The Dark Knight Rises Review

The Dark Knight Rises marks the end to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman films. It brings about an end to a series that without a doubt revolutionized how we look at “comic book movies”.

The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after The Dark Knight and things have changed in Gotham. Batman is no more, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a recluse, and Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) is living with the guilt of lying to the Gotham people. All of these things come to a head with the arrival of Bane (Tom Hardy) in Gotham City. Bane represents a ferocity and brutality that Gotham, or Batman, has never seen before. Bane’s arrival combined with the appearance of Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) is finally the excuse Batman needs to return to Gotham City.

What follows is a series of awesome set pieces, great character moments, and fun ride all around. Even if the movie is a tad too long for its own good, there’s very little you could say didn’t need to be there. Every scene and character serves a larger purpose that you may not realize at first, but it all comes together in the end.

Christian Bale continues to amaze as Bruce Wayne. Here we see him a shadow of his former self. He’s old and broken and Christian Bale represents this perfectly. He brings out what drives Bruce as a person to be Batman and why when that’s taken from him becomes a shut in. It’s also sad to see what becoming Batman has done to him.

Anne Hathaway surprises as Selina Kyle in the best way possible. Her turn as Catwoman (though she’s never called that in the movie) is fun to watch and easily a high point of the movie.

Bane – while the weakest of the trilogy’s three villains – is a joy to watch. Many will no doubt think of Darth Vader when they hear him speak. The mask adds quite a bit to him. Even if his accent is odd and you lose a word here or there when he speaks, his menace is without doubt. The speed and power with which he moves is unparalleled, making his action scenes the best in the whole series.

The action reaches new heights in Dark Knight Rises. There are several confrontations between Batman and Bane and they’re all exceedingly satisfying. The action is visceral and the soundtrack (or lack thereof) only helps to punctuate each blow. The large scale action also excites, though the highlight of the movie are definitely the more personal battles.

The end of the movie will be debated about by fans for years to come. Despite that, the ending is exactly what it needed to be. Nothing more, nothing less. It was the perfect way to bring the life of Bruce Wayne (and Batman) to a close.

Nolan without has given us the most fitting conclusion possible to one of the greatest film franchises to grace the silver screen in years. If you loved the previous Batman films, or just enjoy good movies in general I couldn’t recommend this more.