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December 31, 2013.

This blog is now closed. After three years and 311 posts, I have decided to end this blog. I have enjoyed watching the films, reviewing them, and interacting with global readers.

If you are interested in contacting me, you can do so by commenting on any of the posts. The blog will remain live on the web.
Thank you to all the readers for your comments, ideas, and thoughts. They were helpful, stimulating, and enriching. This is Alene, signing off.

March 15, 2013

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)


When it's over, this film was a fitting end to a very successful franchise. Director Christopher Nolan finishes the trilogy with Batman (Christian Bale) returning to the streets after an eight year absence to stop a terrorist (Tom Hardy) from destroying Gotham City. What I liked most about this film was Batman's vulnerability. I felt Batman was more "human" in this film than the others, because the two personalities - Bruce Wayne and Batman - became one, as a result of more characters knowing the man's "alter" identities. In comparison to the previous two films, this film showed the caped crusader's need for help in the most significant way. There were many scenes which reinforced Batman's knowledge that he was unable to defeat evil alone nor would he be able to save Gotham City single-handed. These scenes opened the door for him to trust others, and in return, garnered him allies and betrayals. Such scenes included ones with the Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Detective Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and at the end, with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and the GCPD. Although Alfred (Michael Caine) had little screen time, his short scenes continued to serve as a torchlight for Bruce/Batman. Aside from the massive budget, solid cast, and cool Bat toys, this third installment was not as well put together as its predecessors. Too many cheesy lines, some bland acting from Marion Cotillard, and poorly choreographed fight sequences downgraded the quality of the overall film. I thought Bane was a worthy adversary for Batman, but muffled dialogue made it difficult for me to get into his character. Also, the story doesn't really explain (it only touches on) what happened to Bane and why the mask. To appreciate the villain, I really needed to understand Bane as an individual. Maybe lengthier flashback scenes with Bane in the prison would have helped to foster his back-story. TDKR may not be my favorite in the trilogy, but it was an important story, which closes the Nolan-Bale venture by connecting all the dots from the previous films. 

My rating: 3.5 out of 5







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2 comments:

  1. Dan O.March 18, 2013 at 12:16 AM

    This comes close to three hours, but it didn’t matter to me, because I just couldn’t take my eyes off of this from start to finish. The story did hit some pit-falls here and there, but they weren’t enough to take me out of the grand, epic scale of this movie and I have to give a lot of that credit to Nolan who ends everything in a nice little set-up that I think Batman, as well as all of these other characters, deserve. Great review Alene.

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    1. UnknownMarch 18, 2013 at 12:01 PM

      You are right-on about the set up part. This film closes some doors, but opens a slew of new ones. It will be interesting to see if Nolan will ever take on the Batman franchise again.

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