Four years after the release of the Academy Award-winning film The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan attempts to once again create a top-notch Batman film. Does he succeed? He does indeed. The Dark Knight Rises is an intelligent, action-packed film that may bring its audience to tears while still remaining highly entertaining.
After eight years of hiding, Batman is forced to reemerge and face Gotham’s new terrorist: Bane. As Bane aims to bring a revolution upon Gotham, a weakened Bruce Wayne must once again put the mask of Batman on and save a city which has dubbed him a villain. However, Bane proves to be more powerful than Batman anticipates, which increases Batman’s struggle to be renewed.
The Dark Knight Rises is full of twists and turns, but also provides a very talented cast. While Christian Bale often provides a mediocre portrayal of Batman/Bruce Wayne, he displayed growth as an actor in this film and delivered a more convincing hero than expected.
Nevertheless, he is no match for Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance is Detective Blake, the underlying hero of the film. He gives a very impressive performance and adds charisma to any scene he appears in.
Not only does the movie provide memorable heroes, but it provides an even better villain. Tom Hardy delivers a great performance of an epic Bane. A deadly villain, Bane is amazing for the audience to watch grow and terrorize Gotham. His entrance to the movie alone is warrant enough to be called an impressive villain.
Sadly, because Bane is such an outstanding character, Catwoman is pathetic in comparison. Although she is an average written character, Anne Hathaway delivered the part well and added the proper level of sass that Catwoman needs. Her talent made up for a poorly written character in comparison with the others The Dark Knight Rises provides.
While The Dark Knight Rises has a good frame, the glue that really holds it together and is the driving force of the movie is Hans Zimmer. His music sets the tone and really pulls the audience into the movie. Not one note is out of place the entire film and is easily the mastermind to the audience’s enjoyment of the film. Each part of the score fit perfectly and there was not one piece that required alteration. Any faults the movie possesses are rectified due to his score.
What really adds to The Dark Knight Rises’ quality is the symbolism it provides that not only movie lovers can enjoy, but history buffs as well. Bane’s desire to create a rebellion throughout Gotham parallels the Russian Revolution, allowing the audience’s mind to draw connections from the movie to events in history. Christopher Nolan does this with great intelligence increasing the genius of the movie; the audience is thinking, not only watching epic battles.
The Batman trilogy has come to an ending and The Dark Knight Rises definitely allowed it to go out with a bang! Christopher Nolan tied all three of the movies together creating lineage for the trilogy, not merely leaving it as three Batman movies which all starred Christian Bale and succeeded each other. While the ending itself may have been slightly predictable, it was not disappointing and Hans Zimmer’s score really fires up the audience. All in all The Dark Knight Rises deserves an 8/10, is definitely the best of the three movies and is incredible to watch on the big screen.
