Talk about squandered potential, this film was geared to break all the records, be the first truly great superhero film trilogy and it falls flat. I had more moments asking myself what just happened and wondering if it was just me not understanding the plot because of the major holes then I care to count. Luckily it wasn't just me. I watched the film with a critic's eye, enjoying what there was to enjoy and trying to wrap my head around what story line I was provided. I left disappointed to say the least, and how could I not be? This film was hailed as a masterpiece months before it came out, rumors buzzed about the plot, the casting, the script. Will The Batman die? Will Bane take up his comic book counterparts title as the man who broke the bat? As it turns out, no.
Allow me to break it down. I am going to wrap up the issues with this movie, needless to say, SPOILERS.
The Dark Knight is one of the greatest superhero films ever made. Not only did it truly give us a hero to cheer for but it gave us two great villains, good supporting characters and a solid plot with a great second act ending. Setting The Dark Knight Rises 8 years later was a bold choice, but a good one, I personally agree with Nolan's plan to give this character some time in between the events of the Jokers attack and Bane's. However from the start this is questioned, The Batman has been gone for 8 years, but how long has Bruce Wayne been a shut in? It's not really determined, or at least it wasn't spelled out well enough for me. We can deduce that he has been shut in for awhile, and this happened after the clean energy project failed. We see Gordon debating if he should tell the truth about Dent... 8 years after he dies.... yeah this seems like as good of time as any, speaking of, what is the Dent act? It's never explained, we can determine that it is an act that keeps criminals in jail but other than that, who knows?
It seems to me that The Joker is a great reference point to any superhero villain, be it DC or Marvel. Heath Ledger's take on The Clown Prince of Crime is the stuff Oscars are made of. Bane however is underplayed to the point of boredom, what do we know about Bane? Nothing really, he's ruthless, has men who will follow him to their death, but really, we don't know much, especially after the "big reveal"... more on that later. So putting Bane in this mask that covers up half his face so we can't see Tom Hardy act was dumb, it's like hiring top notch actors to play chipmunks, its a waste of money. Bane looks threatening but other than that, nothing, there was no emotion on his face, no love, no fear, no nothing. It's not Tom Hardy's fault... we can't see his damn face! His voice is painfully dubbed to the point where it just gets annoying and he has a strange Deckard Cain voice that sounds like he should be identifying my Plate Mail of the Stars instead of threatening Batman. In the end Bane is reduced to the same fate as in Batman and Robin, second fiddle to a woman mastermind who is controlling him. Whats sad is that in the comics Bane is not only physically threatening but intellectually as well, and we will never see him do this in a film. He will always just be a big bodyguard.
The action scenes..... oh man, what action scenes? Watching Batman and Bane fight was boring, how do you fuck that up?! By making them just punch at each other, nothing else, just throw punches, two of the worlds greatest fighters, both trained by the league of shadows, Bane is a prison fighter and they just trade blows like some dumb Rock-em Sock-em Robots. Wheres the flair? I know that the "Boss Battles" in The Dark Knight Trilogy have all been pretty boring, but the fight with Scarecrow and Joker weren't really supposed to be intense, this needed to be, and wasn't. The other action scenes all involved Batman or Catwoman driving a vehicle and shooting people. Speaking of shooting people, if Batman won't use guns why do all of his vehicles have massive guns mounted on them? What sense does that make? None, but they sure look cool! Other action scenes included climbing and walking through a sewer.
Now the twist. Was I the only one who knew Miranda Tate was going to be evil? No, of course not, that was shown a mile away, but making her Ra's al Ghul's daughter was suprising and a waste. It would have been way better if we just took out her character completely, she makes Bane look weak minded. The "trigger" for the bomb is also a waste, a nice little way to pad out the movie but there was no need for a trigger, just say there's one and go from there, the fear alone will keep people at bay. Switching topics. Robin..... WHY? That is all.
Wrapping up: By reading this you would think I hated this movie, but I didn't It was a good attempt and not a bad film. However it has been hyped so much and has so much that it needs to reach to be as good as the previous film that it fails. Nolan tries to make a huge epic film that feels like it may be able to happen if someone who has the resources and drive attempted, but it falls flat. The bland colors mixed with the repetitive score get old quick add that with boring acting and boring action and we get a sub-par drama.
To sum it up, The Dark Knight did not rise, it fluttered then fell, like a dead pigeon.
Final Score: 6 out of 10 Dead Russian nuclear physicist
For comparison: Batman Begins: 9 out of 10. The Dark Knight: 10 out of 10
