The Dark Knight Rises: Positives and Negatives

To say that The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR) was a horrible movie is a big mistake, but to say that it was perfect is also a mistake.

I waited four long years for it. As a huge fan of Christopher Nolan’s realistic interpretation of Batman, I was looking forward to the conclusion of his trilogy. I had larger than life expectations, and the trailers promised a feast for both the Bat-fans and the general public. My worries for a bad follow-up decreased with each trailer.

I finally watched TDKR on its release date (July 25^th in Puerto Rico). I clapped and cheered on many occasions along with the audience (I LOVE when that kind of stuff happens!) I even cried a lot during the end. Yet, there were some things that didn’t quite feel right. I left the theater with certain satisfaction, but those other things bothered me.

I watched it for a second time. I enjoyed it and my eyes got watery in the end, and this time I ignored what went wrong. I thought it wasn’t a major deal and I built a theory that t I thought justified the outcome (more on that later). But then I watched it for a third time, and those details that concerned me came to life again. In fact, I felt more confused than ever.

I’ve had discussions with several friends and we seem to coincide on some of those points. People have asked me if TDKR is better than The Dark Knight (TDK), yet I wasn't really able to give an answer. I’ve read people in social media saying that the film is “boring”, which makes no sense. Something certain is that TDKR is very entertaining, which is not an easy task for a film that’s 2 hours and 45 minutes long. If you got bored, I’m afraid there might something wrong with your health.

I’ve had a hard time on finally writing a commentary of some sort about the movie. The mixed emotions I’ve experienced made it very difficult for me, especially as a Batman/Nolan fan. That’s why I’ve decided to do something more organic for me in this situation: I’ll list the positives and negatives of TDKR. The positives I listed are mostly about characters and story details that I liked in particular, which I reviewed in my style. There are other details I liked, but I focused on what I liked the most so I would not extend myself too much or because they're too obvious details. Again, this is my personal opinion. If you disagree with anything, you can share your thoughts in the comments section below. 

Positives 

• The intro with the bat-logo inside the broken bat-signal and, as always, no credits or movie titles. Something I've always looked forward to in this trilogy is the intro with the bat-logo, which has been refreshing every time.

• The film starting literally right where TDK left us: Commisioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) speaking at Harvey Dent’s funeral, saying what was in our minds all this time: “I believed in Harvey Dent.”

• The airplane scene. Truly impressive. “The fire rises!”

• Bane's Scottish accent and his intimidating attitude. I also enjoyed the intonation that Tom Hardy applied to certain words. 

• The Two-Face flashbacks during Gordon’s speech.

• Selina Kyle’s introduction and all her other scenes. Anne Hathaway really nailed the cat-like body movements throughout the film. She was incredibly confident, stylish, and sexy.

• Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robin John Blake! Now I love him more than ever.

• The music by the great Hans Zimmer, especially the track “Gotham’s Reckoning” (it was played during the airplane scene). This track in particular shows the immense classical music influence that Zimmer has, giving each musical piece an emotional and epic feeling.

• The return of the Bat-cave! And you still have to tap those three keys in the piano to get in! (I would love to know which keys are, by the way. I guess I'll use my Casio keyboard from the 80's to find that out.)

• The piece of classical music played while Bruce and Selina were dancing: "Pavane pour une infante défunte" (Pavane for a Dead Princess), by French composer Maurice Ravel. I recognized it immediately, since I'm a huge fan of Ravel's work and classical music in general. Something that I love about Nolan's musical selections is that he chooses pieces that I love and that have a personal meaning for me. It feels almost like he's speaking to me. For example, in Inception, he used Édith Piaf's "Non, je ne regrette rien". That meant a lot to me because of many reasons: I love Piaf, that song is one of my life philosphies, I speak French, and Marion Cotillard, who was also in the film, played outstandingly the role of Piaf in 2007's La vie en rose, which won her an Oscar. 

• The topic of economics, which is parallel to the world's current financial situation. Economics were also once again a strategy of the League of Shadows to destroy Gotham.

• Bane's motorcycles/Batman’s comeback chase scene. It had many great things. Matthew Modine did a great job playing the not-so-likable Commissioner Foley by uselessly trying to capture Batman. The hysterical kidnapped yuppie at the back of one of the motorcycles was hilarious. He reminded me of Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, since he was wearing the same exact look of Patrick in one of AP’s scenes. Perhaps it was a salute to Christian Bale’s classic role? I’d like to think so!

