The Dark Knight Rises

This is probably my first time watching this movie from beginning to end since a time close to when it first released, at least more than ten years ago. It was always my least favorite in the Dark Knight trilogy and so going into this I was curious to see how it holds up, especially as Batman Begins, as much as I enjoy it, I still felt like it didn't hold up as well or at least not as well as it did when I first saw it. The Dark Knight Rises does a great job in having most of the things that are a given at this point with Chrisopher Nolan's films: an ensemble cast, larger than life practical effects that create bigger than life realistic shots, and like I mentioned the serviceable cinematography focused on realism. But I feel the biggest thing missing here was its story especially with how it holds up with its themes in today's current political landscape.

It's interesting to see how the villains are basically just an evil version of the Bernie Sanders movement. I know it was supposed to be influenced by the Occupy Wall Street movement but so much of the rhetoric is presented the same in the theory and ideas brought forth but it almost makes the whole thing feel like conservative driven propaganda. I feel like the movie could have reached greater levels if there was more of a nuance afforded to Bane and if Talia Al Ghul wasn’t so randomly finicky with her character. I feel it’s done for the sake of creating the twist of Ms. Tate being Talia Al Ghul but something in me just feels it could have been handled better. I remember when seeing the movie at the time of its initial release, it felt cool as fans of the animated series to include Talia al Ghul but now it feels like inclusion of her character goes no further than that fan service or novelty and I feel it could have certainly gone further. With that it could have developed Ra's Al Ghul more too.

This is definitely what I would say, at least in regards to the writing, is Chris Nolan’s weakest film. I will definitely revisit this when I watch Tenet again but I feel from what I remember with that one it at least has a more compelling concept behind it which this has Batman and wrapping up the Dark Knight Trilogy but it did feel like more care could have been put into this one to bring it to a closer level of quality as the first two films in this trilogy but it almost feels with watching in hindsight that this was Chris Nolan just trying to be done with his Batman contract. Which makes sense, he made The Dark Knight which still stands up as one of, if not the greatest superhero film ever made and to me personally one of the best films ever made in general. This one is still entertaining and worth watching especially with the other two and I definitely will watch it again in the future. But I will always wonder what could have been if it got the same attention that The Dark Knight had received.