The Dark Knight Rises Review

THE FIRE RISES. Yes, yes it does. At long last...

So, I'm here to type out a review for The Dark Knight Rises. It's an epic-length action (war?) drama that tackles issues such as the overindulgence and often ridiculous opulence of the wealthy, the price they pay for wallowing in it, and what exactly would happen if the United States was overthrown by a nuclear weapon-wielding, highly intelligent, and heavily militant fascist regime, told in the microcosm of a city that somehow, in eight years, went from looking like Chicago to some sort of strange fusion of New York City, Detroit, and Pittsburgh. Incidentally, it completes the three-act Batman story Christopher Nolan was telling in his first two movies at the same time.

It's pretty safe to say that The Dark Knight Rises is easily my most anticipated film of all time. Ever since the ball-busting, genre-tearing, and gripping piece of entertainment Nolan delivered in The Dark Knight, I have been feverishly awaiting this one, even more so since Nolan announced that it was the final installment in what will be known in the future as "The Dark Knight Trilogy". What I was not excited about, however, was the swirling rumors of the Riddler being in the film. Riddler has long been near the very bottom on my list of Batman's rogues gallery (a lot of that blame goes to Jim Carrey, in addition to him being a fairly similar character to the Joker), so they were not encouraging. Then, Tom Hardy was cast, and eventually announced as not the Riddler, not Hugo Strange, not Hush or Black Mask, but... Bane, the man who broke the bat. The minute this came to light (along with the news of Anne Hathaway stepping into the cat shoes of Selina Kyle, a casting choice that I have never understood the criticism for), my anticipation for this film went through the roof. Compound that with the incredible trailers, jaw-dropping prologue (now-fixed Bane voice problems aside), and the promise of an ending, that by the time I was watching the trailers in the theater, I could barely contain myself. However, hopes are one thing, and reality is another, so would The Dark Knight Rises (aptly titled, for more reasons than one) live up to the high standards that Nolan set in his first two Bat-films? (MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD, and this will be a larger review than usual for such an event movie)

The Legend Ends. And may it never be rebooted (but it will)

In short: Yes, but not in the way you probably were expecting. The Dark Knight Rises is quite a great film, even one that may one day be remembered as a highlight of summer blockbusters, but many will hate it. One reason for this is because of the rather large shift in style from The Dark Knight to The Dark Knight Rises. It went from being a crime drama with Batman in it to a rather grandiose and fanciful war film, with comic booky technology and physics galore. Now, an alien army never touches down in Gotham, a la The Avengers (another great comic book movie, but for totally different reasons). Nolan said that he wanted to capture the grandeur lost in films these days, and in this case, he really succeeded. It cannot be stressed enough: The Dark Knight Rises is an epic, epic, EPIC film, structured like a sprawling novel with an armada of characters both old and new (a flaw that will be discussed later). Yet, despite its utter scale, it will have a lot of haters, even haters who loved the previous two.

Let me put this straight: If you've nitpicked to death about the way Nolan has written Batman as a character in comparison to his comic book counterpart in the past, The Dark Knight Rises will only make you angrier. Not only does Batman get broken, he gets beaten up repeatedly, stabbed through his Kevlar, mopes, acts reckless, and even retires and becomes a weird hermit. Other supposed flaws include Bane's voice (despite being greatly improved, it still gets a little misty at times), a few odd logical lapses (how did Bruce get back into Gotham at the beginning of the third act? When did he have time to fix the Bat's autopilot?), and some shortchanged villains (the reveal at the end is good but is rendered moot approximately five minutes later, and Bane deserved a better form of defeat). I will explain all these flaws away as best I can. I'll list the supposed flaws I deem mistaken, and the flaws I think are actual.

