A Fitting End to Nolan's Trilogy

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 2014)

Batman has defeated Ras-al-Ghul and his ninjas. He's defeated the Joker, a madman who only wanted to see the world burn. But now he faces Bane, a man who grew up in the world's darkest, cruelest dungeon. A man so dangerous he was excommunicated from the League of Shadows. A man with thousands of followers and millions of dollars at his disposal. And despite what the people closest to him say, Gotham needs Batman more than ever. Because in order to live up to his last Batman movie, Christopher Nolan has upped every stake and pulled every stop.
Looking back, it's obvious that no one could top Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker. None of the other villains in Batman's rouges gallery could be as frightening or disturbing as his Joker. But in Ed Hardy's Bane, Nolan has found a villain more powerful and far more dangerous. Bane is perhaps the ultimate physical combatant; massive, incredibly strong, all but impervious to pain. Comic book fans know him as the man who put Bruce Wayne in a wheelchair, and here he does worse. And he is very smart, and totally insane. The Joker was like a serial killer, a mad dog. Bane's madness is one of megalomania and unfettered hatred. The Joker sought to corrupt; he seeks to dominate and to destroy.
And yet he has the gall to present himself as a hero, a liberator. After entombing the entire police force and taking Gotham hostage, he claims that he is giving the city back to the people, that he is giving them freedom from those in power who have oppressed and exploited them, that he has brought justice and equality. But he lies. His freedom is nothing more than anarchy, the freedom to kill and steal. His justice is a mockery of the word in which having too much wealth or being part of the old order are capital crimes. His equality is the wholesale liquidation of the rich, leaving a world in which everyone is equally poor. In throwing down the old order built on law and the power of wealth, he has built a new one based on fear and the power of the gun. And it's all just preparation for ultimate destruction.
Against this mad warlord Batman's help comes from the unlikeliest of sources; master thief Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). When we meet her she's motivated only by money and self preservation, and like any good thief she convinces herself that t she's only stealing from those who can afford to lose it. She warns Batman that there's a storm coming, and he and his friends had best prepare. But when her storm arrives she realizes the old truth that you should be careful what you wish for. Hathaway's charm and wit make her perfect for this role, and her acrobatic fighting moves are stunning. I think it's safe to say that the last remaining taint of the Halle Berry version has been lifted from the character.
Nolan has outdone himself with the action sequences. The opening scene is every bit as forceful and unsettling as the one in Dark Night, with a coolness factor that rivals the best of James Bond. The climactic battle between Gotham's finest and Bane's thugs is one of the largest and most spectacular scenes of its kind, with hundreds of combatants crowding the city streets.. And the fights between Batman and Bane are everything fanboys could hope for. Eschewing precision and flair, these showdowns are brutally physical, with the effects of every blow being seen and heard. For me, this was one of the most satisfying brawls since Sean Connery took on Robert Shaw nearly fifty years ago.
This final installment in the franchise doesn't have a many twists and turns as its predecessor, but the ones it does have are still impressive. Bane's plans are a bit simpler than the Joker's, but no less genius, and he is equally as adept at predicting his opponents' moves. And although leaked information from an entertainment blog had given me foreknowledge of one major revelation, I was totally unprepared for the manner of this revelation and its effect on the story.
This is also a film rich with subtext. Bane's violent overthrow of Gotham's powers that be and his iron-fisted reign form a microcosm of countless violent revolutions. It could easily be a stand for the French Revolution, the Ayatollah's rise in Iran, or any of the various communist revolutions. In a period of unprecedented bloodshed and chaos, a determined man overthrows the old regime, only to replace it with one far worse. And just like Stalin or Mao, Bane knows that he's not doing any of this for the people. The only difference is that he doesn't even need to win public support, because he already has his mercenaries and thousands of released convicts.
The Dark Knight Rises may not be as scary as the last film, it's not quite as deep, and I will admit that it lacks any performance to equal Heath Ledger's. But it is smart, thrilling, action packed and suspenseful. It's dark and brooding without being overpowering, and it does an excellent job of linking the narrative back to the first film. It is the summer's best movie and a worthy end for the Dark Night Trilogy.