The Darkest Knight Yet

"The Dark Knight Rises"

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Written By: Jonathan Nolan & Christopher Nolan

Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Rated PG-13

164 Minutes

The biggest problem facing "The Dark Knight Rises" is that it isn't "The Dark Knight."  Christopher Nolan's 2008 crime epic came out of nowhere to shock and delight audiences who weren't expecting the sequel to "Batman Begins" to be so sensational.  It caught everyone off guard and remains a nearly perfect film elevated by the iconic performance of Heath Ledger as the Joker.  The obvious expectation this time is that Nolan must justify the final chapter of his trilogy with something bigger and better than "The Dark Knight."  Mixed reviews might convince you to lower your expectations, but I think all it requires is different expectations.  In its first hour, "The Dark Knight Rises" may lack the initial visceral impact of its predecessor, but what slowly emerges from the perceived rubble is an absolute masterpiece.

This final entry in Nolan's "Dark Knight" trilogy is actually the most methodically structured of all three.  It hits the ground running by introducing all the familiar characters, and at least four new and prominent ones.  Having too many new characters in the concluding chapter of a trilogy can be the kiss of death if handled incorrectly.  Luckily, Christopher Nolan has 2 hours, 45 minutes to find something for each of them to do and casts big name actors to make sure that even in their briefest moments, they leave an impression.  Arguably the most significant addition is Selina Kyle, who is oddly well-defined for being such an ambiguous character.  Anne Hathaway plays her with a deep charisma masked by a playful tenacity and when we first meet her, she is posing as a waitress to sneak into Wayne Manor's east wing, where Bruce has been a recluse for several years.  He is so spiritually broken from the events of "The Dark Knight" that even The Batman hasn't been seen in 8 years.  This is Christian Bale's strongest performance as the character and will likely stand as the definitive one should somebody else snag the role in the future.  Michael Caine is back as well, providing some of his most emotional work to date as Bruce's ever-faithful Butler, Alfred.  In one conversation with Bruce, he rescinds on a promise he made to him in the first movie.  His reasons are sound, but the choice that he makes is probably the film's most heartbreaking moment; and there a lot of those.

Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) has been living under the weight of the lie he and Batman concocted to prevent the public from finding out the truth about Harvey Dent's crimes.  Oldman has played Gordon as a moral force for good in the previous films and with that moral compass bent just slightly too far, Gordon loses focus in some early scenes here, and pays dearly for it.  Under his command is a new Gotham City Police Officer named John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who knows a vital piece of information that he quite honorably keeps to himself.  There is also Miranda Tate (Marion Coutillard), an environmentalist and board member for Wayne Enterprises who has a hand in a vital clean energy project.  She works with Lucius Fox to keep this technology from falling into the hands of John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn), a Wayne Enterprises rival who has used his wealth and resources to bring a terrifying mercenary known as Bane to Gotham City.  Tom Hardy is absolutely ferocious as Bane, if not quite as memorable as Heath Ledger's Joker, or as well-defined.  What is clear is that Nolan and Hardy had different intentions for Bane altogether, and he holds in store a horrifying fate for Gotham City.  While the Joker's reign of terror had a great deal to do with the Batman, Bane will see his plans through whether Batman is around or not. 

This is all dense plotting in a film that initially feels too long with the first viewing.  Some characters drift in and out of the narrative, sometimes absent for significant stretches.  But the movie covers a lot of ground and I am certain that Christopher Nolan has left nothing to chance and made specific decisions for a reason.  Symbolically, he has structured the narrative to be a little jarring, to echo the overall sense of unease.  Then when things start hurtling toward the heart-stopping climax, Nolan reveals his hand, giving every character their due and placing them exactly where they need to be.  A vital part of the film's final act is the score by Hans Zimmer, which elicits a powerful emotional response to accompany the thrills of the plot.  Perhaps the title for the film was influenced in part by the trajectory of the score, which has taken a new direction from the previous films.  It is an elegant piece of work. 

The palette of the film itself is exponentially grander this time as well, with Wally Pfister returning as director of photography.  When Chicago stood in for Gotham city, he had a distinct color scale and framed shots so that a familiar city was creatively disguised.  This time, Gotham is a hybrid of New York, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles; and even though this provides a new look to the film, it successfully reflects the change of genre.  Nolan has stated that he wouldn't do a third Batman picture unless he could top the grandeur of "The Dark Knight." In terms of scope and scale, he has done exactly that.  If  "Batman Begins" is a focused, fear-driven, psychological character study; and "The Dark Knight" a bold crime drama; then "The Dark Knight Rises" is Chris Nolan's disaster epic.  Each film could stand independently and fit into a particular genre, and I think that's why Nolan chose to come back to the story twice; because each chapter of his Dark Knight saga has resonated with its own self-contained theme.  If he had restricted himself to making simple sequels, he would have had nothing new to offer and they would have played as needless rehash.  The brilliance of this trilogy is that it has spanned genres, becoming so much more than what its source material would suggest.

Even at 164 minutes, "The Dark Knight Rises" will reward repeat viewings.  It serves as a definitive end to be sure, but it still leaves excellent questions.  The last shot in particular must have been meticulously planned and it does a fantastic job of wrapping up everything that has come before while simultaneously leaving us with ideas about what the future will hold.  Chris Nolan will not be returning to the universe of the Dark Knight, but he has provided three films with a captivating interpretation of the character.  This could easily stand as one of the greatest trilogies put to film, and it goes without saying that it is the most significant in the comic book universe so far.  I just hope that audiences will not hold this final chapter under too much scrutiny in comparison with "The Dark Knight."  It is a different kind of film and should be allowed to stand or fall on its own merits.  One thing is for sure, from beginning to end, it rises to the most emotionally exciting climax I have seen in a long time.  There is a really nice moment early on where Selina warns Bruce that a storm is coming.  He wonders if she might be looking forward to it; to which she replies: "I'm adaptable."  Looking back over the director's relatively short list of films, she could easily have been describing Christopher Nolan.  Now that he has finished telling this story, with whatever he does next, I'll be looking forward to it.