EDITORIAL: The Dark Knight Rises Analysed

EDITORIAL: The Dark Knight Rises Analysed

I analyse the final installment in Nolan's Batman trilogy that seems to get an awful lot of hate for meaningless plot holes and not containing enough Batman. Hit the jump for my review/ analysis...

Editorial Opinion
By ClarkKent89 - Apr 01, 2014 01:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman
This can be viewed as the next installment in my Dark Knight Trilogy retrospective reviews, but I decided to do something different with this as most people believe it's a bad movie. So this review is going to be much simpler in structure to my previous one, but will still support a clear amount of detail on what I think on specific themes and so on. Let the games begin!



On July the 20th, 2012 it would've been four respective years since the last time Batman was on the big screen in the critically beloved The Dark Knight and 8 years in Gotham since the apparent death "murder" of Harvey Dent committed by the Batman. Now a recluse, Bruce Wayne is mourning the death of his childhood friend turned potential lover, Rachel Dawes and the caped crusader is now a long gone vigilante. When put in retrospect, the story can be summed up in a large scale triumph of good against evil and that's really all someone needs to be aware of while attending this finale to the 8 year long trilogy because although there are many sub-plots and devices thrown into the mix, you're essentially seeing a classic story retold in a large scale fashion.

   The film is a trilogy in of itself with the first chapter reintroducing characters while inserting a few new additions including our new villain in the shape of physically imposing and mentally taunting Bane. Bruce gets back into action as the Batman with his soul (and body) not really invested as the whole point of him becoming Batman was to use his fear against criminals, but now he faces a problem. He is no longer afraid. The second chapter involves Gotham kept under captivity by Bane after Batman's back is broken in a brutal fight and is now stranded in the middle of nowhere inside a pit that purposely resembles the well in Begins; Harvey Dent's last acts of violence are revealed to the world. The final chapter is the epic battle between good and evil. Bruce escapes the pit and learns that the fear of death is what will help him survive and it's this fear that helps him defeat Bane, and Tailia Al Ghul inspiring all of Gotham's police force to take on the mercenaries until Batman makes the ultimate sacrifice to save his city.

 Like its predecessor, the film is a triumph that relies on it's  own goals and achievements rather than the restrictions of  the comic-book genre or audiences' expectations.  TDK succeeded in bringing Batman into a world that we can  recognise and believe as nothing short of our own with crime systems, court cases making the film feel like a wonderful drama/ thriller rather than an interpretation of a 75 year old comic-book hero. Rises surpasses this by making the story flow naturally by itself again without falling into known conventions, and features the least amount of screen time by (suited-up) Batman in the entire Nolan trilogy. The film  isn't afraid to have its entire second act Batman-less and this  is a testament to Nolan's genius. He doesn't want to make  the final chapter in the Batman trilogy, he wants to make  the conclusion of Bruce Wayne's journey.
 
 
   Some have faulted this film for having many plot holes, and  while I don't for a second believe how John Blake uncovered  Bruce's alter ego, I can ignore most things. How Bruce got  back into Gotham after escaping the pit, the CIA letting  masked men onto their plane don't really bother me, and strike me more as ways to bend reality for the sake of the  story instead of trying to insult the audiences' intelligence.  The fact remains that the whole trilogy is set in a buy-able realistic world, and if a few little touches on reality are taken to tell the story you want to tell, then that shouldn't get in the way of anyone's view on this film's merits especially if some of those holes can be left up to personal interpretation.

   What will always be great about The Dark Knight Trilogy is that they can be enjoyed as watchable experiences, and analysed even deeper in themes and meanings. Rises is no exception and I'll try to say why I think the Selina & Bruce romance works for the movie as many people think it was just tagged on.
So when things pick up in the opening of the film, Bruce has become a recluse with rumours and myths floating around about his appearance, but what's really going on is he's frozen in a single moment in time. The night Rachel died... He's stuck in the fire and no longer fears anything because he feels he has nothing to lose and is waiting for something to take Batman back into the picture or as Alfred puts it; "Things to go bad again." Enter Selina Kyle: a woman who's learnt to adapt to her environments whether it's a scared girl, shy maid, sexy Catwoman or whoever. Bruce always saw his time as Batman temporary, but still wants the symbol to carry on long after him, and is constantly looking for someone to replace him e.g. Harvey Dent, John Blake and maybe even Selina as Gotham's protector. He wants to see the good in people and even says to Selina after saying how she'll exit after helping; "There's more to you than that." In both BB, and TDK Bruce agreed that "criminals aren't complicated" but after his experience with the Joker, he's come to realise that's not always the case which is why he now views Selina as not just a jewel thief, but a good person in a bad place. So you have a man in frozen in a fire who doesn't view criminals are more than meets the eye clashing with a woman who adapts to wherever she is and views the rich as simple scumbags. At the end of the day, she's the one that brought Bruce back into action and he's the one who convinced her to help save Gotham. Two opposites who form a good alliance and now the fire rises.

