The greatest shadow hovering over The Dark Knight Rises until last week wasn’t its predecessor, Heath Ledger or even The Avengers. It was the rotted legacies of Spider-Man 3, Batman Forever, X-Men: The Last Stand, Superman III, and pretty much every “threequel” and “fourquel” superhero movie ever made.
But if Christopher Nolan could actually make this superhero trilogy end with a bang – or at least not a franchise killing thud – then he and The Dark Knight Rises would truly make history. By those standards, they have succeeded – although not without speed bumps.
Gotham has rebuilt itself over the last eight years on the strength of two lies; that Harvey Dent died a hero, and that the Batman lived long enough to become the ‘villain’ that killed him. As such, Bruce Wayne is content to remain in seclusion and to retire the Batman – especially since he no longer has a real life beyond Batman anyway. But the emergence of a clever cat burglar literally dressed as a cat gets Bruce back into the game, only for him to discover the true threat beneath Gotham. Not only has the League of Shadows been rebuilt after Ra’s al Ghul’s death, but the super strong psychopath now in charge – who only goes by Bane – has come to break Batman and Gotham once and for all. That is unless Bruce can rise one last time – and inspire those in occupied Gotham to finally take true control of their city.
Most of the failed comic book “threequels” fell apart because their original masterminds left the series – or in the case of Sam Raimi, had too much forced upon them by studios for Spider-Man 3. Yet after Nolan officially became Hollywood’s No. 1 blockbuster director with The Dark Knight and Inception, he earned the right to end his trilogy his way. And with a nearly three-hour running time, he has a lot to say, tie up – and of course, blow to pieces.
Nolan hits the ground running – although the stunning opener is in the air – and gives The Dark Knight Rises everything it seems to need to meet expectations. He is often criticized for starting slow and setting up way too much in his epics, but he makes the time fly by – at first – even with barely any Batman himself in the early going. And although this finale lives under the shadow of The Dark Knight, this is more like a sequel to Batman Begins – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Like with Batman Begins, this is more Bruce Wayne’s story as he wills himself back into action – yet is paralyzed this time not by fear, but by guilt, hopelessness and an overdeveloped sense of martyrdom. However, through Bruce rediscovering the kind of hope he always wanted to give Gotham, refining his quest to overcome fear, and finally trusting in others to take up his call – even if they don’t always seem to be capable – it pays off the franchise’s opening mission statement of Batman being a true symbol of inspiration. After the sadism of The Dark Knight and the brutal ‘revolutionary’ tactics of Bane in this one, this message arrives just in time to balance things out.
But after the fast paced, occasional brilliance of the opening half, the spectacle truly begins in the second – albeit not always for the movie’s own good. Once Bane occupies Gotham, Nolan lets loose with some chilling destruction, urban Armageddon, and the kind of societal upheaval which was really the only place left to go after The Dark Knight. However, while the Joker chilled us to the bone by bringing down Gotham’s institutions and its very soul, the bigger scale of Bane’s machinations can only do so much to match it.
By then, The Dark Knight Rises somehow becomes a victim of its fast pace and spectacle. The more Nolan piles on, the easier it is to wonder if it does more to distract us from whether it makes sense – rather than sweep us away in the epic chaos. And while The Dark Knight maintains and expands its power with multiple viewings, the fear is that multiple viewings of The Dark Knight Rises will diminish it, once the plot holes and structural flaws become easier to spot. It does need to be seen a few more times to take it all in, yet after the initial hype dies down, it may not be as easy to savor when the whole picture becomes clear – or doesn’t.
The frustrating thing is that all the puzzle pieces needed for a classic, Dark Knight matching ending are right there in front of us. Nolan gives us a Bruce Wayne on the final leg of his personal and professional journey, ties together the main themes of the entire trilogy, gives us a few striking newcomers to add to the stew, and puts us right into the action through stunning IMAX footage instead of disappointing 3D.
And although Nolan may be in political hot water by making Bane’s ‘movement’ like a sadistic Occupy Wall Street, it is really more of a Hans Gruber kind of misdirection – as both Bane and the Die Hard villain merely impersonate the language of terrorists/revolutionaries to hide their more greedy, violent agendas. Even turning a world-changing clean energy project into a nuclear threat by the end isn’t really a takedown on clean energy as a whole, but on how anything can be used as a Trojan horse in the wrong hands. In that regard, neither the left nor the right has any reason to believe The Dark Knight Rises is taking them down, as its social satire/messages are really apolitical at heart.
