Batman The Dark Knight Rises

• Title:  (Batman) The Dark Knight Rises
• Director:  Christopher Nolan
• Date:  2012
• Studio:  Warner Brothers
• Genre:  Drama, Action
• Cast:  Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Burn Gorman, Matthew Modine, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy
• Format:  Color, Widescreen
• DVD Format:  R1, NTSC

"You hung-up your cape and cowl but you didn't move on - you never went to find a life.  To find someone..." -- Alfred Pennyworth
"Alfred, I did find someone." -- Bruce Wayne
"I know, and you lost them.  But that's all part of living, sir.  But you're not living, you're just waiting, hoping for things to go bad again." -- Alfred

"I never wanted you to come back to Gotham.  I always knew there was nothing here for you except pain and tragedy and I wanted something more for you than that.  I still do." -- Alfred

"I take what I need from those who have more than enough.  I don't stand on the shoulders of those who have less."  -- Selina Kyle

The Dark Knight Rises opens with a James Bond-like opening sequence, the CIA flies into some country to "rescue" Dr. Pavel, a nuclear physicist.  But Bane, a mercenary and his men take the doctor from the plane and kill everyone on board by causing the plane to crash.  The film then quickly moves to Gotham City.

In Gotham City, the mayor, and Police Commissioner James Gordon are at a celebration/benefit/ceremony for "Harvey Dent Day", Gotham's solemn civic acknowledgement of  the death of  Harvey Dent.  The mayor also mentions that the "Dent Act" has allowed Gotham's police to arrest those involved in organized crime and keep them in jail without parole.  Gordon looks at a speech he's written out, but at the last minute he folds it up and doesn't give the speech.  We learn later that this speech was Gordon's "confession" of  the truth of  what Harvey Dent did after he became Two-Face towards the end of  The Dark Knight - as well as the truth of  what Batman did and did not do.  That is, that eight years ago, Batman took the fall for Dent's actions, then disappeared.

Meanwhile, Bruce Wayne has become a recluse.  He catches a maid stealing his mother's pearls from his safe, and later realizes she lifted his fingerprints too.  Bruce uses his computers in the Batcave to find out who the maid/catburglar is - she's Selina Kyle.

A young man's body is found in Gotham's tunnels.  One of the investigating officers from Gotham's PD realizes it was someone he knows and goes to St. Swindon's Boys home to tell the man's younger brother the bad news.  Later, Officer Blake goes to Bruce Wayne's home.  He lets Bruce know that he knows that Bruce was the Batman, and that he doesn't believe "he did what they say he did" - but also casually mentions the boys' home is no longer receiving aid from the Wayne Foundation.  Bruce is puzzled by this and decides to clean himself up and head into Wayne Enterprises and Lucius Fox to find out what is going on.  He discovers that Wayne Enterprises is on shaky financial footing, following Bruce's mothballing of  a fusion reactor clean energy project.

Catwoman sells Bruce's prints... but she's also prepared for the deal to go south, which it does.  She has the bad guy she sells the prints to call her friend outside using the cell phone of  a politician she kidnapped at Wayne's party.  When the police arrive, she screams, cries and "acts helpless" as a cover so the police ignore her as a victim and she escapes.

Gordon, meanwhile, is investigating in Gotham's tunnels.  He's captured by Bane's men and brought to Bane.  Bane isn't happy about this, kills two of  his own men, and shoots Gordon - dumping all three in an underground river or conduit that leads to the sewers and eventually out to the river.  But Bane takes Gordon's speech about the truth of  what Harvey Dent did and Batman's innocence.  Blake finds Gordon, washed onto a concrete shore.

Blake tells Bruce Wayne about Gordon getting shot, and Bane's underground (literally) army.  Blake knows that Bruce is Batman and asks him to help.  He tells Bruce, "I don't know why you took the fall for Dent's murder but I'm still a believer in The Batman, even if you're not."

