Disclaimer : The writer only wishes to share his experience watching the Dark Knight Rises and by no means intends to spoil that for his fellow Batman aficionados by letting them in on the story or other such details.
Gotham’s landscape was used time and again to honour those brilliant minds whose imagination has helped mould a rich orphaned kid into an unrelenting crimefighter extraordinaire. There is Miller Harbour, Finger River and of course quite many in the name of Robert Kane. In the perspective of Dark Knight Rises, I wished Gotham had a metonym for its financial district. The apt name I’d suggest is ‘The Nolan Street’. This way you could tribute two great minds who helped make the caped crusader a household name today; One with his pencil and the other with his IMAX Camera - Graham Nolan and Chris Nolan. The fact that the Bane arc in the final movie partly takes its inspiration from Graham’s epic novel , ‘The Knightfall’ and that it is Chris’s last gives it a lot of emotional value.
Four years after the acclaimed ‘The Dark Knight’ and with unearthly expectations, perhaps the ONLY english movie that I know whose first weekend’s tickets were sold out three weeks in advance in Hyderabad! A phenomenon unheard of even for Rajini's Shivaji and Pavan Kalyan’s Gabbar Singh.(Both of which I was able to see with relative ease on the first day). Both equally much awaited and both heroes, the greatest crowd pullers in Tamil and Telugu respectively. (My uncle who was a victim to this frenzy, failing to get his son a ticket for the weekend, asked me ‘why so crazy?’ And this is my attempt to answer his question.)
One might argue still that the rushes were mostly for the IMAX screens which is not totally untrue. My point is, it managed to generate a lot of interest even in those parts of the world which aren’t traditionally Hollywood’s goldmines.
My spirits were slightly dampened when I got to Prasad’s IMAX at 10.30 in the morning to still find a huge flex of ‘The Amazing Chick-Magnet’ ( just a pun!) covering the good half of the building just an hour before the Caped Crusader was to don his mantle and rise for the last time. Blasphemy!
I hope to, in the process of reviewing this movie answer another fundamental question.Why are the Batman movies so appealing and sought after? Firstly, Nolan was perhaps the only director of superhero movies who from the very beginning tried to uphold the spirit of his comic. Yes, he did take those cinematic liberties only to make it better and never for the worse. His liberties only made room for two or more comic stories to blend effortlessly to give a moviegoer the best Batman experience.They never interfered with the personalities of the characters. His fundas were strong. Secondly, he trusts that everybody is smart in their own domain. The policeman in guarding his city, the thief in stealing his loot, a vigilante in nabbing the badguy and of course the bad guy in outsmarting his resistance and the audience who watch this drama unfold on the screen. In the age where sensible cinema is not considered mainstream, where stereotypes draw the crowds, he went against the tide and saved himself and the industry from going with it and taking the big fall ahead.It's not surprising that, the studios have now taken note of it and are reworking their franchises. Thirdly, his stories are never an obvious fight of Good versus Evil. It always is a clash of two ideologies, of two ideas both born out of being terribly wronged. He captures the evolution of those ideas very elegantly and dresses them on all sides with sharp and witty dialogues. This helps them sink in effortlessly and the taste lasts longer.
The third is explored to its limit in this last movie. Bane may not be as charismatic as the Joker. Ledger made it just too good to even touch without him around.Also one has to understand that you need a bigger villain for a bigger movie. Bane may not be as illustrious but he is the best match for Batman both in brains and brawn and could outsmart him in both!(reference: ‘The Knightfall’, a graphic novel) It was an apt choice.Tom Hardy thrills as the Bane.! It's an apples and oranges comparison when you compare him with the Joker aka Ledger. I have immense admiration for what Hardy has pulled off here with his face covered but for the eyes and a synthesized voice. And after a long time , this movie offers an adequate dose of street fighting,which would not be possible with the other villains without being one-sided. I reiterate, comparisons are futile. It's a Batman movie alright but only the Bat remains, everything else changed.
Humour still lives with everyone doing their bit. I was shocked to read Ebert’s review where he said this one did not have the over-the-top action sequences and that it has a slow start. I would only say that if I went late to the movie missing that epic plane wreck scene. Also everybody seems to complain about a lot of new characters fighting for screen time. I would not totally disagree. But everybody has a part and their roles are aptly justified where necessary and they only make the build up more riveting and edge-of-the-seat. Also Alfred,Gordon and Fox get enough screen time and the actors shine and make their presence felt, leaving a lasting impact. Especially Michael Caine. We will also see Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon Levitt, both of whom will be the dark horses who run at their top speed as the movie paces to a pulsating climax. The Catwoman will bring humour,romance,fights and more, all packed into one and Anne Hathaway ‘stole’ the show and my heart. Hans Zimmer deftly primed our moods throughout the movie alternating between exhilaration and poignance with elan.
When it comes to the machines, the showstopper in this movie is ‘The Bat’. And yes it comes in Black! It has an entrance(into action) which might envy the best superstars of our age. The Batpod also treats us along the way and with the Catwoman on it towards the end, Hotness will rise! The tumbler is only seen in its boring military colours and mis-used only by the opposition.
A special mention to the BATS in this movie( Batman Begins nostalgia much). Everybody is talking about Ra’s al Ghul’s cameo with Liam Neeson reprising his role. But the cameo to watch out for in this movie is that of the bats. If Bane need his dose of venom to pump him up, the Bats do just that for Bruce Wayne and the audience when most needed.
Batman’s battle has always been difficult. The thin line between good and bad is constantly erased, redrawn elsewhere, blurred for convenience, of the collective or the select few and through all this mayhem, he stands to safeguard his morals, fight his inner devils and protect them from being exploited and used against him. The people he is fighting are also not typical bad guys. They never meant to be so until they got sucked into it by testing times or life altering calamities/accidents. He empathizes yet he cannot approve of their ill-doings. He has to stop yet not kill. He has no superpowers. His only power is a fighting spirit and a hope in all this despair that it might end tonight. You will get to experience all of this and more in TDKR.
TDKR is a visual spectacle which treats your heart and mind more than the eyes.It is hard to show in under 180 minutes, the trials and tribulations of so many characters, yet strike a chord with the audience and this makes it a classic. David Koepp could prolly be right in calling it the Godfather of this generation. This franchise has received adulation like none other.There have been a few kinks in its armour in the form of the mad rage of fans on Rotten Tomatoes (Though I totally support it after seeing the movie) website in retaliation to some negative reviews the horrible shootout in Colorado at a screening.Would the Dark Knight approve of it? Hell no.
Ones expectations for this movie are only limited by ones imagination.Those with very dry eyes will go out with enough wetness in them to have saved a costly appointment with an oculist. The greedy ones like me will come back, write long pieces aggrandizing the franchise and promoting it hoping the studio coaxes Nolan to make one more after TDKR generates record breaking revenues.
The Fire will Rise and watch it when it is Hot and happening.
