Christopher Nolan Makes Movies

Rating: 9/10 (28 July 2012)

Christopher Nolan Makes Movies.. There can not be any other summary to explain that man's career. He does not make genre flicks , CGI or 3-D simulations , banalities. He does not take lame overwhelming and childish humor because of target audience or nature of script-basically comic book stuff-He goes against expectations. He does not bow under studio pressure. ( I hope other directors take a note how he stands for his own vision and principles ) He is a very bad man. Don't we love him because of that ?
Beginning of TDKR reminds me that Chris Nolan once wanted to direct a Bond movie and how much he and his script writing genius brother Jonathan had been influenced with that era of cinema. Aircraft hijacking/crashing scene was intense and one of the best thrilling introductions I have ever seen. Then we get to Gotham our location where our story being told to its finale. Now I am going to intrude here and say that Nolans begin to tell a compact history of French Revolution. He once said Charles Dickens classic novel "A Tale of Two Cities" was his inspiration. And it shows ! After eight years of suspending a legend , a lie about what happened in The Dark Knight , Gotham seems peaceful. Due to Dent Act all major criminals and other trouble makers are in Blackgate Prison (Bastille ?) But most of the underlying reasons of Gotham's suffering remain. There is still a huge gap between rich elite , a relishing minority and poor suffering masses , a forgotten and ignored majority. Orphans are working in sewers , doing whatever they can. Wayne Enterprises stopped its charities and visionary clean energy projects. Wealthy continue to spread their money for parties and luxury. Police is increasingly powerful because of Dent Act but it is like putting a cork on top of a boiling bottle. Actually things are not as peaceful as it seems (It was the best of times , it was the worst of times , it was the age of wisdom , it was the age of foolishness , it was the epoch of belief , it was the epoch of incredulity , it was the Season of Light , it was the Season of Darkness..) It is all the right mixture for someone with radical agenda to spread chaos and anarchy with extreme violence and destroy the established order.
Architechts of all this temporary peace are not satisfied with what they accomplished either. Bruce Wayne , degraded in body and soul , retreated into a solitary life. No one saw either him or his altar ego Batman for a long time after Batman took all blame of Harvey Dent's crimes. Jim Gordon is also at unease and torn about revealing the truth to public. Both Christian Bale and Gary Oldman are great , excellent as usual we expect from these established actors and their well drawn characters. A burglary incident in Wayne Manor puts Bruce Wayne back into game to track a resourceful cat thief. ( Anne Hathaway just made everyone who criticized her to eat their own words with her wonderful performance. No one can question Nolans actor selection from now on ) And meanwhile trouble is brewing beneath Gotham in form of Bane , a hulking and cunning extreme revolutionary/mercenary fanatic and his army. Tom Hardy is just awesome both physical , vocal and facial (as much as with a mask , shades of Hugo Weaving in "V for Vendetta". Unlike others I could understand him perfectly and his voice just scared hell out of me ) acting in this role. Death of John Daggett ( or death of Maquis St Evermonde , Nolan Nolan how you gave audience so much credit for their intelligence ) was one of the finest piece of acting between two actors I have seen this year. While Alfred , trusted Butler and confident of Bruce try to stop him for his own good (Veteran Brit actor Michael Caine goes amazing lengths especially in his final scenes) war is approaching....
Remaining supporting cast and characters are great too. Joseph-Gordon Levitt is just screaming with huge potential as John Blake , a honest good cop trying to help Batman , Morgan Freeman is also very good again not surprising with his career. I haven't seen Matthew Modine for a long time so he was a nice surprise as Foley. Only casting I had trouble with was Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate. (Madam Defarge here) Marion is an excellent actress but here she was struggling with her French accent and her character's romance with Wayne does not make sense or established well ( nor his second romance with Catwoman either ) There are a few plot holes like Blake's figuring out Batman's true identity with a flimsy explanation. Pacing of story can sometimes be uneven but seriously I never noticed how almost three hours passed. The whole movie was that gripping. The throwbacks to first movie are very elegant , Scarecrow , Ra'as al Ghoul both make an appearance and confirm that TDKR is a full circle from first movie , a conclusion of protagonist's heroic journey , closing of final chapter. Actually story structure is somewhat similar to Batman Begins with revelations , hellish conditions in prison ( Black Hole of Calcutta ? ) process of fall and rise and hero's inner struggles but not disturbingly so. It is not a copy cat or rip off.
The themes are serious , there are no more darkness and light anymore. While heroes and villains struggle in light for ultimate salvation of Gotham , some like Sidney Carton from "A Tale of Two Cities" will make the ultimate sacrifice.
"It is a far far better thing that a I do ,than I have ever done , it is far far better rest that I go to than I have ever known" final words of ToTC