NOTE: This review WILL contain spoilers. If you haven't seen any of these flicks, you should really climb out from that rock you live under and watch them. Now. If you've seen the first two, but haven't seen the third, stop reading this and head down to the theatre and treat yourself to something nice. Then come back and check this article out.July 20th, 2012 saw the thrilling conclusion to the best comic book movie franchise ever. You may note that I didn't say "arguably the best", because there is no argument here. You might even go so far as to say that this may even be the best trilogy of any kind, but let's not forget the awesomeness that is LOTR.
What made this series so accessible to so many can be directly attributed to the fact that it's deeply rooted in reality, despite the fact that it's a superhero franchise. Director Christopher Nolan took the series as far away from the debacle that the previous Bat-franchise became that started strong with Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) and just fell to pieces with Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever (1995) and the just horrible Batman and Robin (1997), the later of which can be summed up with the words, "Bat-nipples". I mean, is it any wonder that Batman creator Bob Kane died shortly after Batman and Robin? A little piece of all of us died with that steaming pile of suck.
Back in 2003, after a series of unsuccessful attempts to bring Batman back to the big screen, Warner Bros. tapped director/writer Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer to begin work on rebooting and retooling the Bat-franchise.
Drawing heavily from the comic stories of Batman: Year One, The Man Who Falls, and The Long Halloween, Begins tells the origin story of Batman in a way that went far deeper than previous incarnations had. Sure, there's the requisite scene when Bruce Wayne's parents are shot and murdered in Crime Alley (spoiler alert: his parents are dead), but we also see the long road and struggle Bruce faces before finally donning the cape and cowl.
To further the "gritty realism", Batman Begins gives us a brand new, nipple-free Batsuit, which is designed with a more utility mindset than previous costumes, as well as a new Batmobile called the Tumbler, which is more tank than car. I will admit that when I first saw the Tumbler in early trailers for Begins, I was initially sceptical, but was immediately sold on it when I finally watched the flick in theatres. If you check out the special features of the DVD, the film makers take great pride in the real world tech involved in how this Batman fights crime, making absolutely everything about this series completely believable.
Batman Begins gives us a wonderful ensemble cast featuring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Laim Neeson as Henri Ducard/Ra's al Ghul, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Cillian Murphy as Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow, Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes and the impeccable Michael Caine as Alfred.
ITHoG Rating: 4.5/5
The Dark Knight (2008)
In the second part in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets of Gotham City. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker.Many actors had expressed interest in playing the Joker, but it was Heath Ledger's chaotic interpretation of the character that Nolan took to - a role that was one of Ledger's last and one that won him a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. When Ledger saw Batman Begins, he had realized a way to make the character work that was consistent with the film's tone: he described his Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." Throughout The Dark Knight, the Joker states his desire to upset social order through crime, and comes to define himself by his conflict with Batman.
The once shining "White Knight" of Gotham, DA Harvey Dent is horribly scarred in trap set by the Joker, becoming Two-Face, upping the ante for Batman as he battles to save the people of Gotham. TDK ends with Dent falling to his death, and Batman telling Gordon that he'd take the blame for Harvey's crimes and ultimate death, because Dent's image as the White Knight needed to remain untarnished to maintain all the work they did to clean up Gotham, leading to Gordon's closing lines as Batman disappears into the night: "He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight."
With the principal cast of Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine returning, alongside series newcomers Aaron Ekhardt as Harvey Dent/Two-Face, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Rachel Dawes (Katie Holmes was likely unavailable/unwanted because Tom Cruise) and of course, Heath Ledger as the Joker, TDK became the highest grossing film for 2008, and twelfth highest of all time with a box office gross of over one billion in ticket sales.
ITHog Rating: 5/5
Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Batman has long since gone into hiding, and Bruce Wayne has retired to a life of reclusiveness, withdrawing from the public eye of Gotham. He's become haggard, and walks with a cane after years of punishment as Batman. Gotham City is in a state of peace, brought on by the Dent Act which allows police greater powers to clean up organized crime. At a ceremony celebrating Harvey Dent, Gordon is about to reveal the truth about Dent and Batman, but decides against doing so, believing that the people of Gotham aren't ready to hear the truth.
Rises introduces some new characters to the Nolanverse: Selina Kyle, a highly skilled cat burglar, and the relentlessly unstoppable Bane, whose intellect is as vast as his physical strength, setting forth a chain of events that brings Batman out of retirement. Also introduced is Maranda Tate, the potential love interest for Bruce, and John Blake, a straight laced cop who manages to figure out Batman's identity. After the arrival of Bane, both Gordon and Blake encourage Batman's return, but Alfred objects, feeling that Batman's time has long since passed and that Bruce will be risking his life in returning to the cape and cowl.
DKR ties more closely with Batman Begins, than it does with The Dark Knight, with many references to Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows. In fact, when Batman confronts Bane, Bane claims to be the new leader of the League of Shadows and that he will finish the work that Ra's started. In this confrontation, Bane overpowers Batman, breaks his back (was there really any doubt that he wouldn't?) and throws him into a prison known only as The Pit to suffer as he watches Gotham crumble to ashes. The inmates tell Bruce of the only person to have successfully escaped from The Pit: a child born into the prison who escaped out of sheer force of will. Bruce assumes this child is Bane.Bane lures most of Gotham's police force underground and sets off explosions across the city, trapping the officers underground and turning Gotham City into an isolated city-state: any attempt to leave the city will result in the detonation of the Wayne Enterprises fusion core, which has been converted into a bomb. Bane publicly reveals the cover-up of Dent's death and releases the prisoners in Blackgate Prison. The rich and powerful are forcibly brought before a show trial presided over by Jonathan Crane. After an attempt by Special Forces soldiers to infiltrate the city fails, the government blockades Gotham and the city regresses into a state of lawlessness.
While chaos and terror run rampant over Gotham, Bruce recovers from his injuries and retrains himself to be Batman. He successfully escapes the prison and returns to Gotham, enlisting Kyle, Blake, Tate, Gordon and Lucius Fox to help liberate the city and stop the fusion bomb before it explodes. Batman subdues Bane, but Tate intervenes, revealing herself as Talia al Ghul, daughter of Ra's al Ghul. It was she who escaped the prison as a child, before returning with her father and the League of Shadows to rescue Bane, the one person who aided her in prison. She plans to complete her father's work by destroying Gotham and avenging his death at Wayne's hands.
The Dark Knight Rises draws the trilogy to a thrilling close, with a story that is masterfully told, drawing heavily from the comics story arcs of Knightfall and No Man's Land, and includes so many twists and turns that it will leave you reeling for many hours after. The first hour of the 2:45 run time feels very claustrophobic and suffocating, as Bruce struggles to become Batman once more, only to find himself crushed and broken. The tension rises as we're drawn to an exciting climax in a truer battle of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object. It's hard to tell who is which as Bane and Batman fight to the last.
Once again, Bale, Oldman, Freeman and Caine round out the recurring cast, joined by Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake, and Tom Hardy masterfully portraying Bane. In my opinion, DKR closes the Dark Knight Trilogy in the only logical way possible, and ties up any loose ends with a clever and exciting script. To compare it to TDK in terms of which is better is like comparing apples to orangutans. Both are awesome.
ITHoG Rating; 5/5
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