still worship and adore.
Some prior knowledge is in order as we begin this final chapter: Eight years ago, Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman ( Christian Bale ) was falsely accused of murdering District Attorney, Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-Face. That former White Knight is now considered a national hero while our Dark Knight has become a fugitive of the law. Gotham City has been surprisingly crime-free, all under the protective eye of Commissioner Gordon ( Gary Oldman ). A mopey and despondent billionaire playboy is under the care of his loyal butler, Alfred ( well played by Michael Caine ). His services no longer needed, Mr. Wayne has stowed away in the mansion all these years until his beloved city calls him back into duty along with that sporty new Batmobile and Batcycle gizmo accessories supplied by the innovative Lucius Fox ( Morgan Freeman ).
Enter the mysterious and psychotic villain...Bane, who name seems to be doing more harm than his actions these days. Bane, a muscle-head type garbed in Mad Max and Hannibal Lecter retro chic, wants to destroy the city by first destroying its financial infrastructure and then blowing up a football game which would get its citizens even more riled up. His motives and methods are unclear and his scheming not very clever ( and none of it makes any real sense by the film's conclusion either ).
This villain seems one-dimensional, an enigma so glum and serious, so dark and uninspiring, lacking anything redeeming for the moviegoer to relish and enjoy. He's all about inherent evil, all black and rotting, with no shades of gray in between. While there is a great deal of menace to the character, there is no real sense of humor or wit. As the role is written and acted by Tom Hardy, whose dialog is, at times, unintelligible, it pales in comparison with Ledger's brilliant turn as the Joker. The costume itself may play to the back row but it physically muzzles the performance within. Perhaps, lessons on screen villainy and proper diction should have be administered by Professor Darth Vader. As it is, this is one of the weakest nemesis in years, and without that bad guy taking center stage, our good guy is fighting a minor skirmish with no genuine excitement. All that this Batman's foe turns out to be is a brutish thug with an overabundance of brawn and not much in the brain department.
Now, the film's director, the talented Christopher Nolan, does know how to effectively stage his set pieces to maximum effect and he choreographs the stunts and actions with much finesse, except for an overly long boxing match between the arch-rivals that lacks any exhilaration. It is a bit of a slugfest, sluggishly filmed. The film also loses a lot of momentum and adrenaline drive as our hero ( and the director ) simultaneously take their story in a direction that sacrifices logic at the midway point of the film. It is at this point that the film becomes so deadly serious and goes politically awry with its belabored Occupy Wall Street protests and French Revolutionary mentality, as does Christian Bale's interpretation of Batman, making him such a tortured, earnest, yet awfully dull lost soul.
Nolan adroitly adds some interesting new characters to this final installment: a dedicated young policemen named Blake ( a totally engaging Joseph Gordon-Levitt ) and another love interest for our hero named Miranda Tate ( Marion Cotillard ), a bewitching millionairess. And speaking of bewitching, Nolan re-introduces Bruce's purr-fic arch-rival, Selina a.k.a. Catwoman ( Anne Hathaway, stealing the film, with a mere wave of her claws ). The addition of this character into his series invigorates the film and complicates matters, adding some touches of needed humor.
There are moments in The Dark Knight Rises where Nolan's bright vision continues to shine through the shrouded darkness of a muddled story written by him and his brother, Jonathan ( i.e., the opening scenes of an aerial escape that rivals any stunt work in the James Bond franchise, his subtle use of The Star Spangled Banner as background music signaling the doom to come, the tension-filled terroristic assault and takeover of the Stock Exchange ). Yet all the nifty twists and reveals do little to build much suspense, even though Hans Zimmer's bombastic music score tries to singlehandedly signaled what the visual images should convincingly do on their own accord.
The Dark Knight Rises is a more than adequate send-off to one of Hollywood's more profitable trilogies. It entertains and satisfies. It has some thrilling sequences amid all the sound and needless fury. It gives the movie audience what it wants, an efficient action fantasy, but it never transcends the limits of its own hero's legendary vision or that of its gifted director. The Dark Knight Rises does, more often than not, rise to the occasion, but it stays too grounded in its own grim reality to truly let itself go. GRADE: B
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