Rising above a regular 'epic finale'

Good Morning/ Night! 

After 8 days of struggle, I finally got to see The Dark Knight Rises. After watching a late night show, I walked past the door and picked the laptop up, because I just cannot go to bed unless I gush about the movie.

Just for the record, Christopher Nolan just got placed at number 2 in my list of excellent series' makers. (First one is, and always will be, JK Rowling for the Harry Potter books.) Clearly I'm bowled over with the movie; but what is it that makes me, like so most others, crazy about this epic end to the Christopher Nolan Batman Trilogy. 

Christian,no, Bruce, oops, Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Rises!
Isn't he a marvel? *swoons*

Story

By far, the strongest factor of the Dark Knight series. What the Nolan brothers did with the story and script writing is pure magic. They have revolutionized the comic character to a completely different, large and real personality. The Dark Knight Rises, I noticed, had more emotions packed than the previous movies in the series. Batman and the surrounding characters could all be picked as case studies for psychology lessons; and I bet the discussions wouldn't stop. Because that's what they have done: added so many layers, good and bad, to each character. 

The star performers in The Dark Knight Rises

I can't help but make the comparison, however, much the Harry Potter series, The Dark Knight Rises concludes the stories of the previous two magnificently. In both the series, everything that happened in the stories earlier, finally makes sense in the finale. I don't want to give a summary of the movie's story, because if you haven't seen it, make some time available and go watch it. 

However, I feel, the movie could have been a little shorter. Although they must have been important to make sense of the whole plot, some scenes of elements could have easily been cut short. There were moments when I felt like the movie was going a bit slow for me; and the story is where I placed the blame. 

The New Batmobile in The Dark Knight Rises

Cinematography, Photography and Production Design: 

What a job they've done! Excellent, excellent visual execution. This is by far the most important element to make the movie what it is. Though I have always wondered why Gotham city looks like New York city; it looks good. The locations, the principal photography, the effects, the designs of the costumes, the sets, the Batpod and the new Batmobile are all tres magnifique. 

Music

If you too had 'deshi basara' playing in your head hours after you left the theater, you's understand why I have put this section is a review for a 'war' movie. It is effective. That's how simple and powerful a tool the background score was to the entire script. It added a very raw kind of an appeal to the movie, thus adding strength to the story. Three Cheers for Hans Zimmer.

Characters + Actors

Christian Bale deserves a standing ovation from us all. I do like George Clooney a lot (he has played the character of Batman before), but no one can be as perfect a Batman as Christian. He truly turned himself into Bruce Wayne's body, mind and soul. Like I said, the characters in this movies, especially Bruce Wayne's had a lot more emotional aspect to it than ever before. And Christian mixed into Bruce just as a river does into a sea. Unidentifiable-y. (If only that was a word).

Anne Hathaway as Cat Woman.
P.S.- Did any of you say a woman can't drive? 

Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard and Morgan Freeman were all as brilliant actors as you and I would expect them to be. however, I was pleasantly surprised with Anne Hathaway as a cat burglar. She was sassy, swift and fit as you'd like anyone in a 'Cat' suit to be. For me, this for the first time that she truly broke out of her innocent, girl next door features. Good for her. 

Tom Hardy as Bane was... hardly effective. That was one role I thought that anyone could have done and for which Tom wasn't required to put on a zillion kilos for. Really. His features didn't matter much, and his voice didn't matter at all. He was hardly as effective an antagonist as the Joker was. I didn't find him menacing enough and they could have picked any body builder to have the 'Bane' effect. 

Here's some very technical information of the team of the movie. These names should be remembered. The Dark Knight Rises is their legacy. An epic legacy.

Direction- Christoper Nolan

Producer- Emma Thomas

Christopher Nolan

Charles Roven 

Screenplay- Jonathan Nolan

Christopher Nolan

Story- Christopher Nolan 

David S. Goyer (who I believe left this project early to work on Man of Steel) 

Music- Hans Zimmer 

Cinematography- Wally Pfister

Editor- Lee Smith 

If the movie has kept me, an eternal early-to-bed kinda girl awake till 3.30 am, The Dark Knight Rises sure has something in it. 

Overall, great film. I had MASSIVE expectations, and apart from a couple of moments where I thought the movie could have been shorter, I have NOthing non-positive to say about the film. Emotions, actions, great visuals, greater background score... Money and time well spent. I could not have imagined an end to a Batman series like this by anyone else. Christopher Nolan does justice to the real Batman's career. 

Go watch it; and watch it in Imax if you can. You might just see me around, because I am going for Round 2 of The Dark Knight Rises. 

Au revoir,
Miss Bee.

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