I really enjoyed Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane and I think the voice offers a good diversion from this absolute beast of a human being, but at the same time strangely goes well with the appearance. My favourite scene of his is the speech outside Black Gate prison because it makes him come across as a genuine revolutionist that means every word that comes out of his mouth mask. This yet again proves Nolan's creativity and independence. Although I like the idea of Bane falling in love with Tailia and being her protector, and I also like the similarities between how her father was revealed in a twist and so was she; I don't know whether her whole reveal would've changed anything if it was deleted altogether as she dies shortly after her twist intro. And when looking back, it seems that Bane got short-changed as in a matter of minutes he's bunked down from the main terrorist/ revolutionist to a body guard who may or may not of just been doing Tailia's work all along. It would have worked better if "Miranda Tate" was a more memorable character, and had a real something with Bruce, but she was pretty bland and anyone could have played her which doesn't make it difficult for Cotillard to turn in a good performance although that death was bullsh*t. Either way, I like the similarities between how Ra's and Tailia were both close to Bruce then stabbed him in the back, and Bane's still a complete badass and I don't have a problem with his death, just how he decreased from main villain to love-sick bodyguard.
 
All performances are the best in the trilogy and Bale turns in the most amount of depth since Begins and Knight. I say that because people act like Bale is just average in each film, but I think in every installment, he's turned in a solid performance and in Rises, I can't say anything other than he does it again. His particular shining moments are when he's in the pit desperate to save Gotham with little-to-no idea of how to be the Batman he once was. The emotional scene between Alfred and Bruce is another highlight with him and Michael Caine giving in the most tear-jerking scene of probably all the (live action) Batman films. Anne Hathaway is great and is given several opportunities to be versatile and she nails it as well as the arc/ romance her and Bale share. She goes from someone careless of what people think of her, thinking all the rich are snobs to someone who wants to start a new, clean-slate life with one the wealthiest billionaires on the planet (who happens to be the Batman) also looking to start anew.

From what I remember, Begins didn't have much on political or social commentary, Knight had plenty to say about terrorism, unwanted spying, lies to keep people under control, and now Rises went for a more left field direction. The rich and poor world. At first, I thought this was a bit of a random choice, but then it made more sense in the grand scheme of not just this film, but the first one. In Begins, a young Bruce learned the hard way that being rich wouldn't buy you your parents back and now it's a little bit of a metaphor that Bruce has gone broke in that he's lost his lover, a potential replacement Gotham can look up to, his Batman reputation has gone up in smoke and financially, he's penny-less. Selina offers a relatable perspective in that "Even the rich don't go poor" or something like that.

I have plenty more to say about this wonderful conclusion, but nobody would want to read a 100ft article, so I'll leave it at this.
 
Christopher Nolan has managed to create a fitting conclusion to the definitive Bruce Wayne/ Batman/ Gotham story in just under 3 hours. In 8-9 hours, he's made a personal journey that heightened the way we perceive super-hero movies, their meanings, themes, and their characters. It may never ever be topped in DC, Marvel, or the comic-book genre period. The Dark Knight Rises is one of my favourite CBMs and movies period, The DK Trilogy is my favourite CBM and one of my favourite movies. It is simply put glorious.
 
What do you think of my analysis? Write your thoughts down below... Peace
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tonytony
tonytony - 4/1/2014, 1:57 PM
Great write up.
tdkr was good it could never meet the expectations set by tdk i think everyone expected it top tdk but i havent watched any movies cbm or not that has gotten anywhere close to that.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 2:36 PM
Yeah this movie sucked pretty bad...

Tried watching it a second time, was too painful.

Still, loved Begins and TDK ;)
gamecreatorjj
gamecreatorjj - 4/1/2014, 2:58 PM
Rises was the weakest link, but it was still damn good. It's always hard to cap off a series.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 4/1/2014, 3:03 PM
it was the weakest link, but still top 15 CBM ever
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 4/1/2014, 3:04 PM
tonytony
tdkr was good it could never meet the expectations set by tdk i think everyone expected it top tdk but i havent watched any movies cbm or not that has gotten anywhere close to that.

Good point, still a great movie though.
Geotheleo
Geotheleo - 4/1/2014, 3:09 PM
My only problems with it were bat man wasn't a genuine detective... His fighting was Shit, and the final battle should have been at night...
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 3:30 PM
It wouldn't even be in the top 50 for me, mainly because of all the flaws in the whole movie and the way all the Bat characters were treated at the very end.

Still can't have everything, TDK & Begins are still up at the top and awesome!
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 4:04 PM
Well @ AnnoDomini,with all the Millions they spend on these movies there should be no flaws and its hardly perfect by a long shot, still its no X-Men Origins: Wolverine either :p
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 4:05 PM
Meaning its a lot better of course, a lot.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 4:19 PM
True @ Anno, but they got lots of ppl to check for mistakes and flaws, can't be that hard surely :p

Btw your the man!

Your avi says it all, WATCHMEN is one of the best cbm's ever made!

LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 4:25 PM
Also I think Rises would have been more powerful if it stopped at when Batman blew up in mid air near the end.

Now that's an ending, not happy, not nothing just something your wouldn't expect and the viewer decides what happens next like in the classic Italian Job!

