Review of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) by Ravenscar — 19 Jul 2012

Underwhelming. The Dark Knight Rises had a lot to live up to with the superb previous two movies and it simply doesn't. I don't want to knock this film for not being the previous two though, that'd be hard given how staggering the Joker was in the last movie, but as a film in itself it just isn't that spectacular. First the good; some of the characters are excellently portrayed. Bane in particular was fantastic, both built like the proverbial brick privvy but educated sounding and melancholy, although it's hard as hell to hear him at times. Catwoman was also very good and most of the regulars in general, though this in itself seemed to make Bruce Wayne/Batman seem somewhat sidelined. The visual were good and clear with nice scenery and the like, special effects not being too over the top and so forth. The ending (what we've all realistically been yearning for) was a mixed bag and that leads me onto the weaker aspects. The road to the ending was ridiculously convoluted. The plot is jarring and it felt at points that my suspended disbelieve had been hanged from the neck until dead and hung from a skyscapper. Gaping plot holes present themselves as the story weaves and back tracks and slides from here to there with a few unsubtly placed references that will no doubt crop up later in some significant way. Hey! Hey! You see this thing? Notice how we are mentioning it now?!

So convoluted is the plot that it makes a review hard because I don't want to give much away for the folks who want to see this movie. Allegiances change and new villians crop up so much I gave up trying to understand their motives and just waited for the finale. The final twist regarding characters almost made me facepalm and mutter to myself 'seriously?'. In short, with out giving it away, Bane is the big villian who wants to use a doomsday weapon on Gotham (you've all seen the trailer with the stadium, don't pretend you haven't). But the way he goes about this evil genius plan is just bizarre and left me questioning who the hell is actually running Gotham? From bizarre police tactics, to a lack of massive fire outbreaks (earthquakes = gas line ruptures) to the outside world just going 'meh' at tense situation, plus a utterly weird mechanic for forcing the plot resolution, the film veers from silly to stupid amidst long stretches of not really very much happening. I was actually a tad bored about an hour in for a few minutes and when the action did resume my brow was knotted with disbelieve. I think in particular to a scene with police versus baddies in a scene not unlike the film Zulu with regards to firepower. What ensues just doesn't make sense but provides a wonderful showdown for the heroes/villains. And while the acting is one of the strongest ponits of the film (with a genuinely touching scene with alfred and bruce wayne) some of it is just hacky and truly 2D. There's even some special cameo's which instead of making me more excited, as they should, actually gave me the impression the film was just trying to hard to fit every significant character in. Appart from the tragically dead ones, of course. And then there was the ending. I can't say a great deal without spoiling this and I wouldn't want to do that, but then that's the point. Put it like this; a film is about the journey, not the ending. If I spoilt the ending the film wouldn't seem that worth it. The sixth sense, by comparison, you might think that the progression of the story was enough that even knowing the ending (he's dead. If you didn't know it by now, shame on you), you still were taken on a journey by the film. The DKR didn't feel like that. At first I was angry (Batman being my favourite superhero), but then I thought, no, it's a brave way to end things that Mr Nolan's done and I respect that, I respect that he's taken this, probably unpopular, path to conculude the story and that he's- on now wait he hasn't after all. Hey!! Remember that thing we kept shoving in your face!!! Surprise! Even the tying up of the loose ends sadly seemed a little forced and unsubtly, leaving an overall bad feeling in my mouth, washed down with now flat cola. Pros: Some excellent actors for roles of Bane, Catwoman, Alfred, Blake and Gordon.

Good special effects.

Good scenery and cinemtography.

An attempt at a unique and unorthodox ending to a superhero trilogy.

Cons:

Some dodgy acting and bad voice work, especially for mumble mumble Bane.

Ridiculously convoluted plot.

Gaping and fatal plot holes (five month old sweaty cops anyone?).

Not enough balls to go through with the supposed ending to make a unique film.

Overal a rather sad 5/10 (would be 6, but I don't want this showing up as a green).

P.S. To those that have seen this and are reading reviews to justify their own opinions (we all do it), speeds of over 360 mph would be needed for the ending, right? Yeah, right.