The Dark Knight Rises

Swanner: When you have a film like The Dark Knight Rises you not only have to live up to your predecessors films but you also have to try to live up to the hype. I don’t think any film can meet this kind of hype and I don’t know how to separate the films but I’ll do my best. I think Christopher Nolan has really done well. He’s a great director and storyteller. He also writes the screenplay with his brother so he’s very much in charge of the story. If you look at his past successes I can’t imagine the studio telling him no.

Judd: I, too, was concerned over the hype of the movie, and it makes me wonder if the early releases of an incomprehensible Bane was part of a ploy to scare the fanboys and make them all the more grateful for the final result. Regardless, I thought The Dark Knight Rises was a very good finale to the trilogy; I liked the way it looped around to draw the meat of its story from Batman Begins, while treating the Dark Knight as a stepping-stone to The Dark Knight Rises. It’s an excellent display of writing skills, especially given the strength and popularity of The Dark Knight.

Swanner: I was hearing all the comments on it being too long and bloated, and it is, but I also found it like cake … I just wanted more. There was a real sadness to the film. If you look at it most of the characters had lost their joy or had the life just sucked out of them. That’s why Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character, John Blake, was so important. He needed the Batman idol to give life back to Gotham. With Dark Knight we had our emotional tie to Heath Ledger but this film really belonged to Gordon Levitt. I also thought it was a good finale to this remarkable trilogy. I even thought Anne Hathaway did a really good job and it pains me to say that.

Judd: You make a good point about the sadness of all the characters, and TDKR could easily be classified as a tragedy. Commissioner Gordon has lost his family and friends, Catwoman is only looking to start fresh but needs to get dirtier to do so, John Blake desperately needs a hero and even coldblooded mercenary Bane is driven by beliefs and poignant loyalty. This crushing take on the superhero trope – while very common in the actual funny papers – is far from what movie audiences come to expect from their comic book crusaders. And while I enjoyed all the performances, except one unusually bad actor in the first five minutes of the film, I was expecting more from my boyfriend. You know him as Tom Hardy. And it’s not that Tom wasn’t his normal stellar self, but the face-obscuring mask, the digitized voice and the heavy coat with upturned collar severely hampered his emotive capabilities — as it would have with any actor. I don’t think even miracle actors Stephen Root or Johnny Depp could have worked with such a hindering costume.

Swanner: Christian Bale has the same problem. He spends half the film with a mask on. That’s why Gordon Levitt and Hathaway have the chance to shine in the film. I do think the score and the sound were over the top. If I can’t hear what the actors are saying then it’s too loud. What I did love was how Nolan makes the city look. The art direction and cinematography are always amazing in his films. The film is so well crafted that it just feels and looks like a blockbuster. It is two hours and forty four minutes but it’s two hours and forty four minutes of WOW. I do love that Nolan ended the movie. For me it was the perfect ending.

Judd: I agree it is the perfect ending as a result to its stellar writing and treatment of the trilogy as a whole, which is rare in these days of endless sequels. I didn’t nerdgasm like the rest of the world did over The Dark Knight and I’m curious to see if The Dark Knight Rises will meet the same reception without the tragic and untimely death of an actor to bolster its sales.

Swanner: 1/2

Judd: