Review of The Dark Knight Rises (2012) by Dillongarand — 21 Jul 2012

I saw this film midnight on July 19th as part of the Dark Knight marathon, showing all three films in a row. I can honestly say this made the experience even better because it let me in on the fact that the Dark Knight trilogy is the "Star Wars" trilogy of this generation.

In my eyes, a trilogy should end with no more questions, everything answered and wrapped up, with only your imagination with "what happened" next when it's all said and done, and this trilogy did just that.

I only wish that the Hollywood system would produce more stories like this onto the thousands of screens across the world. Time to break down my favorite aspects of the Dark Knight Rises film. First off, the ending.

Batman (Christian Bale) latches onto a nuke and starts up The Bat to take it out of Gotham before it blows, but before he does, he gives a small hint to Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) that reveals just who Batman is to Jim, who says to himself in a chilling moment "Bruce Wayne?".

Then, as Batman has the bomb safely away from the city, it blows up. In such an emotional moment of the film, you can't help by get that feeling in your throat as the Dark Knight sacrifices himself to save the city that was almost doomed.

That feeling becomes stronger as Alfred (Michael Caine) stands over the grave of Bruce Wayne, and weaps. Almost in tears with what happens, your heart begins to beat a bit faster when Jim Gorden discovers a new Bat signal, as you get a small bit of confusion, a feeling takes over you.

..that feeling is Hope. Alfred sits down in a cafe in Italy, the same as the dream he explained earlier in the film, and looks up and smiles, you know exactly what's coming next and you cannot help but smile as it reveals Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, happy as can be.

I had cold chills throughout this ending and I couldn't control the emotion driving through my body. There could not have been a better ending to this film. Film is all about feeling something, and being almost in tears for a sad reason one minute, and then smiling and crying like a small child the next, is an indescribably feeling.

It will be a long time until I feel this about a film again. Michael Caine needs to be recognized for this film. Alfred has a larger role in this film that he has in any other of the films, and it's incredible to watch.

Alfred has always been the one and only person that can stand up to Bruce/Batman and get away with it. He's the voice of reason throughout the series, and the caring father figure that Bruce needed. In this film, Alfred reaches a new low in his life, having a heavy fear that Bruce will become Batman again, and end up in a grave, leaving Alfred completely alone and taking away the last person he cares about.

Caine was the stand out emotional performance in this film, and when Alfred leaves Bruce in the middle of the film, an emptiness is felt until you see the familiar face again. It's been reported that Christian Bale told Christopher Nolan that he would be Batman, as long as Robin wasn't in the films.

I agreed with this because it would have taken away from the main story of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the films. Or so I thought. John Blake (Joseph Gorden-Levitt) is a Gotham cop, who knows the identity of Batman and gives Bruce Wayne the push to come back.

He also helps in the fight against Bane's army to save Gotham. In short, the John Blake character was a very rewarding character. But the most interesting and awesome information about John Blake is revealed in the last moments of the film, when it's revealed his legal name is Robin John Blake.

I didn't think a Robin could be done right in a "real" and "gritty" film series like the Dark Knight trilogy, but I was wrong. Alright, so I'm running out of characters in this review so this is going to be a speed round of what else I liked about the film.

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle was great. Many people thought she was a poor choice for the character, but it's done so well and she brought it to life. Bane is also such a physical force on screen. What Tom Hardy is able to do with limited facial expressions is phenomenal, especially when tears fall from his eyes when it's revealed he was a protector of Talia Al Ghul.

The cameo appearance of Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow was subtle but perfect. It was such a nice little touch to a film that wrapped up the full story of Batman Begins. My hat if off to you Mr. Nolan. You were able to bring the art of story telling to a new height in a system that seems to forget about it way too often.

I'm excited to see what is next in the Nolan film world. I'll always remember the first time I saw this film, the last film, and the first film. This was and is the perfect trilogy.