The Dark Knight Rises revisited "You have my permission to die!"

OK this is actually an excuse to redo one of my previous posts, which is The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's third and final film in his Batman trilogy (this is the result of a mixture of wanting new sections to the review and also a bit of laziness over trying to come up with new posts!).  So let's revisit this mother and strap yourselves in as this is a BIG one....

So starting with the plot summary, the film begins 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight, and in the opening scene, we see a masked terrorist named Bane (Tom Hardy) who is being held in the custody of the FBI while being transported on a plane.  The plane however is intercepted by Bane's men who then kill the agents and Bane captures a Russian nuclear physicist onboard the plane Dr Pavel (Aalon Abutbul) who he takes with him.  Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne (Bale) after Batman has been outcast as a wanted criminal (as he took the rap for the death of Harvey Dent), now lives a reclusive life in his manor, and has left the outside world behind him.  Bane however soon infiltrates Gotham city, and manages to lure Comissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) into the sewers, who is following up a lead to an abduction, in the sewers Gordon narrowly escapes, but is shot, and sent to hospital.  One of Gordon's men, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levit) approaches Wayne at his manor, and he admits he knows of his identity as Batman, and pleads that he make his return to Gotham to help the brewing troubles.  Wayne soon after starts to set things in motion to make his return as the dark knight, and along the way he get's a little help from the saucy Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a cat burglar, who is an associate of Bane's, who ultimaltey betrays Batman to him.  Bane soon captures Batman and beats him (breaking his back in the process!) and then sends him off to a prison, where no man is said to have escaped from (only one child managed to escape the prison, which is rumoured to have been Bane himself).  Bane himself turns out to be a member of the League of Shadows, which Wayne himself was trained as, but Bane was banished from the group years ago.  In the meantime with Batman out of the way, Bane has full reign to destroy Gotham, with the city's police force trapped underground, and by releasing its criminals from the prisons, and sitting in judgment on the rich, wealthy and the affluent in the city, who are all sentenced to death or exile (which turns out to be the same thing!) at the hands of Dr Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow (Cilian Murphy) the criminal lawyer, also released from Gotham's prisons.

In the meantime Wayne while in the prison, receives help from a prisoner (Tom Conti) to fix his back.  After this Wayne trains and builds up his fitness again, and tries his best to escape from the prison, by climbing the inner prison wall (with a rope tied round his waist) he tries to jump to reach a ledge but misses and falls, which he tries again and fails.  With the TV footage show in the prison of Gotham being torn apart by Bane's war of terror, Wayne grows more determined to escape, and the former jail doctor, tells Wayne the child who escaped did so by not using a rope, but by climbing out.  Wayne tries the climb again, this time without the rope, he escapes successfully and makes his way back to Gotham.  Once back in Gotham, Wayne meets up with Selina again and tells her he needs her help to get to Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) who can help him deactivate the city's reactor core, which has now been turned into a bomb, which Bane intends to detonate and destroy the city.  Wayne soon dons his cape and makes his entrance as Batman, he saves Gordon from death by exile (walking out on the frozen surface of the river) and Blake, and he frees the police from underground, and tells them to make an assault on Bane's men.  And as the police force storm an assault on Bane's men, Batman confronts Bane on the streets of Gotham in their final encounter, which leads into the film's dramatic climax.  

The Dark Knight Rises for me remains the best of the three Christopher Nolan Batman films and it gives the series a nice closure to things by its end or at least enough to make way for the next director to do their own take on the caped crusader.  The film picks up the events well from the end of The Dark Knight, by moving forward 8 years, and it makes a nice shift in tone to see Bruce Wayne, as no longer being a show off billionaire in the public eye, but instead becoming a recluse, who feels now that at this point Gotham no longer needs Batman, due to the massive cut down in crime (at the start of the film that is) due to the Dent act (imposed by the late Harvey Dent).  The overall tone of the film is also keeping in check with Nolan's previous outings, which is pretty serious most of the time, but he does allow for a few moments of humour here and there.  

