Dark Knight Rises

Year: 2012

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Nolan

Review

spoilers.

too bad the last installment doesn’t address the over-politicization of society along with its other social commentary. this one has been somewhat of a lightning rod with the shootings in aurora and then dumbass rush limbaugh saying that the character bane was a leftist plot against romney. that said, there is an element of the 99% vs. the 1% and there’s a banker character named daggett which made me think of the atlas shrugged (a financial conservative’s bible) character t. daggart, and the bane vs. bain thing too. i’d have to see it again to fully grasp what the commentary was this time. it honestly seemed muddled to me. bane seemed to use the idea of the 99% against itself. he also talked about giving them hope in order to crush their spirit. i didn’t fully grasp what his strategy was, especially since the ultimate plan was to just nuke them anyway.

batman is forced to grow yet again. he’s a broken man at the beginning because of a 7 year hiatus. he must build his mind and body again after this fallow period. the lack of a fear of death is finally seen as a weakness instead of a strength – thus turning the traditional view on its ear. it is posited that without the desperation to stay alive, you can’t reach your full potential. this also ties into the ending, though i won’t give that away.

the music wasn’t quite as good this time around. i’d say it was about as good as the first installment, with the second having the best use of music. i still think that nolan needs to pull the camera out to see more of the fight scenes.
i’m not going to say that nolan is the best director right now, but i can’t think of anyone making better films right now. p.t. anderson’s best is behind him, same for coen brothers, spielberg, scorsese, fincher, kiarostami…

Watched in theater