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WAUKESHA -
It’s something to see, all right - this “Dark Knight
Rises.” An epic finale to the Christopher Nolan-Christian
Bale “Dark Knight” trilogy, it has the summer’s best
effects, the summer’s highest stakes - Gotham City
Armageddon - the summer’s sexiest villain and the biggest
comic book movie thrills and best comic book movie chills of
this cinema season.
It’s a
film of awe-inspiring set pieces and jaw-dropping stunts -
less of this “Avengers-Spider-Man-Transformers” digital
effects overkill. It’s topical, morphing the “Occupy”
movement into a few choice messages about the few who take
from the many, and the many who take anarchy to its logical
extremes.
No expense
was spared, all the stops were pulled out and a lot of effort
went into tidying up this phenomenally successful film
trilogy, tying up loose ends, sending it and everyone involved
off with a bang.
And it’s
wonderfully acted. The regulars are sharp, the new pieces in
the puzzle interesting and Anne Hathaway is so good as
Catwoman that this loooong film drags when she’s not on the
screen. But then, the character has been, for decades, so sexy
and idiot-proof that you wonder where Halle Berry went wrong.
The story
- The Batman (Christian Bale) went into retirement eight years
ago after losing his lady love (Maggie Gyllenhaal) and killing
good-man-gone-bad Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), who is now
celebrated as a hero.
Gotham
City has been cleaned up. Only crotchety old Commissioner
Gordon (Gary Oldman, terrific) is still on a “war”
footing. Something wicked this way comes.
That
something would be Bane, a hulking, meaty-mitts-on-his-lapels
terrorist who breathes through a mask and preaches anarchy. He
will “free” the people of Gotham City by blowing it up -
either in bits, or all at once.
Sassy
Selena Kyle (Hathaway) is cat-burgling the 1 percent who warns
Bruce Wayne (Bale), “There’s a storm coming,” that the
rich soon will rue the day that the few “left so little for
the rest of us.”
Funny how
the Bat keeps complaining to Alfred, “The Batman isn’t
needed anymore.” Funny how Alfred won’t have his boss
going out, risking death again. Funny how that would make a
very short movie if both of those things were true.
Funny -
that’s something the Nolan Bat-movies haven’t been, but
“Dark Knight Rises” is. Hathaway has a crackling way with
a line. “No guns,” orders the Batman when he comes to her
rescue. “Where’s the fun in that?”
Director
Nolan fills the screen with returning players - Butler Alfred
(Michael Caine), Morgan Freeman as the gadget guru, from
Batman’s mentor, Liam Neeson, to Cillian Murphy as the
unnamed “Scarecrow.”
Newcomers
include Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a righteous cop, Matthew
Modine as an inept one and Oscar winner Marion Cotillard as an
energy tycoon. The script gives them all plenty to do and say.
But that
makes for a bulky, bloated movie. For the third film in a
trilogy, there are all these clumsy moments where characters
blurt out long speeches of exposition. What really needs
explaining, after all this?
Hardy is
so big you’d swear he ate Kevin Smith to bulk up. But the
posh voice he chose to send through that breathing mask sounds
like Sean Connery imitating Darth Vader. Not that he’s
coherent, much of the time - lines muffled by the mask and
sound mix.
And for a
movie that aims for a certain tidiness, this one has a lot of
random moments, unexplained and inexplicable actions by heroes
and villains alike. I don’t know about you, but I kind of
like my screen heavies to have motivation for their villainy,
and maybe an exit strategy. Then again, did the 9-11 hijackers
have those?
That seems
to be what Nolan was going for here, a film equal to the scale
and messiness of the history we’re living through. He’s
pro-Occupy Wall Street and anti-anarchy, pro-police and
against the “1 percent.”
He takes
this “Have it Both Ways” thing all the way to the climax,
and beyond.
As summer
entertainments go, Nolan and his co-writers have delivered one
with a lot to chew on, and a lot more to see and hear. The
effects put “2012” and even “The Avengers” to shame.
The sound will overwhelm you, the huge set pieces - one at the
beginning, another in the middle, a third at the end - are
jaw-dropping.
And if you
have any soft spot in your heart for this rich guy with a
cape, a temper and a serious Messiah complex, you will be
moved - maybe even to tears.
This is
what summer popcorn movies were meant to be.
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