The Dark Knight Rises

I reside in the Denver area and although no one I know was affected by the horrific shooting in Aurora on 7-20-12, I've felt emotionally drained since Friday. My heart broke for those people and their families. Killing innocent people in such a vulnerable, relaxed and altered state of reality struck me as a supreme act of evil. In a selfish way, I wish he had just killed himself before being apprehended to end the affair quickly and allow people to heal. But now his existence, trial and the political intrigue will continue to fester in the wound for years to come. To be perfectly honest, it made me feel like asking God to speed up His timeline, return and put us out of our misery... I'm starting to sound like Rā's al Ghūl?

Confident this was a single indecent by one mad-man, I pressed on with my plans to see the movie last night. I thought I would keep one eye on the exit door the entire movie, but it was that good that I hardly glanced at it once or twice.

The plot of this film is fairly intricate and no point in me trying to re-hash it here. I was concerned going in that Anne Hathaway would be ridiculous as the Cat Woman since I'm used to her as more of a cutesy, girl/rom-com actress. But I think she pulled it off quite well. The usual stars such as Bale, Cain and Oldeman are so good you almost take them for granted. Newcomers such as Tom Hardy (Bane) and Joseph Gordon Levitt (Blake) were also solid performances. 

Of course Nolan and his team did tremendous work. Its a very well produced film in terms of costumes, special effects and music from Hans Zimmer. I'll probably go back to see the IMAX version for those reasons alone. This movie hits many of the right notes and I enjoyed the story arc. 

1. Batman Begins - Fear/Power
2. The Dark Knight - Anger/Chaos
3. The Dark Knight Rises - Letting go/Moving on 

Fear and power will breed anger and chaos, but ultimately to find real peace, we have to let go and move on. As a father, I could sympathize with Alfred in this film and some of his lines nearly put me to tears. How long can you watch your child or someone you love go on in misery? Batman's character is someone who is "angry in his bones" and wears a mask to hide it. Easier to embrace the power of anger and death than the fear of forgiveness and love. I thought the ending of this trilogy was excellent and gave closure to not just Batman but the whole cast... and of course left the door open for more. But its not what you'd think and I would actually really like to see where it could go from here. New Territory!  

Its an incredible movie, that just happens to follow two of the best comic book films of all-time and perhaps expectations were too high. Here is my ranking of the trilogy.

1. The Dark Knight 
2. Batman Begins
3. The Dark Knight Rises

If you disagree, I'd love to hear your take as the lines are pretty thin. My primary reason was this last film seemed to suspend reality much more than the last two. 


Its sad to see this trilogy end. I wish they had made 10 of these and fully explored the story arc. Which brings me to a theory about mini-series for movies which I'll cover another day. And yes, I did shout for joy after The Man of Steel trailer, much to the theater's delight! And now I celebrate:

I now have my own permission to die.