And so finally the third instalment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy is upon us and cinemagoers can finally get the opportunity to see how Nolan and co take their take on the Batman story to a conclusion, satisfying or otherwise. Audiences waited to see if Nolan could pull off the relatively rare feat of crafting a trilogy closing film that wouldn’t be a disappointment as many three-quels have been, and whether he had raised the bar too high with 2008’s The Dark Knight. Thankfully, this is one of the third films in a series that does live up to the standards previously set in this incarnation of Batman, although it doesn’t soar as high as The Dark Knight, but that only goes to show just how good that film was and how high it set standards for The Dark Knight Rises to follow.
Rises is set 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight which is an unusual storytelling choice to make, and certainly avoids what would have seemed the easiest direction to follow, which would have been to set the story mere weeks or months after the closing of The Dark Knight which saw Batman take the fall for Harvey Dent’s crimes and chased into the night by Gotham police. Even with the streets relatively safe in Gotham it would seem a little unlikely and surprising that in those 8 years there wasn’t one occasion that called or tempted Bruce Wayne out onto the streets once more as Batman. What the 8 year gap does do is allow a plot line that finds Bruce Wayne living out a reclusive existence in Wayne Manor, locking himself away from the city and society following the failure of a green energy project that cost him a substantial chunk of his fortune and a downturn in fortunes for Wayne Enterprises. Believing that there is nothing out there for him after Rachel Dawes death and the labelling of Batman as an outlaw who must be brought to justice Bale’s Bruce Wayne is left to lurk around Wayne Manor, walking with the aid of a walking stick and ignoring the counsel of stand-in parent Alfred to use his knowledge and wealth to influence Gotham for the better as his parents did before him.
What this build-up means is that when Batman finally does re-appear it is a moment well earnt for the audience and feels like an epic moment as the Bat Pod once more roars around Gotham’s streets backed by Hans Zimmer’s rousing score. At one point with two masked characters battling on a rooftop and another lurking in the shadows nearby this is as close as any Nolan film will get to it’s comic book/graphic novel roots, especially when coupled with Batman’s new transport in the shape of the plane/helicopter crossover vehicle The Bat. It is during some of the action sequences that, like with his other films, it is interesting to note how rather than using a bombastic or overpowering score as some directors have or would do in similar circumstances, Nolan uses the power of silence to emphasise a mood and a scene, most notably during one brutal encounter beneath Gotham’s streets.
It isn’t a spoiler to say that the architect of the brutality in the film is the mercenary Bane, brought into the film to give Wayne/Batman a different kind of nemeses from those that have gone before and it is a wise choice. With the character having been reduced to a growling lumbering sidekick in the risible Batman & Robin there was ample scope for a completely new and much more threatening take on the character and that is what we have been presented with. Most of the film’s build up has centred around Tom Hardy’s voice in the role and how easy or not it is to actually understand what he is saying, particularly after the prologue was shown in a limited IMAX release several months ago. Much online coverage and debate followed, seemingly most of it coming from people viewing the preview footage on various smartphone footage on YouTube which was never going to accurately represent how the vocal actually sounded, however the mix for the opening has been altered and to be honest distractingly so, as Bane’s voice seems somehow detached from the others in the scene, almost as if there has been too much of an attempt to clear his voice from any background elements. That aside, I didn’t personally have any issue with his voice or the clarity throughout the film on either occasion I’ve seen Rises, it’s something that does appear to be cinema specific.
Any issues with Bane’s voice aside it is his actions that mark him out from his predecessors in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight – with the Penguin always considered too much of a stretch for the Nolan Bat-universe and The Riddler a character one that can sway too close to that of the Joker, Bane gives Bale’s Batman a new challenge with a villain that is not only endowed with brute strength and force to give a very physical presence but also coupled with an intelligence that would at least equal Batman’s. Against this opponent Bale gives probably his best performance in the lead role, with both a soulful and determined edge to his Bruce Wayne showing throughout, as he moves from a reclusive wounded individual to one that has to come to terms with the world that has moved on around him. There are obvious parallels between Batman and Bane that come up through the film but they are not the only example of character mirroring in the film, with Joseph Gordon Levitt’s John Blake and Matthew Modine’s Deputy Commissioner Peter Foley both reflections of Commissioner Gordon, again played by Gary Oldman on top form as a man who has laboured with a heavy conscience over keeping the lie over Harvey Dent’s actions in The Dark Knight secret at the cost of his family breaking up in return for a peaceful Gotham. Much as Rises is Wayne’s story there are several other story arcs and one of them is the road to redemption for Gordon and the righting of wrongs.
