Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Director: Christopher Nolan
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: July 20, 2012
Availability: in theaters everywhere

I have been looking forward to this movie for awhile.  Today on July 24, 2012 I went to see the Dark Knight Rises, four days after the tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado.  I did enjoy the movie, but I did look over every time someone left the theater, and I was a little paranoid, and a half an hour in, there is a scene involving shooting and I couldn’t help but think of the victims while it was playing.  Thank God, nothing bad happened.  Keep the victims of the Aurora shooting in your thoughts and prayers.

Now onto the actual movie.  Eight years after the death of Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne has become a hermit and Batman has vanished.  However, a skilled thief named Selina Kyle and a mercenary named Bane draw Bruce Wayne back to the cape and cowl of Batman for the final act of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

The story is very well done, with the exception of some spoiler related plotholes, but I won’t spoil the ending of the movie for you.  The story wraps up most of the loose ends, respectfully leaving out any mention of the Joker due to Heath Ledger’s death, but they still make good use of Harvey Dent’s legacy so it’s still connected to the previous film and Batman Begins.  Some of the relationships between new characters do seem forced though.

Another gripe I have with the movie is Bane’s voice, not that the actor Tom Hardy gave a bad performance, he’s good, but they muffle his voice too much and his speech becomes incoherent mumbling.  I recommend watching a screening with closed captions, because it would help a lot to be able to understand everything he says, and I am usually very good at understanding what is said onscreen.

Also a gripe I have with the film is that the class warfare theme just vanishes in the latter half of the movie, making use of the Occupy Wall Street movement idea only to drop it and never resolve it.

The other actors are very good; Christian Bale gave his best performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman.  His voice isn’t a source of unintentional humor due to his non-scary Batman voice.  For the most part, he does sound better.  Anne Hathaway is perfect as Selina Kyle/Catwoman.  The characterization is just like her comic counterpart and she did great in this movie.  Tom Hardy is good as Bane, but due to my complaint about the mumbling, I’ve already voiced my gripes about it.  Gary Oldman definitely stepped up as Commissioner James Gordon and he had an important role in the movie. Newcomer Joseph Gordon-Levitt is very good as John Blake and they developed his character very well in the movie.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman do very well as Alfred Pennyworth and Lucius Fox.

Hans Zimmer’s musical score is really good. It sounded really nice and fit the movie. 

The visual effects are stunning and it looks terrific on the big screen. 

This movie is rated PG-13 and the violence is brutal, despite not having blood and gore, it’s still makes you wince when you watch it.  There is also some language and adult situations so it’s not recommended to anyone under the age of 12.

Overall, I recommend this movie, not the highly recommended movie that I give a lot of movies, it’s worth your time and money, but some plotholes do pull the movie down.  It’s definitely worth buying if you’re a Batman fan, but until it’s released on DVD and Blu-Ray, it’s worth a trip to the theater.  I’ll be adding this to my movie collection.