The Dark Knight Rises








Director - Christopher Nolan

Genre - Action/Crime/Drama


The success of a Superhero franchise goes hand in hand with how badass his arch-enemy is. Heath Ledger's portrayal of Joker was unpredictable and dangerously off the charts. Here, Batsy's numero uno nemesis is replaced regrettably with a far less worthy one, with the most mundane name in the history of bad guys to boot - Bane. Why not name the guy Smith or Thompson? Anyhow, we are faced here with the question whether we want to or not of how it would have been had Ledger lived. It is in the back of our minds throughout the movie. For Christ's sake, if Bruce Wayne goes into hiding from the entire world we would expect the person who eventually lures him out to be much meaner than Bane who is nothing but a huge hunk of lumber with the strength of 10 Hulk Hogans. Well then, why not just get 10 Hulk Hogans? At least the Joker had a brain and it wasn't all about pitting triceps against biceps. We applaud Nolan for doing a different take on the Superhero genre with its operatic tone and admittedly moving ending but alas, Ledger was missed sorely. And it was too long.

3 STARS!

All about The Dark Knight Rises

Comments

Joel Bocko said…
I actually dug Bane - I thought the voice and the mask were great. However, the stakes did seem lower in a way because his philosophy was not very clear. The Joker actually pushed Batman to question whether the public could be trusted on their own, whereas here Nolan kind of skirted the moral & ideological stakes, in my opinion. Still enjoyed it, but not as coherent a viewpoint as The Dark Knight (which, along with Ledger's memorable performance, is what made the movie stand out).
August 30, 2012 at 11:49 AM
1minutefilmreview said…
It wasn't even his ideology. He was just a hired hand. A lovesick puppy. Glad we agree on the Joker though. We did like the ending. Closed the trilogy nicely. Thanks for the comment and hope to hear from you again Joel. ;)
September 1, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Terrell said…
Interesting review for sure. I liked Bane as well, but not as much as the Joker for obvious reasons. The first two Batman films really seemed to focus on existential themes, Batman Begins focusing on fear, and The Dark Knight focusing on chaos. TDKR arguably focused mostly on anarchy or revolution, but it didn't drive the psychological aspect of this film as much as fear and chaos did in the previous films.

But still, Batman is Batman and Nolan knows how to do Batman so I definitely enjoyed this film.

I wrote my own review of the film here: http://terrellreviews.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-dark-knight-rises-2012.html

I'd love to know what you think!
September 2, 2012 at 6:26 PM
1minutefilmreview said…
We think you know alot about Batman and his history in comics/movies, making your review of the Dark Knight all the more substantiated and meaty. Great writing. Hope to read all your reviews when we have time ;)
September 3, 2012 at 9:41 AM
Steven S said…
That good eh? I recently saw Kahaani which was pretty good and have come close to putting this on but haven't quite made it yet.
September 17, 2012 at 2:57 AM
phil's 5 words said…
I totally agree with your review..I thought TDKR missed a lot more than just the Joker. The politics were all over the place and there was nothing that left a lasting impression. Weakest of Nolan's 3 films for me. Good film, great trilogy.

www.philsfilms.blogspot.com
September 20, 2012 at 8:41 AM
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