The Dark Knight Rises.

I had no plans to review this movie. I didn't even take any notes during the film and had no plans to review the franchise like I did Spider-Man because it simply doesn't mean as much to me as that franchise did.

But the problem is, being critical of a film is how I enjoy a movie and since Rises is the topic on everyone's lips right now I couldn't avoid discussing the movie with friends and ultimately reviewing it. This will be less of a review and more a list of thoughts, I'll do my best to structure the thing to some logic but as I said I had no plans to review this, no notes to go off so I'm just going to write down whatever I remember and have discussed with friends. Enjoy!

The Dark Knight Rises was what many fans hoped would be the greatest superhero movie of all time, Nolan had managed to make two incredible Batman movies - which really is saying something because even the liked Batman movies before Nolan were really just...good. They had a certain amount of cultural impact but that didn't make the movies any better and with this as the final part to Nolan's trilogy, expectations were huge.

And then the general reaction was that many were happy with the finale, even if they didn't feel it quite lived up to the second or even first movie. The films plot and narrative have been praised, as have its characters but the film has been criticised for being pretentious, badly paced and hammy. And I know apples and oranges but since everyone else is doing it, I must admit I was surprised the critical response to this film was pretty level headed, although things are starting to balance out now the first wave of critics completely ignored Avengers many problems and acted like it was the greatest thing ever made, so although I am surprised this isn't getting five out of five everywhere simply because it's the final part in Nolan's trilogy, I am glad some actual decent criticism is being generated for this movie rather than the over hyped, overrated average blockbuster that was the Avengers.

My main feeling once I actually discussed this with friends is Rises simply doesn't work, not to the point where the film breaks but there is a lot going on here that doesn't really work as a whole unit. It's an enjoyable film but for critics like me the things that don't work are much more interesting for discussion than the things that do.

So to get it out of the way, I honestly think watching the first two again will probably help you to enjoy this film, despite it awkwardly never bringing the Joker up the film makes a great attempt at tying the trilogy together and utilising elements from previous films, meaning there are moments probably better enjoyed and appreciated with a fresh memory of the rest of the series. Rises has an incredible third act, a much larger sense of scale and fun set pieces making it a pretty good finale to the series. Now on with the actual criticisms...

Set around a decade after the last movie Rises wants to both be about a Gotham without Batman and the way the city shapes itself in his legacy but at the same time a story about Batman rising up for one last brawl. And these two plots could not be any more different, they are basically two different directions entirely for the finale and so ramming them together, as you can imagine, just really doesn't work.

80% of this movie is about a random beat cop named John Blake and his life in a Gotham without Batman which is being terrorised by Bane while still reeling from things in the last two movies. He is basically more the main character than Batman ends up being. He has little connection to our main villain Bane, other than plot convenience and Bane himself has little connection to Batman until some reveals around the third act. And so really, none of this is anything to with Batman as a character and ends up feeling much more of a spin off. Plus with the films general tone and plot when Batman is then finally put centre stage he just feels completely out of place, like he turned up at the wrong movie. You can't make a film feel all gritty and realistic, attempt to build a living breathing world and then at the same time have someone running around in a bat costume which you try so hard to make it look like armour, it just doesn't work. Hell these things barely work in the comics so you have no hopes trying to get it to the big screen.

Worse still around half way through the film after having maybe one major scene by this point, Batman is basically taken out of the movie again until the third act, just to turn up and seemingly get taken out of the movie for good. Plus as you can imagine, trying to widen your cast and scale while trying to wrap up two previous movies, with two conflicting plots is going to create an absolute nightmare. You better be prepared for half baked ideas and half realised characters all over the place.

Like there is this offhand reference in the last few minutes of the movie which I guess is meant to explain why the focus of the movie is on Blake and it tries so hard to write him into the film, but they could have written in an actual genuine reason rather than just a hint. And there is really no reason for Catwoman to be in this movie, hell I don't think they even call her Catwoman through the whole thing - Catwoman is at least an enjoyable character, which is much my response to the twists in the film. Many of the twists are not needed but are enjoyable and well executed enough for me to not care.

Even if Batman does feel really out of place in his own film, it could have worked if his scenes were good. But really the enjoyable action scenes are the ones Batman isn't in. The 'epic' return of Batman basically involves him riding around on a stupid looking motorcycle for a bit. Then a little while later we get our 'epic' Batman v Bane battle which is so wooden, the cinematography so confusing and the staging so lacking that in the end the scene really isn't that far away from the Star Trek Gorn fight. Muddy cinematography and bad fight choreography is something that plagues the entire movie, in many of the action scenes I really struggled to follow what was playing out in front of me and really what their purpose was to the rest of the movie. So much goes on in the film it's just insane.

Bane himself is an incredibly underwhelming character too, he is basically only the same character by one fight move and name to the comics counterpart and has been turned into this weird Sean Connery sounding guy with a backstory so incredibly complicated and yet so incredibly simple it's almost impossible to explain and although he accomplishes much throughout the film and is perhaps the biggest villain yet, in the end much of what he achieves is superficial, big and dramatic for the sake of setting up the third act rather than having any real impact on the characters or the plot of the movie and so when he doesn't even get a final showdown it is hard not to feel completely underwhelmed by the guy. I mean he leads way to some epic set pieces, so no complaints on that end but it is a shame he doesn't do more of value.

So do I recommend it? I mean don't get me wrong it does a decent job tying the series together and utilising everything Nolan has set up so far plus the final act is incredible. I came out of the theatre claiming I liked the movie and I still stand by that. But being critical of a movie is my enjoyment and Rises really isn't without its flaws. Rises is let down by lots of strange decisions made by Nolan that just don't work and the more you think about it, the more you pick at it and the bigger the holes seem to get. Rises is still easily better than the painfully overrated Avengers movie but I honestly preferred Amazing Spider-Man the other week - check that out first and if you still have some money left over, check out Rises.

Think About It!

-Locke