So how long did it take for me to get to this review? So long that even my dude Erik has already seen it in theaters. I saw this opening night yet here I am just getting the review out. I would like to say that I held off out of respect for the Colorado tragedy but that honestly had nothing to do with it. I've just been so busy packing, moving, unpacking and getting settled that this review is FINALLY able to make an appearance. Not to mention I'm finally getting an actual update on my blog. Anywhoo...
The story is eight years have passed (about the same amount of time since my last update) since the Dark Knight's (Christian Bale) self-imposed exile after taking the wrap for Harvey Dent's murder. Gotham would seem to be on the right track thanks to the Dent Act that has jailed many of Gotham's worst criminals. However, a new breed begins to rise with the emergence of the maniacal Bane (Tom Hardy) and even a mysterious cat burglar (Anne Hathaway). Bruce Wayne (also Bale) has no choice but to come out retirement, but is the 8 years of rust going to be enough to battle the evil that Bane has in store?
I am now convinced that I have gotten more critical than I thought in my older years. I am among the select few that wasn't completely gaga over this "alleged" final installment of the Dark Knight trilogy. The first reason is something that even I am conflicted over and that's Bane. I will admit that I was rather digging his overall appearance. Even though they departed from the comics and made him more intellectual, he still had an extremely imposing nature about him. Just his mere silhouette was something you didn't want to run into in a dark alley.
Bane's voice was another story altogether. Yes, I realize it's nitpicking, but I can't help it. It annoyed me. Almost to the extent that that Batman growl does. I didn't have a problem with Bane sounding very educated to serve as a stark contrast to his menacing demeanor. It was the sound mix that worked my nerve. There were FAR too many times that you couldn't understand what in the world he was saying. And I've seen the movie twice now. Both times, I was still struggling to understand him at parts. Would it really have killed director Chris Nolan to clean that up some? Even Darth Vader was able to be understood 100% of the time.
Contrary to other critiques I've seen, I didn't have a problem with Hathaway as Catwoman. Yes, it's been done better by Michelle Pfeiffer and even Halle Berry (yep...I said it), but I liked the duality that Hathaway brought to the role. Although she didn't have the same amount of sex appeal, she at least seemed somewhat credible in the part. It's not her fault that she didn't look as good in the catsuit as well as other Catwomen before her. Okay...well maybe it is since all she had to do was fill out a bit to get the same amount of curves.
One of my biggest issues was the huge amount of common sense they removed from the film. [SPOILER ALERT] Would Gotham City really send EVERY. SINGLE.POLICEMAN into the sewers in search of a criminal mastermind? Even the cops from "Die Hard with a Vengeance" thought that was foolish. And then for the final assault on Bane's army...would they really charge head first into an amored gang consisting of two tanks and the cops just had pistols? All of the sudden they are all Marines??
Again, I must depart from the opinion of the masses when it comes to my take on the film's finale. I LOVE me some true trilogies. A true trilogy has closure in the final chapter. There's not supposed to be any ambiguity to lead you to believe there will be more. Because there's not supposed to be more. They obviously did not have that intent with this one. They are clearly setting it up for "Robin" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to take over the mantle and run with it. That's all fine and good, but then don't try to sell the series like it's a trilogy when it clearly is not.
As I mentioned, I had to see "Dark Knight Rises" twice to truly give it a fair shake. I thought maybe I was being too harsh with my first assessment. Plus, my first viewing was the midnite showing so maybe my perception was a little skewed. Nope, the same problems I had the first time were present the second time. If I had to rank this one among the others in the "trilogy", I would put it a distant second. I would probably see it again just for Bane, but would make sure that it's at home where I can have the subtitles on.
My rating: B -
