Ah, Batman. Besides Superman, you're easily the longest running comic book film franchise in cinematic history. How many actors have played you now? How many fans have endlessly debated which version of you is the best? The Animated Series is the best television show, I know that much. The Arkham Games are the best video games, that is also certain. But the films are much trickier. While I do have a soft spot for the two Burton films and the first Schumacher film (what can I say, I'm in love with Jim Carrey's Riddler) the best Batman in film is obviously the Chris Nolan trilogy. Now that The Dark Knight Rises is out, and I have seen it three times (being the obsessive fanboy that I am) I have decided that instead of doing just a review of the third film, it would be better to review all three films as one, in order to point out the themes and motifs that run through the films and how they all sync up in order to form one big story.
Batman Begins is a great way to start the trilogy, and is easily one of the best, if not the best, superhero origin stories in modern cinema. Chris Nolan did a fantastic job in making Batman come off as real, and making all of his gadgets plausible. Using fear as a motif was brilliant, in that it reverberates in everything from Bruce's origin to his motivation to become Batman to the plans of the villains. Speaking of which, Cillian Murphy and Liam Neeson steal their scenes as Scarecrow and Ra's Al Ghul. Christian Bale is fantastic as both Bruce and Batman, and carries the pain of his parent's death on his shoulders magnificently.
The supporting cast is great too, with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Katie Holmes all delivering excellent performances as Fox, Alfred, Gordon, and Rachael Dawes, respectively. If there are any complaints with the film, it's that the latter half isn't as engaging as the first, with the scenes of Bruce Wayne in the mountains learning to be Batman easily more interesting than when he actually becomes the Caped Crusader (as awesome as it is when he does).
And then there's The Dark Knight. Wow. For a long time, I proclaimed this as my favorite superhero film, which is ironic considering it doesn't play out like how a hero film normally does. It feels a lot more like a crime drama than a superhero story, even if the main character does dress up like a giant bat. As teased at the end of the first film, The Dark Knight deals principally with the theme of escalation, with Batman's presence in Gotham bringing in The Joker and ultimately corrupting Harvey Dent into Two-Face. Joker and Two-Face are among my favorite Batman villains, and the way they are portrayed here is simply amazing. Aaron Eckhart's fall from grace is not only convincing but tragic to watch, and I actually felt for the guy.
As for Joker, what is there to say that millions haven't already? Heath Ledger steals every scene he's in, period. I've probably memorized every line of dialogue he utters, and I can't help but root for him knowing full well he's the villain. He's the perfect antithesis to Bale's Batman, and I love his portrayal. Posthumous or not, he deserved that Oscar, and while his death was tragic, at least his performance has truly immortalized him. If there are any flaws with this film, it's that the beginning, for me, doesn't match the mesmerizing twists and tuns of the end. As awesome as the Joker robbing the bank was, as was the scene in Hong Kong, the film doesn't really get going until the big chase scene between Bats and Joker. Everything after that is a treat to watch. Batman flipping over the truck, his interrogation of the Joker, Harvey becoming Two-Face, Batman's fugitive status at the end, all of it is so captivating I can't pull my eyes away whenever I watch it. How in hell could Nolan ever follow this up with something just as good?
I"m glad to say that he did. The Dark Knight Rises heralds the unthinkable: a perfect film trilogy. Not only does this film break the dreaded "third movie curse" that plagues so many film franchises, it actually emerges, I think, as the best of the three Nolan Batman films simply due to its story. And boy, is there a lot of story. Thankfully, unlike films such as the third Spider-Man and X-Men that suffer due to too many plots and characters, Nolan has a better understanding of how to make them all gel together into a cohesive whole. Every character gets their due, and while the resulting run time gets to nearly three hours, the pacing never makes the film feel boring.
As with its predecessors, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman all deliver stellar performances here. However, I must give significant praise to Caine, who does so much with a role that is radically reduced this time out. His performance is so tearful and heartfelt, and his scenes with Bale really illustrate just how much Alfred cares for Bruce. Bale also gives his best performance out of the three, delivering a Bruce Wayne who's become a recluse after eight long years and is haunted not only by Rachel's death, but how all he accomplished for Gotham was based on a lie.
And then there's the newcomers, including Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. These two actors completely encapsulate the Bane and Catwoman of the comics, and come off as fully realized characters who own every scene they're in, even if their personalities aren't as magnetic as Ledger's Joker. Hardy's Bane is an extreme terrorist, who conveys malevolence and brute force with every step he takes. He is a more than capable threat for Batman, and the fact that Hardy can convey so much emotion when his face is covered by a mask speaks volumes of his ability to portray this monster of a villain.