In terms of the performances things are also pretty good here, and there is a fine cast on display, starting with Christian Bale, who I have to say always has done a better job as Bruce Wayne, than he has as Batman, mainly due to the fact as Batman, I don't really like the way he overuses the husky voice to conceal Wayne's identity.  It might be the right thing to do in order to conceal his identity, but it just sounds silly, and I'm surprised he doesn't keep coughing up while he does it!  And there are some scenes such as the one where Batman talks to Catwoman using his raspy voice, yet she knows who he is, so why bother do it?!!!  Regardless of that though I always liked Bale's take on Bruce Wayne, in the previous two films he played him as a suave superifical billionaire playboy on the surface, and in this film he's become an emotionally wounded man, who choses to live in hiding, but deep down he still really cares about Gotham, and has a strong moral character, who does all he can to fight the evil in his city.  Bale also always plays Wayne with a dry sense of humour and he is always very understated in his delivery, which is one of Bale's main strengths as an actor.  Bale has some good scenes of course in the film such as the scene where Batman fights with Bane in the underground sewers of Gotham just as Selina betrays him to Bane, he says to her "You are making a serious mistake".

Bale also has some good moments with Hathaway one such scene is after Batman and Catwoman first meet in a fight with Bane's thugs they flee afterwards in Batman's nifty new flying vehicle, the Bat, and Catwoman says "My mother told me about getting in cars with strange men" and Batman says "This is no car!".  And later they talk up on the rooftops where for once someone pulls the vanshing act on Batman, as he turns away and looks back to see that Catwoman has gone, Batman says "so that's what that feels like!".  Bale has another good scene where he turns up out of the blue back in Gotham later on as Batman and rescues Blake from being killed and says to him after "If you're going to go it alone, wear a mask" and Blake says he's not afraid to show his face and Batman says "Its not about you, its about protecting the people you care about".  Another great scene is where Batman faces off Bane as he returns to Gothman, as a full scale assault on Bane's men is under way by the cops and Bane says "So you came back to die with your city!" and Batman coldly says "No!  I came back here to stop you!".  And lastly Bruce as Batman subliminaly reveals to Gordon who Batman really is when he tells Gordon "A hero can be anyone.  Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know the world hand't ended" before he takes off in the Bat, leaving Gordon gobsmacked.             

Ann Hathaway is also excellent in her role as Catwoman/Selina Kyle, and she plays her perfectly with the right combination of sexiness and toughness, and she conveys her character's moral ambiguities really well, as Catwoman has always been a morally gray character.  But as the film progresses we see that Batman starts to get under Catwoman's skin, in order to make her see that there is more to her than just a thief looking after herself, and she provides a welcome change in tone to Batman's rather dreary one note delivery.  Hathaway also enjoys some onscreen chemistry with Bale especially in their first scene together where Selina has broken into Bruce's safe who reveals to her is supposed to be "uncrackable" and Selina, who was putting on a frigtening little girl act suddenly drops it and says "Oopps!  Nobody told me it was uncrackable!" and then "Look you wouldn't beat up a woman anymore than I would a cripple" and she proceeds to kncok away his cane and falls to the floor!  Hathaway provides a few amusing moments in the film, one of them being when she is arrested and is taken to prison, and she is escorted through the cells, and one of the prisoners ogles her, and she says "do you want to hold hands" and she breaks a prisoner's hand as she grab his hand and does a somersault!  Also another good scene is where she has a drink with the congressman in a bar, which is invaded by the police, and he is shot in the leg, and she tells him "keep pressure on that sweetie" and walks off with the congressman lying on the floor in pain saying "Call me???".

Hathaway also has a good scene with Bale when Selina (dressed as Catwoman) finally drops her pretence and pleads for Bruce (in Batman outfit) to come with her "Come with me.  Save yourself.  You don't owe these people anymore.  You've given them everything!".  Another good moment is where Selina as Catwoman rescues Lucius from Bane's men and Lucius says "I like your girlfriend, Mr Wayne" and Selina says "He should be so lucky!".  Although I have to say my favourite scene of her in the film is when she is on the bat bike, and she leans forward and blasts the bike's guns to blow a whole in a wall, and you get a fine view of her very nice bottom in that sexy leather suit! (perv! but its great on Blu-ray with a remote! ultra-perv!).  

