Welcome to One Year Later, where I look at movies that came out about a year ago re-review it and see if it still holds up. Today I will be revisiting The Dark Knight Rises given that it's release date was July 16, 2012 and that my first initial review of it was, in my opinion, very shoddily written.
The epic finale that is The Dark Knight Rises is not by any means your run-of-the-mill hollywood blockbuster. But if you've seen either of the other films in the trilogy, then you should know full-well what you're getting into with this film.
This decade has ushered in a new age where superhero and comic-book inspired films are taken very, very seriously. Many of the biggest summer blockbusters coming out these days are about some kind of caped crusader and they're often largely grounded in realism. Sure you have to suspend your disbelief, buying that a radioactive spider bite could make a hormonally stressed-out high-schooler into a crime fighting machine but it's still handled with remarkable realism and I believe this trend can be traced back to Sam Raimi's first three Spiderman movies, which were all pretty well received.
But The Dark Knight trilogy emblematizes the most extreme example and is drenched in it's own gritty recipe of filmmaking style. In a recent review of Man of Steel, I called Christopher Nolan a glimmer of hope in Hollywood and he is just that. He makes his movies real. He doesn't take the easy route and CG everything; matter of fact, that first scene where an airplane is hanging off of a bigger airplane? All real, stuntmen and all, no CG.
But while the special effects are always an important thing in any movie, that's not what makes The Dark Knight Rises a standout film. It's not the kind of movie where you can just sit back and expect everything to make sense, you actually have to think. The movie feels really intelligent and seems like something that could conceivably happen in real life.
Furthermore, all of the characters are great, save for one, Miranda Tate played by Marion Cotillard who just doesn't really interest me much and I feel like she didn't even really need to be in the movie at all. The rest of the cast is magnificent especially that of two film legends, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman who play Alfred and Lucius Fox, respectively. Bane is a great villain. He's big, he's scary and he has a really strong presence in every scene he's in, especially whenever he speaks.
Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman was perfectly cast for the role and makes the Halle Berry movie look more embarrassing than it already was. Catwoman is an interesting character and her screen time doesn't feel needless, it's not like they threw her in there just to get another character.
As a finale to a trilogy, it works well. The first he begins, the second he falls, the third, rises. I don't think it's quite on par with The Dark Knight which was largely subtle and more of a suspense movie. This one is more of an epic than that one was and the final action scenes are a real edge-of-your-seat kind of thing with a ticking time-bomb countdown.
The Dark Knight Rises is still as good as it was a year ago. Christopher Nolan really had a vision for his Batman trilogy and, in my opinion, it's the best Batman has ever been. The Dark Knight Rises is a great finale to the story. If you haven't seen it by now, see it.
But The Dark Knight trilogy emblematizes the most extreme example and is drenched in it's own gritty recipe of filmmaking style. In a recent review of Man of Steel, I called Christopher Nolan a glimmer of hope in Hollywood and he is just that. He makes his movies real. He doesn't take the easy route and CG everything; matter of fact, that first scene where an airplane is hanging off of a bigger airplane? All real, stuntmen and all, no CG.
But while the special effects are always an important thing in any movie, that's not what makes The Dark Knight Rises a standout film. It's not the kind of movie where you can just sit back and expect everything to make sense, you actually have to think. The movie feels really intelligent and seems like something that could conceivably happen in real life.
Furthermore, all of the characters are great, save for one, Miranda Tate played by Marion Cotillard who just doesn't really interest me much and I feel like she didn't even really need to be in the movie at all. The rest of the cast is magnificent especially that of two film legends, Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman who play Alfred and Lucius Fox, respectively. Bane is a great villain. He's big, he's scary and he has a really strong presence in every scene he's in, especially whenever he speaks.
Anne Hathaway, who plays Catwoman was perfectly cast for the role and makes the Halle Berry movie look more embarrassing than it already was. Catwoman is an interesting character and her screen time doesn't feel needless, it's not like they threw her in there just to get another character.
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| All of this promotional artwork is nice to boot. |
As a finale to a trilogy, it works well. The first he begins, the second he falls, the third, rises. I don't think it's quite on par with The Dark Knight which was largely subtle and more of a suspense movie. This one is more of an epic than that one was and the final action scenes are a real edge-of-your-seat kind of thing with a ticking time-bomb countdown.
The Dark Knight Rises is still as good as it was a year ago. Christopher Nolan really had a vision for his Batman trilogy and, in my opinion, it's the best Batman has ever been. The Dark Knight Rises is a great finale to the story. If you haven't seen it by now, see it.
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