The Dark Knight Rises

Yesterday, Michelle and I watched the third and last installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy. I am a big fan of Batman and of Nolan’s first two Batman films, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and it’s no different with this latest and lastest.

Gotham City is no longer the crime-ridden city it once was. Because of the Batman’s and the police’s effort, the organized criminals have been all but wiped out. However, due to the events in The Dark Knight, the Batman is Gotham’s most wanted and hasn’t been seen in years. Of course, he’s still there, in his Bruce Wayne persona, in his manor. And just when you thought he can’t get any more dark, brooding, and tormented, he is. Yes, Christian Bale remains the best Batman.

However, under the peace and order, in the sewers, in a veritable subterranean city-under-a-city, lies a growing threat. Led by a mysterious villain named Bane, an army is hard at work and growing in strength. Bane can’t really measure up to The Joker of Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight but he can certainly stand on his own. He seems to be a brute but reveals a quite sophisticated plot to destroy Gotham City.

Bane’s plot unfolds and eventually culminates in extreme mayhem as Bane and his army of criminals battle it out with Batman and his army of policemen. Think Transformers but a whole lot less convoluted. And if there’s anything better than real military hardware it is Batman’s gadgets.

Christopher Nolan’s Batman films were never your ordinary superhero movies. The story was definitely not simplified. The politics and social commentary is especially not something the average superhero “graphic novel” fanboy deals with on a daily basis. This is a serious film that just happened to be a superhero movie.

Rating: 5/5