Nolan Rises to the Challenge

"Bane and Batman close in for the big kiss..."

So, it's actually been a while since I saw The Dark Knight Rises, but I feel I needed some time to reflect before denoting my full opinion.
Here we go...



 

Overall... very good. Extremely good. Quite the perfect trilogical conclusion, and perhaps the largest scale series of blockbusters in many many years as well. To quote Nolan himself... 

"I think this is the biggest one I've done. The biggest anyone's done since the silent era, in technical terms."

And he's not wrong - the sheer scale of some scenes (such as the Gotham Rogues stadium takeover, and some classic car chases) is simply astounding to behold, especially in blistering IMAX which trumps any '3D magic' so far this decade, especially when considering Nolan's desire to avoid CGI as much as possible.

You can see quite clearly that Nolan has had a lot of iron-fisted control 'in technical terms', through both the unique set of stunts, and also the creative team's newest parts of Gotham. Contrary to popular speculation, this is in fact the first film in the series to use New York, meaning that the fictional city can appear even larger and more diverse. The divide or rich and poor in environments, as well as characters, is reminiscent of Fritz Lang's appropriately referential Metropolis (from which Nolan claims to draw inspiration) from the familiar corporate high-rise buildings of The Dark Knight, which Production Designer Nathan Crowley claims has a purpose...

"We threw out the Gothic [from the first film]. Everyone works in these van der Rohe buildings in this modern city. I don't think you'll find a single circle in The Dark Knight. That's the structure The Joker is fighting."

 ... to the revival of more Gothic settings from Batman Begins, which, according to Crowley, was genuinely based on the layout of existing cities:

"I spent a long time working out where everything was. I wanted to know what actual street Wayne Industries was on; I decided Arkham Asylum is on Roosevelt Island."

So what does this all tell us? For starters, it's clear that this film has been taken seriously. I mean, really seriously. It's the most legitimate and close-to-real-life story of any caped crusader since masked men were deemed screen-worthy, which may be why audiences seemed to be so outraged by the explosive ending plot twist, claiming that it was 'ridiculous'.

Ridiculous.
In a film about a rich orphan who puts on a bat costume and single-handedly funds a second persona in order to rid a whole city of crime.
Of course.

The main thing about Superhero films which, thanks to Nolan and his fellow 21st century directors with intent to bring realism to these stories, understandably makes the films difficult to enjoy, is that an audience must give itself over to the clear removal from realism and allow Superheroes to bring something... super. That's the element of escapism which people can miss quite easily when the films themselves try to put these characters in everyday life.

Overall this film was the perfect ending to a trilogy which has set the bar for generations to come, and hopefully it will do wonders for a generally overlooked sub-genre.

Images and quotes taken from EMPIRE magazine, issue 277 (July 2012)