Fake Flaw: Batman's Retirement, Seclusion, Beatings, and Breaking- Ardent and stubborn comic book fans are already crowing their heads off about this one. Batman quitting is apparently something some fans are refusing to accept, even though there's a STORY FROM THE 80s WRITTEN ABOUT IT. In The Dark Knight Returns, the death of Jason Todd, combined with forcible retirement of superheroes by the government and a distrusting populace, led Batman into retirement for 10 years, and in Rises, the death of Rachel Dawes, coupled with the rise of Gordon's Dent Act rooting out crime and again, a distrusting populace led Batman to hang up his cape and cowl for 8. The circumstances are so parallel that it's clear Nolan is doing his take on Frank Miller's seminal story, and it translates, pretty well. Instead of Carrie Kelly, he gets John Blake, and instead of the Joker and the government on his ass, he gets Bane, the Gotham police force, and Bane's army. He has old war wounds from his Bat-days (the leg was probably sustained by his fall off the roof at the end of TDK and grew worse with lack of proper medical treatment), and his sharp skills have given way to a truly tragic figure, existing but not really living. And then, when Bane and Catwoman arrive, forcing him out of retirement, he's sloppy. The cops almost catch him, and he only gets away because of his wonderful toys, not because he outsmarted them. And then Bane breaks and imprisons him, in a truly shocking moment (I was surprised Nolan actually went for the backbreaker over the knee). And then, he finally is shaken out of his funk while recovering and watching Gotham in chaos while inside Bane's pit (that looks an awful lot like the well Bruce fell into as a boy in Batman Begins. He then retrains and escapes, and when he returns to Gotham to stop Bane, he's truly Batman once again. As for his "final" retirement, with Gotham safe from Bane (and Talia) and Batman erected as a heroic symbol (not to mention a certain cop inheriting his Batcave), Bruce Wayne can exist again. It also gives a happy ending for Alfred. So, yeah, Batman retiring is being way overblown. It's being called on by purists as an inaccurate take on the character, but Nolan is still clearly drawing on comics to influence his stories. The Dark Knight fell to preserve the legacy of Harvey Dent, and he had to Rise to take on the new foe (I love how the League of Shadows pit, basically Nolan's version of the Lazarus Pit, gave Bruce an actual physical thing he needed to "rise" in).

Actual Flaws

Actual Flaw #1: Bane's Voice- After the prologue showed up at the end of last year, everyone immediately jumped on Bane's incomprehensible voice (even I admit it took me 3 tries to understand everything he was saying). I understood everything he said this time (I LOVE the actual sound of his voice, it's hilarious, charismatic, and terrifying all at the same time), but the new problem was that post-production editing made his voice really, really LOUD. His voice blared over the speakers in the theater, and while it did help on a level of theatricality, it was also distracting as hell.

Actual Flaw #2: Superfluous Characters and Plot Holes- If there's one thing I agree with the critics on this thing, it's that there's a bajillion characters, and it could have cut a lot of them and still been the same movie, only less muddled. If there's two that stand out as odd, one is Matthew Modine's Deputy Commish Foley, and the other is Juno Temple as Catwoman's comic book sidekick, Holly Robinson. Foley had a mini-arc, and a few good moments, but was vestigial. Holly was totally unnecessary, and scenes with her just bloated the movie. As for plot holes, one is Bruce getting back into Gotham after escaping the pit (which I'm forced to chock up as "he's the goddamn Batman"), and the other, more glaring one is that when Fox is examining the Bat at the end of the movie (after the Bat just blew up in a nuclear explosion). There's a second Bat? Why haven't we seen it before? Why didn't Bane steal it? When did Bruce have time to fix the autopilot? Why did he fix the autopilot on the Bat that he wasn't using? It's such a small detail, and Nolan is such a smart filmmaker, so I'll say he outsmarted himself on that one.

Actual Flaw #3: Editing, Pacing, and Length- It took awhile for me to actually begin to love this movie. I'll say it happened around the point where Bane broke Batman. Up to that, I could've gone either way on it. The pacing was fast, but it was TOO fast. They tried to cram too much into that first hour, introducing Bane, Selina, Blake, Daggett, Foley, Holly, Dr. Pavel, and Miranda, while focusing on Bruce, Alfred, Gordon, and Fox. Um, that's trying to tell the story of 12 characters in 60 minutes. That's like 5 minutes per, and when there are main ones who eat up the majority, it's way less for the lesser ones like Blake and Selina who still require development, as major pieces of the Dark Knight Trilogy puzzle introduced late in the game. As for editing, the first hour was cut too fast. There were some awkward transitions between scenes, and certain sequences felt cut short. And this also ties into my length thing. A lot of critics are saying The Dark Knight Rises is too long; it's TOO SHORT. The movie should have been 30 minutes longer so as to properly flesh out its new characters and tie some of the more awkward disparities together. But if a 164-minute superhero movie is pushing it, then a 200-minute one is unacceptable for a summer blockbuster, movie clarity be damned. Maybe it should have been cut in two and billed as "The Epic Two-Part Conclusion to the Dark Knight Legend".

