Dark Knight (Movie Review)

TheDark Knight Rises, the most eagerly anticipated film of the year comes to a close and raises the bar amazingly high for future superhero movies. This show piece by Christopher Nolan captivates the audience with it’s brilliant plot, heart-pounding suspense, astounding cinematic  effects and the dazzling and hearty performance from  all the members of the cast. The Batman trilogy which started with Batman Begins, followed by The Dark Knight is capped off brilliantly with The Dark Knight Rises. This will have to go down as one of the best cinematic trilogies in Hollywood history.

The main character in the movie is Bruce Wayne, a rich billionaire whose alter-ego is Batman who is played by Christian Bale. Anne Hathaway plays Selina Kyle who is a  jewel thief who eventually turns good. Other characters in the movie include Commissioner Gordon(Gary Oldman),Miranda Tate, (Marion Cotilard) a rich do-gooder, John Blake (Joseph GordonLevitt) who plays a cop who believes in Batman and Alfred (Michael Caine),the butler who has taken care of Bruce Wayne since he was a little boy.

The film begins with Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who has become a bearded recluse filled with sadness and depression since his alter ego, Batman was assumed to have killed Harvey Dent in cold blood.

The real scenario being that Batman sacrificed his image to spare the public from finding out about the deranged attorney, Harvey Dent. Harvey Dent had gone insane and tried to murder the son of Commissioner Gordon. A legislation had been passed in honour of the death of Harvey Dent which would reduce the crime rate in Gotham City. Commissioner Gordon feels bad but hides the fact that Harvey Dent was the one who tried to kill his son and not Batman.

However,Wayne's alter ego batman returns when he realises the extent of the damage,destruction and terror being caused by Bane and his allies in the city.Wayne begins a slow and painful process of rehabilitation to prevent Gotham City from undergoing annihilation.One of the key moments in the film is when Selina Kyle tells Wayne
"there is a storm coming.

The entire cast played their respective roles brilliantly.Although there was no performance which was as eccentric and as outrageously good as Heith Ledger playing the Joker in Dark Knight, there were some pretty stellar performancesin Dark Knight Rises.The most notable performance coming from Anne Hathaway who did brilliantly in her role as Selina Kyle despite murmours of discontent among fans when they heard Anne Hathaway, an actor from the Princess Diaries was gonna play catwoman.Christian Bale got into his role marvellously  and did not disappoint. Michael Caine was a standout, offering a more melancholy turn on Alfred than in the earlier films. The scenes of him pleading for Wayne to understand that Bane is too much of a threat are particularly touching."You're not the Batman anymore," he says. "You have to find another way."

The only thing die hard Batman fans and critics may complain about may be that Batman is abscent in large parts of the movie. However in my view, Nolan can be clearly seen to be chasing after bigger ideas here and it’sall leading up to a series of spectacular set pieces that demonstrate the brutal chaos that ensues once reason, morals and common sense collapse.

                  There is so much attentionto detail to these scenes, particularly in the glimpses in the terrified facesof the public, that it is impossible not to feel a huge lump in the throat.These are not the things that are found in a mainstream superhero movie. This movie is a unique addition to the Batman series that will be remembered by fans for a very long time to come.This movie would certainly have put Christopher Nolan right up there among the top directors in the fim industry. Fortunately,the movie has the courage to challenge, surprise and disturb the audience right up until the spectacular ending.

            Dare I say, this movie is the best movie of the year by far. Do not be surprised to see Dark Knight Rises sweeping most of the awards at the Grammy show at the end of the year.


BY GAVINESH