It's simple. We watch the Batman

The Fire Rises

This weekend, I was able to watch The Dark Knight Rises with a few friends. It was opening weekend in Korea and like many other places around the world, was a highly anticipated movie that was eagerly awaited by the public.

I don’t really want to talk about my experience with going to see the movie, as that was rather uneventful. Fun, but still uneventful. Instead I want to talk about the movie itself, as I rarely have the opportunity to geek out about movies in Korea.

Talking and geeking out are two very different things. Anyone can talk about the movie, what they liked and didn't like. What they thought of the performances and if they in the end, thought it was a good movie or not. It’s something everyone does. Everyone has opinions. Everyone is a critic.

To geek out is different. If talking about a movie is well, talking, then to geek out and gush about a movie is to make love to it. A gross analogy maybe, but it’s one that I find the most accurate in trying to describe something that film (or comic lovers) do. Whether they love or hate a movie, they will do either one passionately. They will take ever single aspect of the movie and dissect it down to the frame per second. They don’t just talk about the characters, they talk about their histories. They don’t just talk about the plot; they talk about every comic book storyline the movie borrowed from. They don’t just hate on why the details of certain characters were changed, they talk about exactly why they didn’t like the change and will usually offer hours worth of explanation on how it could have been done better.

So anyway, this is me, geeking out about The Dark Knight Rises, spoiler free and full Batman fanboy mode on. If you hate this stuff, then I suggest not reading more of my future posts because when it comes to movies, comics or games I tend to do this… a lot.

A fair bit of warning before going any further about the movie, if you haven't seen Batman Begins in awhile or at all, I HIGHLY suggest seeing it before watching this in theaters. Trust me on this one, you will be lost if you don't. 

Overall, I really liked The Dark Knight Rises. It was a big and dramatic end to the Nolan Batman trilogy that not only ended on closure but also, for the most part, tied the entire trilogy together. This was something that I never thought of, and never really gave much thought. In terms of continuity, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight seem very different from one another in terms of story. The Dark Knight largely stood on its own, abandoning the previous story of Ras Al Ghul and The League of Shadows to make the spotlight on the Joker. Not only is the story different but the tone seemed different as well. While Batman Begins was an attempt to make a darker and more serious big screen version of Batman, it still had some comic book elements that made sure that while it was going for a more real approach, it was still strictly in the realm of a comic book.

The Dark Knight changed that. While Batman Begins was still in essence a comic book movies, The Dark Knight felt more realistic and plausible ( as plausible as a man in a bat costume, fighting crime could be). It seemed less like a Batman movie and more of a crime thriller. You could have changed Batman’s character completely into a cop or detective and it would have still worked. It’s not a flaw on The Dark Knight; in fact the crime thriller story and iconic villain made it a thrilling and engaging movie. This was when I knew that movies based on comic books was leaving the realm of silly, half baked cash grabs and into the realm of subjects and characters to be taken seriously.

The Dark Knight Rises seems to abandon the serious tone that The Dark Knight built and return to the realm of comic book plots and exposition. This is not a bad thing, after all Batman is a comic book character. Everything about this movie seemed bigger: the villain, the threat, his plans and aftermath that followed. The entire movie was able to maintain a level of intensity and dread that you truly felt engrossed in the plight of the characters. There was not a single time in the movie where I felt safe for anyone, even Batman. Everyone was in constant danger with only one step away from being an unfortunate pawn or casualty of this film’s villain, Bane.

I can’t say that Bane is a better or worse villain than the Joker, since he is a very different kind of villain. The Joker existed to cause chaos and destruction but for no reason other than for amusement. He never had a clear plan, or agenda. Bane is different and in part, what makes him such an effective villain. Every single thing he does is part of a plan. Every single action he makes is with consequence and every single goal is to inflict as much destruction on Gotham City and Batman as much as possible. He is a very scary villain from his opposing size to the weird guttural and mechanically distorted way he speaks. He doesn’t use the venom serum like in the comics, but in here he doesn’t need to.

The Dark Knight Rises borrows from three Batman comics: The Dark Knight Returns, No Man’s Land and Knightfall. Having read all three, some numerous times, it was an interesting experience to see all three storylines represented in one movie. It was also the biggest flaw that this movie had as well. With so many different storylines and so many different characters each doing having their own agendas and motivations it felt like a lot of detail was glossed over in order to make the film’s three hour run time. By the end the plot was moving at such a brisk pace that I hardly noticed that I had been sitting down for little under three hours. Even with the current length I wanted to see more. More details about each character. More about the plight of Gotham. More of Ban causing menace to the city and more of Batman coming back and taking on the cowl once again. Considering the importance of some of the events in the comics, it was a shame to see them over quickly and without much impact.

At first I was skeptical about adding Catwoman to the movie and was even more skeptical when it was announced that Anne Hathaway was going to play her, but in the end I was pretty impressed. She did a great job, a skilled fighter, a master thief and very sexy. This was the Catwoman I always envisioned and like many other things in the movie, wished she got more screen time.

Another interesting character addition was a new character named John Blake. Blake is cop who eventually becomes a major character who assists Batman and the Gotham Police along the way. I felt that he was an interesting character, and if you’ve ever read the comics, you would instantly know that he was trying to be the Robin to Batman without actually being Robin. For something that could have been an afterthought and messed up the cannon of Batman, this was a clever addition and it paid off very well.

As for Batman himself, there wasn’t a lot of him in here. Again, with the massive cast of characters, it seemed like everyone had some diminished screen time and for me, it seemed like Batman suffered the most. His story, along with Bruce Wayne’s was by far the most interesting and I wanted to see more time spent on him. He was used in all the right scenes and gets plenty of time to take down the some criminals the only way he knows how, but I wanted to see more.  After Batman Begins, we we’re able to see more growth and insight on his inner thoughts and demons more than any other film version, with the addition of more characters his thoughts and inner turmoil during one of the most important periods of growth for his character are not as in depth as I would have liked In the comics, Batman nearly goes insane from the grief and pain he is caused. It was an important and shocking thing to see considering that Batman was an unstoppable force that was uncompromising in his mission to stop criminals. If Batman can fall, he could be broken, then who even stood a chance against Bane? The feelings of hopelessness and dread that permeated the entire comic's run was only briefly touched on here. 

I suppose that was my biggest problem as a while now that I think about it, I just wanted more.

For what was there though, was very good. Overall I really liked what I saw and considering a few years ago, Batman and Robin was the cinematic standard for a Batman movie, Nolan and the crew has done a great job giving us a Batman trilogy that fans can be proud of. Geeks live in a great time now, being able to talk about their favorite characters and properties done with respect and quality that they no longer have to be ashamed of liking comics and the characters in them.

I think in a few years I can see myself looking at the trilogy like I do the original Star Wars trilogy: a strong and surprising debut, an arguably better sequel and a highly entertaining final part. Now that this take is finished, I am excited to see where the Dark Knight goes after this.

This comic fan left the IMAX* happy. It’s a good time to love superheroes. It’s a good time to love comics.

* A majority of scenes were shot specifically with IMAX cameras, making the actions scenes look fantastic even in digital IMAX.