(Spoiler warning: they may pop up anywhere… especially at
the end!)
Batman Begins--
The trilogy begins with a ground-breaking idea that
superheroes can be taken seriously, and gives us a totally believable origin story
for one of the world’s most believable superheroes. There are three points to
cover (in my opinion) in order to make a good, complete story, and the first is covered exactly right in this
movie; the hero.
Young Bruce Wayne sees his parents murdered in front of him
and grows into a hate-filled man with his eyes on revenge, whatever the cost. Life-changing
words from the girl he loves and a crime boss change his mind and send Bruce around the world in an
attempt to understand criminals, and what it’s like to have nothing. A mysterious man finds him and offers him a
chance to change and make a change with just a little ninja training and spiritual
guidance. The latter doesn’t exactly stick for Bruce, as he decides he will
never needlessly kill anyone, when it’s required of him to finish his training.
He becomes a League of Shadows drop-out, and returns to Gotham determined to honor
his father, and serve the city, mostly by locking up every criminal he can find.
Using a piece of advice from his mentor - and to protect his loved ones - a
costume is in order, and before you can start to sing “na na na na na…” the
Batman is born.
The majority of Bruce Wayne/Batman’s character development happens
in this movie; at the end he’s a hero, and this movie is about his journey,
from beginning to heroism. And finally it's done right - finally we get to understand Bruce. He’s no longer
stylized, campy, melodramatic, or plain silly; he’s real, and his superhero
status is believable.
The amazing, and visionary director, Christopher Nolan, is of course the person to thank for
this. He knows how to make a movie true to life without tossing out the pleasure
of watching a movie for entertainment. The key appears to be to make it dark; the real
world is a dark place after all. But there is more to it that just that, and
what really impressed me were all the details. Why bats, for an example? “Bats
frighten me,” says Bruce, “it’s time my enemies shared my dread.”
Christian Bale is Batman. He wonderfully embodies the complex
character with powerful subtlety. Previous renditions of the character practically crumble
into nothing, and anyone who may try to take on the role anytime in the near
future would probably be crazy, and therefore would do a bad job of it. And who
else could ever play Alfred but Michael Caine? I mean, come on. Gary Oldman is
perfect as Gordon, a more traditional brand of hero everyone loves to cheer
for. Don’t forget Morgan Freeman as Mr. Fox, and Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes
is lovely, but unfortunately doesn’t last. And the antagonists, Cillian Murphy, and
Liam Neeson, put out their due amount of evil and creepiness
according to their character to satisfaction.
Batman Begins is a classic movie really, starting with a flawed
character in need of change, and ending with that character saving the day and
becoming a new person; a hero. This is done to perfection, but “ending” is the
key word here… there is a good and satisfying end. Batman’s identity as a hero
is established, and the character’s arc is complete, but this is only the first
movie, and we want more, so, what now?
The Dark Knight--
Well, there's two of my three points left to cover, and the
second one is a test. We have to know that the Batman can hold to his morals,
and will never give up on his city no matter how bleak things get. Usually,
this is where a sequel comes out, trying to re-sell the same format of the
first film by putting a different plot on it, and that’s why sequels don’t work…
usually. There’s no worries when Nolan is at the helm. He knows how to make a
sequel that doesn’t feel like a re-hash. The key now is to go even darker, and more intimate, and
bring on a storm of trials to push our hero to his limits. Enter the Joker.
Heath Ledger’s turn as the Joker is very good… very, very
good. Perhaps too good... in a word, convincing… in the highest sense of
the word. We’re not supposed to understand him, and honesty, I don’t want to. And
with his great performance, it’s easy to forget everyone else in the movie, but Bale continues
to be good, despite this movie not being quite as much about his characters
development as the previous one. Maggie Gyllenhaal does a fine job replacing Holmes, and adds spunk
to Rachel. But Aaron Eckhart as Two-Face Harvey Dent is my personal favorite. He holds up very well against the Ledger's overpowering Joker and leaves a heavy impression with a sad and thought-provoking role.
