The third of director Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, has finally arrived. And overall, it's one of the best Super Hero adventures of this or any other year.
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is no longer Batman. Ever since he thwarted The Joker and the maddened D.A. Harvey Dent, our millionaire hero has also retired from life in general. Now it's been eight years since his last adventure and Gotham City is actually safe for once. So what'll get Bruce Wayne back into the suit?
Bane (Tom Hardy), a criminal genius in a wrestler's body, comes to town. Commandeering the League of Shadows, the very organization Bruce once trained with, Bane plots the destruction of Gotham in memory of the League's fallen former leader, Ra's al Guhl. Not unless Batman and his allies, including Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), can stop him.
Even at a near three hours in length, this wasn't a boring film at all. It keeps its audience guessing how, if at all, Batman will fare at the end of the story. A few scenes, including a brutal fight with Bane, seem to indicate it's the end for the Caped Crusader. But how it actually turns out is kept in great suspense. It's all thanks to writers Nolan, his brother Jonathan and David S. Goyer and editor Lee Smith.
As a summer blockbuster, it also keeps its audience attentive with many astounding scenes. Among the best feature Batman's new flying machine, The Bat. It's especially astounding to know that it was one of the film's heavily practical effects, instead of total CGI. While some scenes use CGI out of necessity, those effects blend well with the on-camera imagery.
One minor complaint I have is that it has some story elements that one can easily miss. It's something I've noted with Nolan's previous Batman films and Inception. But fortunately, there's such a small number of them that one won't get lost completely if they miss them. My other one is that, at times, Bane's muffled voice behind his mask is quite incomprehensible. To understand him certainly requires a lot of attention, that's for sure.
But still, The Dark Knight Rises has been well worth the wait. It maintains its predecessors' verisimilitude quite perfectly, something rarely seen with these super trilogies. As a result, the conclusion of Batman's latest cinematic incarnation is both satisfying and fulfilling.
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