so it has literally been months since i rambled about something batman related. so what better opportunity to ramble than about my experience with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises.”
i loved every second. nolan has such a way of storytelling, that is just so captivating. i’ve always been a HUGE batman fan, but i’ve never felt this emotionally invested in him before. i sobbed during this movie.
so, i’ll get right to it…
i love love love Blake, a detective who deduces that bruce wayne is batman. Blake reminded me SO MUCH of tim drake, one of the last robins in the comics. his detective skills are unparallel, and he knows that gotham needs a batman, just like tim. (spoiler alert) in the final image of the film, the audience knows that the legacy of the batman will live on in some way - like it does when dick grayson takes on the cowl in batman: reborn.
anne hathaway was literally perfection in this film. her acting skills are just sublime. the portrayal of selina kyle/catwoman is really interesting, and similar to michelle pfieffer in a way (when she becomes the confident, sexy, dominatrix). the audience sees an internal struggle with selina throughout the film.
(again, spoiler) i KNEW that talia al ghul would somehow be involved. with all three films ultimately revolving around bruce and ra’s rivalry, i had a feeling Talia would make an appearance. in batman TAS, and in the comics, talia is a strong influence on bruce wayne/batman, and eventually becomes the mother of his son, Damian (who later becomes Robin). her portrayal in this film is EXCELLENT. just like in the comics and TAS, talia is bloodthirsty, and always wanting to avenge her father.
bane. brilliant. what went wrong in the 1998 joel shoemacker film was that he portrayed bane as being an assistant, or foil, to poison ivy and mr freeze. bane is a criminal MASTERMIND. he is a genius. in KNIGHTFALL (which is one of my absolute favorite batman series’), bane destroys arkham asylum, releasing its prisoners. bane then deduces that bruce wayne is batman, breaks into his home, and breaks wayne’s back. (seriously, the guy is a genius!!) bane’s interpretation in this film was SO well done to me. it really showed that he was a force to be reckoned with, not just some assistant unable to talk, getting steroids pumped into him.
i really enjoyed the brief parallel to the knightfall series, in that bane broke batmans back. i think one of the reasons i was so anxious to see this film was to make comparisons to the comics. nolan hasnt made a bad movie yet, and he definitely knows what he’s doing. i love his interpretations of the bob kane batman stories, and enjoy that he makes the batman stories so real. his batman films have no heightened realities. they are REAL people, with REAL psychopaths. it’s almost terrifying…
i think that’s about it FOR NOW. i will most likely see it again within the next few days/weeks, and i may pick up something new…
