So don’t get me wrong or offer me the choice of being in a comatose state for the rest of my life, The Dark Knight Rises was a visual treat. It defied physics, the entire concept of gravity; it threw in, for good measure, love, loss and angst. It also defied the plot of the original D.C comic. Unfortunately, it also defied logic and the power of the human anatomy but what the heck, he’s Batman.
The Dark Knight set out to reconcile issues that emerged in the previous two installments. We often live in awe of the past; similarly, I lived in the awe of Christopher Nolan’s previous Batman films, namely Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I entered a multiplex with a deep sense of emotional loss; quite reasonably, I had invested a good part of my adult life looking forward to what Nolan had to offer and also secretly fantasizing about the many, many things I could do to Christian Bale. It was culminating into an end of epic proportions and I didn’t know what to expect. Walk in; I did, armed with a heavy heart and a keen eye.
The movie started predictably enough with Harvey Dent’s death anniversary at the Wayne Manor. The phrase, The Dent Act was thrown around quite often as I recall. Jim Gordon takes the podium and delivers a speech characteristic only to the Jim Gordon, we have grown to adore. Bruce Wayne has locked himself up in the Wayne Manor because of Rachael and Dent’s death and is a shadow of his former self, Alfred seems pleased enough. While poor Brucie is locked up in his fabled tower, Selena Kyle, popularly known as Cat Woman, decides to make a play at burgling Wayne Manor; but to what effect, that remains to be seen.
At this particular juncture of the film, the plot starts to thicken and consequently, becomes rather gluggy. Bane, prodigy of Ra’s Al Ghul, decides to terrorize Gotham City and sets up camp in the sewers below Wayne Enterprises; Selena Kyle is in search for a program called the ‘Clean Slate’ which lead her to make some questionable choices. How these sub-plots are connected, no one will ever know. It is like Nolan took a leaf out of Don McLean’s book. In this stage of the plot’s exposition, Batman meets Bane, the physicality of the fight left the audience gasping. Batman is pushed to his absolute limit which lands him a spot in Lazarus Pit. While our beloved superhero lies in the bowels of hell, Bane wages a nuclear war and a rebellion to boot. In the whole scheme of things, the entire police force of Gotham City is barricaded in a sewer. Really, I am not making this up.
A long story short, Wayne gets out of the underground prison, finds his way back to Gotham City rescues a whole bunch of people and realizes Bane is just a love sick puppy fighting a war for Ra’s Al Ghul’s true born. Whether or not, Batman survives this ordeal is best left undisclosed. Oh also, Selena Kyle has a thing for Batman.
What worked?
- The cinematic magnitude of the film was, for the lack of a better word, wow.
- Christian Bale
- Christopher Nolan
- Anne Hathaway
- Christian Bale (Yes, this is by no means a mistake)
- Bane’s back story delivered in the most palatable way there could be
What didn’t work?
- A rather indisposed Gordon rises from his hospital bed and fights off two heavy handed thugs twice his size. I love Gordan, I really do but sometimes the imagination is overwrought with logic.
- This isn’t my opinion, it is a genuine question. How exactly did Bane sneak bikes into the Stock Exchange without being noticed and more importantly, even if he did, why did his rookies have to come back out and sneak back in? It tires me to type it out; can you imagine what the scriptwriter was on?
- Call me out on this one but how exactly did Wayne’s backbone get fixed in Lazarus Pit, of all places, and by getting punched no less. I mean, he didn’t even have his Bat suit handy.
- Batman is left with 12 hours to detonate a bomb and he still had time to set a fiery bat signal on top of the Gotham City Bridge, no less. Dramatic much?
- Batman made the time to initiate a rolling in the hay make out session with Selena Kyle. Okay, maybe I’m just jilted.
- The rest of the country seemed to be chilling on all accounts when a super villain took over Gotham City. Really? A small television snippet would’ve put my mind to ease.
- My last issue, if I can even call it that, is the fact the BatMobile’s tyres spun the way they did. It was amazing and had people’s knickers in a bunch but Physics? No?
So, I have written enough to warrant hate mails and death threats. Having cleared the air, I’d maintain that The Dark Knight Rises is an intelligent end to the Batman Trilogy, or is it? I’m sorry, Robin’s calling.
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