The Dark Knight starring Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy & Anne Hathaway
Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), physically and emotionally damaged after what happened with Joker and Harvey Two Face, has stayed away from the public eye- both as Bruce the billionaire businessman and Batman.
Not that Gotham seems to miss Batman much. Organized crime has come to an halt, or so it seems, and the police can handle the petty criminals. And everyone remembers Harvey as a hero, blaming his death on Batman. Of course Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth, but is not quite ready to reveal it yet. Another person who intuitively knows the true nature of Batman is Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt).
And while Bruce is being more reclusive than ever, Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) won’t let his “retirement” get in the away of her acquiring what her dangerous clients demand from her, and she is more interested saving her own butt than protecting the Gotham citizens.
But when it becomes obvious that a very dangerous ex-convict, Bane (Tom Hardy), is putting a very dangerous plan into motion, Bruce decides that it is time to put on the costume. Unfortunately his company is in financial trouble, and he needs help to protect their biggest invention yet.
His biggest allies are Fox (Morgan Freeman), board member Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Blake. Unfortunately, Selina keeps sabotaging his efforts and Bane is a lot smarter, more patient and more well-connected than any other villain he has encountered. And his plans…well, even Selina’s “the storm is coming” warning” doesn’t quite cover it…
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The Dark Knight Rises is not just the best Batman movie I saw (and I have seen them all, apart from the George Clooney one, but you can hardly blame me for it), but it is one of the best movies I have watched. It’s just the perfect action/drama.
Now, diehard Batman (comic book) fans might prefer the first or the second movie. But as much as I love the idea of Batman, I had never been able to find the perfect Batman movie, up until The Dark Knight Rises. They were either too absurd (whether it was Burton or Schumacher – Schumacher exaggerating even further) or too dark and depressing. Nolan’s first two films didn’t make me like, respect or root for Batman. I didn’t understand him either. Bruce seemed one-dimensional, and so did the villains.
The female characters were there to complicate things for Bruce and to look pretty, but they didn’t add anything interesting to the flow. Not for me. And both movies left many questions unanswered, and I was extremely disappointed in the second movie when it came to character development and motives. We were given a second villain like 20 minutes into the movie and supposed to accept the transition. Please don’t say it is silly to expect character development from a comic book movie. It’s directed by Christopher Nolan!
But The Dark Knight Rises is different. It does add the other dimensions to all of its characters. We understand Bruce better. He is not just depressed/rich/reclusive or dark – he is human, with many other adjectives to describe his personality. There are two women, who are way more important to the plot than to being just eye candy or be part of a love triangle. Hell, it even makes me see why the first two were made.
Commissioner Gordon is more significant than ever, and the Blake character also challenges and motivates Bruce a lot more than any other ally or friend he has ever had.
And the villain…We understand him, and we are intimidated by him. He is just worthy.
The Dark Knight Rises has it all for the comic book adaptation lover that doesn’t necessarily read the comics. But in addition to being fun and engaging, it is really intense, emotional and full of good twists. I have never seen 165 minutes run faster. And it has one of the best casts ever: Christian Bale, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Matthew Modine, Tom Hardy, Brett Cullen, Gary Oldman…And hell, we even have Liam Neeson for about 10 seconds!
Other Posts on the Cast:
Christian Bale:
Equilibrium starring Christian Bale: Powerful, Action-Filled, Spot-On Observation of Human Nature
Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
500 Days of Summer starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel
Latter Days starring Wes Ramsey, Steve Sandvoss and Joseph Gordon- Levitt