The movie as a whole, in fact, is very thought-provoking, but also
very entertaining, with great action, and real drama; it’s a truly well-done movie
that succeeds on every level it goes to. If you can survive the darkness, the
contrasting light is well worth it. Or just sit back and enjoy the
artistic beauty, or the smart involving script, and stylish action. I always
consider the middle movie of a trilogy to typically be the worst, due to the
difficulty of providing a satisfying beginning and end to the story, but I don’t
have any evidence at all to prove that here. This is the most well-done film in the franchise,
and in my opinion, also has the best ending of the three movies.
I won’t go over plot details here, mostly because I can’t exactly remember them straight, but basically, the Joker raises @#!*% , and destroys lives, and then we watch
the aftermath, and how characters deal with their crumbled worlds. Harvey Dent
begins a good man, but he breaks under pressure and becomes the very thing that destroyed him.
Bruce gets the same treatment, but he somehow hangs on. Broken, but not
defeated Batman maintains his heroism, (to the audience at least) and holds to his morals. He is committed
to doing whatever it takes to save the world. Now we know that for sure. There’s only one thing left now. We
saw the journey to his being a hero, and he scraped through the test at great
personal cost, now all we need is an end.
The Dark Knight Rises--
But we don’t know that. I think I’d be happy to see
more movies about Bruce Wayne beating the odds and defeating evil for as long
as they continue to be good and entertaining, but Nolan knows… yes, he knows a
lot of things… and he knows we need an end. The third point; every story needs an end, and
Nolan has it covered in Rises. It’s got to be hard to end a franchise, but if
you don’t, it will eventually fizzle out anyway, so it’s best to end it sooner,
and end it well. Though, “well” is a rather dull way to describe the way this movie
wrapped up the franchise. “Satisfying,” “amazing” and “epic” are better words
for the job.
Of course, there can’t be just an ending, so this movie
provides a new test for the Dark Knight as well. Eight years later, the Batman
is in hiding, and Bruce turned to a recluse is never seen either, but the fix he
offered up in the last movie stuck, and the city has been a better and cleaner
place. Until Bane shows up, terrorizing the city as he puts his devastating
plan in motion. Bruce is eager become Batman just one more time, and
thinks he’s ready to give his life to save the city, but this time he’s not the
only one willing to give everything to stand against evil.
Commissioner Gordon has always been helpful, but in the Batman’s
absence he steps up, and does all he can to keep the evil at bay, along with newcomer
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who jumps right in as John Blake, a young, idealistic cop
with spirit, who is this movie's most straight-forward and honest hero. Then
there’s Anne Hathaway, also new, playing Selina Kyle, who has her share of problems, but
does the right and selfless thing when it really counts. I like that these characters
are really focused on and fleshed out as leads along with Bale, and the ensemble feel they
bring to the movie is great.
Played very well by Tom Hardy, Bane is sufficiently evil,
and his composed, boiling rage disturbing. He’s powerful in every way, but thankfully doesn’t overpower any other characters. Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate is disappointing in the best way possible, with both the
good and bad side played convincingly. Maybe it’s only because I tried to stay
spoiler-free going into this movie, but I thought the plot twists were handled very
well, and weren't too confusing, or unbelievable.
How could anyone doubt that Christopher Nolan knows what he’s
doing? He very successfully wraps up the trilogy with this film, not getting
lazy in any aspect, giving us smart and unique plotting, involving acting from
an all-around stellar cast, and powerful tone. Probably the hardest of the
three movies to do right, but right it definitely is. My only complaint is very small;
that it gets a little slow in the middle, but hey, at two hours and forty-five
minutes, “a little slow” for a few minutes is pretty impressive, especially when you're not making a Lord of the Rings movie.
These three movies are built very differently, yet they fit together
like it had been planned the whole time, and each brings something unique to the table. This dark, thrilling and powerful
trilogy has really set a high standard for movie heroes of a super persuasion, by
succeeding as more than just a superhero movie. It ponders the meaning of
heroism, the effects of evil on society and the individual character, and delves in
deep. It gives us an awesome, breath-taking visual experience, and a dark, chilling,
but ultimately rewarding story, just brimming with thoughtful details. And
finally, it gives us the right conclusion, where good prevails against the dark
and the hero is rewarded for his sacrifice. A hero, a test, and an end… our
Dark Knight delivered and gave us a solid, satisfying conclusion that
resonates. My appreciative thanks go to Nolan, for a deep, exciting, and unique
franchise.
- 4&1/2 of 5 stars, for each movie.
Hello, John Blake franchise?
