The Dark Knight Rises
August 2012
To refer to Christopher’s Nolan’s Batman trilogy as belonging to the Superhero genre is something of a misnomer.
Christian Bale’s Caped Crusader adheres to certain comic book conventions, but his human flaws (themselves born of societal disorder) are so darkly pronounced it’s difficult to view him in the slightest glimmer of heroic light. Of course light and dark are thematically played upon here as good and evil, as in the previous two instalments, but to bandy those terms is nugatory. In Nolan’s ambivalent universe definitions and perceptions are as slippery and fragile as ice over the Hudson (or Gotham’s equivalent). What otherwise makes The Dark Knight Rises less a Superhero movie than an operatic, existential and somewhat gloomy treatise on modernity is the actual amount of screen time the Batman gets. This is a movie about so much more than one man.
It’s eight years since Harvey Dent’s falsely exalted demise and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a crippled recluse for whom there’s “nothing out there”. He’s hung up his wings and Gotham appears to be doing fine without his perceived murderous vigilantism. This is the quiet following a spectacular opening set piece in which a C.I.A. plane is skyjacked by another plane mid-air and destroyed. On board is part revolutionary, part über-crim Bane (Tom Hardy), whose mechanical mask evokes the villainy of Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vadar in both vocality and composure. His presence is comparable to the destruction he wreaks on Gotham. A terrorist hell-bent on bringing the city (and all existing social order) to its knees, Bane’s anarchistic imperative is as spiritually troubling and mysterious as Wayne’s, making him an equally compelling foe both psychologically and physically. The ensuing battles threaten much more than their respective fates; at stake here is the iconography an entire city’s population depends upon.
The performances and craftsmanship of production in The Dark Knight Rises are impeccable. Everything happening here, across layers infinitely complex, falls into place without hint of plot contrivance or gratuitous technique. This is intelligent filmmaking that is intensely entertaining on a scale rarely seen in Hollywood. The Dark Knight Rises is the perfect end to a classic series of films, although some might contest its finality. Whether studio demand or simply Nolan’s oft-glimpsed humour, the ending begs discussion. Either way, it’s clear that the director and star’s work here is done, and done exceptionally well.
Rated M. Now showing on general release
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