Friday, July 20, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

21 days since my last post, its been a while guys, so the way I see, one post a day for the next 12 days is what I owe you guys, starting with movie casting posts three days in a row.

Saw the midnight premiere last night at the local theatere and I am starstruck. Oh and to a side note, after the Man of Steel trailer showed, I shouted, though nobody responded in their awe, a couple laughs sure, but they were amazed at my audacity. I shouted, "WHERE'S AQUAMAN!"

The film begins off very slow and flooded, making it seem as if Nolan just wants to get his ideas out there and not do anything about them. But the way these ideas are intricately connected and the way they come together, such as the Two-Face dilemma from the previous film, makes the film, about twenty minutes through seem amazing. I initially, after the Bane intro, thought the film was shit and then twenty minutes through, the way it pulled itself together, like a suspense and mystery novel, made my feeling about the whole movie change to amazing and that the beginning, not shit but instead excellence. That is the power of Nolan, he makes us believe a piece of his film is shit, and then just later that it was wonderful.

The acting in the film definitely goes to Anne Hathaway, whose performance as Selena Kyle steals the show. By showing different personalities, sweet, hating, caring and approving, she pulls off the most fantastic performance in the film, though she still falls short of Heath Ledger. Going on to the hero, Bale and his comments about a not very healthy crusader do not fail to deliver, the saddened man, under grief for eight years, returning to action once at the plea of his friend decides that the city does need him after learning the true nature of Bane. How he pulls the man Who Doesn't Fear Death, but Fears Where He Dies, is spectacular, the transition from Begins to Knight to Rises is made so clear in this film by Michael Caine's character, Alfred Pennyworth, that you can literally watch this film alone. And because of that transition, Bale's acting is even more clear and amazing than it was in The Fighter.

And the antagonist... Bane... played by Tom Hardy is menacing, chaotic and intelligent, everything promised by Nolan. In Begins, you never really had an opinion of Liam Neeson's Ra's al Ghul (Resh al Ghul?) but figured him to be a father figure to an extant. In Knight, we all loved Heath Ledger's Joker, but in a way, that was the villain we wanted to meet, but feared, even though it was a film. Hardy's Bane, the opinion of him is that you should hate him, fear him and not want to meet him. In this way, his performance is much better than Neeson's and far different, though less varied, than Ledger's. Simple moments such as the two fights against Bane get you crying and going "Kick his Ass Batman! KICK HIS DAMN ASS!"

The directing by Nolan, how he pulls off such a story, such an emotional tale, it gets you to feel very sad, tearing up near the end, and then saying: "Ha. Easter Egg...!" The first film was definately an origin story, so it set up the themes for the sequels, which are different through the fine line known as Goyer. Under direction of Nolan, Goyer and Jonah manage to weave an emotional picture that is so different from the chaos and tragedy that was The Dark Knight.

And of course, the score. It isn't so different than Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but what it still is and that folks is fantastic. Thank you for blessing us with your music again Hans, thank  you for pulling it all to a dramatic and wonderful close.

My score: 8.5/10.


Update: While The Dark Knight is undoubtedly the Best Batman Movie, comicbookmovie too, I am going out and saying, this one is My Favorite.

And I hope that the 60 people injured in Colorado get better and are able to watch the film in peace and to the families of the 15 dead, it'll get better someday, I'm going through a situation similar myself right now. Don't worry, you will miss them because you loved them and I hope that you, someday, feel better. And just because the shootings, who gives a fuck about the box office gross, the highest thing talked about before the release.

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