Bruce goes to Miranda Tate's charity ball, where he runs into Selina Kyle.  Miranda was one of  his main investors for the fusion clean energy project.  While they dance, Selina warns Bruce that a storm is coming.

When Bruce goes to Wayne Enterprises - Lucius Fox shows him "The Bat", a stealth urban helicopter (similar in design to the Tumbler car, but for the air).

Bane and his gang attack the Gotham stock market.  Batman arrives to chase the "robbers" of  the stock exchange.  However, all he really does is distract the police.  One particularly enthusiastic cop decides he rather take down The Batman than catch any of  Bane's men from the stock exchange action.  Batman fails to stop Bane's computer program from uploading into the stock exchange, but does grab the Netbook they used.  Batman escapes the police in The Bat.

Selina, in her Catwoman outfit, goes after Daggett, the man she sold Bruce's fingerprints to.  He'd promised her the "Clean Slate" program to wipe her name, details, and police record from every database in the world.  But when she claims what's hers - he tells her it doesn't exist.  Batman arrives.  Batman and Catwoman fight Daggett's troops, then escape in The Bat.

Batman lets Selina off, and returns home.  He's admonished by Alfred, who's had enough.  Alfred tells Bruce the truth - he burnt Rachel's letter than explained she was going to marry Harvey Dent - to spare Bruce pain.  In the ensuing argument - Alfred says he will leave.

The next morning, Bruce is woken up, not by Alfred, but by the front doorbell.  And his faithful butler is no where in sight.  Fox tells Bruce he's broke and Wayne Enterprises will soon be in the hands of  Daggett.  The energy project is in danger, though "Applied Sciences" is off  the books and all the weapons and tech hidden there are truly hidden.

Daggett meets with Bane - Bane tortures him and off screen, kills him.

Bruce sleeps with Miranda on the floor of  his mansion, before the fireplace - since he has no power or heat in the old house.

Batman meets Catwoman, she takes him to Bane, but locks him in.  Bane and Batman fight.  They are in the wet tunnels, near the underground river/sewer.  It's a wet, dark, echoy place for a fight.  Bane breaks into Wayne Enterprises' Applied Sciences, blowing the floor.  He then breaks Batman's back and his Cowl - holding it up as a trophy, and making Bruce's physical and psychological defeat complete.

Blake goes to Wayne Manor but finds it abandoned.  However, he catches Selina Kyle at the airport.

Bruce, meanwhile, wakes in the Pit prison.  Bane says it's the worse prison, because with the chimney leading out... there's hope, in the midst of despair, which for Bane makes the despair worse.

Selina is jailed in Blackgate.  Bane takes Fox, Miranda, and a board member into the sewers and to the fusion reactor.  When Blake tells Gordon - he asks one of  his cops to start and all-out search of  the tunnels.  He promotes Blake to detective and asks him to investigate Daggett and his enterprises.

Bane gets Miranda to activate the fusion reactor.  Bane also lures all the Gotham PD police into the Gotham tunnels.

Bane pulls the core from the reactor, creating a bomb, plus the core will decay and explode in five months.  Blake realizes Daggett's cement pours were actually laced with explosives.

A boy soprano sings the American National Anthem at a Gotham Knight football stadium, just as he finishes, Bane walks in and blows the concrete, trapping all of  the Gotham police force in the underground tunnels.  Blake was just a moment too late to get the cops out.  The football stadium also collapses as do streets and bridges all over Gotham - and all but one bridge off the island.  Bane has Dr. Pavel explain about the bomb, then kills Pavel. The bomb is mobile and "an ordinary Gothamite" holds the trigger.  Seeing the police trapped, Blake goes to the hospital for Gordon.

Anarchy soon reigns in Gotham City.  Bane and his men let all the inmates out of  Blackgate Prison.  His men "patrol" the streets in cameo tumbler cars stolen from Wayne Enterprises.  Looting, robberies, beatings, and total chaos take over as Gotham City is left as a city without any government or police whatsoever.  The few police not in the tunnels during the collapse are hunted and killed (again, off-screen).  A very few start an underground resistance movement.  Meanwhile, the US president makes an appeal than Gotham isn't forgotten, but won't risk the terrorists in the city exploding the nuke.  Also, with all the bridges and tunnels in and out of the island blown, and Winter starting, soon food, especially fresh food, is hard to come by.

