By Ebuka ‘Eboue’ Nwadiugwu.
Alright before you scream SPOILER ALERT, let me quickly say that I’m not giving you a blow by blow account of everything that happened in the movie, just a general review. BUT STILL, SPOILER ALERT!
Years back when Warner Bros. decided to reintroduce Batman, I guess a lot of us felt they were losing it, we saw it as an act of desperation to extort us ,remaking the same old movies , rehashing the same good old “good over evil all conquering super hero plot”, we probably expected the usual explosions and unnecessary combats taking center stage while the core art of storytelling suffers, leaving us with a watery plot and an average movie the moment we get over the hype associated with movies just before release. Thanks to an awesome director in Christopher Nolan , all that fear was dispelled the moment the movies hit our screen, after setting the tone with the first installment and literally leaving us breathless with the second which will be remembered for an epic performance from the joker (Late Heath Ledger), the recent release of the 3
rd Batman movie (TDKR) raised some questions:
- Will Nolan be able to surpass the second?
- Was he wrong in using a time tested villain in the joker in the second installment rather than in the 3rd?
- And more importantly will he give the dark knight trilogy the grand finale it deserved?
Well, let me give you the simple answers to those questions!
GENERAL OVERVIEW: ok, I did promise that I wasn’t going to reveal much about the movie, but I must say the story was on point. The continuity was important and they maintain that pretty well. I love the way all the characters were introduced especially my favourite, Bane; the midair stunt (which I heard was done without
cgi aid). The beginning of the movie was fantastic and captivating. Right there, you get the feeling that Bane was a psychotic craftsman but unlike the joker, he was stronger. The story took time to build, the characters that were being introduced brilliantly. Generally it was a fun movie, those who are hell-bent on having the cartoon look exactly like the movies will enjoy it and those who are primarily concerned about enjoying a good movie will have their fun as well.
THE SHOWSTOPPERS: For me, everyone, and I mean everyone, delivered in that movie. The acting was of the highest quality, the production and the directing was top notch but for my top contributors I’ll go with:
Christopher Nolan: maybe I’m over flogging this issue but trying to match the expectations for The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) was no mean fit and the genius did pretty well to make the movie look greater than just good.
Hans Zimmer: the guy who composed the score(you know, the beautiful music that heightens every action and emotion) for TDKR. Very few people go to the movies to enjoy the score of the movie, but personally I think this is vital to the overall experience especially for movies that take a little time to build its characters. It’s important to engage the viewers and Zimmer did an incredible job.
Last but most definitely not the least:
Anne Hathaway: when it was announced that Anne was going to be the new Catwoman ,a lot of us laughed at the choice and we gave her no chance to succeed at the role. While I’ve always respected Anne as an actress , I felt a sleek , strong ,deceptive , cunning and “innocent” two-faced character like the Catwoman as a bit too much for her especially after her performance in “love and other drugs”, but she proved us all wrong. She literally nailed the character, the smooth transition from innocent cutie to a sleek rogue with a smile was appealing, easily my favourite in the acting department. She commanded the screen at all times.
Cons: for a near perfect movie, there was hardly any flaw to pick out. Maybe I’m making this point up to have something for this section. I personally believe that the way Bane was killed was too soft, for such a tough guy he deserved a better death. Secondly, I felt Bane seemed scarier when he wasn’t talking, would have loved it if he talked less like the original character created in the comics.
Verdict: The dark knight rises was a very good movie, the best of the year so far (my opinion). It was a befitting end to an epic trilogy. Everything about the movie was near perfect, the unexpected twist and turns were exciting to say the least. Few will argue that it did not match expectations but my response to that is it’s almost impossible to match the massive hype that surrounded the movie, considering that this was
DC comics trump card to catch up with marvel .
The dark knight might end up as the best non-animated film this year.
Advice: I just feel compelled to add this, if you are not a big fan of deep stories, if all you care about in a movie are unnecessary fight scenes, explosions, then you might not enjoy the movie, and you might not get that experience that this article portrays. You are better off chilling for the next Michael Bay flick, (yes, that guy likes explosions too much) or wait for the release of GI Joe 2, better still Expendables 2 will be out soon.
Secondly if you haven’t seen the part 1 and 2, it will be cool to buy and watch those before you head to the cinemas for this.
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This article was first published on 27th July 2012 and updated on July 31st, 2012 at 3:13 pm
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