I tend to throw the word great around. My readers may not know this because I try to avoid that word in many of my reviews. I mean when I am talking to someone on a day to day basis...I use the word great quite often. Throughout this review, however...I will have to use the word great because there is no other word to describe this truly masterful film.
As with Martin Campbell giving us a human look at James Bond in Casino Royale....Director Christopher Nolan has made a trilogy that makes Batman a man who we can relate to and that we feel for. Sure....Nolan delivers on the actions and gives us our extra eight dollars worth for the IMAX but in The Dark Knight Rises....we get a story that touches the heart. This might just be because it is truly the end of a great trilogy but there is more emotion than that here.
In it...we get a scene between Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) and his butler, Alfred (Michael Caine) that is more emotional than anything ever displayed in any "tearjerker." We also get a creepy villain out of Tom Hardy playing Bane. Bane is a deeply disturbed man and has the audience shaking at what he is going to do next. At many points...the audience can not understand what Bane is saying but that is part of the point. Because of this....we are freaked out at his unpredictability. By this I mean if we knew everything that Bane was saying....we might know too much about him...making him that lesser of a villain.
Of course...I can not talk about this film without talking about Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He gives a performance that could have easily been the cliche cop. Levitt elevates this to a guy who we are rooting for. Also...I loved Anne Hathaway in this. She is sexier than ever and turns Catwoman into someone that Halle Berry could not...a cool cat (pun intended.) Gary Oldman is also great as Commissioner Gordon who is always one step ahead of everybody. Matthew Modine, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman all gives excellent performances in their respective roles.
Sure..there are issues with The Dark Knight Rises. I am, however willing to forgive it for how great it is. It is exciting, fun and truly emotional. Also...see it in IMAX if there's a theater like that around you...it is totally worth throwing down the extra bucks.
(5 out of 5 Stars, The film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sensuality and language)
No comments:
Post a Comment