Entry posted by Voltex
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A Review of The Dark Knight Rises
Where should I begin? How do you begin a review of possibly the best super hero film, and possibly one of the greatest films of all time?
I shall open with my few complaints about the film, as so very minimal they are. The first being The Bat, Batman’s new vehicle debuting in this film. While it is neat, and it’s cool that Batman can fly around, it just can’t hope to match the brilliance of the Tumbler, nor the versatility of the Batpod. However, the way it is worked into the film is very clever, and it ends up giving Batman a slim advantage where without it, there would be no movie at all. My second complaint is with the many connections to Batman Begins; while this helps the film to set itself up as the conclusion of the trilogy, aside from Harvey Dent being mentioned a few times there are no such connections made to The Dark Knight, leaving it out on its own. The third is a scene that takes place between Batman and Bane in the middle of the film, an encounter which looks like it should render Bruce Wayne either dead or useless, but doesn’t. It felt a little unrealistic, and thought the film worked with it very well, it could have been done far better.
However, as I said, those complaints are minimal. This movie is brilliant, fantastic, amazing, and I will definitely be going to see it again. The film takes place eight years after The Dark Knight, and this is easily seen; Bruce Wayne has become secluded from society as his company slowly loses money, and organized crime within Gotham has ground to a halt. However, chaos is rippling just beneath the surface, and when Bane reveals himself it comes crashing out of the floodgates.
The portrayal of Selina Kyle/Catwoman (although she is never referred to as Catwoman, another bonus) by Anne Hathaway was terrific, and it was nice to see that she never truly allied herself with either Batman nor Bane, working with one only to turn to the other and then back again. I also enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance, and was extremely happy to see his character play a large role within the film. The cameo appearance by the Scarecrow was also welcome, and I wish that we could’ve seen the Joker in some way as well.
There were several twists and turns within the plot that I didn’t expect, which was actually very surprising in a very good way. In fact, even the parts that were predictable were played out so well that I can’t complain about them. This film’s story outdoes the overly depressing one of The Dark Knight and its role as the climax to the trilogy is leagues better than the opening to the trilogy of Batman Begins. As hard as it is to believe, Christopher Nolan has outdone both of the previous films with this one, marking an extremely satisfying end to this tale.
I loved the soundtrack as well. Every single scene that was given music was strengthened in every way, the notes matching perfectly with what was going on and giving precisely the right tone. And when we were given scenes with no music (one key scene between Batman and Bane comes to mind), it fit as well, lending us more focus to the action that was occurring in those moments.
While I did have some complaints with the film, as I said before they were minimal and barely impact the score I have given this film. This film, like The Avengers before it, gets the superhero film right and perfects it. This is without question the biggest film of the summer, and you have to watch it. No moviegoer life will be complete if that moviegoer has not seen The Dark Knight Rises. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go back to the theatre and watch this again.
Final Score: 98/100
Yes, it's that good.
-ibrow
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