I made two separate posts ’cause it seems like the whole internet loves to talk about spoilers of “The Dark Knight: Rises” online. I made one review with non-spoilers and here is the spoiler post, so those who already saw the movie can discuss the storyline here.

Okay, here we go….

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The special cameos that made the movie were Ra Al Ghul (played by Liam Neeson) and the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy). I almost forgot that the Ra Al Ghul character is immortal, and I kind of predicted that Ra’s was going to appear in the movie, anyway. It’s also no surprise that Miranda Tate ended up being Talia Al Ghul, Ra’s daughter.  I was never a big comic book reader but with a little internet research, all this Bane, Ra Al Ghul and Talia stuff were borrowed from various comics over the years.

As for the film’s questionable ending, after Batman sacrificed himself to save Gotham City, John Blake (who was an actual character from the Batman comics, btw), revealed himself as Robin John Blake, then he goes to the Batcave, discovering all of Batman’s secrets. Does this mean that he is about ready to become Robin at the end of it? Absolutely!

Now, it will be pretty cool if Warner Bros. gave Robin his own spin off movie, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt still playing the character, even if Christopher Nolan is not directing. If Warner Bros. is planning on some kind of re-boot, they can still keep the stories going with Robin. Not sure if they will do that or not, but that’s what it’s looking like.

I know it’s sad that Batman dies at the end of the movie, but in the comics, DC experimented with Batman deaths a few times before. Most everything through all the three Nolan “Dark Knight” films were inspired from comics and graphic novels. I wish there could be more Nolan “Dark Knight” films, but I understand why he wants to move on. WB’s would probably have no choice but to reboot Batman again, which would be the 4th re-boot I believe. The two Keaton/Burton films, the two Schumacher films, the three Nolan films, you get the deal. It’s going to be interesting to see how Warner’s going to reboot Batman after this. Whether they will continue the stories without Nolan or re-boot it again, whatever their plans are, will be interesting.

As for the Bane character, throughout the whole movie, I just loved the way how Bane was seen as this menacing monster, and then at the end of the movie, you actually felt sorry and sad for the guy, after it was revealed, that Bane tried to help Talia out of that prison. He got scarred because of it, which explained why he wore that scary mask. After that scene, that’s when you felt emotion for that character, and now understand all the pain Bane is going through, and why he is what he is. It turned out that Ra’s could be Bane’s father.

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Well, this is all I had to get off my chest for the spoilers discussion. Hope you enjoy, feel free to add more to it if you want. It’s too bad Heath Ledger is gone. If he was still here with us, Im pretty sure, he would have definitely been in the movie somehow as the Joker. I’m glad they used Bane though ’cause he has always been a lesser known Batman villain. He shouldn’t be a lesser known villain anymore though. 🙂

Kev

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cottilard

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Today, I just saw, “The Dark Knight: Rises”, the final Chris Nolan/Batman film of the trilogy. I’m planning to do two posts on this movie, one non-spoiler post and the other with spoilers. Here is my review of the film:

Plot/Synopsis: The film is set after the events of the second movie, “The Dark Knight”. While Gotham City is almost at peace from crime because of the Dent act, Gotham City is still in danger when Bane, a terrorist leader, arrives to destroy the city. Batman returns once again, and gets some help from Commissioner Gordon and Selina Kyle aka Catwoman.

I’ll keep the synopsis above small and simple, so I won’t reveal too much. This is NON Spoiler review aimed at those who haven’t seen it.

As far as my thoughts on the movie goes, I thought it was the best one of the trilogy. Many critics online are giving this film negative reviews, that’s probably because a lot of them don’t understand the Batman character or the comics. I was very impressed that, “The Dark Knight: Rises” stayed true to the comics. I thought the film was very gripping all the way through. It was dark and intense. The film is a long one, about 2 hrs. and 45 minutes, but the pacing goes by pretty fast. I thought this was a pretty heartfelt and sad, Batman story. I thought the writing was pretty well done.

The movie was pretty much action packed all the way through. Some of the action scenes were pretty breathtaking. Especially the Batman and Bane fight. That whole fight scene had no music playing during it, which made it awesome. The film also had some pretty fun fighting sequences, explosions, and vehicle chases.

I thought Tom Hardy made a fantastic, Bane. A lot of critics complained about the character, saying he wasn’t dark and evil enough. I’m like, really? I would be afraid of that guy if Bane was a real person, he was fucking scary in that movie. A lot of reviews compare Bane to Heath Ledger’s Joker, saying Bane can’t top Joker, but that’s not a fair judgement. In my opinion, don’t take this the wrong way. I find Tom Hardy’s, Bane, much better than Heath Ledger’s, Joker. Villains are meant to be hated, but instead Christopher Nolan wants to scare people to death with, Bane. For the past two Batman movies, Batman has always been this unstoppable superhero, but Bane was the only guy who is capable enough of making Batman look weak. Most Batman villains try to kill Batman with an army of men, but Bane could do it all himself. I thought Tom Hardy looked great as Bane, and he did a good job with the speaking voice too. I’m glad the film stayed true to the, “break the Bat”, thing which is what Bane is known for.

I also thought Anne Hathaway, made a perfect Catwoman. I knew that from day 1 ever since she was first casted for the role. Have you ever noticed that the costume that Anne Hathaway wore as Catwoman, is very similar to the Julie Newmar Catwoman from the classic TV show? I bet not many people noticed that. Some of the cast members from the past few films returned of course, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman. I’m glad this film did more with Morgan Freeman’s character, Fox. The Fox character wasn’t in the last two movies that much, but this time, they gave Fox some more screen time which is good to see. Plus, there’s a few surprising cameos in the movie, I don’t want to say right now but in a different post with the spoilers later.

Of course, Hans Zimmer’s score never disappoints. His Batman scores are always amazing and the music of this film is the best of the trilogy.

While the ending of this movie was a bit too predictable, not surprising at all, I thought, “The Dark Knight: Rises” was an incredible film. I was at the edge of my seat throughout most of it. It was nice to see a more emotional Batman. It’s nice to see that Batman can have feelings and can be more human. Not always being the tough guy that everyone wants him to be. I love how the film went into more insights about Bruce Wayne’s life and childhood.

As far as the “Man of Steel” trailer shown before it goes. That was pretty freakin’ cool, too! Although, I was kind of disappointed that the trailer was much shorter than the SDCC version. It’s just a teaser though. I’m sure, “Man of Steel” trailer #2 will show a lot more. Hopefully, they will reveal what General Zod looks like in the next trailer.

Score for “The Dark Knight: Rises” = **** (4 stars as in “Excellent”)

Kev