Tom Hardy does an excellent job as the main baddie, Bane, the big muscly terrorist, and former member of the league of shadows, who wears a specially designed oxygen mask, that keeps pumping gas into his body to relieve the pain he feels, as a result of his time in the unescapable prison.  My one criticism though of his performance is the way his voice is treated via the oxygen mask, at times you can't really make out what he's saying, as it sounds literally like he has put his hand over his mouth while he talks!  But once you watch the Blu-ray disc you can put on the subtitles to make out what the hell he's saying! ;-)  Hardy himself built up his body and added an extra 30 pounds of weight on for the part and it certainly does show, as he makes for an effective and intimidating figure, who is a far cry from the mindless Bane we saw in Batman and Robin.  And with his height and size, Bane makes a very dangerous foe with his intelligence and physical strength.

Hardy as Bane get's some memorable lines of dialogue such as his first scene where he announces himself very effectively when he is being held captive on the plane by the FBI and as the agent tries to interrogate a masked man, Bane says "Perhaps he is wondering why someone would shoot a man, before throwing him out of a plane".  And later in the scene when Bane makes his escape and he stops one of his men from leaving with him he's "No they expect one of us in the wreckage, brother!" and the man asks if they have started the fire and Bane replies "Yes, the fire rises!".  And one of Hardy's most chilling moments comes when he confronts John Daggett, who buys out Wayne enterprises, and Daggett says to him "I'm in charge!" and Bane says to "Do you FEEL in charge?" which sends a shiver down Dagget's spine, as he realises he hasn't gone long to live with Bane in this frame of mind.  And as Dagget realises what Bane's plan he says "you're evil!" and Bane says "I'm NECESSARY evil!" and breaks Dagget's neck.  And then there is the great scene where Bane fights with Batman in the sewers and says "I will show you where I have made my home while preparing to bring justice.  Then I will break you!".  And as Batman shakily get's up from his beating Bane says "Ah yes!  I was wondering what would break first!  You're spirit?" and he grabs Batman and hoists high above his head "Or your body?!" and he slams Batman against his knee, breaking Batman's back in the process.  And later after Bane has captured Bruce and taken him to his prison he tells Bruce of his intentions to destroy Gotham "We will destroy Gotham and then, when it is done and Gotham is ashes, then you have my permission to die!".  Of course Batman later turns this line on its head when he beats Bane into submission and says "Tell me where the detonator is, then you have my permission to die!".  And lastly there is the moment where Bane stands in the tunnels of the stadium before a Gotham football game and listens to the young lad sing the national anthem and Bane says "What a lovely lovely voice!  Let the games begin!" and he detonates a bomb which takes out almost the entire grounds of the football pitch!     
 
And then there is Marion Cotillard who is excellent as Miranda Tate, a wealthy investor who becomes romantically involved with Wayne and later reveals a dark secret.  Marion was previously cast in Inception (Nolan's previous film), and she continues to do well here.  And yeah OK THIS IS A PLOT SPOILER! Cottilard's best scene is where she reveals herself to be the daughter of Ras Al Ghul, Talia and she stabs Bruce in his side with a knife.  And she tells him her background and that Bane was her protector and she says "I honour my father by finishing his work.  You see its the slow knife that takes its time, the knife that waits years without forgetting, then slips quietly between the bones... that's the knife that cuts deepest!".  Jospeh Gordon-Levit as John Blake, the young cop who plays his part in trying to save Gotham from Bane, is good and at the end of the film we find out a thing or two about him.  Gordon-Levit has some good moments as well such as the scene where Batman rescues him near the end by beating up Bane's thugs and he leaves one of them groaning and Blake says "You missed a spot!" and Batman kicks unconscious.  Another good scene is where Blake visits Bruce at his mansion and tells him he knows that he is Batman and "I don't know why you took the fall for Dent's murder, but I'm still a believer in the Batman.  Maybe you should get out and get some fresh air and check out the details, those details might need your help".      

On the regular supporting cast things are as fine as ever, with Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, the man who is behind Wayne's Batman tech gear, and as ever he provides a witty performance like he did in the previous films.  Freeman provides one or two moments of humour, one of which is where Bruce meets up with Fox for the first time in years and he says at the end of their meeting "normally at this point you ask me for an unusual request", and Bruce replies "not this time", and Fox says "well let me show you some stuff anyway!".  Gary Oldman is once again excellent too as Comissioner Gordon, who over the space of the three films has come a long way from being one of the few good cops in Gotham, to rising to be the comissioner who plays a vital part in fighting the city's crime.  And Oldman also has some good moments such as the scene where he is in hospital and meets with Blake and tells him he wants him on his team as a detective, and he says "you're a detective now, son, you don't get to believe in coincidence anymore!".  And also later on when he tries to persuade deputy commissioner Peter Foley to join him in the fight against Bane and he says to him "Bane has got Gotham's balls in a vice, that's not a deal.  And he keeps saying a citizen has the detonator, but there's only man with the detonator and that's Bane!".   

