Dark Knight Rises

Waiting 4 years for a film is a long time! Especially after the last one was such a masterpiece as far as an action movie is concerned. It had excellent pacing, a storyline that kept you on your toes, and a phenomenal performance by an actor in his prime who was trying to top an already legendary performance of the same character. But I think that this is part of the reason why it took so long to make Dark Knight Rises. It's like the girl who makes you wait forever to sleep with her or the new BBQ joint in Texas that makes you wait 3 hours for food; by the time you finally get it you have convinced yourself that it's the best piece you've ever had in your life! So you instantly fall in love and run off and tell all of your friends about it. You feel like a kid in the Sudan who is about to eat his first ever happy meal. The anticipation of the event is actually much better than the event itself. And I am sad to say that the 3rd installment of the Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale version of Batman falls into this category.

Let me start off by saying that my rating for this movie is BARELY FRESH! So I did like it but I had some major problems with it. But first a quick breakdown of the story without giving anything away. It starts off with the introduction of our latest adversary in the form of Bane played by a buffed up Tom Hardy. He sneaks onto a plane for reasons that are fully explained later but you instantly see promise in him as a villain  and his ability to create havoc as he successfully destroys the plane and makes off with it's valuable contents in an opening action sequence that really kind of blows you away.

Nolan then takes you to a memorial for Harvey Dent at the Wayne estate, 8 years after his death. Gordon is still the commissioner, Batman hasnt appeared anywhere in public in that time period, and there has been peace in Gotham. You see a hobbling Bruce Wayne,  who has become a recluse and still hurt from the last time he suited up, as he meets Catwoman for the first time who breaks into his home to steal his finger prints. The two events seem unrelated but it's all a part of Bane's master plan to turn Gotham upside down again and restore what he considers natural order. I'll leave the rest for you to figure out as you watch it.

The problems I have with this movie really center around the action and actually some parts of the story itself. While I admit the opening scene was great, it's all been done before. And the same goes for every other action scene in the movie. Don't get me wrong, the first time you see the Bat plane it looks cool but he doesnt ever do anything cool with it. It flies around and shoots guns but honestly it felt like Nolan just watched a ton of Airwolf episodes and decided to rip some scenes from the TV show and claim them as his own. As far as Bane was concerned, forget the fact that you could really only understand about two thirds of what he said, you kind of had to expect that with a mask over his mouth. But my problem lies with the way Nolan shot his character and the way that everyone talked about him with such fear. This over powering figure was created and you kept waiting for his one bad ass moment. And it never came. When he broke Batman's back that was brutal but outside of that he kind of stood in the background and looked buff. Really just a waste of Hardy's talents. If you think back to Dark Knight, there were plenty of scenes and moments that instantly stick out in your head : the scene where the Joker escapes prison in the cop car and he's hanging out of the window basking in the chaotic world he's created or the car chase scene where he goes through every weapon possible to try and take out the armored car carrying Harvey Dent. There is no such moment in this movie.

It's a decent story with good acting and it has an excellent pace to it so you dont really notice that you're in the theater for 3 hours. Anne Hathaway does a pretty good job as Catwoman, which is a pleasant surprise because she initially looked to be a miscast.  And the action scenes are done well and it looks great on screen. But again it's just an entertaining movie and when it's Batman, it's supposed to be more than that. You're supposed to walk away telling everyone about it.  Stop reading now if you havent seen it yet.

***spoiler alert****

Ok so why make Bane this bad ass and then have him die in the weakest way possible.He's about to kill Batman and then he just gets shot off screen. Um...ok, I guess that's it for him.And why allow the hack David Goyer input in the story? Once the plot is revealed you realize that it's basically the same plot from the first movie. Really??? That's the best you can do? And why give us 20 minutes of Bruce Wayne trying to escape this dumb prison when he couldve done so on the first try? A 12 year old kid did it but we are to believe a 30 something in top shape cant? And in Inception, Nolan makes fun of movies where people unrealistically show up out of nowhere to save the day. However in this movie it happens it almost every scene. The worst being that a broke Bruce Wayne somehow flies from overseas to a city thats under siege by a nuclear bomb and just casually rolls up on Catwoman. Like, hey whats up. And lastly who realistically would want Marion Cottliard over Anne Hathaway in a catsuit? Noone!

I did like the cameo of Scarecrow but they couldve done more with him. And Gordon-levitt did a good job as the young Robin in the making. Ugh, I just expected more.

Oh well I'll see you guys at the reboot starring Channing Tatum as Batman and Michael Cera as Robin.