First, let me say that I believe you should absolutely see this movie; it is not something a real fan should skip. It brings closure, which is the least they could do for us. Closure is about it though.
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With that said, I’m going to sum up my review and then explain this statement; The Dark Knight Rises suffers from its predecessor’s success, and by trying to top that success, it ventures into the ridiculous both in props and gadgets, and in plot and structure.
After the second Batman movie in the 90’s, they also had this problem. The gadgets were unbelievable, and the story stopped making sense the minute the show started. That’s TDKR. Even with the two hours and forty five minutes allotted to this spectacular let down, you never get the sense of what or who you should be pulling for.
And that is not in a good way. Some films have the ability to offer perspective for multiple characters and plot lines; where we see the villain or a supporting actor’s strife and pull for them momentarily. In this film, you get the sense that they want to do this, but cannot. Bane makes some very political remarks in the Wall Street scene; remarks that I personally believe are accurate. It makes you say to yourself “right on.” The problem is that there is nothing there substance wise that justifies this feeling. For example, you may feel the plight of LOTR’s Gollum because of his history. Bane makes these remarks in a very uncomfortable way; where you can only relate for a split second, and then he does something absolutely terrible. It makes you feel uncomfortable, and again, not in a way that makes you think or question morality or something deep; in an uncomfortable, badly written script way. There are many moments like that.
The love between Tate and Bruce is forced. The relationship between Blake and Gordon is rushed and highly unlikely in the real world (I’m in Law Enforcement). I understand this is a movie; but even though BB and TDK were just as unbelievable from a Law Enforcement standpoint, they followed a flow that worked. This is something that TDKR cannot do. Think musical, choppy, too much noise, too many stories, plots quickly moving and not put together well. Musical is the best way I can describe this film; with Inception on the brain as far as visuals go (especially in the last scene with Alfred – and the set up to that scene).
Through the entire movie all I could think of was how this chapter in the trilogy was beginning to look like every other badly written CBM. I went into the theatre hoping to God that Batman didn’t really die so that they would not have to reboot the franchise (because I loved the characters). But after seeing where they (the writers) could go, what they had left to work with, I was hoping he died at the end so they had to reboot it. After you get past the Batmobile updates, the Batpod, Infrared Vision, there is only so much they can add without getting ridiculous, and unfortunately, Nolan allowed himself to get ridiculous.
Bane could have been so much better. Not Tom’s fault. I thought that his ending scenes were incredible, very emotional. He had a good scene in the first fight with Batman, and again, he had some good zingers for our boys at Wall Street (again, awkward for viewers a split second afterwards). The problem is that he can’t be the Joker and we just got too much with the last film.
But I’ve heard people say that this film was better than BB and not as good as TDK. I disagree, BB is better in my mind. If you take into account the continuity of the story arc alone in the first two films you have a bad film in the third.
In summary, I say it is a film I will watch again, on my flat screen. I watched TDK several times (as I did the Avengers) on the big screen, but this one won’t bring me back. I don’t want this trilogy to continue, I want them to reboot it, that way we can check back in with reality and start over with some believable stories. And again, this is not necessarily Nolan’s fault. There just only so much you can do without leaving the realm of actual possibility.
I give it 3 ½ out of five. Sorry guys.
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