The Dark Knight Rises: 30 minutes too much

Dark Knight Rises review

Everything has been said about Christopher Nolan's new Batman, The Dark Knight Rises. Breathtaking special effects, rich costumes and grandiose décor. The action is unlimited, the women characters look stunning and Christian Bale makes a great Batman. The movie dominated box offices around the world. No bat-movie has ever gone so viral: the first movie teaser had been released in the summer of 2011, and the first trailer has been downloaded from itunes a record 12,5 million times in 24 hours.

The marketing push included a Batman 'criminal record' shared on the movie's web site (each time web users would discover a bat logo-tagged on the walls around the world-using a hashtag #tdkr07202012, another part of the trailer would be unveiled). Furthermore, the movie abounds with references (*spoiler): Bane's mask seems as a tribute to Darth Vader and his physics to Hannibal Lector; the dance of Bruce Wayne and Selina recalls the one that Burton staged ten years ago, in Batman Returns.

But, there is always a but. Nolan decided not only to entertain us, but to deliver a moral message at the same tome. So be it. We have the fight between the good and the bad, as we always do. But wanting to say a lot, Nolan got “lost in translation” during 2h 45 of the movie. He said too much. The stock exchange as the center of decadence is the first target of the bad guys; a reference to the current financial crisis and a glimpse of what the real class war could look like. A scene rolls out in the stadium, a replica of a possible terrorism incident, and the city is cut from the rest of the world, collapsing on its own, in a murky post-9/11 atmosphere. And, last but not least, the love, altruism and happy ending. As if he lacks that one idea that would lead him throughout the whole movie.

The dialogs are weak, and when the main bad guy becomes just a mere tool in the hands of a real bad girl, you get a feeling of déjà vu, wondering if he could have come up with something else.

Moreover, Marillon Cotillard, the Oscar-winning actress praised for her role as Edith Piaf in Olivier Dahan's movie “La Môme”, is not convincing in her role. Her final scene in the movie has been the most criticized one, to the extent that a Tumbrl blog (*spoiler) was created, ridiculing her performance in the film.

Christopher Nolas sent his Batman in retirement. No doubt that Hollywood won't leave him to rest for a long time- a rookie Robin can't save Gotham all by himself. Can he?

Dark Knight Rises will be released on Blu-ray and DVD December 4th 2012.

Jelena Prtoric

Freelance journalist.

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