It comes in black. Does it come it camo, like Bane's Tumblers?

And that's it for flaws. Now on to the good stuff.

Team Nolan- All the credit in the world goes to Nolan and his top-notch production team. Nolan's direction is first-rate as usual, with some truly great imagery and haunting callbacks to the previous films. The moment that will stick in me indelibly in here is when Bruce is climbing the wall of the pit for the last time, the moment in the movie where The Dark Knight finally Rises, and the Hans Zimmer score is swelling, and as he hits the side of the wall, bats come out and flap around him, as they did the boy in the well, and the man in the southeast wing of Wayne Manor. I'm not a teary-eyed guy, but when that happened, I very nearly cried, realizing that this was indeed the end. The Nolan brother's script is a bit more fan-pleasing than the previous ones (and has some odd but wonderfully executed humor), but still, it ties together the continuity of the previous two nicely. Zimmer is stellar as usual (with his excellent Bane theme), Wally Pfister keeps the visual look consistent (even if he goes a little more glossy when shit hits the fan in Gotham), and the production design is stellar, with everything from Bane's costume, the setpieces, and of course, the Bat (now arguably my favorite Bat-vehicle. IT'S A FLYING TUMBLER!!) being of the highest grade.

The Inception Cast- Nolan brings the majority of his Inception cast with him to fill out the supporting roles (everybody but Leo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, and Ken Watanabe, who was already in Begins show up), and since that cast was so good, it does great work here as well. Tom Hardy is just fantastic as Bane. Maybe not Oscar-worthy like the late Heath Ledger (out of respect, the Joker isn't mentioned in this story), but he portrays so much with just his facial expressions and body language that it's striking. More on Bane later. Marion Cotillard is good but lacking as Miranda Tate, but once the reveal (which we basically all predicted over a year ago) kicks in, she becomes a great femme fatale, even if it's only for a brief while. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is very likable as John Blake, and is clearly meant to be akin to Batman from minute one. Like Batman, he's an orphan, and this personal tragedy has given him what Ra's Al Ghul in Begins called "the will to act". He could also be seen as an example of what Batman has inspired, in a more positive way. The end reveal was a bit cheesy (enough that I can't resist typing his full name as ROBIN John Blake), but still, he's a worthy inheritor to Batman's legend. Cillian Murphy also returns in a very funny bit as Scarecrow. And of course, Michael Caine is back and better than ever as Alfred, though he's regrettably absent from a large period of the movie (which could be seen as him having no place to plausibly fit in).

Christian Bale- Bale gives his finest performance of the series here. Despite that I think TDK is the best film of the trilogy, Bale was arguably at his worst there, though it's not entirely his fault. But here, Bale plays the broken Bruce Wayne, the rising Bruce Wayne, and Batman perfectly. They're all perfect. From the limp, to the unkempt appearance, to the graying hair, you really feel for Bruce early in the movie, and Bale portrays a truly tortured soul, even more than the self-destructive young man in the early goings of Begins.

Anne Hathaway- Everyone questioned this casting every step of the way, and I never had any damn idea why. Hathaway does have a very youthful appearance that could've hindered her believability as a sexy cat burglar, but she does somewhat resemble the Selina Kyle of the comics, and is a well-regarded actress worthy of the role. And when she seductively whispered that threat in Bruce's ear of "the coming storm", every male in the theater was kind of weirdly turned on, guaranteed. So, yeah, she was good, and I loved that she and Bruce had a happy ending.

The Scale- I already mentioned the scale above, but DAMN THIS FUCKER IS BIG. It's huge; its climax makes the alien invasion at the end of The Avengers look positively inconsequential, when the cops and Bane's forces go toe-to-toe, and Batman and Bane duke it out on the streets of Gotham. The Bat makes for some incredible action sequences, and a really great chase scene including Batman, Gordon, Fox, and Talia. Bane's dictatorship in Gotham makes the Joker's reign of terror in The Dark Knight look like damn child's play by comparison, and from the opening plane sequence, to the football  stadium scene, all the way to Bruce Batting the nuke away from Gotham, the sense of scale is palpable, and simply astounding. I can't believe Nolan convinced Warner Bros. to let him make this movie the way he did; I guess they agree with the "In Nolan We Trust" people too.


