Review for The Dark Knight Rises

Introduction

I was going to go for one of my lengthy stream of consciousness reviews, but for reasons, actually unrelated to the distraction of the holiday season, I’ve opted to keep it short and sweet, even for this blockbuster title which I’m only now getting around to watching, two years after I bought it. That’s probably somewhat surprising, given how much I was enthused by and delighted with Batman Begins, Chris Nolan’s reinvention of the Batman mythos with an eye on realism, based on the Dark Knight version of the story. The Dark Knight Movie too took things one step further, creating the definitive Joker, or at least the most definitive Joker since the last definitive Joker. The Dark Knight Rises is director Christopher Nolan’s conclusion to the trilogy, and one which I have been looking forward to watching ever since I bought the thing.

It’s been even longer for the residents of Gotham City, eight years since the events of The Dark Knight, when the Joker rampaged through the city, when Harvey Dent went off the deep end, when Rachel Dawes was killed, and when Batman took the blame for it all, and vanished off the face of the Earth. Since then, the Harvey Dent Act has been put in place, and used to finally clean Gotham of organised crime, Bruce Wayne has become a veritable recluse in Wayne Manor, following some poor business decisions at Wayne Industries, but otherwise all is well in the world. Harvey Dent Day is celebrated each year, and Batman’s name is cursed by the well and the good of the city. But some still remember who Batman really was, and what he accomplished for Gotham.


Soon, Gotham will need the Caped Crusader again, as the lie that its current prosperity is built on begins to unravel, and a plan set in motion years ago by the League of Shadows will finally reach its conclusion. For Ra’s Al Ghul’s wish to cleanse the world of the cancer that is Gotham hasn’t been forgotten. Bane is coming to the city, like a cleansing typhoon threatening to tear it to its foundations. It all begins when a certain, alluring cat-burglar breaks into Wayne Manor during the Harvey Dent Day celebrations to steal... fingerprints. As Bane brings more and more chaos to the city, Bruce Wayne dons the batsuit again, but after eight years, is he really still Batman beneath the cowl, and can he even stand against the force of nature that is Bane?

Picture

Just like the previous film, The Dark Knight Rises is an aspect ratio mash-up, with 2.40:1 widescreen for the film, and 1.78:1 widescreen cropped for the IMAX sequences. I pretty much blank the transitions out, hardly notice the difference between the two. The 1080p transfer is par for the course for modern films on Blu-ray. It’s hard to find anything to whinge about, just a great image, clear and sharp throughout, consistent, strong colours, exquisite detail, and the action sequences coming across with sufficient impact. Once more you have to appreciate just how much of the film was accomplished practically, and although you know there has to be some CGI in there somewhere, you’d be hard pressed to figure out just where.

Sound

You can have DTS-HD 5.1 Surround English, DD 2.0 Stereo English, and DD 5.1 Surround Audio Descriptive English, as well as DD 5.1 Surround Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Thai, with subtitles in these languages and more. The first thing you notice is that this surround track is loud, emphatic, thunderous even, with the LFE getting more use with this one film than a whole year worth of other Hollywood blockbusters. The surround is put to great use in conveying the action, the effects, and the music... and then the dialogue starts and I couldn’t hear it. Turn the volume up to make out what’s being said, especially by Bane, and then something explodes and quickly turn the volume down to keep the plaster on the walls, then Commissioner Gordon mumbles something... up and down all the way through the movie!

Extras

Disc 1 presents the movie, this time with an animated menu from where you can choose your audio and subtitle options, and select scenes as usual. The new gizmo is the Second Screen option, for which you need a smartphone or tablet on the same network as your Blu-ray player, the Second Screen app, and an interest in the wretched thing.

The extras are all on disc 2.

Short Feature: The Batmobile lasts 58:17 HD, and looks at the history of the iconic vehicle, with a quick look at the early movie serials, before getting to the first custom Batmobile, the Adam West model, and then looking at the various movie incarnations of the car, and the odd animated and comic book versions. There are also interviews with Adam West, Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher, Christopher Nolan and more, and as you would expect the lion’s share of the runtime is devoted to the Tumbler.


There are three sections in Behind the Scenes: Ending the Knight.

Production contains 12 featurettes with no Play All option, looking at various behind the scenes aspects of the film. These run to a total of 68:23 in HD. By far the most interesting for me was the first behind the scenes look at the plane hijacking.

Characters looks at Bruce Wayne’s Journey, the Bane character, and the Nolan take on Catwoman in three featurettes running to 28:24 in HD.

Reflections as you would expect would be a retrospective look at all three Batman films; two featurettes running to 14:41 HD.

The Trailer Archive offers 4 trailers, and here you get a Play All Option, 8:35 in HD.

Finally the Print Campaign Art Gallery offers a couple dozen Poster art images for the film.

Conclusion

Short review... long film... The Dark Knight Rises actually turned out even longer for me than its 164 minute run time. I gave so much attention to riding the volume control during the film, skipping back to try and hear what I missed the first time, trying again with subtitles on the third time, that I forgot to actually enjoy the film. I hate... hate with a passion this new fad of Hollywood’s to bury the dialogue beneath effects and music. They’re even doing it to re-mastered releases of old films and TV shows where it wasn’t originally an issue. Apparently Christopher Nolan’s latest, Interstellar deliberately buries dialogue as it’s not ‘supposed’ to be heard by audiences.

The movie itself is interesting, a powerful conclusion to the Dark Knight story, although I was surprised at how many elements I recognised from the Knightfall novel that I read fourteen odd years ago. The story is good, although the third movie is even more divorced from the realism that was the initial aim than the second film. When we start talking about nuclear fusion and flying tanks or whatever that Batwing is, then realism has gone bye-bye for the duration. Also, while no-one could have matched Heath Ledger as the Joker, I can’t help but feel disappointed with Bane, although that ridiculous mask and Yoda voice has much to do with it. The rest of the cast more than makes up for it though, and Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman makes even more of an impression than Michelle Pfeiffer’s.


The action impresses, the story is interesting, but I can’t help but think that the film is overlong, meandering, and indulgent in its various plot threads and ideas. I know that the story is meant to unfold over several months, but it could have lost half an hour in run time and still manage to tell its story. Actually about half an hour is how much extra time I spent trying to catch the dialogue. The Dark Knight Rises might be a good film, might be a great one, or it might just be average. All I know is that I just didn’t enjoy it, and that because of a technical issue, not a creative one. Maybe I’ll try watching it again with the stereo track instead, see if that helps, but I shouldn’t have to turn on the subtitles for an English film. I’m not deaf, not yet.