The Dark Knight Rises (15)

2.00

 

Suggested Topics

This concluding part of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy goes out with a bang – a big one – though the ringing in your ears as you leave the cinema may have less to do with exhilaration than puzzlement. For while one accepts the mayhem of explosions and mechanised roars as an inevitable adjunct of the modern blockbuster, it is long swathes of the dialogue that have scrambled the brains and bamboozled the reason. This isn't merely a problem with the story's villain, who talks through a mask that covers 80 per cent of his face; even characters with fully operational mouths and noses deliver lines that become, in the film's murky sound mix, indecipherable.

Intensity, rather than clarity, is this franchise's strong suit. For those who prefer their superheroes flawed and difficult, Bruce Wayne has certainly provided a Dark Knight of the soul. Eight years since his last public appearance, he now hobbles around his huge mansion on a stick, less the playboy billionaire than a frail recluse. He can't even be bothered to put up a fight when his late mother's pearls are stolen from under his nose by a comely burglar, Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). It seems the authorities regard Wayne's elusive alter ego Batman as "a thug in a cape", blaming him for the death of Harvey Dent, the crusading District Attorney who supposedly made Gotham City safe from crime. Only world-weary police Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth – that it was Batman who saved the day back then, not the two-faced Dent.

But the sleep of reason and the retirement of superheroes beget monsters. Down in the sewers of Gotham a crack army of terrorists has been preparing a coup on the city's rich elite and it arrives in the form of a brutal assault on the stock exchange. Their leader is a rippling hunk of muscle named Bane, whose face is shrouded by what looks like a gasmask made from the shell of a carbonised crab. He's played by Tom Hardy, foghorning his lines in an ac-tor-ly, sonorous boom, and woe betide anyone who dares reply: "Pardon me?"

He likes to strike a pose, this Bane, hands high on his lapels like some old-school northern industrialist who calls money "brass". Hardy is among several actors that Nolan has rehired from his previous outing, the conceptual thriller Inception (2010). Marion Cotillard plays wealthy philanthropist Miranda Tate, who wants to enlist Wayne on her green-energy project; Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a beat cop who's twigged to Wayne's secret double-life; and Cillian Murphy, who was Scarecrow in the first of the trilogy, Batman Begins, is glimpsed late on as the judge of a mob-ruled court.

Bane and his crew are making their escape from the stock exchange when a certain caped crusader appears on the scene to give chase. You can't keep a good (Bat)man down, it seems, even when Gotham has been so ungrateful for his previous rescue missions. The plot, adopting an apocalyptic tone, sets up an almighty ding-dong between Bane, who presents himself as the city's liberator, and Batman, who we know is the city's protector. Bane's ragtag army of looters are soon running amok, while Batman's allies are either in hospital (Oldman), in hiding (Oldman's deputy, played by Matthew Modine), or in a huff (Michael Caine's paternalistic major-domo Alfred). There's no telling whose side Hathaway's Catwoman is on, creeping along the edges of the film, though she is key in fomenting the big smackdown between Bane and Batman. When these two put up their fists, the punches they land are like the noise a fridge would make if you pushed it off a high building. It is hardly more realistic than those cartoon graphics (POW! ZAP! KER-BOOM!) of the Batman show on 1960s' telly.

Those TV shows look homely next to the bombast of the present franchise. Along with the muddied sound of The Dark Knight Rises, the cumulative effect of the screenplay is portentous and deadening. It compounds the impression of a filmmaker who has sacrificed his quicksilver wit and invention for grandiosity – and length. Nolan hit the ground running with his debut Following (a lean 69mins) and then his masterpiece Memento (113mins). Since then the running time has steadily bloated, with Batman Begins at 140mins and The Prestige at 130mins. The Dark Knight leapt to 152mins, Inception almost equalled it (148mins), and now The Dark Knight Rises clocks in at an astonishing 164mins. This would be permissible if the film had other astonishments to match, but, aside from a late switcheroo of one character's loyalties, the movement of the film is all grind and no glide. That includes a bizarre cameo by Tom Conti, performing surgery on our hero's back as crude as the foreign accent he's faking.