And now, for my last, key, and final positive, which also leads to a final minor issue:

Still thinking about that kid's lovely, lovely voice

Bane- Seriously, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Bane in this movie. As I said, Hardy's great in the role, and his voice is legitimately genius (in both an ironic and non-ironic way I say that), but there's more to it than that. No one was ever going to replace Ledger as the Joker, and that's why Nolan stayed as far away from his camp of villainy (Warner Bros. wanted to use the Riddler, which Nolan thought would have been a bad move), and ended up going with the complete opposite. Bane is easily one of my favorite Bat-villains; His meticulous strategic planning, brute destructive power, and of course, his breaking of the bat lets me overlook the strange S&M luchador gear he wears in the comics. Joel Schumacher abused and pissed all over the character in Batman and Robin, and then Arkham Asylum (the video game, not the movie), turned in a version disturbingly close to the skinny hopped up guy from Schumacher's film (though his cameo in an Arkham City subplot did make some amends towards this). All I wanted was a more faithful (to the personality, not the design) and fair adaptation of the character than we'd seen in other media before. But Nolan up and completely transformed the character, actually making him superior to the comic version (at least, until near the end). I love this Bane so much for two reasons:

1. Depth. On a superficial level, Bane seems like evil incarnate. He kills indiscriminately and without mercy, executing his own henchmen, the CIA agents, Dr. Pavel, and Daggett (the guy who'd HIRED him). He refers to himself in glorified statements like "Gotham's reckoning" and "a necessary evil". He blows up a football stadium in front of innocent people, executes the rich and police mercilessly (by death, exile, or DEATH BY EXILE, one of my favorite moments in the whole film), and plans to blow them all up after they've suffered, breaking Gotham in both body and soul. And yet, when he hears the kid sing the Anthem, he goes "what a lovely, lovely voice" (which, in Bane's tones, in the funniest line ever committed to film), and holds a protective love for Talia, showing that he can still care and see beauty, even while acting like a revolutionary sociopathic terrorist.

2. Presence. While I have noted that Bane is fleshed out, and can also be quite funny, the full reality of the character is that he's COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY TERRIFYING. The Joker was completely and utterly terrifying as well, but in the opposite way. The Joker had presence through the reverberations of his actions, and the fact that he was always one step ahead of damn near everyone else. His mystique also added to the fear; we never really found out who he was or where he came from, so we had no idea how he was shaped into the madman he became. Therefore, we had absolutely no idea what he was actually thinking at any given moment, sans the scene where Batman interrogates him. Bane was born in the darkness of the pit ("Born and raised in Hell on Earth", as Alfred put it), became incapacitated by injuries and became dependent on his mask. Ra's threw him out of the League for being too radical; as in, the guy who wanted to FEAR-GAS AN ENTIRE CITY thought he was too radical. His physicality must be seen to be believed; he's a damn force of nature. But going back to the Joker comparison, I think it boils down to one thing: The Joker was scary because you never knew what he was going to do. Bane is scary because you know EXACTLY what he's going to do, and it's the most evil plan ever concocted by a sane man ever.  Ledger can't be topped, but Bane comes damn close by doing the opposite.

The one possible mistake with Bane is that he's serving Talia. This could be seen as a slight to his character; were they mutual partners, or was he merely her protector and enforcer? I'd like to think it was a partnership, as it takes away all of the "reckoning" that he was talking about. Also, if Selina killed him with her Batpod guns, that's an unfair death to the character.

Catwoman likes guns. Guns on A Batpod is still weird.

So, with all that said, the inevitable question comes: is Rises better than The Dark Knight? Well, no. But how could it be? The Dark Knight had a singularly unified core, it never wasted a single scene, and it had a virtuosic performer in Ledger. Rises, while still an excellent movie, lacks these things. There are a few wasted scenes here, some disparities that never really come together, and while I already stated my love for Bane, Ledger is sorely missed. I would argue that it's a good deal above Batman Begins, though, which had an excellent first hour and a half but was marred by a troublesome third act. This has a similar issue, in that its first hour has minor issues (though not nearly as flawed as the third act of Begins), before its second and third acts deliver thrills, chills, and plenty of emotion. The ending was the perfect capper to Nolan's trilogy, with Bruce and Selina getting happy endings, Alfred being content, Gordon and Fox being Gordon and Fox, and finally, ROBIN John Blake inheriting the Batcave. When Alfred sitting in that restaurant, me thinking Bruce is dead, and the same wonderful closing Zimmer theme that played at the end of The Dark Knight is trumpeting, when the signature Batman music starts to drum up as Alfred looks up, I felt one of the last doors to my youth closing forever. As the elevator in the Batcave begins to ascend and the black begins to fill the screen, the full impact hit me: it's over. And Nolan delivered. 

