Rating of
3/4
Flaws or no flaws, it's Batman.
memento_mori - wrote on 07/03/13
Possible Spoilers, but who cares, we've all seen it.
I remember walking out of the theater, having witnessed The Dark Knight Rises, and thinking to myself: Wow. That was perfect.
It wasn't. I came to understand that. For a time I actually hated this film, but after another watch, it solidified itself as amazing.
When I was expecting The Dark Knight Part II, I got something different.
It's quiet, it's toned down, it's almost a character study.
Admittedly, there are problems. Yes, he mopes around for eight years, yes he got into Gotham in no time after escaping the big well (more on that later). But I am willing to forgive those errors.
Bruce Wayne once again is a person and not the Batman. We are back in Batman Begins, trying to build up a reason for our damaged hero to become a symbol of justice again.
Selena Kyle is great as Catwoman. She is determined and her backstory tells us why.
Bane is the best villain since… the Joker.
I am simply pissed that The Dark Knight Rises was not nominated for anything by the Academy. Nothing! I could think of a thousand categories: Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Score, Best Cinematography, Best Director, the list goes on.
Now to the negative areas.
Spoilers ahead.
What bothers me most is how Bane dies. That is the most unheroic, stupid, underwhelming death of a character I've seen in a while. Catwoman comes in, blows him away on the Batpod, cracks a joke and Miranda Tate, the woman who did absolutely nothing in the entire movie, comes in to replace Bane, only to die in the most exaggerated stupid way later on. All we needed was a laugh track and it would have been The Big Bang Theory.
And now the highly controversial prison pit well thingy.
Most have argued that it would have been extremely easy to escape if a wanderer came around and threw a rope down. I mean, who builds a prison without a roof?
While they are good literal points, humor me with this: Christopher Nolan doesn't make it that easy.
I see the prison not only as a plot device, but as a symbol. The whole point is for Bruce Wayne to RISE, that is why Batman is barely in the movie. Didn't the prisoners' chanting of 'Rise' put it out there?
Otherwise, this film is the conclusion to the perfect trilogy I wanted. It's philosophical, it's humane, it has great action, Oscar-snubbed direction and the story and characters that every movie should have.
Once again, it's not Batman. It's art.
