Okay. Where to begin? "The Dark Knight" would be a
tough act for anyone to follow and Christopher Nolan's final installment in his
Batman trilogy isn't a disappointment in the traditional way we think of.
Basically, there are only a few ways to follow such a quantifiable success such
as TDK and they are make a lesser movie, make an original movie, or make a
balls out, relentlessly assaultive, nonstop, over-the-top, epic length blockbuster that
barely lets you breathe. You can probably guess which one the filmmakers opted
for. Working with his brother Jonathan and David S. Goyer, the same team that
developed the first two films, Nolan delivers a spectacular film with a less
than inspired script. Now following eight years of relative harmony in Gotham,
Batman is still playing the fall guy for Harvey Dent's crimes while living in
seclusion at Wayne
manor. Now, the League of Shadows sense the time is ripe to hatch chaos and
destruction, sending the brutal Bane (Tom Hardy) and his gang of miscreants
(seemingly lifted from the Occupy Gotham movement) to get the job done. Meanwhile
Gordon is injured on the job, one of his intuitive young detectives (Joseph
Gordon-Levitt) takes some initiative, a humanist (Marion Cotillard) becomes
involved in a massive environmental deal with Wayne Enterprises, and Catwoman
(Anne Hathaway) shows her claws. Again, Christian Bale plays a diminutive role
and even during the overlong running time of the film, it seems like we hardly
see him on screen. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman return adding very little
to the table this time around as they troubleshoot and offer cautionary advice.
An unrecognizable and largely incomprehensible Hardy is appropriately menacing,
but hardly fills the large shoes left by Heath Ledger. There are also major
problems with the two major female additions to the cast. Both of their
relationships to Wayne
are poorly realized and nonsensical, and as for Hathaway, I still cannot
understand how someone can be so good at parts and so off-puttingly horrendous
at others, and her wild inconsistencies greatly affect the film. Also, a major plot twist towards the end of the picture qualifies as both lame and cheating. Another point
is how well things wrap up in the finale, only for the filmmakers to cop out
and offer a patted, sequel promising ending. Don't get me wrong, there are some
really fine set pieces here, and I think I was the only one in the theater who
wasn't whooping when THE DARK KNIGHT RISES finally flashed on the screen at the
conclusion. During the proceedings though, as was the case with
"Inception", I again felt like Alex from "A Clockwork
Orange" with my eyes bolstered open as I was bombarded by endless amounts
of sound and fury for nearly three hours.
