The film opens eight years after the events of The Dark Knight and both Batman and his alter ego billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) have gone into hiding. As such Wayne Enterprises is crumbling after he invested in board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard ) and her clean energy project, designed to harness fusion power, and shut it down after learning that the core could be modified to become a nuclear weapon. Bruce also encounters cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and decides to keep an eye on her.
Meantime under powers granted by the Dent Act legislation inspired by the perceived heroism of the late Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the Gotham City Police Department have nearly eradicated violent and organized crime. At a "Harvey Dent Day" event Gordon nearly exposes the cover-up of Harvey Dent's crimes, but decides at last second that the city is not ready to hear the truth. While following a lead in the abduction of a congressional representative (Brett Cullen), Gordon's speech falls into the hands of the villain Bane (Tom Hardy), who discovers the truth about Dent. Soon Bane attacks the stock exchange and bankrupts Bruce, forcing him to relinquish control of Wayne Enterprises. He entrusts Tate to keep full control of what's left. Bats now back in action locates Bane with Kyle's help, During the confrontation, Bane physically beats down Batman and places him in a foreign prison from which escape is virtually impossible....
Once again Nolan works from a screenplay he wrote with bro Jonathan Nolan, and a story that he and David S. Goyer concocted. While the film boasts many of the same key ingredients that made the rest of the trilogy soar--this time things tend to plod along for too long a period. I never thought I would say this about a Nolan Batman film---It's main problem for me--editing and pacing. As long as TDK was--It's complex characters and layered storytelling were among its strengths. Not this time...
At the start of the film Batman has to be coaxed by Gordon and Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to return and save the city. Battling back is something he is forced to do a second time later on as well. Having to take a similar journey twice in the same film just seems like filler and diminished the effort our hero makes to overcome as the climax draws near.
The other notable example; the stock exchange sequence begins as a taut exercise that includes a chase that starts in broad daylight and ends in the dead of night...
All of that said--The film boasts another round of great performances; Bale and regulars Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Oldman shine once again working well with the newbies. I must say I really enjoyed Hathaway's take on Selina Kyle much more than I thought I would. Slinky Sly and Sassy. Hardy encapsulated Bane quite well--proving a worthy bad guy. For me it's the work of JGL as Blake that stands out. His character has a fascinating arc and once again JGL hits a grand slam.
Other enjoyable touches: The cameo by Cillian Murphy. Film score composer Hans Zimmer does his BEST work of the trilogy--The callbacks to Batman Begins do help to give the film a sense of closure . The finale also allows for risks to be taken that you may not expect....
Some folks have said that TDKR is too dark...I say given what Nolan laid out in the previous efforts--The tone here was to be expected and in keeping with the character's journey really.
Not the wondrous finale I was hoping for---Still worthy. A film that finds a way to work-despite the whole not equal to the sum of its parts...
2 comments:
Doesn't look like were paying close attention to that stock sequence there Julian, it was the end of the day son. And with editing, the magic is that they can jump forward through time, results are that they were probably in their maybe even a half an hour or more before they jumped ship. Leaving it very little time to be daylight, you can see the twilight hours already in the sy if you look closeyl. I've studied the sun, in college, it rises and sets very fast. trust.
Thanks for reading my TDKR review...! I grant that the sun can set very fast and having a film degree--I understand that editing can advance the story...In this case though the cut seemed to jump out at me. I could have perhaps worded my point a bit better Also you should know that Julian is posting on his own blog--doing great by the way--and no longer writes here--I wrote this review. Best to you!
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