Nolan is Rising

Rating: 9/10 (26 May 2013)

Christopher Nolan is becoming a modern day Stanley Kubrick. However Nolan needs to do more films for that to be seen more fully and of course Kubrick was Kubrick, he was untouchable with his films. Nonetheless, Nolan is very detailed/meticulous/precise with everything in his films, from the smallest thing to the most important thing in the film, just like Kubrick.
Nolan knows how important good sound, good sound editing and a great music score can be in bringing the film from good to great. I would say 8 times out of 10 if a film has everything going for it, but has a lousy music score, it will be a good film, but not great. And same goes if the film has a great music score, but it's missing good directing or good acting, just some element. The opening scenes in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises are great and fun scenes to watch over and over again because of the great music score that's going along with the scene. Plus the music score in those opening scenes makes the stakes that much more important. The music score goes with a film like peanut butter and jelly, like a cigarette with an adult beverage.
I'm not sure, but it looks as if Nolan doesn't use any CGI in the Batman films either, which makes it more of a long film process for Nolan but at the same time it makes for a better movie too because Nolan is not sloppy or lazy with his action sequences, again, he's very meticulous with everything.
CGI in ways has made the process quicker for filmmakers, but at the same time it's made it easy for the filmmakers to get sloppy and lazy and mass produce crap like the Transformer Movies or The Avengers. And yes, I did not like The Avengers, it's like every other mass produced action film, it's sloppy. But Nolan with his Batman movies, the action is very detailed and there's nothing sloppy about the action or the movie as a whole, and that's because Nolan isn't concerned with mass producing something for monetary value, he's concerned with making a quality film.
Another thing Nolan does, if you ever notice, each main character from all the Batman movies has their own theme music. The Scarecrow had his, the Joker had his, and Bane has his. Batman has his of course as well. But for a director to give each bad guy their own theme music, that takes careful planning and a lot of patience. Most directors don't have that kind of patience these days, except for the greats such as Spielberg and Scorsese.
A big theme from all the Batman movies by Nolan, is 'rising'. From Bruce Wayne having memories of his Dad saying "Why do we fall, so we can learn to pick ourselves up again." to the Rising out of the prison in The Dark Knight Rises, it's a continuing theme about rising. Nolan is brilliant in his writing in this sense.
Bruce Wayne learns(in all the Batman movies by Nolan) what a recovering addict of alcohol or drugs learns, which is everything in life isn't an all or nothing thing, it's not an event, it's an on-going process and it truly is a journey. You need help from people as you can't do it all by yourself. Bruce Wayne as Batman may get all the glory, but he always gets and has help to get there.
Bane at one point in the movie says to Batman "Victory has defeated you." Meaning, everything has become an event for Batman now, unimportant, and Batman is kind of like how Rocky Balboa was in Rocky 3 at this point against his first meeting with Bane, which is he's not careful or afraid anymore, he doesn't look at all the factors or variables anymore, he's cocky in his apathy.
Bruce Wayne has to learn again that it's a process, that it's always been a process and to truly be happy with what he wants and needs in life he needs to be aware of this fact again. Which he eventually becomes aware of again, and ultimately finds happiness because of this fact.
Just an all around great movie though, terrific action, great directing and writing, Tom Hardy as Bane is spectacular, what a great and fun actor he is to watch as well as Christian Bale as Batman and Gary Oldman as the Commissioner. A very fun movie to watch over and over with some deep meaning behind everything that is going on from beginning to end. Also a terrific performance from Anne Hathaway as Catwoman, she really pulls this part off well, very well in fact, I was very impressed with her. See this movie if you haven't yet!