The Dark Knight Rises

D-day or should I say TDKR-day is finally past. The movie which I had waited for what
seemed like eternity. Honestly, I haven’t anticipated as much  for any movie for a long time. Probably the last time I was so excited was when the Harry Potter books were hitting the shelves. The Dark knight rises is grandiose and  action packed. Call it high expectations from the prequels, but I felt the movie was a letdown. With a cast which had the likes of Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Morgan Freeman- the movie had so much more potential. If you haven’t watched the movie stop reading now. Here come the spoilers.

The movie begins with a fitting introduction to Bane as he escapes from a plane with a physicist. The scene made me sit back with anticipation, convinced that the rest of the movie would be replete with plots and twists which would awe me. Sadly I wasn’t, for two key aspects which were predominant in the prequels were missing. In Batman Begins, Nolan builds Batman’s character-which is definitely absent in Tim Burton’s Batman and others – one of the things which set the stage for a serious Batman series. In the Dark Knight  there is a similar emphasis on Harvey Dent and the Joker’s character. Batman’s struggle with his guilt as the Joker kills innocent people adds a human element. And so does the student-mentor relationship between Ducard and Batman(Batman Begins), Alfred and Bruce Wayne, Rachel and Harvey Dent etc. In TDKR, Alfred still plays a key role as he tries to keep Bruce Wayne from donning the cape out of concern. Blake, as the cop who believes in Batman and Selina Kyle as Catwoman who is ruthless when it comes to getting what she wants add life to their characters. Bane’s screen presence is menacing and so are his dialogues.(when you can discern them! I probably got only 20% of Bane’s dialogues in the whole movie. That was the most frustrating part for me. But Bane’s first confrontation with Batman when he breaks his back is spectacular. ) But that was it for the human elements. Gary Oldman was definitely underused spending most of his time in a hospital bed.

The second aspect of the prequels was the suspense and surprises which Nolan threw in. To be specific The Dark Knight kept you on an edge with its twists. TDKR on the other hand is one big action movie. Where’s the suspense? Bane has a nuclear weapon and takes over a city (It kind of reminded me of Transformers with bridges and buildings blowing everywhere and a nuke in the midst of the city) and the rest of the movie is a wait for Batman to come back.  And the final confrontation with Bane begged for more. A fist fight and then Catwoman blows Bane’s head? I think the Joker added a vital touch in the Dark Knight but the movie had it’s own merits even if it weren’t for him. The problem with Bane is there is just one thread to his plan which doesn’t add much suspense to the plot. And the twist at the end where Miranda turns out to be bad wasn’t much of a twist. It made Bane seem more useless. But I loved the end which shows Bruce Wayne alive in Florence.

There were some scenes like Batman climbing out of the prison after going through a grueling  healing phase- reminiscent of Batman Begins where he has to train with the League of shadows, Batman’s first appearance where the cops surround him and the appearance of the Bat.

Having said all this, I am watching this movie a couple of times at least (not just to understand Bane). It is by far the best movie of this year. Probably I just had too many expectations thanks to the prequels, raising TDKR to mythical heights in my head. I am glad Nolan brought back Batman the way he did- dark and serious. It added so much depth to a character who was treated by audiences as a cartoonish cape wearing nobody whose skirmishes with villains were comical to say the least. Thanks Mr.Nolan!