'The Dark Knight Rises' misses greatness by a bats whisker

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2012)

The dark knight rises, is a pretty awesome movie. Batman meets a foe that is stronger than him, loses all to him and then has to struggle to rise against him. The theme of evil brewing under the city, the dark underbelly literally, is a powerful metaphor and adds to the ominous feel of the rise of the evil. You forget that this is a Superhero thriller, and are pulled into this gritty narrative of Gotham city about to be annihilated.
The theme of inequality in society is played up and seems like it has been inspired from recent events like Occupy wall street. As Selina the Catwoman says- 'There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because 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.' There is a sequence of the assault on stock exchange, the hatred for the rich, the summary judgements on the rich through public trials etc, a scene probably out of the Khmer Rouge, or even of the rise of Nazism. The evil rises in the context of social discontent, rising on a tide of public chaos but eventually you know that public has been led astray, as the evil is merely using this discontent to legitimise its control – an instructive lesson for most democracies everywhere I guess.
The remarkable feature of this Christopher Nolan movie is that even though you know that the evil will somehow be defeated by Batman in the end, you still cant be sure what surprise Nolan may throw at you. However when the end does come it is a bit underwhelming, and which does reduce the impact of this movie. There are some parts of the script that are a bit weak but there is enough going on for them not to matter. A tighter ending would have taken it to greatness, it almost makes it.