Gordon Levitt’s Blake is a welcome addition to the cast, and along with several emotional scenes between Alfred and Bruce Wayne, provide a more hopeful view of the future for Gotham generally, and in the case of Alfred, the hopes he had for a better future for his adult ward that have been replaced by years of crime fighting and living in the dark. Alongside all of the light and dark character stories we have Anne Hathaway’s Selina Kyle, who has provides a couple of lighter moments through the film, alongside some action scenes that make her down as a worthy friend or foe to Batman and the Gotham police. Never named as Catwoman in the film, although there are a few subtle costume nudges to that character, Hathaway gives a performance that exudes a confidence and sexiness in the character that doesn’t conflict with the established world of the Nolan trilogy, with an easy on the eye quality that belies an ability to switch from hardened cunning thief to a would be damsel in distress in the blink of an eye. It helps that her character introduction, although not on the same scale as Bane’s, captures her character quickly and easily for the audience and places her as someone who, rather than a flat out evil adversary like Bane, is someone more out to do what they can to keep afloat in the world around them.
Mention too has to be made of the contribution made by Nolan’s director of photography Wally Pfister, working with him for the last time before setting off on his own career as a director. As with the previous Batman films the cityscapes and nighttime shots of Batman above and around Gotham look absolutely fantastic and I would imagine in IMAX would be absolutely stunning, and a welcome nudge to other directors and D.O.P to take note of how good a film shot on film can still look despite the march of digital.
Rises owes as much to Batman Begins as it does to The Dark Knight in terms of it’s style, and choices made in both of those films come back to haunt characters in several ways throughout Rises. There are a few moments of comedy, with even Bane having a couple of one liners but the mood is one of a deeply dark, epic closing to a trilogy. Rather than a snapshot over a few days or a few weeks the story itself arcs over half a year in the life of Gotham, and at times in the middle of the film the passing of time can get a bit muddled with minor pieces of exposition or changes in season used to show the months passing by, although there are moments when it’s easy to mistake how much time is or isn’t supposed to have passed.
Whilst some will feel that the film is too long I would actually contend that it’s a film that could do with a few minutes added to flesh out a few plot points rather than any trimming being done. To me at least it didn’t feel bloated or overlong and like Begins and The Dark Knight before it is worthy of it’s long running time without overstaying it’s welcome. Neither previous film was completely free of storyline points the audience could pick up on, such as The Joker’s need to be near omnipotent for everything to work out exactly how he wanted it to in The Dark Knight, although this can be explained by the mob’s influence and control over some of the Gotham police department and their plans. This time with Rises there are a couple of more obvious plot holes that either needed tidying along the way or solving with a few minutes more, to go into more detail over which points these are would be spoiling parts of the film which I obviously won’t do, but it does feel that after slowing down in pace after a quick moving start a bit more time could be spent to just clear up a few points which audiences will pick up on.
Even if a few will feel that Nolan is having a wink at the audience and being overly indulgent with the ending of the film it is hard to argue that he hasn’t earnt that right at the end of an epic three film journey. I have a feeling though that in time and with repeat viewings the ending and Rises as a whole will be more appreciated and seen as a very accomplished and great ending to Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It is true that it is not the same film as The Dark Knight which may disappoint some, but then again it isn’t Batman Begins either, meaning it stands out on it’s own as well as a part of this trilogy. It offers some huge, epic action as well as more emotional investment and time spent with the main characters than the previous two films in the trilogy, and invests in not just one arc for Bruce Wayne/Batman but several others for the aforementioned main characters, making the journey of Rises and the trilogy as a whole well worth spending time on and returning to over and over again. It’s a trilogy that not only helped redefine the way graphic novel/comic book heroes are handled for the big screen but also helped rescue an iconic character from some very deep, camp depths only a relatively short time ago. You can only feel sorry for whoever steps forward to eventually deliver a new take on the series, but for Nolan and company they can move on knowing they have created a trilogy that will stand a benchmark and one that will be hard to surpass in many ways, for a long time.
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