Solid Conclusion To An Epic Trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (27 August 2012)

The "Rises" is a serious film that satisfactorily concludes the epic journey of Bruce Wayne which was started two films ago. This film, unfortunately, will always be measured to its predecessor, The Dark Knight - a tour de force that no superhero film comes close to competing along. To make such a comparison is patently unfair. But if we must: "Rises" is weaker in execution and writing. The idea of a major city being destroyed by a nuclear agent has been done so often that it almost becomes formulaic at this point. Truly great films need not rely on cheap tricks or "surprise endings" to succeed. Unfortunately here Nolan, like in the first installment, employs an unexpected plot turn (towards the end of the film) that causes the unintended affect of cheapening the story and weakening the film's strongest character. The Dark Knight had no surprises - it only relied on the brute force of its actors and its straightforward, but wildly complex, saga of good versus evil. The Dark Knight also powerfully utilized it peripheral characters, especially Harvey Dent. Here there was no serious parallel to Dent. Hathaway had potential but her role was so marginalized that one could have erased her completely and affected the plot in no tangible way.
To better grasp "Rises", one should compare it to the other films in the genre, e.g., The Avengers, Green Lantern, and Superman, and in that analysis, it's a marvel. The entire trilogy approaches the business of superheroes honestly and abandons the toyetic style endemic of the genre. Bane, for example, is a profoundly terrifying character. The scene where complete anarchy falls upon Gotham and Bane's new order takes hold with their newly created tribunals and redistributive authorities was a visual spectacle. The greatest contribution of this film, however, was the manner it concluded Bruce Wayne's story; the inner struggle, a pleasant mainstay of this trilogy, was fittingly sunsetted.