Selina is appalled by what has happened to her city.

In Bane's prison, Bruce is heart-broken by what has happened to his city, but he also begins to re-build his back.  In prison, Bruce learns of  a child, the child of Ra's al Ghul and his lover then wife was the only one to escape the prison.  This child had a protector in the prison.  Bruce remembers what he learned from Ra's al Ghul, and his heart-break at the loss of  his wife.  With the help of another inmate, Bruce slowly rebuilds his strength.

Bruce ends up trying to climb out of  his prison twice, and failing.  The second time, he remembers his father rescuing him from his fall down the well on Wayne Manor property.

In Gotham, Gordon and Blake explain what's going on to the special forces.  Fox and Miranda explain the bomb is a time bomb and it will go off.  Bane's men attack and the special forces guy is killed by Bane.

For the third time, Bruce attempts to climb out of  the well - he takes supplies, and doesn't use the rope.  As the inmates chant, "rise", in a foreign language... he makes it.  Bruce throws a climbing rope down to the other inmates as he leaves.

In Gotham, Selina beats up a couple of guys who are beating up a kid.  Bruce returns to Gotham.  Bruce offers her the clean slate program for her help.

Gordon is arrested and tried in the Scarecrow's court.  He's sentenced to death - by exile.

Catwoman rescues Bruce and Fox.  Bruce takes Fox to The Bat to get an EMP Emitter to block the trigger of  the bomb.

Gordon's inching across the ice of  the Gotham River when Batman returns and his sign burns on the bridge.  Batman rescues Gordon and his men - then rescues Blake.  Batman and Blake free the cops.  Batman sends Blake to get people out of  the city.  Selina gets the Batcycle and a route out of  Gotham.  There's a melee between Bane's men and the police.

Gordon searches for the truck (one of  three) with the bomb.  Blake recues the boys from St. Swindon's and does a quick house to house warning.

Batman defeats Bane, demands to know who the trigger is.  Miranda is Talia, the child of  Ra's Al Ghul, Bane's her "protector" from the prison, and she holds the trigger.  She knifes Batman in the back.  Gordon finds the bomb and tries to block the signal.  However, the bomb is still a time bomb.  Catwoman rescues Batman.  Cops from outside Gotham blow the last remaining bridge, despite Blake's warnings.

Bruce in The Bat, and Catwoman on a Batcycle challenge Talia in a Tumbler.  The heat seekers that chase The Bat hit the Tumbler instead.  Fox discovers the reactor's being flooded - they won't be able to reattach the core to stop the meltdown.  Talia dies.  Batman will fly the bomb over Gotham harbor.  When Gordan asks who he is -- Bruce gives him a hint, and Gordon realizes he's Bruce Wayne.

Batman literally flies into the sun, and the bomb explodes "harmlessly" over the Ocean.

Gordon quotes "A Tale of Two Cities" at Bruce's grave.  Fox, Alfred, and Blake are all there at the gravesite.  Alfred cries and blames himself.  Blake quits the force.  Gotham unveils a statue of  The Batman.  The Wayne Estate goes to Alfred, but the house is turned into a home for orphaned children.  John Blake is "Robin John Blake" and he gets GPS co-ordinates to the Batcave which he explores.  Fox discovers The Bat had an autopilot after all, despite Bruce saying it didn't.  Finally, in a small cafe, abroad, Alfred sees Bruce and Selina -- and they see him.  And Gordon has a new Bat Signal.

I loved this movie when I saw it in the theater -- three times.  What Nolan did particularly well was he managed to create a Super-Hero trilogy, that was a trilogy -- with a definite beginning, middle, and end, rather than the normal run of sequels one gets for the genre.  I loved how The Dark Knight Rises ties up the story, and I thought the flashbacks were particularly well realized.