The Dark Knight Rises gets a 9.75 out of 10. (I can't in good conscience take any more off for the minor issues).

Also, I don't want to see another Batman movie for 30 years. I will probably not get this wish. 

This cheap photoshop job of a poster was the worst thing about the movie.

Ranking Christopher Nolan's Movies .

With the release of my most (and from what I suspect, a SHIT-TON of everyone else) anticipated film of the year, The Dark Knight Rises, a mere three and a half weeks away from release, I figured now would be a good time to look back on the films of the man who made this gritty cinematic reinvention of the Dark Knight possible: Christopher Nolan.

So, it's Chris Nolan, Billy Costigan, and Juno all in a room...

Along with David Fincher, Nolan is easily one of my favorite contemporary directors. An auteur with a vision all his own, Nolan has yet, in my opinion, to make a bad film. Rather, he's made seven films over the last 15 years that linger in varying degrees of "good" to "masterpiece" quality. I must admit that I have not seen Nolan's little indie debut, Following, as of now (but I plan to very, very soon, probably before TDKR is released), so I will cover his 6 most well-known pictures, ranking them from worst to best.

First, number 6:

Insomnia

Insomnia, Nolan's first movie working with a more mainstream cast, as well as the only film in his canon that is a remake (1997 Swedish movie) is definitely the worst of his six movies that I've seen, but by no means is it bad, or even less than good. Simply, it's the worst of the only because it's the most simple and straightforward, the one that doesn't really have much to say or show off. Rather, it's simply telling a story, one of a cop who, after accidentally killing his partner (with whom he was embroiled in a prickly Internal Affairs situation), becomes increasingly paranoid and wary while on the hunt for a serial killer, which is only made worse by both the killer's manipulations and the insomnia caused by both the moral unrest and the fact that the case is taking place in 24-hours-a-day lit Alaska. Despite its simplicity, and Nolan's rather workmanlike direction, the movie is driven by the commanding performances from its leads. Al Pacino gives his last really great performance on film to date as the insomniac detective Will Dormer, and Robin Williams gives a chillingly creepy turn as the killer, Walter Finch. Compared to Nolan's other deeper, labyrinthine films, Insomnia is rather simple and to-the-point; this makes it worthy of his body of work, but not as standout or memorable as his other movies.

5:

Well, read the banner.

The Prestige is also unique among Nolan's movies; where Insomnia was a remake, The Prestige was an adaptation of a novel by Christopher Priest, about two former magician friends who become embroiled in a bitter rivalry, in their quest to achieve the ultimate illusion. Where Insomnia was simple, The Prestige is deep and convoluted, a story of obsession and sacrifice in pursuit of an impossible dream. Truth be told, I love many things about this one; the only reason why it's so low on the list is because it suffers the opposite problem of Insomnia, in that its reach exceeds its grasp and it ultimately gets too damn convoluted. The movie has at least one too many plot twists, and the ending is somewhat disappointing in that it fails to provide a truly fair explanation. That being said, it's definitely an exciting and extremely fun flick worth watching, with Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Michael Caine all delivering top-notch performances. It's also a beautifully shot period piece, with Wally Pfister's talent as a cinematographer never being more on display. It's also got a great and eclectic supporting cast, including Scarlett Johansson, Andy Serkis (in non-mocap form for once), Rebecca Hall, and get this, David freakin' Bowie as Nikola Goddamn Tesla. So, yeah, I'd say this one's pretty awesome, if a little too smart for its own good.

4:

Why do we fall? So we can learn to Rise on July 20.

