The Dark Knight Rises

If you are reading this I will assume you are not concerned about spoilers, so let that serve as warning and turn back now if you don't want to know about things that happen in the film.

Christopher Nolan finishes up his Batman film series with The Dark Knight Rises (starting with Batman Begins in 2005 and The Dark Knight in 2008). And as is Nolan's wont, he does it in epic fashion – the film is nearly 3 hours long and just generally huge.

The film has much more in common in style, story, and tone with Batman Begins than The Dark Knight. Batman Begins introduced two threats to Gotham – organized crime and the League of Shadows, which had targeted Gotham for destruction. Ra's Al Ghul was killed in Batman Begins, which presumably took care of the League of Shadows as well. And with the organized crime of Gotham more or less taken care of in the aftermath of Harvey Dent's death, Gotham is now in a state a peace. Until Bane is brought into town by Bruce Wayne's business rival, John Daggett, who is looking to bring down Wayne Enterprises so that he can take it over.

However, Bane has plans of his own. Following Ra's Al Ghul's death, he assumed leadership of the League of Shadows (he had been trained, like Bruce Wayne, in the League of Shadows) and plans to finish what Ra's started – completely and utterly destroy Gotham.

In Batman Begins we see as Bruce Wayne learns the skills and, seeing the corruption rampant in the city, makes the decision to become a vigilante. Here, in The Dark Knight Rises, we see as Bruce Wayne makes the decision to come out of retirement as the Batman, after taking the fall for Harvey Dent's death so that he may become the symbol Gotham needed. After the punishment he put his body through in the first two films, and 8 years hiding out in Wayne Manor, Bruce is not quite in the shape he once was, and his skills no longer as sharp. This ends in Bane breaking Bruce's back in an absolutely brutal, punishing fight.

As Bruce watches what Bane does to Gotham, he finds a new determination within himself. He must recover, get back in shape, and reacquaint himself with his skills. The result is that Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises act as bookends. Batman Begins is the setup and The Dark Knight Rises is the conclusion that pays it off.

Initially, I thought that the idea of using a giant bomb that threatens the whole city felt a little too old-school comic book-ish (am I the only one who had trouble shaking the image of Adam West's Batman running around carrying a giant bomb from the 1966 movie?). Especially for what Nolan has done with these movies. However, as I thought about it, it made sense, it worked, and actually is not out of character of what he had setup in Batman Begins. As we find out in the end, Bane is working for Talia Al Ghul, Ra's' daughter. And Talia has been posing as Miranda Tate, a business parter of Bruce's, backer of a fusion-energy project which Bruce had canceled after discovering that the fusion device could be modified into a nuclear bomb. Which is what happens. And that was her plan – make the company lose money on this idea that sounds good but she knew Bruce would nix once he found out what could be done with it, and thus the company becomes vulnerable. And given Ra's Al Ghul's plan of tainting Gotham's water supply with an aerosol toxin and a device to turn Gotham's water supply into steam to thus weaponize it on board Gotham's city rail system in Batman Begins, this bomb acts, again, as a bookend - a call back.

And don't take this to mean that they're just re-hashing what they did before. They're not. Like I said, they've setup, they've built, now they're paying off. They use these call backs to the first movie to bring the series full-circle. Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David S. Goyer did a very good job in creating the story for this. They've been careful and deliberate in creating a series of films that tells a full, complete story. A story of Bruce Wayne. A story of the Batman. A story of Gotham.

Is The Dark Knight Rises as good as The Dark Knight? No. But that's an unfair expectation to saddle the movie with. I'm glad that they didn't seem to go 'we need to do that again' though. What's most important is telling a good story which concludes this arc, not competing with themselves. Is Bane as good a villain as the Joker? He's not as dynamic and electric as the Joker, but he's the physical, and mental, match the Batman needs. The Joker was chaotic – he plotted in order to push people to the edge and make them unknowingly play into his hands. Bane is cold and calculating – he plots to outsmart, give you hope then snatch it away. The Joker is just simply more fun to watch - that's why the character is so iconic.

I like what they did with Selina Kyle/Catwoman. Her and Bruce work well together. But she's just doing what's best for her. If it helps her to help Bruce, she will. Until it helps her to help Bane. It's not personal, it's just what she has to do in order to get what she wants. And that is to wipe her identity and any trace of her in order so that she can start her life over. It gives her a good, believable story and justification.

The movie is long, but it never feels that way. It moves along quickly. It's just that the story is so big it requires the time. I like that the story isn't just a simple, straightforward setup that could be taken care of in closer to two hours – that sort of story isn't Nolan's style. It keeps you guessing, unsure of where it's going and what will happen next, which gives you the uneasy feeling that at any time something can go wrong as opposed to being sure everything will work out. And, most importantly, with something as expansive as this, it doesn't feel unwieldy, it doesn't get lost.

Tom Hardy gives a fantastic performance as Bane, despite the fact his face is hidden the entire time by a mask. It's a performance of eyes and body language. Anne Hathaway is good as Selina Kyle. She's physical, sensual, and playful. Christian Bale does a good job portraying a character who has essentially given up on life. Gary Oldman is a man worn out by carrying the weight of a massive secret. Christopher Nolan, as always, keeps the film grounded – nothing feels superfluous or coincidental.

It's a fantastic film that closes out the series in a way that it deserves. It doesn't fall into the trap of doing the same thing as before because it worked or just treading water because they know they have an audience. It's the film the series needed as well as the film the series deserved.

4 out of 5