• The Bat!

• Batman stating to Selina that he didn’t use guns. The timing couldn’t be better due to the unfortunate real world circumstances we all know.

• Batman finally knowing how it feels to be left all alone while in the middle of a conversation. Thanks, Selina!

• Alfred leaving Bruce. Honestly, I thought Alfred would come back, but he didn’t. Lesson learned: Nevah take Alfred Pennyworth for granted!

• Édith Piaf and Bruce Wayne had sex!

If I was her, I'd sure be singing La vie en rose! 

• The first fight scene between Batman and Bane. From the constant League of Shadows references to paying homage to Knightfall, it was superb.

Cover of Knightfall (1993) 

• The return of the League of Shadows, since it brought the trilogy to full circle.

• Liam Neeson’s cameo/comeback as Ra’s Al Ghul. It was really nice to see him in something that wasn’t a trailer for a movie that also features Rihanna (coughBattleshipcough).

• Fredericks, from Batman Begins, once again in the Wayne Enterprises board. It was a nice detail to bring him back.

• The haunting chant: "Deshi deshi basara basara!"

• Bruce Wayne’s return to prison and his triumphant escape. If you didn’t clap the first time you saw the climbing scene, you should go back to the movie theatre, rewatch TDKR and do it. You should also check out if you’re a human being. Even if it was predictable that he was going to make it, you had to be happy for him, because he’s our boy! I loved the bats’ appearance and Bruce’s flashback of when he fell down the cave as a kid. Hearing Thomas Wayne saying “Why do we fall?” once again was moving.

• The influence of Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns (1986). If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend that you do.

• Cillian Murphy’s cameo as Scarecrow/Dr. Crane. I love the fact that he was in all three films. Even if he only says one word, he always manages to be absolutely brilliant. 

"Sure, I might be crazy and roaming around Gotham for years without taking a shower, but I still look fabulous."

• Another cameo I liked: Desmond Harrington as the policeman who was arguing with Blake at the bridge. Desmond appears in two of my favorite shows, Dexter and Gossip Girl, as Detective Quinn and uncle Jack Bass, respectively. And yes, I have no shame on admitting that I watch Gossip Girl. After all, man shall not live on Mad Men alone.

• Edith Piaf is Ra's Al Ghul's daughter!

• The exchange between Batman and Gordon before Batman’s “death”. Something that I really wanted to see in this film was both characters remembering when Gordon comforted young Bruce when his parents were murdered. It was a beautiful and powerful scene that reconnected them.

• Gordon reading the last lines from Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities during Bruce’s funeral, because Gary Oldman reading anything at all can do no wrong. 

• The ending scenes. I was very moved by them. Alfred saying to Bruce’s tomb that he failed him was heartbreaking. Seeing all the signs that Bruce left to his close friends to let them know that he made it was lovely. Realizing that John Blake was Nolan’s version of Robin, even though he’s really a continuation of Batman. Blake being initiated by the bats at the cave (like Bruce in the good old days) and rising. Alfred seeing Bruce in the same old café in Florence, being alive and happy with his significant other (Selina Kyle!) I love that Bruce finally found the peace he truly needed. I’m a sucker for tormented characters who finally get into a peaceful state, maybe because at the end of the day that’s what we all dream of for ourselves.

• The cast: exquisite as always!

"We're sexy and we know it."

Negatives 

• Alfred didn’t say “Nevah!” again. :(

Yes, Alfred, you failed me!

• The film seemed cartoonish at times. I know that any comic book based movie will always have at least a couple cartoonish moments. However, with Nolan we got a more real grasp of Batman’s universe in the two previous films, which seemed more plausible. They were better crafted in that sense and more believable.

• The new characters were not well-developed (with the exception of Blake, and if you think about it, this movie mostly belonged to him). I know the film was long, but as a writer you need to develop your characters in a complete manner, no matter the time that you have. There are many ways to do that, and that should flow naturally within the writing process. Both Bane’s motives and Miranda’s twist at the end seemed very rushed (even though there were a few previous scenes in which she was starting to look sort of menacing). Selina’s friend was unnecessary, so much that she disappeared out of the blue (not that I missed her, though). There was an attempt of her being TDKR’s version of Holly Robinson (Selina’s prostitute friend in the comics), but she served no true purpose at all. 

