The Nolan Batman run conclusively ends here but a friend told me it was supposed to as The Dark Knight closed; oddly, I failed to ever finish my review about Dark four years ago thanks to procrastinating. After Prometheus, Rises is the next hardest release to discuss due to its numerous spoilers. I’m going to take some inspiration from the The Onion‘s critic (who did) and do my best.
Saying this is the finale isn’t a spoiler. The Nolan Brothers had to be coaxed into doing another Batman flick despite how well Dark did. Plus how much longer will supporting cast members Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman be around? The burning question now on all the fan-boys’ minds is…how soon will the Time Warner empire wait until a franchise reboot? A frequent complaint hounding The Amazing Spider-Man.
Rises picks up eight years after Dark. Harvey Dent went out a hero and Batman took the fall to help make the lie stick. Since then, Batman hasn’t been seen; Bruce Wayne is a recluse; Gotham City successfully cleaned up its organized crime problem; Enter Bane. He’s a freaky looking dude who wears Darth Vader’s breathing mask and he’s coming to town for reasons only he really knows. Bane has a thing about breaking Batman before killing him, there’s another motivation. As the commercials/trailers show, it involves blowing up a lot of crap. In the tradition of sequels which cast too many villains, there is Catwoman. This interpretation follows the current anti-hero burglar/thief in the comics minus the dominatrix background. What’s her role? Other than addressing the gripe about the Nolan movies being sausagefests and/or the lack of eye candy, she’s a plot device. Like Batman Returns, Catwoman doesn’t get the opportunity to be a separate thorn in Batman’s side.
When you go to Rises, it’ll come together easily. The story doesn’t require much more exposition. I would recommend watching the previous two if you haven’t or as a refresher.
I did enjoy the movie much more than I expected. My expectations were, “This will likely be on par with Dark, it’s mostly an event film trying to beat this Summer’s current champ The Avengers.” For me, comic book characters are more suited as TV series as their storylines are better served in a episodic format. When they’re feature films, there’s little room for error: hero/villain origins must be quick, fewer supporting characters, no loose ends unless its vital to a sequel and lastly, it helps when the plot ties into contemporary issues. With Batman, it’s today’s irrational fear of terrorism. Rises exceeded because there were at least a couple times the director pleasantly tricked me. I want this to happen! I hate movies I’ve figured out within 15-20 minutes. Other good surprises: Joseph Gordon-Leavitt’s role/acting (he’s pushing me to take in Loopers), Gary Oldman delivers as always and watch for the cameos.
There is a major peeve. Bane’s voice. You would think the special effects people had a solution to make him not sound dubbed. It’s not a dealbreaker. It’s blatantly noticeable.
I recommend Rises to Batman fans of all stripes, especially with those who liked the previous two chapters. The Nolans and company delivered on all the hype.
SOME POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS
Now I want to stand on my soapbox a little about the whole BS regarding Bain Capital-Bane and the political allegiances. Firstly, I dislike Bane. He is the lamest villain created for the Batman mythos in the Nineties. Bane represents much of what DC did horribly in the decade as well; I lay more blame at Image’s feet with all the “number ones.” The entire Knightfall arc is one I prefer to forget and so did DC since Batman’s spine getting broken painted the character into a corner. Being a comic book character, Bruce was mended through the power of a psychic healer. A rather weak, outside the genre solution on par with midicholrians.
Bane and Batman are truly apolitical characters too; I’ve followed Batman off/on since the Seventies. Bane co-creator Chuck Dixon is a dumbass to equate Bane’s action with the Occupy Movement; his comment saying Mitt Romney is more like Batman was even more pathetic. The movie-version of Bane is really on par with a James Bond villain, say Drax or Stromberg. Batman let alone Bruce Wayne has little time for US politics. Batman sides with the law and what’s good for society. Bruce probably has money hidden away in the Cayman islands to fund Batman, his allies (JLA; Batman, Inc.; Batman Family) and donates to charity heavily through the Wayne Foundation. He’s not a saint, he just isn’t an oily chickenhawk corporate raider who weaseled out of the Vietnam War to go push Mormonism on the French. By Dixon’s logic, George Soros is closer to Batman due to the stories about his childhood in Hungary during WWII.
Speaking of Soros. It seems he failed to give us “Socialists” our marching orders through The Nation, American Prospect, NPR (yeah, right) and Salon.com to tie anything in this movie to Romney, Bain Capital, the GOP or the Teabaggers. It’s just a movie, nothing more than the annual Summer escapism. It’s the American Right making up crap in their minds to get attention.
END OF SOME POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERTS
The Alamo treatment was mandatory. I quick, humungous THANK YOU to theater manager Lauren. She ironed out a problem with some gift cards we received and truthfully, I don’t think Lauren had to do squat, they appeared to be expired from my understanding. We arrived a bit late but got to take in mood-heightening material: Adam West’s first appearance on The Simpsons, key scenes from Community, odd interpretations of Batman in Spanish and (I think) Filipino; Bane fighting Batman in his best animated incarnation, from the early to mid Nineties; the Pee-Wee Herman dub of the TV spot; Gary Oldman doing a dramatic reading from R Kelly’s autobiography (Steve Allen and Shatner would be proud!); my favorite was a commercial starring Adam West, Burt Ward and Yvonne Craig as their respective characters to promote an equal-pay law in the Sixties.
Now to wait a year and see if the Nolans can pass their magic touch to spotty Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. Richard Donner’s Superman is undefeatable thus far.