Hanging about at a French coffee shop as Bruce Wayne with Selina was just plain stupid, he's face is recognized Worldwide and the 'oh shit he's Robin bit' was just totally lame.
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 4:27 PM
Yeah either cut WATCHMEN's just pure awesome!
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 4/1/2014, 5:26 PM
I can agree with a couple of things. Hathaway was great as Catwoman (not the classic comic Catwoman, but I don't give a crap about being faithful to the comics), and I liked the relationship between them too.

But, overall,this movie is, at best, just decent/good. It doesn't come close to being great, and is nowhere near the other 2. The first part is good, and the ending (from Bruce climbing out of the pit till the end) was geat. But the middle, and the overall plot/storyline sucked. No, you cannot bankrupt someone that way. It would be immediately recognized as fraud, and at worst Bruce's money and control of his company would be in legal limbo for a short time. I don't mind pushing the envelope on reality in a cbm, but that was just stupid. Plus, while I don't mind getting away from source material, I do think the heroes should keep their very basic characteristics. Being a billionaire is one of Bruce's very basic characteristics, and I didn't like taking that away. The whole fusion generator/bomb thing was even dumber. If the objective is to destroy Gotham, then considering how much power and wealth that the League of Shadows semed to have access to, they could have obtained a regular nuclear weapon and just blown Gotham up. Yeah, I get that they wanted to have the masses rise up ("yay, communism" seemed to be their motto) and wanted Batman to watch Gotham's destruction. But they could have accomplished that within a week or two, and then blown the city up. The plot was just unnecessarily convoluted, and it mainly seemed to be that way just to include the whole "breaking the bat" moment to satisfy silly fanboys. In order to break the bat, but allow Batman to save the day, Nolan had to put in a few months for him to heal. That's just stupid, and the movie probably would have been much better if they had left the breaking the bat scene out. Plus, there is no way they don't just kill all the cops in the underground (of course, in the real world, no police chief sends his entire force in their like that.) There was just so much stupidity in the story that the film can never be rated very high.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 4/1/2014, 5:28 PM
@LEEE777
Just because a film derives from the source a bit and has a few plot holes doesn't constitute a bad film. Did you like Iron Man 3 or Avengers? Remember Manadrin, Iron Patriot or Pepper potts killing killian? Or how about when Tony was about to get killed by two extremis soldiers and he doesn't even call his army of robots to help him, until the end of the film. How about the Chitauri being able to get killed so easily with guns and arrows and Black Widow learning to use their weapons so easily. Oh, and when thor was killing all of the aliens with his lightning he just stops using it for no reason. Also the Chitauri are supposed to be alien shape shifters but we saw none of that. Also, remember how they all died like a bunch of drones? Stupid!
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 4/1/2014, 5:28 PM
Oops, "there", not "their" in that next to last sentence.
Pedrito
Pedrito - 4/1/2014, 7:47 PM
If just like this review, the movie had no Talia, then yes TDKR would have been a great movie.
Instead it was just a decent wrap-up with a contrived connection to BB and with Batman retiring to drink espressos.
JoJo1982
JoJo1982 - 4/1/2014, 9:01 PM
It's funny I just
Watch this movie again for the 1000th time last night and I still love this movie

But anyways good write

bane really did still the movie
LEEE777
LEEE777 - 4/1/2014, 10:06 PM
MarkOfTheDemon @ no Iron Man 3 was pretty crap, imo the worst Marvel Studios movie so far made, as for Avengers it was fun, something Rises was not...
TheYoungMan
TheYoungMan - 4/2/2014, 5:41 AM
"most people believe it's a bad movie"

*sigh*
TheYoungMan
TheYoungMan - 4/2/2014, 5:45 AM
It's the 2nd highest rated CBM of all time on IMDb, behind only TDK. "Most people" gave it that rating. Most critics raved it. The AFI named it one of the 10 best of the year. Dumbasses like LEEE777 don't decide this movie's legacy.
yonny616
yonny616 - 4/2/2014, 8:49 AM
People who bitch about how the CIA in the film do their job must not really know the CIA. The agent made a bad call, like a lot of agents do in films. Also how do we know the CIA didn't just cover up the fact that one of their planes was shot down. This IS the CIA after all. They don't just let people know their failures, or even successes.

Most of the so-called problems of the TDKRises can be explained easily, and most are even explained in the film.

Anyway, great film. Great editorial. Thumbs up!
Brainiac13
Brainiac13 - 4/2/2014, 4:03 PM
Great write up. I don't understand the hate for this movie. Best CBM trilogy.

TDK is still the best CBM.....even after I saw CAP2 (Which was [frick]ing Amazing!)
MightyZeus
MightyZeus - 4/2/2014, 5:15 PM
Amazing editorial. I love The Dark Knight Rises and i love the Nolan Trilogy.

It's fascinating how The Dark Knight Rises turned out to be what it is, which is in fact ground breaking in terms of comic book films.
ThunderKat
ThunderKat - 4/2/2014, 10:28 PM
I respectfully disagree. The story was not woven well together. There were enough plot holes to make me apathetic. I knew it wouldn't equal TDK or 'Begins.' That's fine. However, it was so over the top in certain areas I was just awaiting the ending--which didn't make up for any of the aforementioned.
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