Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Ok, I am going to do a review of The Dark Knight Rises, and I am going to try to keep it as spoiler free as possible. It's going to be tough since I like nothing more than talking about comic books and the films that are inspired by them, but I will do my best to not ruin it. It's been years of anticipation after the close of The Dark Knight, and now we finally have Christopher Nolan's finale to his Batman Saga.

For anyone who has been living on a space colony or was in a diabetic coma for the last six years and has not seen either Batman Begins or The Dark Knight I am sad to say that you missed one of the biggest pop culture phenomena of the 21st century. Also, go out and watch them right now. Right this minute. I'm not kidding. Both films, with more emphasis on 2008's The Dark Knight, are shining examples of not only comic book movies, but of cinema as a whole. Christopher Nolan's interpretation of Batman changed the playing field when it came to just what superhero movies could do, and Heath Ledger's interpretation of the Joker is unparalleled.

Most people, however, know this. The Dark Knight only made about a kazillion dollars at the box office and Heath Ledge won a posthumous Academy Award for his role as the Joker.

As you can tell though I have nothing but reverence for Christopher Nolan's Batman flicks. What he did for legitimizing comic book movies was absolutely groundbreaking. That being said, I don't think The Dark Knight Rises is a perfect movie. It's not a bad movie by any means, but perhaps not quite the perfect follow-up we were really hoping for.

But lets start with things that I liked, shall we?

First of all, this film is expertly acted, but with a cast this star-studded I wasn't expecting anything less. The roster on this film has some of the highest paid and most talented actors working in the business today and not one of them falls short. All of the returning actors are just as grounded and fragile as they ever were in the previous two installments. They fit right back into these characters' shoes without hesitation and almost make you forget that it was 3 years go that they last were all together. New members to the cast also hold their weight, with Hathaway standing out particularly. Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Selina Kyle/Catwoman is a fabulous and much more grounded take on the character that makes you forget about the chilling, yet campy, version Michelle Pfeiffer played in Batman Returns. All of the players drive this drama with real force and integrity even when the material sometimes isn't up to their standard.

Also, on a technical level, this film is absolutely gorgeous. From a snow-covered Gotham during the chilling explosion scene to a quiet Anne Hathaway pondering her stolen pearls in the mirror, this film really understands the power behind beautiful shots. This is Christopher Nolan at the top of his game in terms of cinematography and visual images. Although I was not fortunate enough to see the movie in IMAX, Nolan did film a large portion of the film in this difficult-to-use format. When I see it again I will most certainly be buying my IMAX tickets. The scope and visual artistry demands to be seen on as large a screen as possible.

From here on out things begin to take a turn for the worse. While this film no doubt provides an epic and satisfying conclusion to Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, it is perhaps one of the weakest when it comes to coherent plot and believability.

In its ambition to achieve an epic masterpiece the film tends to fall flat as a storytelling device. Where The Dark Knight was a grisly crime drama soaked in noir and dramatic character development, The Dark Knight Rises is easily the most comic-booky and character-light Nolan film to date. While this isn't always a bad thing it does tend to take the film increasingly deeper into movie conventions that Nolan has always been known for avoiding. Certain story lines that we had been waiting so long to see come to fruition seem to have been dusted under the rug, gotten rid of quickly in order to bring in the new threats. However, these bigger and badder problems never seem to have the same weight as the delicate character relationships that had been so painstakingly developed over the last two films. So while the conclusion is satisfying, many of the characters are never given the moments that the films seemed that have been headed in.

The film, at two hours forty-five minutes, also tends to drag a bit. I found myself, despite fighting these feelings for comic book nerd everywhere, rather bored during much of the film. The action set-pieces are phenomenal, but the characters' momentum often felt sluggish as if simply waiting around for the climax of the film. So while some moments were rushed, such as remaining storyline lingering from the last film, others felt far too long without anything too substantial to keep the flow. Due to this you may find yourself noticing plot holes from time to time, something that was nearly non-existant in the precious two incarnations.

What ends up happening to The Dark Knight Rises is what I like to call "The Third Movie Fallout". I was hoping Nolan would be able to avoid it, but like so many before him he falls into several of the same traps. As in Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Back to the Future Part III and countless other trilogy films, the third installment, despite a fantastic second film and buildup, fails to live up that what is expected. Often filmmakers want the third installment to be bigger and more grand than the last, and in that shuffle often lose the heart and intricate filmmaking that made the others great. With The Dark Knight Rises Nolan delivers a clunky action piece that doesn't allow the characters to breath, no matter how talented the actor behind them is.

These flaws are really unfortunate, and for most of the film I didn't want to believe they existed, but by the end the cracks in the surface are apparent. Many of you wont agree with me, but this film has fallen very short of what it could have been. Now like I said earlier, it is by no means a bad film. Sub-par Christopher Nolan work still outshines what most production companies are able to pump out, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing. The third act is great, even with the occasional suspension of disbelief, but to get there is less than exciting.

Ultimately though Nolan's complete Batman package still stands as one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time. Even with its downsides, The Dark Knight Rises will still impress. It is, ultimately, just not as tight and cohesive as Nolan's previous work.

Score 3.5/5