Hathaway is the Catwoman of the comics, period. She's smart, sexy, and is a perfect match for Bale's Batman. She brings some much needed humor to the proceedings, and just like the comics has her own moral code that makes her walk both sides of the law. She occupies the gray area throughout the film, and Hathaway does such a great job at conveying that moral ambiguity that I'd even go so far as to say she's the definitive live action Catwoman.
But they're not the only newcomers to Nolan's Batman universe. Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon Levitt are also introduced as Miranda Tate and John Blake, respectively, although the latter half reveals them to be characters fans have been clamoring for in these films for a long time. The revelations of their true identities are expertly staged and come off as shocking twists, even if some fans won't find it surprising. They are (spoiler alert) Talia Al Ghul and Robin, who play major roles in the film when, towards the end, it becomes obvious they are meant to carry on the legacies of Ra's Al Ghul and Batman.
The name "Robin" is only referenced; Blake never wears a costume, although he does inherit the Batcave towards the end. Still, his role as a police officer is great here, as he establishes himself as a true hero in his own right who believes in the Batman and sets himself up as the logical successor to Bruce Wayne. As for Cotillard, her Miranda Tate facade is fairly uninteresting, and it is only the twist that she's Talia at the end that makes her character more intriguing. Out of all the characters, she's the only one who doesn't feel fully developed until the big twist at the end, probably because so much is going on that we don't have time to focus on her.
Like I previously mentioned, this film is filled with a huge amount of story. Thankfully, Nolan has such talent for presenting even the most convoluted stories in a logical fashion that the film never feels confusing. What I found really impressing, however, is how the story manages to wrap up the loose threads of the first two films and carry those previous themes and motifs to their logical conclusions. Escalation is continued in the form of Bane, who threatens to nuke Gotham and isolates it from the outside world, priming its citizens for urban warfare against Bane's army of criminals. The lie that Bruce and Gordon made to make Gotham a better place is upended as well, with all the characters dealing with the aftereffects of learning the truth behind Harvey Dent's corruption and Rachel's choice to be with him.
The motif of fear that drove Bruce to become Batman is, at the start of the film, nonexistent within Bruce. He welcomes death, and so when he becomes Batman again he is unprepared for Bane's ferocity. When Bane, in a moment of pure comic book geekiness, breaks Batman's back and stuffs him in an ancient prison, Bruce has reached the lowest point in his life. He is forced to learn, all over again, about the fear that drove him all those years ago, and by re-learning that fear gains the motivation to truly become Batman again, rising from the hellish pit of the prison and returning to Gotham to save it. Quite literally, "The Dark Knight Rises".
All of these themes come together really well to give the saga of Bruce Wayne a proper conclusion, even though the story of Batman, as teased with Levitt's character, has yet to end. As teased in the previous film, Bruce secretly wishes for a normal life beyond Batman, and becomes a recluse in this film because he couldn't move on after Rachel's death. With the introduction of Catwoman, Bruce finds a woman who's a perfect match for him, and at the end he finds peace when he and Catwoman leave to seek a new life together. What's more, he finally becomes the hero that Gotham needs, in that he apparently sacrifices himself to save Gotham from Bane and Talia's nuclear bomb. All of the themes are, by the end, reinforced and played out, culminating in an emotional finale that ends the trilogy on a high note.
The actions of Bruce, as well as the characters around him, point to one indisputable fact: by now, Batman has become, as Ra's Al Ghul told Bruce when they first met, "more than just a man. A legend." Now that Batman has risen from the pit, he fulfills the heroic archetype set forth by Joseph Campbell's monomyth, reinforcing the idea that Batman is a modern myth or legend for our time and signifying that even in this modern day and age, we still have a need for heroes. If any new theme or motif were to be introduced in this film, it would be "hope". Hope that we won't give in to evil and corruption, even after a horrific truth is revealed to us, and hope that anyone can rise to greatness after sinking into the depths of despair. In another brilliant way that the new film echoes its origins, Bruce falls so he can learn to pick himself up.
Nolan achieved what some say is unacheivable: he pulled off a perfect film trilogy. And how did he do it? Simply, he realized that each sequel has to serve as a natural extension of what came before, so that the three films together coalesce into one big story. The Dark Knight Rises is proof that he understands that, and the way he executed everything, from the story to the characters to the editing to the action (once again amazing as in its predecessors), only further illustrates his genius in bringing what is the first wholly perfect comic book film franchise to the silver screen. Batman is destined to live beyond this trilogy, whether as a continuation or a reboot. But whatever form he takes the next time he graces the cinema, this standalone trilogy by Chris Nolan has cemented itself as one of the best interpretations of the character outside of comics, and with this amazing ending in place, we now have a complete story that will live on for generations to come.
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