Movie Review - The Dark Knight Rises

TDKR poster outside DT Cinemas a day before the release.

There are movies that go on to completely redefine a genre (Batman Begins). Then there are movies that take that genre to an unprecedented and almost insurmountable level of perfection (The Dark Knight). And then there are movies that make the downward trek from peak oil stage as enthralling and engaging as the buildup once was. The Dark Knight Rises (popularly acronymed as TDKR) is probably as fitting a finale to one of the best trilogies ever made as one would have wished. And unlike The Lord of The Rings, which was based on a book and hence couldn’t possibly go wrong with the story (unless it’s Rumi Jaffery who’s writing it), TDKR had to repaint a canvas of new characters and plot line and still manages to retain the DNA, the flow and the pedigree of the epic Batman franchise.

TDKR is no The Dark Knight. But it is the best follow-up film you could’ve expected especially after amassing gargantuan expectations protruding from its cult prequel in 2008. In fact, TDKR is a movie that doesn’t actually require a preamble. It is better off without one, to be honest. You’ll love it for what it is and you’d hate it for what it is not.

The film’s biggest achievement, apart from having a stupendous climax and that hell of a rabble-rouser scene on the street, is the fact that no character in this film is just there to fill the boots. Every guy is in with a reason and stands decisively close to giving the narrative an unexpected turn in any direction you could possibly fathom. Michael Caine, as the incessant butler Alfred, probably outdid himself in the initial scenes with Bale. He sets the tone for a possible Batman decadence that makes you secretly root for the aging hero whose invincibility, you somehow know, is gone. Morgon Freeman is delightfully charming with his child-like desire to still impress Wayne with his toys, even after what happened at the end of the last movie. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, whom I call the Shahid Kapoor of Hollywood every time I can’t recall his name and then I regret doing so, because he looks and acts way better than that schmuck, is as impressive here as he was in Inception. His presence in the film is most reassuring and it culminates appropriately into the figure you inadvertently see in him right from the start.

But it’s Anna Hathaway who takes the cake with the cherry on top. If Heath Ledger had packed off Jack Nicholson’s Joker into a permanent oblivion, Hathaway makes Michelle Pfeiffer’s Cat Woman take a long walk to kindergarten. She not only gets the best lines in the film but delivers the much needed fillip every time the momentum threatens to slow down. Tom Hardy as Bane is not half as menacing as the Joker (and he didn’t have to) but is more physically intimidating than any other Batman villain has ever been. The Bane-Batman fist fight on the street is one hell of an adrenaline pumping sequence that makes you want go back and hit the big bad bully in high school in his face. And a word for Daniel Sunjata – he might just be the last known onscreen cop to say, “I’ll take it up from here” and then get his ass kicked soon after.

TDKR has the trademark Nolan stamp all over it – great character development, riveting story build-up, witty & smart lines and all that intertwined by a goose bumpy music by Hans Zimmer, who’s turning out to be the new age Morricone. Gotham’s Reckoning, that has a Judgement Day-like blood stirring quality, along with Mind If I Cut In (Cat Woman’s theme) are two standout compositions worth Academy nominations.

TDKR is not a movie to be critical about. Because it passes that test by miles. It’s a celebration of a successful culmination of the best blockbuster trilogy…possibly ever. Go watch it. It is the Godfather-II of our times.