Batman Rises to the Occasion

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

 I guess I was wrong. The trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises" rubbed me the wrong way. I was dismayed by what was seemingly a comic-book movie that looked like "The Departed" or any of Sidney Lumet's cop pictures. I was also underwhelmed by the casting of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and thought to myself, after the stunning conclusion of "The Dark Knight," there was no place to go. Even director Christopher Nolan stated as such. But I do believe that seeing the final product is believing and "The Dark Knight Rises" is as great as the 2008 sequel and closer in spirit to "Batman Begins," the finest Batman film ever made. What "Rises" does is bring us closer to Bruce Wayne, closer than ever before and that is a major plus.
 

This sequel takes place eight years after the debacle involving the murder of attorney Harvey Dent by the Joker, a crime mistakenly attributed to Batman. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has been in hiding at Wayne Manor all this time, walking around with a beard and a cane and eroding like some pale imitation of Howard Hughes. The public has not seen him or the Dark Knight but Bruce can't let go of the tragedy of his girlfriend's death, Rachel Dawes (played in the last sequel by Maggie Gyllenhaal). It has kept the billionaire playboy as insular as ever. His dutiful servant, Alfred (Michael Caine), is worried for him. When Selina Kyle aka The Cat (Anne Hathaway, a better-than-expected and puurr-fect performance) slips in a maid's uniform and gets a sample of Wayne's fingerprints, it breaks Bruce and makes him confront Gotham City and all its denizens. When the muscular Bane (brilliantly played by Tom Hardy) holds Gotham hostage by blowing up football fields, killing Wall Street brokers, trapping thousands of police officers underground and threatening to blow up the city with a fusion reactor converted into a nuclear bomb, Bruce comes out of his shell and dons the rubber suit. However, Bane, the masked villain who inhales analgesic gas to keep himself alive and free of pain, is a tortured, pained individual who either wants to get rid of the ruling classes or blow up the city or both. Batman never had to face this much anarchy.
 
"The Dark Knight Rises" juggles a lot of characters and perilous situations with ease, thanks to writer-director Christopher Nolan. I haven't mentioned the return of Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) where his police record comes under scrutiny; Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a headstrong police detective who believes Bruce Wayne and Batman are one and the same; Marion Cotillard as Miranda who has a vested interested in Wayne's fusion reactor and becomes his love interest, and returnee Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox who provides Bruce with all the high-tech weaponry.  All the characters come together and have their own share of practically equal screen time that allows their roles to breathe without the constant bombardment of explosions. When the action does set in, it is as dazzling and as sweeping as ever before. The final hour of the film supplies enough dramatic moments amidst an imminent terrorist bombing and jaw-dropping action that supersedes anything you might find in any current superhero action flick.
 
Bruce Wayne's attempts to come to terms with being a redemptive hero in the Gotham city crisis is this movie's highlight. When dumped into a prison by Bane which precious few humans could ever escape from, Wayne finds his own inner strength to preserve what he has left to give to Gotham. This is where Christian Bale really brings his Bruce and Batman character to full fruition - it is astoundingly nuanced and formidable acting that is resplendent in its authority.  It is what was missing in "The Dark Knight," a great movie that was resolutely about a clown-faced terrorist who beat Batman with piercing words. "Rises" reestablishes Batman as our nocturnal hero, our own dark knight whom we can root for all over again. Nolan has closed out one of the most fascinating, ambitious and serious-minded comic-book films ever with a delectable coda and a stirring climax. The Bat Signal shines brighter than ever.
 
Footnote: "Rises" did face controversy in July with the unfortunate Aurora, Colorado shootings that mirrored, intentionally or not, the dreary world of Christopher Nolan's own revisionist take on the DC hero. I have written about this and having seen the film, I was wrong to think that the world of the movie, which I had not seen at the time, was the same as our world. Nolan deals with real-life, 9/11 pre-occupations and terroristic activities, in addition to post-Bush paranoia. With "Rises," he exploits Occupy Wall Street paranoia and anger. None of this has anything to do with the Aurora shooting because in the end, despite such doses of 9/11 reality, this is only a Batman movie at heart and it never sides with the "liberating" efforts enforced by Bane.