Bane's attack on Batman is much more deeply psychological - and personal (once you know who he is) than the physical attack in the graphic novel set (all three volumes of  it, known collectively as Knightfall).  In the graphic novel, Bane starts by letting all the villains out of Arkham -- Batman has to fight them all, becoming exhausted.  Alfred and Dick Greyson (Nightwing) warn him about exhaustion - but stubbornly Bruce doesn't listen, and thus the steroid-enhanced Bane is able to physically beat him and break his back.  Nolan's film has Bane, step by step, take everything from Bruce:  his fortune, Wayne Enterprises, Alfred (who's manipulated into a "tough love" confrontation that goes horribly wrong), even his city.  Yes, Bane break's his back, and symbolically, the cowl too, thus breaking The Batman, but it's the psychological devastation that really breaks Bruce's spirit.  And it's Bruce's comeback from that psychological "bottom" that makes the film so interesting and triumphant.  Bruce is physically thrown in a well, a Pit, and he's in physical agony and psychological despair... but he comes back, which makes it a heartening film, and a joy to watch.  Bruce also seems ready to finally hang up his cape and cowl for good... though the film places enough hints for a "Nightwing" film for "Robin John" Blake.

Another major departure of  the film from the graphic novel set, is Bane is quite different.  The costume is different, his back story is different, Bane's connected to Talia and Ra's al Ghul, and Bane's dependence on the addictive steroid, Venom (not to be confused with the Marvel character Venom), is dropped.  I was really surprised by that first time I saw the film, but each time I saw it, I found the connections from Bane to Talia (Miranda) to Ra's al Ghul, just suit the plot so much better... and bring the entire story line to a very satisfactory conclusion.

Overall, I really, really liked it.  The script crackles with great dialogue, as did the previous two in the series.  Though I think Alfred would never leave Bruce, the film makes it work as both a form of  tough love on Alfred's part, and really a challenge between father and son.  For Bruce to really be his own man, he both has to lose everything and he has to regain everything, and that includes his surrogate father.  Though I do wish he and Alfred had spoken when they see each other in the cafe.  But, on the other hand, they don't need to.  Alfred and Bruce understand each other without having to speak.

Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was not the "bored socialite cat burglar" or the "hooker trying to make a living" of previous Batman stories (both in print and on tv/film).  She's rough, and tough, and she thinks she wants what Bane promises -- an end to the wealthy, privileged, useless upper class.  But when she sees what's happened to Gotham, she hates it.  Selina realizes that without any law, anarchy rules - and in anarchy the poor and the weak suffer even more than they did under the rich, something Selina hadn't thought was possible.  This is why she allies with Batman.  For once, this Selina does not have any physical attraction to Batman, not 'til the end, when she and Bruce run off  together.  Selina even appears to really, really hate men.  A word needs to be said about Anne Hathaway's costumes too.  Her Catwoman costume was great... it looks more like armor than the sexy, sorry, catsuit, of other catwomen, and it has long sleeves and what looks like a corset underneath.  I actually really liked it, and would like to know more about the construction from the costume designer.  Because, wow!  Selina's other clothes were equally impressive, she reminded me a lot of  Audrey Hepburn, a classic actress known for her clothes and unique sense of style.  The hat Selina wears to the airport is particularly Hepburn-esque.  I have no idea if  this was intentional, but the styles, mostly in black, looked great on Hathaway.

The score by Hans Zimmer was excellent, as have been all three Nolan Batman film scores by Zimmer.  The score for The Dark Knight Rises is haunting and dark, and is very effective in how it adds to the film.  Also, I thought it was really very neat the way that several times the film becomes almost silent and it's simply images and music - including the end, after Bruce Wayne's graveside funeral service.  Nolan really knows how to use imagery and light and how to integrate that with the musical score, for a uniquely filmic quality.  It's a rare talent in a modern director and should be celebrated.

Recommendation:  See it!
Rating:  5 of  5 Stars
Next Film:  Suspicion