Movie Review: "The Dark Knight Rises"

The Dark Knight Rises:  2012.  Starring Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Anne Hathaway.  Running time 164 minutes.  Rated PG-13.  Directed by Christopher Nolan.

During the overnight hours of Friday, July 20, 2012; theaters across the country were packed to capacity as the final chapter of Christopher Nolan's epic saga unspooled onto the screens.  Sadly, in the Aurora Century 16, a madman destroyed the excitement and the enthusiasm by unleashing a true brand of evil into his auditorium.  Here at the Ace38 compound, the destruction of the innocence and wonder that is part of the moviegoing experience is something that hit profoundly hard.  These 70 people were fans, just as we all are, and the 12 whos lives were lost hits hardest of all.  We dedicate this review to their memories and their loved ones, as they deserve to have the very magic we all love kept alive.

2008's The Dark Knight was considered by many to be the prototype of the superhero film, with its brilliant scripting and casting choices.  Many wondered how or if this third chapter would match up to its middle brother.  It surpasses, exceeds and is quite likely the best film of this year.  Taking a challenging, intelligent script and adding in brilliant casting and acting performances, The Dark Knight Rises closes the door on Nolan's interpretation in a manner so perfect, so awe inspiring that it's difficult to imagine anyone ever matching it's sheer and utter brilliance.

Plotline is this:  8 years have passed since the events in The Dark Knight, and Gotham seems much better off for it.  Harvey Dent is still being hailed as a hero, but an unforseen force is coming to town.  His name is Bane (Hardy), bred in the same shadows as our caped avenger, but with a plan to bring the city to its knees.  His plan?  To physically and mentally test the Batman to his very soul, shedding the citys secrets and then crushing it with its own hope.  Manipulating the help of a brilliant young thief named Selina Kyle (Hathaway), things in Gotham get out of hand quick, and Bruce Wayne (Bale) is forced to confront not only Bane but his own life.

This is simply a perfect film.  Christian Bale wears the agony of his character as if it was his own, perfectly mending the two personalities into one relate able person.  Anne Hathaway actually outdid Michelle Pfeiffer's legendary Catwoman performance, making her sexuality just one part of a vicious arsenal, and looking amazing in the hard to fill catsuit while she did it.  Tom Hardy's Bane is cold and calculating with his savagery, nothing like the cartoonish version we know from the atrocious Batman and Robin.  I just cannot say enough good about the cast.

Nor can I say enough about the pitch perfect script and the cinematography.  Never lost, always leading you where your eye needed, Christopher Nolan has a way of framing action sequences that is unique to him, and permits us to see how his mind hoped it would look.

The Dark Knight Rises is so rich and full as a cinematic experience that much like Christopher Reeve in Superman, no actor will ever again wear the cape and cowl the same way.

A+