Batman Begins. So, at #4, we finally have reached a point in the list where I can begin to talk about Nolan's Batman trilogy. Batman Begins, as a guy who lived most of his childhood in the 2000s, was the first Nolan flick I saw, in the theater shortly after its release in June 2005. Batman had long been my favorite superhero, but as a non-comic book reader, I was unsure as to what I would think of a new interpretation of the character. Tim Burton's two Batman movies were stylish, freakish fun, mostly like Burton's other films, but they missed the character by a wide margin. Batman in Burton's eyes was a neurotic, sociopathic recluse who had no real moral code to speak of, nor a real mission or motive behind his actions. Schumacher's was even worse, taking Batman away from the treatment that he deserved back into horribly dated Adam West territory. Nolan finally brought the character back to cultural significance, by giving us a Bruce Wayne who, in a very intimate and human way, grows from the poor rich kid who's parents were murdered by a mugger, to the disgruntled and revenge-seeking young man, and finally, into the Caped Crusader. Bale really made us care for both sides of the character, as we finally were able to dig into on film who Batman was and what motivated him. In addition to Bale, we got Caine as Alfred, Liam Neeson as the mentor/villain, and Morgan Freeman as Batman's armorer. The only real faults of Begins were the somewhat inconsistent comic-booky elements (particularly the villain's evil plan), and the way the movie had difficulty transitioning from Batman's origin to his first obstacle. Oh, and Katie Holmes' acting. That probably knocked this shit down a peg all by itself.

T-3:

Do you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an actor in old-man makeup, filled with regret...

I was unable to decide between my #3 and #2 choices, so simply, they will be tied at 3rd, below #1. The first of these two is Nolan's most recent release, the mind-bending big-budget opus known as Inception. Upon its release, some (myself included) were singing the heavenly praises to this one, referring to it as Nolan's best, and one of the best ever as well. While that may have been slight hyperbole, Inception remains, even in repeat viewings, as a really goddamn awesome movie. The complexities of the plot may fall away in repeat viewings, revealing the straightforward action movie with a dream twist (as well as a few surprisingly well-timed emotional moments) underneath, that is still a fairly top-notch film in every sense of the word. Nolan's script juggles between dream worlds and realities seamlessly, bringing the dead, the living, and the imaginary together, ghosts of the past and hopes for the future all put together. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a strong performance as the lead, and Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, and Marion Cotillard all excel as well in roles of varying screentime. Hans Zimmer's score is virtuosic, building on the style he established in Nolan's Bat-films, and Lee Smith's editing between dreamscapes is simply breathtaking. Inception may be a tad overrated, but it's still a great, great film, and definitely high up in Nolan's canon.

T-3:

Remember Sammy Jankis. And John G. And Teddy. And Natalie. All on tattoos and photos.

Tied with Inception on my list is Nolan's breakout film, and probably the one most indicative of his directorial talent, Memento. Much like Inception, Memento stages a totally awesome and insane juggling act of its own, moving between backwards and forwards in time seamlessly through use of black and white, with both the beginning and end of the story at the film's opening, before finally meeting at the middle. This perfectly reflects Leonard Shelby's own disorientation due to his anterograde amnesia, so that we are as confused and befuddled as he is as he searches for his quarry, John G., the possible murderer of his wife. Along with his search come potential helpers or thorns in his search, in the form of Teddy (a supposed cop helping him), and Natalie (a barmaid in a relationship with a man Leonard once encountered in his search). Guy Pearce also sells the hell out of his role, perfectly conveying the confusion and frustration of his character, while Carrie-Anne Moss is appropriately ambiguous, and Joe Pantoliano slimy. Memento definitely has a superior use of unconventional narrative when compared to Inception, but is merely tied with it for one reason: Inception tells a more compelling story. If the orchestration of the various dream sublevels in Inception weren't there, we would still care about Cobb's story probably just as much. Would we care about Leonard if we had a better idea throughout the film of what was troubling him? Probably not. So, despite Memento being an arguably superior piece of filmmaking craft, it lands in a tie with the more epic and ambitious Inception. 

And now, number 1 (though you've almost definitely figured out which it is by now):

This was the movie we deserved, and the one we needed right then, so we saw it. Because it was not a superhero movie. It was a crime drama, a dark meditation on truth and morality, it was The Dark Knight.

