Movie: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012)

Movie: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) Review

This is better than the final poster.

Director: Cristopher Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard,
         Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Ben Mendelsohn, Alon Aboutboul

Rated PG-13, 164 mins.
Released July 20th, 2012


Back in 2008, when THE DARK KNIGHT was released, I was astonished. I had never been a Batman fan and BATMAN BEGINS was ordinary, just another superhero movie with nothing special. TDK however, along with the perfect rendition of the Joker by the one and only Heath Ledger, had a new, different feel to it. A darker tone, a serious film, and it blew me away.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES' first half is just perfect.

When THE DARK KNIGHT RISES was announced I wasn't that excited because I thought that no one could outdo Ledger but then it all changed while re-watching the first trailer (I never watched any of the others, to avoid getting the good scenes ruined, though it didn't work and I'll explain along the way) in July. The hype was too much, that's why it killed the movie. I'll explain this aswell.



I went to the midnight showing in Oporto, Portugal, on Wednesday, August 1st and here is my review of the film.

So, first things first. Cast.
Christian Bale has improved his acting skills, and he is way better here than in BB or TDK.
In fact when the major plot twist is exposed his expression is very well placed, even behind the mask.

Anne Hathaway is simply fabulous in her role.

Bane lacked that, with the exception of that particular scene which to me was the only part of the whole movie in which Tom Hardy delivered an exceptional performance.

Anne Hathaway steals the spotlight as Selina Kyle (she is never referred as Catwoman btw) and delivers the female performance of the year (male goes to Omar Sy in Intouchables). She is THAT good. Seriously. She has that charm and that beauty of the character and plays every single aspect of Selina perfectly. All the psychological (and even physical, to an extent) variations of her aswell.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard were a great surprise. Very believable and both were great. Cotillard's final scene was appalling, but other than that, she was quite great. As for Gordon-Levitt, he's the most... let's say ordinary, but he plays the part good and fulfills the premise of the character quite wonderfully, and if that's not good acting, then I don't know what is. Not exceptional though.

Tom Hardy does succeed in being a threat physically.

With such great actors it'd be to expect that Tom Hardy, playing the villain, would give a great performance. Let me tell you this: Bane is awful. Visually threatning, but everything else is just so out of place. And the voice, oh the voice... it is like having a tiger speaking like a dolphin. It takes away a good part of that threat.

Acting aside I will now speak of the story. It is more complex and flows a lot better than TDK, which had a simplistic story which seemed to stutter at times, though the progression of it was better than TDKR. In fact, in TDKR the first half (which resembled TDK) was just outstanding, it deserved a perfect 10. The second half was the total downfall. Way too hollywoodesque, predictable, and just not believable at all. Plus, all explosions are in the trailer. On the very first trailer. That's why to me the bar for the film should've been lower, for that scene in particular specially, because there were several aspects which to me were a big surprise.

The Bat does look a bit cheesy, but awesome.
Goes along the hollywoodesque second half.

Also, the "Deshi basara" chant was wonderfully used in the film and to me that's what gave it an epic POV. One thing I think I haven't said: you NEED to see BATMAN BEGINS to understand this. Heard me?

Ok so now comes the score. Hans Zimmer made a wonderful piece of art once more. Definitely one of the best soundtracks of the year, if not the best, and a massive improvement from TDK.
Plus, without Zimmer's work, TDK would've still been good but TDKR would lose a lot (and I mean A LOT) without this.
"Gotham's Reckoning", "Mind If I Cut In?", "The Fire Rises", "Despair", "Imagine The Fire" and "Risen From Darkness" are perfect, and the other tracks aren't far behind. The chant is once more used beautifully and subtly, which is really really good.

The film, like all of Nolan's work, never fails visually.

So, summarizing things, should you watch TDKR? Definitely.
Will you like it? Depends, but it will help if you liked BB. Why? Because until now all I have seen is that people who liked BB loved TDKR and some who liked TDK didn't like TDKR.







Positive aspects:


Now this is what I call clever advertising.

+ Part of cast (Anne Hathaway,
Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale)
+ Score
+ Better flow of the story
+ Complex plot

+ Outstanding first half
+ Meaningful ending
+ Wonderful cinematography
*SPOILER ALERT (highlight to see)*
+ Tom Hardy on the Talia Al Ghul scene
+ Many characters turn out be from the comics


Negative aspects:

- Bane
- Hollywoodesque second half
*SPOILER ALERT (highlight to see)*
- Robin's part on the Batcave could be better
- Appalling Marion Cotillard death scene

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (8/10)