The Dark Knight Rises - Review

There has always been one thing I have always liked about the new batman movies (and by the 'new' ones I mean the ones with Bale as opposed to Kilmer/Keaton/*shudder*Clooney) is the sense of realism in the new as opposed to the older.  In the older versions I always found it hard to believe all the toys that he had and things that he could do with such ease and grace.  The newer ones I found more believable in his lack of toys, or at least watching him develop his new play things.  In The Dark Knight Rises I was not disappointed in this aspect. 

The Dark Knight Rises is definitely one of your more serious and down to earth movies.  Gone are the super hero action scenes where the guy is thrown through a building and a concrete wall and comes out shaking his head like someone just slapped him in the face with a wet rolled up newspaper.  Gone are the excellent little party favors that are usually laced throughout batman's utility belt and the extra smart computer from the old TV series (Holy bat-crap batman, we don't know where the Riddler is..well let's just input all the info that we know into the bat-computer and *cha-ching cha-ching out pops a piece of paper* yes, looks like the Riddler is at this address and this is his plan).  Here we have serious reality based problems with a hero that does it all with strength and items that he develops or Wayne Industries develops.  Though just once I would love to see a fight scene in the movies were 10 guys surround the hero and instead of taking turns attacking him one by one when he is ready for the next guy, all 10 just jump him at the same time and pummel him.

Story wise it was a pretty decently thought out one.  It is nice to see that in Gotham City that villains are becoming more complex and multi-layered and are not just one sided/one plan individuals.  As much as I loved seeing the Penquin sit around his penquin-A-bomb and mock batman relentlessly about how he is going to use it and not really explore other options, having a villain work multiple plans at multiple times (like the Joker from the other film) is always something that is nice to see.

As to the characters, we see some new and some old ones take their place.  Gordon (Gary Oldman) has been raised to commissioner, Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is back and talking through his teeth in that mysterious/drunken manner that we all know and love, Alfred (Michael Canes) and Fox (Morgan Freeman) are still there giving their helping grandfatherly hand and advice to the rash Bruce Wayne as well as a little appearance by Dr Johnathon Crane/Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).  The old returning cast bring the same level of intensity and fun to the film as all the others.  Their characters are the same which I find no fault with.  I would have been disappointed if for some strange reason Hollywood decided to change some of them, like perhaps giving Alfred or Fox some idea that they should be a side kick and have Alfred running around in a fake batman suit throwing batarangs around.  The new additions are also not too bad.  I have to say that Bane was quite an adversary for Batman.  Creepy voice, creepy character and just down right eerie person to be up against.  Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) was also a little different than the other portrayals of her from other movies.  Hathaway is not as sexual as Pfeiffer had her in Batman Returns and not as....well, as bad as Berry played her in Catwoman.  Hathaway plays a more down to earth realistic semi-sociopathic catwoman developed more out of a life time of hard knocks and learning to fight for herself as opposed to the other character portrayals of someone who was a meek and mild mannered person their whole life and then either shot or beaten and then wake up with a mental breakdown.  As well, attractive young lady in skin tight leather outfits doing flips and driving around on a motor cycle, what is not to love?

On the whole, I would say that despite a couple of movie holes that had me going "umm, how did he do that?" it was a good movie to watch.  While others are going all out and giving 5/5 on this one and making it sound like a perfect movie, I would say it is a solid 4/5 and one of the better super hero movies of the summer.  Give it a watch, it would be a good 3 hours of your life spent, but don't worry about staying to the end of the credits for extra scenes cause there is none.