Yes, I'm going to go with what is usually considered the common knowledge here, and go ahead and pick The Dark Knight as Nolan's best film, and his masterpiece. It's easily one of my favorite movies ever, simply because of what it does with the character of Batman: it transcends his humble origins on the page of a comic book and turns his story into a wild, crazy crime saga, a cerebral thriller that focuses on basic human themes such as truth and morals, but also branched out into headier political areas such as terrorism, government, escalation of crime, inspiration, pessimism vs. optimism, altruism, freedom for security, and sacrifice in the name of the greater good. It's simply the defining example of a superior sequel that completely went above and beyond it predecessor, taking everything Batman Begins did right, soaring above all it did wrong, and then going far above even that. It also actually makes Batman Begins look better as well, by lifting up the flaws of that movie that plagued it as a standalone. Nolan's direction was also at its all-time high, his script with Jonathan Nolan was dense, not wasting a damn second of the 152 minutes, and his cast was incredible. Bale and Caine kept the story of Batman front and center in a heavily populated movie, Gary Oldman added more dimensions to the character of James Gordon, and Oscar-winner Heath Ledger (in the greatest I-told-you-so performance in cinematic history) and Aaron Eckhart delivered virtuosic performances that brought their villains complexity rarely seen on the page. So, yeah, I could rave about this one all day, but it's Nolan's best, and it, more than anything, excites me for what's to come. 

Nolan had Thomas Wayne pose the question to a young Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins: "Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up". In The Dark Knight, both Bruce Wayne and Batman certainly fell hard. So, as the title telegraphs the arc of the saga, in the final installment, The Dark Knight shall Rise. In three weeks. And judging from this stellar canon listed above, there is no reason to have any other reaction besides "I absolutely cannot wait". 

Nolan's Ratings:

Insomnia - 7.5 out of 10

The Prestige - 8.5 out of 10

Batman Begins - 9 out of 10

Inception - 9.5 out of 10

Memento - 9.5 out of 10

The Dark Knight - 10 out of 10

Let that goddamn fire rise.

My thoughts on The Dark Knight Rises

This is not your father's Bane. Or your one-liner Mr. Freeze.

The Dark Knight Rises, Christopher Nolan's third and final stab at the Batman film franchise, is due out a little over a year from now, and so far, it looks pretty damn exciting. In addition to the outstanding ensemble from the first two films returning (Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman), we get two iconic Bat-villains in Anne Hathaway's Catwoman and Tom Hardy's Bane. I must say, I was excited that Hathaway would be Selina Kyle from the outset, thinking her perfect for the role, and was interested that Bane would be involved, as it would be exciting to see him done justice (as opposed to the horrifyingly oversimplified Bane from 1997's Bat-nipple bomber Batman & Robin). I, like many others, was puzzled at Hardy's casting; a short, skinny man playing the monster of a man that is the steroid-infused supervillain. Until I saw this picture, of course. Nolan appears to be using camera trickery, as well as a bulked up and partially masked Hardy, to make the Inception star far more imposing than he would otherwise be. As for Catwoman, it would appear that her costume will be relatively faithful to the comics, goggles and all (though with a more gritty, realistic vibe). As for who the main villain is, I cannot say. It may be Talia Al Ghul (many think that Marion Cotillard's character, Miranda Tate, is an alias for Talia, seeking revenge as the new leader of the League of Shadows on Batman for her father, Liam Neeson Ra's Al Ghul's, death), or it may even be the aforementioned Batman Begins antagonist himself, as Josh Pence has been cast as a young version of the character, while Neeson is reported to have been spotted on the TDKR set. Would Nolan's realistic universe really use a plot device as comic booky as Lazarus Pits? Then again, this could all be misdirection, and Bane could truly be the main villain, perhaps an apprentice of Ra's, now operating as the new leader of the League. Or he could be the muscle for the true villain, possibly an as-yet-unseen character. Gary Oldman implied that TDKR's main villain was from the earliest days of the comics, before even the Joker himself. Bane doesn't really fit that profile, as he's only been around for the last two decades or so. Catwoman's an old villain, so she's a possible candidate. I don't think it will be Hugo Strange (as many rumors have suggested), as I doubt Nolan wants to compete with the plot of the video game Batman: Arkham City (which features Strange as the main villain), due out later this year. If Strange is in fact the villain, then maybe Nolan is going for a combination of the Prey and Knightfall storylines from the 90s, which would allow for the inclusion of Strange, Catwoman, and Bane. Until we get more concrete details, I will take this stance: In Nolan I Trust. The man has done a far better job of adapting Batman for live-action than any man before him, and I believe that his final film will not be the exception to the rule.

The Dark Knight Rises opens July 20, 2012.

Gotta give kudos to the fans behind this poster. EPIC.