The Dark Knight Rises

“Big time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished, this last installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy makes everything in the rival Marvel universe look thoroughly silly and childish.” Written by a fellow critic, I could not have put this any better if I wanted to.  Coming in on the heels of two big budget Marvel Comics films this summer, Rises triumphs.

If you have read any of my reviews before, you know I love to talk cinematography. However, in this review, it just seems inane. We already know that Nolan knows his way around a camera. We have seen his big screen game-changers like 2010’s Inception, the 2000 film classic Memento, and of course the equally triumphant second installment of the franchise, The Dark Knight.  Rises is breathtaking cinematically. Gotham City has never looked both more grandiose and daunting, all at the same time

There are countless things to discuss in terms of why this film, and the franchise as a whole succeeds. But there is one major point that I believe supersedes all others. It is not Nolan’s portrayal of the villain, although they are always more blood-curdling and bone-chilling than any we have ever seen on screen, or read about in comics. It is not the music, action or the gadgets, though all such aspects are impeccably done and more and more awe-inducing with each film. 

What we find in Nolan’s franchise that is unique to big budget, super hero cinema as a whole is an examination of the human condition that challenges us as an audience to examine the deepest, darkest parts of our own souls. Nolan has found a way to conjoin independent film emotion and sentiment with blockbuster action and effect, ultimately creating a movie for the film scholar (or film snob) and the everyday movie-goer. He has done the unthinkable and allowed both worlds to coexist in one film, both executed in a tremendous way.  Nolan breaks the mold. Here lies the inspiration within these films, and within Nolan as a director.  As an aspiring filmmaker, I cannot help but be an admirer of his work. 

So that we are on the same page, let me explain a little deeper, what it is that I mean. In The Dark Knight, the Batman is challenged mentally in the most acutely, intrinsic way possible by The Joker. The Joker, played so outstandingly by the late Heath Ledger challenged Batman because The Joker literally had nothing to lose. In complete opposition to Batman, The Joker had no rules. He did not commit crime for money or revenge-he was not the average criminal in that sense. He created crime only for the sake of creating chaos. To paraphrase The Joker himself, he just “wanted to see the world burn”. This second installment caused us as an audience to question our inner selves, and the inner beings of those around us. It forced us to ask questions like, “Does pure evil actually exist? If so, how close are we all to the brink of evil? Are we each just dangling on the edge, and perhaps with one slight push over, maybe none of us in fact knows what we are capable of.

These are the questions the Joker forced upon us, and The Dark Knight Rises pushes this a step further.  Bane is the almighty Dark Knight’s nemesis in Rises and Batman is due for a comeback to save Gotham after an eight year hiatus and retreat into obscurity due to Gotham’s labeling of him as a murderer and outlaw. Now Batman must not only struggle with Bane’s overwhelming physical advantage over him-something he has yet to face, but now he must also find the inner strength to “rise” up and defend the city that abandoned him, and discover within himself, what makes such a tumultuous, sacrificial life, worthwhile. Rises continues with such themes from The Dark Knight, and examines them further by forcing us to ask, what inspires us? Whom and what do we love so much that we might place their life, above our very own? Nolan executes an exploration of this theme from both sides. We see it from the villain, as well as Batman himself.

With The Dark Knight Rises, Nolan has solidified himself as a writer, director, and producer of legends. As someone that aspires to work in this industry for the rest of my life, Nolan’s talent and successes are what dreams are made of. I can only hope to have a fraction of the career he has had. As for everyone else, you simply cannot wait four months to see this movie on your television screens. The film was released a mere 24 hours ago, and Hollywood is already buzzing about Oscar nominations for Best Picture.

Hmm, A Batman movie for Best Picture? That is something else.