And finally Michael Caine does another good turn as Alfred, Wayne's trusted butler, who by this time has grown more and more concerned for his master's fate, which allows Caine to emote a bit more than in the previous films.  Caine's best comes when he tries to persuade and shake Bruce out of his seclusion by saying to him "I never wanted you to come back to Gotham, as there was nothing here for you except pain and suffering and I always more for you than that.  And I still do".  Of the new cast members perhaps maybe only Matthew Modine is the weak link in the chain as the depity Comissioner Foley, but his performance is by no means bad, its just next to the rest of the cast he isn't quite as strong as the others are in their respective roles.    

And finally I will get onto the direction and Christopher Nolan does a great job here in his last film of the trilogy of Batman films, and he keeps the pace largely tight throughout and he handles the films intense action scenes with great self assuredness and aplomb (or aplumbs!).  Also a quick word about Hans Zimmer's score, which for me is easily the best of the scores for Nolan's films, as his score is superb throughout, as its suitably dark and menacing, and has many terrific passsages, particularly the cues used in the fight scenes and also the first scene of the film with Bane when he escapes from the plane at the beginning.

Well after that exhaustive look at the performance and fav bit of dialogue, how about Dark Knight Rises's flaws does it have any at all???  Yeah it does one or two, for starters the film is a just a bit too long, as it clocks in at 2 hours and 44 minutes, which is just a bit excessive in length, and you feel it could have benefited from a little bit of trimming, however the film never really drags that much, despite the length.  I also wasn't particularly impressed with the new Batman outfit, as it looks like a far leaner muscular skeletonal designed suit, and the cape isn't very impressive either as it doesn't cover the Bat's shoulders, and I personally thought the previous outfits in the last two films were way better, but the mask is still cool.  And another criticism I can think of is about Bane, as it really isn't explained well at all why he wears the mask, the film hints at during his times in prison he developed a skin disease of some kind, and the doctors operated to save him by creating the mask, although you also see him being assaulted by many prisoners, so maybe he sustained serious head injuries as well.  Who knows???  In the comics books of course, the origins of Bane's mask are a bit different, as in prison he is forced to be a test subject for the Batman villain, Hugo Strange, who pumps him full of venomous gas, which Bane later becomes addicted to, hence wearing the mask, and also attributes to his muscular form.  I also found it a bit strange how long it took for Batman to finally dislodge one of Bane's tubes on his mask in the fight scene at the end and not in their first fight scene where he doesn't even come close to doing it!  Another criticism I have is the relatively short screen time of Batman himself, as you'd be lucky if you end up with more than 20-30 minutes of actual bat screen time, which is disappointing when you think about it, especially as he is the central character!  And as Batman there are only really three sequences he appears in, and that's about it, but if you are somewhat adverse to Bale's take on the raspy Batman then maybe that's not such a bad thing! ;-) 

Another thing that seems very silly was the idea that the child of Ras Al Ghul could actually make the climb out of the prison, especially in the scene where you see the young girl (or boy) make the climb and that dangerous jump that Bruce makes as well.  But when you look at how small the girl is and the distance she has to jump, it just seems a bit improbable that she could even attempt it never mind actually make it!  And last of all there is the whole idea of Bane telling the people of Gotham that one of them has the detonator to the bomb that will go off and eventually destroy the city.  I mean that is pure bullshit!  How can the people even expect to believe that Bane would give them that responsibility when we know there is no way Bane would give them that power in the first place!  And it remains one of the plot holes in the story which actually insults the intelligence of the audience and even Gordon points it out by saying "this is bullshit!  Bane would never do that!".  Ah well, that's villains for you, they lull into a false sense of insecurity when in fact things are actually even worse than you thought.

Soooooooooooo after that HUGELY exhaustive and updated entry I will finish by saying The Dark Knight Rises remains for me the best film in the Nolan trilogy after the impressive Batman Begins and the somewhat overrated and overbloated Dark Knight, it caps it all off in the best possible way with a finale of epic proportions.

And with that I shall goodnight!