• The second fight scene between Batman and Bane. I hate to admit it, but Batman defeated him only because he broke the tubes of Bane’s painkiller mask. I expected that Batman would be stronger and more of an equal match to Bane. Batman still seemed weak, unfortunately.

• Bane's real motive for causing all that trouble: love. I've always had a conflict with this. It was kind of refreshing to see that love was a motive for Bane, but we didn't exactly expected this because of the way the character was presented. Twists are great in stories, but the writer must be careful with them. A simple twist can ruin the whole story. I believe this didn't work properly because it felt forced. Maybe it would've worked better if Bane was only left as Talia's protector or accomplice. 

• Selina Kyle killing Bane. Despite the fact that it was cool to see some “girl power” there, I won’t justify that scene out of plain feminism, starting with the fact that I’m neither a feminist nor a male chauvinist: I’m a humanist. It would be irresponsible and subjective to justify that scene like that. The movie is about Batman, and therefore he should’ve been the one to get rid of Bane. Why? Because he is bloody Batman and we want him to beat the villains! Both characters had a huge beef, and after all the work and pain Bruce went through, he deserved to win that battle all by himself. It seemed like an easy exit. 

Conclusion

Although I ended up with more positives than negatives (quantitatively speaking), those negatives are considerable (well, okay, maybe the "Nevah!" one isn't), since they have to do mostly with story development. The filmmaking process is not only about the technical stuff; it's a mix of many things. An excellent movie needs a solid script with well-developed characters, iconic visuals, a professional group of actors, an outstanding crew, great musicians for the score, and a visionary director who can lead them all. These elements need to work out as a whole. TDKR has all of these, except the solid script and characters. I don't feel 100% comfortable with the movie and, until this day, I'm still trying to fully understand and analyze what didn't work out. 

My personal theory that I previously mentioned is the following one: I've never been able to say that TDK is better than BB, because without BB there would be no TDK, and BB has been underrated since TDK came out. I couldn't say that TDKR was better than TDK because the latter one lead us to the final movie. This lead me to this: according to Nolan, the three movies are meant to be seen as one. I'm able to see them as one, although there are things that distance TDKR from both BB and TDK. The trilogy can be seen within the structure of a complete literary text: Batman Begins is the introduction, The Dark Knight is the climax, and The Dark Knight Rises is the end. My theory has truth in terms of narrative structure, but it doesn't justify the weak links in TDKR. At the time I came up with it, I thought it did justify them. 

I believe it would be exaggerated to think that TDKR didn't need to be made, or that even BB wasn't necessary. Yes, we've all known Bruce Wayne's story, but previous movies presented it superficially. BB allowed us to feel closer to Bruce's tragedy and identify with him even more. His human motivations were clearer than ever and we witnessed his transformation and training. TDKR gave us a closure that we all needed, since it would forever kill us to think that Batman was always going to be hated by the law and that he, along with Gordon and Gotham, would always be living under the shadow of a lie. We needed a finale to this journey and we needed to bid farewell to those characters that have become our cinematic family. 

TDKR was not the best movie of the trilogy. However, it wasn't a terrible waste of time that some people think it was. It could've definitely been better, since Nolan was capable of that. But it's also very easy to sit back and start pointing fingers. Being an artist of any kind is not that simple. Some works will be better than others. We still don't know the circumstances and problems behind the creative process of this film. If anything, Nolan and his crew should learn from this experience and improve upon it. As a writer myself, I can somehow relate to the pressures of creating a good story. If I've felt stressed creating characters and stories worth telling, imagine how Nolan, his brother Jonathan, and David S. Goyer should've felt. Don't get me wrong: Hollywood's pressures should not be an excuse to produce mediocre films in any sense, but it's not an easy place.

Debates about TDKR will go on as time goes by. I might even develop new thoughts about it. Nolan has proven that no matter what, his films are still going to make us go deep into them and discuss them, which is fantastic and it demonstrates that he is indeed a remarkable filmmaker. I have come to terms with the fact that TDKR was not the perfect movie I was hoping for, but I'm not fully disappointed. I'm accepting it's imperfections and embracing the things it got right. I'm glad with the way Bruce, Selina, Alfred, Lucius, Gordon, and Blake ended. I really hope they're still doing fine, either in Gotham or Florence, and I'll be forever thankful for this trilogy that restored my faith in Batman.