The never-ending parade of comic superheroes transplanted to the screen has thrown up some unexpected stars. Who would have thought Robert Downey Jnr could polish up the role of Iron Man to such a pleasing gleam? Andrew Garfield has also surprised as the new Spider-Man. Bale is capable of great things (The Machinist, The Fighter) but he's a sullen, awkward presence as Batman, and short of humour. That lugubrious character leaches into the film. Of course we know that Wayne is a man haunted by the murder of his parents and possibly demented by his sense of duty. But he also gets to kick ass, use some cool gadgets and shine his Bat-signal over the city. Surely some of it must have been fun?

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Arts & Ents blogs

Brighton Fringe 2013 – Is everyone sitting uncomfortably?

Fancy seeing a play about serial killers? How about inviting a funeral director into your home for a...

The Fall ‘Darkness Visible’ – Series 1, episode 2

There are a good many moments in the second episode of this psychological thriller that deserve refl...

‘Vicious’ – Series 1, episode 4

The opening titles squeal ‘Never Can Say Goodbye…’. Oh Lord how I wish I could heave this series off...

       
Independent
Travel Shop
India and Shimla
14 nights from only £1899pp Find out more
Prague city break
Three nights from £199pp Find out more
4* Soreda hotel break, Malta
Seven nights all-inclusive from £399pp Find out more

ES Rentals

    National archives: Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Edward VIII’s phone calls - and how MI5 bugged them

    Newly unearthed papers reveal a shocking extra dimension to the constitutional crisis over monarch’s abdication
    Sent down at the Old Bailey: A tour of the world's most famous court

    Sent down at the Old Bailey

    A tour of the world's most famous court
    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    Hollywood's random acts of red-carpet kindness

    The Hangover actor Zach Galifianakis’s date for his movie premieres isn’t arm candy  – it’s his 87-year-old friend who he saved from homelessness
    British football scores an own goal

    British football scores an own goal

    Many managers barely survive a year in post. Martin Baker talks to experts who make a case for clubs using forensic business skills to find the best staff
    James Lawton: Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again

    James Lawton

    Sergio Garcia cracks as major fault line opens up again
    Dylan Hartley: Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong

    Dylan Hartley talks tough

    Northampton have spent the season proving all our critics wrong
    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    Watch out Watford: Here comes the secretive Bilderberg Group

    A meeting of global power brokers in a Hertfordshire hotel is exciting conspiracy theorists, but what are they really about?
    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system': Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console

    'The ultimate all-in-one home entertainment system'

    Microsoft finally unveils its Xbox ONE console
    Plenty of Fish dating site founder pulls 'Intimate Encounters' option to ward off sleazy men

    Plenty of sleaze

    Dating website pulls intimate 'hook-up' section to curb harassment
    Inferno author Dan Brown 'honoured' to be invited to join the Freemasons

    The Freemasons’ Code

    Dan Brown reveals the message that told him door to the lodge is open
    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Not secure any more: G4S boss heads for exit at last

    Nick Buckles survived the Olympics débâcle and a £5bn bid fiasco but a profit warning finally triggered his downfall
    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’: Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar

    How to say ‘I’m a sellout’

    Tumblr’s David Karp’s message of reassurance to his staff sounded very familiar
    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    Why clubs are keen to take a stand

    There's a real desire around the grounds for safe standing. But will the authorities listen?
    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    In the end the fans decided Tony Pulis had made a pig's ear of the job at Stoke City

    Disillusion with a siege mentality and negative playing style made change inevitable
    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    James Lawton: The James Hunt I knew is the subject of a new F1 movie

    British driver was fascinating man whose epic duel with Niki Lauda in 1976 was typical of an era of glamour and glory – but also the ever-present threat of death