In preparation for The Dark Knight Rises I dusted down my copy of this film to get me in the mood.
In 7 words or less: You wanna know how i got these scars?
What's it all About? After saving Gotham city in "Begins" the caped crusader has struck fear into the city's criminal bosses. With the help of Gordon and the new D.A. Harvey Dent they hit the crime families where it hurts them the most, their wallets. In desperation the mob turn to an unhinged bank robber to exact retribution. The Joker. Aaaand.here.we.go!
Best bits? From the silence of the opening credits to Jim Gordons final speech , this is a masterpiece of crime fiction.
The interrogation scene is just word perfect , the chase sequence and the flipping truck, the batpod bursting out of the tumbler! the magic trick! pretty much any scene with Heath Ledger. But lets not discount Christian Bale's layered ,complex character. Sure the Bat voice can do with some work but he gives some real depth to Wayne as he did in the first movie.
Did it make you think thoughts? Now i love the Avengers , that was a childhood wet dream of comicbook characters come true, but this, this is grown up stuff. This drew on the fears of terrorism, chaos, pandemonium and what a person would do to survive. As the joker puts it : "they're (people) only as good as the world allows them to be, I'll show you when the chips are down, these "civilised people" will eat each other!".
Not only that , we don't get the hero saves the day ending (spoilers) rather we get the hero takes the blame for the two face killings and becomes the outcast to hide the truth and preserve a false hero's legacy. It rises (no pun intended) the conclusion above your average superhero story asking the question, is being the hero important or is it making a difference no matter what the personal cost? Ironically, isn't that the most heroic thing of all? Taking the bullet or saying you fired the gun so a more acceptable hero can make the world feel safe in the right way we perceive it should be, with a dashing, successful and socially acceptable hero, not the weirdo who likes to dress up as a giant bat.
in conclusion The Dark Knight Rises will be possibly more a story of redemption for the Batman character. While the tag line is "the legend ends" it does say he rises first.
Would you watch it again? Yes, definitely. Depending on how good the new one is I cant wait to have my trilogy at Christmas!!
Rating (out of 100%): Batman films formed my childhood and after the evil piece of crapness that was ....was....i cant say it ....batmanandrobin .....this and the first film really rejuvenated my faith in the franchise. I love this film so i'll give it a 95%. Who ever is brave enough to take on the franchise after Nolan is done has their work cut out.