Everything that would make this a one of a kind ending instead of just a good ending is right there – yet it is the execution that winds up a little bit too off. This can’t be blamed on not having the Joker or Ledger around, since Nolan really did as much, if not more, to make The Dark Knight as powerful as it was. Therefore this is all on him, and while he remains the Steven Spielberg of our current blockbuster era – only much harder – Nolan isn’t infallible.
Judged as an individual movie on its own, The Dark Knight Rises would still be most worthwhile, if not a little frustrating. But by setting the bar so high before, perhaps Nolan has made it a bit too hard to judge this as just an individual movie. He put himself into a nearly unwinnable corner merely by making this film, and even he can’t punch his way completely out of it. In a way, it is no fault of his own and yet in other ways, it is – for just as Bane tortures Gotham with the faint promise of hope that lies just out of reach, Nolan tortures us with putting together a classic ending and leaving it just out of reach in practice.
While Nolan juggles the pieces, his cast does their share of heavy lifting as well. Christian Bale was the forgotten star of The Dark Knight – though he’s managed to pick up an Oscar since then. But with more to do outside the Bat suit, Bale proves one more time that his ability to bare the broken – yet not totally beaten – soul of Bruce Wayne is an even greater asset than being Batman. Plus with less actual Batman, Bale’s infamous Bat growling isn’t as much of an issue – although it’s puzzling why he still does it around people who know his identity.
With Bruce back in the forefront, so is his relationship with Alfred, despite it taking some serious hits this time around. Yet as a result, Michael Caine helps deliver some of the more poignant moments in the series in the early and late going. In addition, Gary Oldman continues to be the other soul of the franchise as an equally broken – but equally not beaten – Commissioner Gordon.
As for the newcomers, Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt nearly walk away with the movie on their own. In fact, it’s Hathaway who all but steals away The Dark Knight Rises as effortlessly as Selina Kyle steals countless artifacts. In fact, considering Hathaway’s way with a one liner, her previously untapped ability to be a bad-ass – and of course, her suit and her strut – there is a bit of a hole in the film when she isn’t around.
As for Levitt, he has perhaps the most obvious part/role in the movie as a Batman idolizing cop, and yet still rises above it to add valuable, meaningful support, which gives the series a final extra kick. The same can also be said of Marion Cotillard – Nolan’s dark muse from Inception – despite having perhaps the second most obvious part/role in more ways than one.
Then there’s Tom Hardy’s Bane – he of the infamous garbled voice and the impossible task of following Ledger’s Joker. On the voice part, despite all the backlash, Bane is actually easy to understand – or at least more than he was in last winter’s early sneak peek of his opening scene. In truth, Bane and Hardy’s only real sin is that they aren’t the Joker or Ledger – yet judged on their own merits, they are still effective and even chilling at times. Hardy’s already imposing physicality makes him the perfect Bane on its own, and even behind the mechanized voice box, his voice, words and plans help forge memorable evil. But through no true fault of their own, Hardy and Bane remain stuck in the shadows behind Ledger and the Joker, and even Aaron Eckhart and Harvey Dent.
Nolan’s Batman trilogy is really a redux of the original Star Wars saga, all things considered. Star Wars and Batman Begins kicked these stories off and changed the game forever – though of course, Begins did it on a smaller scale while still revitalizing the superhero genre. Then The Empire Strikes Back and The Dark Knight not only backed up the promise of their predecessors, they turned their franchises into historic triumphs – mainly by letting the villains win.
But this means The Dark Knight Rises is really the Return of the Jedi of the Batman series, in that it lets a trilogy end with dignity and success, yet can’t quite take it to even greater heights. Rises doesn’t have an Ewok-style misstep to drag down its legacy, although the Bane voice will probably be used as the best comparison. Jedi was the weak link of Star Wars mainly because the bar was too high – and then because it was the first step towards the even more sinful prequels.
That may ultimately be the fate of The Dark Knight Rises in Nolan’s Batman lore, in spite of having many virtues and high points on its own merit, just like Jedi did. Hopefully, the near miss of Rises won’t be the first step in Nolan and Batman losing their way in the future – although if George Lucas could drop off so severely after the near miss end of a famous trilogy, anyone can.
But at the least, Nolan has made history with the greatest start to finish comic book trilogy of all time, even if his landing wasn’t quite 100% stuck.
