The dark knight rises one last time against the scourge of evil threatening Gotham City but "The Dark Knight Rises" actually falls behind quite a bit and doesn't rise above the two previous installments. Seven years ago with "Batman Begins" director Christopher Nolan revived a franchise that had been killed and buried by Joel Schumacher back in the late 1990s. Dark, realistic and fueled by stimulating ideas instead of a colorful orgy of special effects, the first film of the trilogy was almost closer to arthouse cinema than to hollywood's blockbusters; to the delight of most critics. Despite some weaknesses in the script the sequel "The Dark Knight" managed to surpass this success - not least because of Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker, one of the most memorable screen characters of the last decade. And that is not a post mortem sympathy vote.
Now comes the grand final chapter and Nolan cranks up the action to a new level ... sadly. The firework lights up nicely but becomes the predominant factor and eventually kind of drowns the ideas a little that had been in the foreground in Nolan's films so far. "The Dark Knight Rises" is a great spectacle and keeps you entertained throughout the epic running time of nearly three hours with its fast pace. Unfortunately that is at the expense of the characters and their inner conflicts which is what made Batman so interesting in the first place. While "Batman Begins" focused primarily on Bruce Wayne's childhood trauma, his search on a solution and the following moral dilemma, it was the dualism between the masked crusader and the Joker that stood out in "The Dark Knight". The conception of the Joker being just the other side of the coin, just the complement of Batman really brought a creepingly beautiful, existential conflict of good and evil to the surface. "The Dark Knight Rises" is inconsistent on both of these sides.
One reason for that is also the new villain Bane (Tom Hardy). He embodies the exact opposite of the Joker. While the clown was totally drawn to anarchy and did not follow any rules, Bane is a man with very clear principles that he won't give up for nothing. He is also the first antagonist who is physically superior to Batman. Tom Hardy gained some weight for the role and his appearance is pretty menacing also supported by the direction and the camera work by Wally Pfister who is now becoming a director himself and sadly won't be available for Nolan in future projects. There was a controversy about Bane's mumbling voice but as I have seen a dubbed version here in Germany I can only say that the original can't be worse than that. His voice was terrible and strange. But that's a minor problem.
Moreover I felt like the writing took a step down in quality this time. Not only Bane's pompous monologues felt a little ponderous and phony but there were quite a few exchanges at the beginning and towards the end that came across a little clumsy. Also the subliminal humor that brought additional fun to "The Dark Knight" in particular mostly got lost here. Rather there are quite a few obvious and less funny gags and inside jokes.
There are general problems in the exposition of the film as there are once again a whole lot of new characters sent into battle. Along side with the already huge, old ensemble of actors including Morgan Freeman as genuis technician Lucius Fox, Gary Oldman as the dedicated commissioner Gordon and butler Alfred (Michael Caine) who sadly has less screentime this round, Nolan also has to deal with the young, ambitious cop John Blake (Joseph-Gordon Levitt), an influential businesswoman Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) and Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman. After the disasterous Halle Berry-Version this could only be a winning role for Anne Hathaway. But even if her acting is solid there is at least one character too many in this group and not all of them are implemented in the story properly. Especially hard was to get all their background stories into the film and it did not always work very elegantly.
The reason for that is also the surprisingly convoluted plot. Aside of all the characters trying to find their place it is the basic conflict that is less engaging this time. Even though Bane's plans feel similar to a jihad and repeatedly arouse post 9/11 fears of terrorism on screen the actual arc of the story is lacking excitement and is kind of unsatisfying. The film plays eight years after the events at the end of "The Dark Knight". Batman is in exile, Harvey Dent is the city's hero and the streets are cleared from all the crime and corruption. But in the underground Bane is already forming an army to gain control over Gotham. Bruce Wayne watches in the shadows. He has left Batman behind and is not physically healthy. But when the war starts and the police seems to be powerless it is time for Batman to return.
When it comes to the gigantic showdown Nolan relies to much on technique and effects. The introduction of "the bat" (a helicopter-like fighting machine) for instance was not a good idea I think as it is a little too much for this realistic approach. In the end it is just a plot device anyway. Too many of the more explosive scenes seem a little too familiar to average action flicks these days. What is missing in the furious final moments is the impact on the emotional level. The movie is a little too playful and conventional even though the subject matter remains dark and serious. There are also some surprises waiting for you that I won't spoil. But I can tell that at least one major surprise was not very convincing to me at all. Also there is a door left open, probably enforced by Warner Bros. that sets up for a reboot (scheduled for 2015), that I don't want to see.
Despite all the criticism it's not like this is a bad movie but the standards set by Nolan himself simply are incredibly high now. This is closer to average than it is to greatness and I will go as far to say that this is the weakest film Nolan has made so far in his career. "The Dark Knight Rises" does not quite deliver the depth of "Batman Begins" and can't replace the Joker as the central villain. Bane himself is not less interesting but the story presenting him could have been better. Somehow I had the feeling that Christopher Nolan was not quite as passionate about this project as he used to be and maybe he is quite happy - as I am - to have finally finished this franchise. It speaks in the director's favor though that his new film can easily compete with the super-hero rivalry anyways, even if this latest Batman might not become a legend.
TRAILER:
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen