Movie Review: "The Dark Knight Rises"

When words elude you after the seeing a movie, writing the review for said movie is a daunting task.  Where to start?  What to talk about?  How can you form thoughts into tangible sentences when that you have seen leaves you so awe-stricken and speechless, the words can no easier be formed with your mouth than with your fingers?

After seeing "The Dark Knight Rises", the end of Christopher Nolan's trilogy, this is the state I find myself in. It's easy to rant about a film I hated.  It's fun raving about a movie I loved.  But when you see a film that's this close to perfection, conveying that perfection in a professional manner is something I've never quite perfected.  

Picking up eight years after the events of the last chapter, we find Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) in reclusive recovery while his faithful butler Alfred (Michael Caine) keeps a close eye on him.  Since the mayor and Police Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) have instated The Dent Act, the streets of Gotham are safe, making Wayne feel content to retire from the masked vigilante game.  

That is until international mercenary Bane (Tom Hardy) decides to take shop in Gotham, bringing a new form of chaos to the city unlike anything it's ever seen before.  With the help of new hothead detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Leavitt), entrepreneur Miranda Tate (Marion Coutillard),  crafty R&D director Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman),  and mischievous cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), Wayne dons the cape and cowl once more save Gotham from the whims of a madman.  However, Bane has many tricks up his sleeve, and Batman may face his toughest battle yet -- both physically and emotionally. 

Director Christopher Nolan ("Inception"), who also co-wrote the script with his brother Jonathon Nolan ("Memento", "The Prestige", and "The Dark Knight", all co-written and directed by Chris), accomplished a feat no one thought possible by making a Batman movie better than his own "Dark Knight".  Even without Heath Ledger playing The Joker, Chris and John Nolan make a glorious film with arguably less than what was at their disposal while keeping the film grounded in reality, yet still fantastical enough for the fans.  Add in Chris Nolan's brilliant eye for filming, and you have a film that is not only a feast for the eyes, but a story that is gut-wrenching and brilliant.

Bale, Freeman, Oldman, and Caine all come back in the roles they started back in 2004's "Batman Begins", and they allude to Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachael Dawes from 2008's "The Dark Knight".  However, it's the newcomers that need the round of applause here.  Tom Hardy dominates the screen as Bane, the wicked mastermind behind the imminent destruction of Gotham.  Complete with a creepy dialect and eerie mask, Hardy plays the villain worthy of a Batman movie.  Anne Hathaway is brilliant as Catwoman Selina Kyle.  Razor wit and cunning acrobatic tricks, all in a costume that (for once) doesn't make her look like a street walker, Hathaway plays the perfect anti-hero, making it hard not to root for her when she's kicking ass and getting away with murder.  But the brilliant surprise is Joseph Gordon-Leavitt's John Blake, a young hothead who, though brash, is quick on his feet and gets the job done that no one is willing to do.  Though not without secrets of his own, Blake is still an honest cop, and Leavitt steals the show with superb delivery, shining screen presence, and natural charisma.  Don't be shocked if he gets a Best Supporting Actor nomination somewhere during Awards Season.

"The Dark Knight Rises" is the final chapter in Nolan's Batman trilogy, and the send-off is awe-inspiring.  What was once though as a huge risk, the trilogy is what Batman fans truly deserved, and it's refreshing to see a superhero movie (let alone three of them) not fly off in fanciful, ludicrous directions (Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher, we're glaring at you) and stay true to not only the source material, but to reality as well.  Even if this wasn't a Batman movie, it's still a wonderful movie.  Beautifully shot (if you can, see it IMAX...you'll thank me later), masterfully written, and brilliantly executed.  By the end of the movie, I was in shock, rendered speechless, and thoroughly blown away.  And I guarantee you will be too.

FINAL VERDICT:  "The Dark Knight Rises" is not only a masterpiece, but an experience and, by far, the best installment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Brilliant visuals and a compelling script -- with surprises at every turn, shocking revelations, and an ending you'll be talking about for weeks (at least), this film cannot be beaten.