The Dark Knight Rises: Depressingly OK

"The Dark Knight Rises" simultaneously accomplishes being a mostly-good superhero film on top of being a somewhat disappointing end to a stellar trilogy of films. Now, don't hear me say that this film is bad because it's not. "The Dark Knight Rises" is two hours of good movie shoved into roughly two-and-a-half hours of runtime. However, that outlying half-hour is an absolute mess. This is a shame, given that "Batman Begins" was nothing short of excellent, while "The Dark Knight" is one of the greatest mainstream films ever created. So, what exactly makes "The Dark Knight Rises" a disappointment? The opening thirty minutes of the film. It's a hot mess, and I'm going to explain why. Also, at the end of this article, I'm going to attempt to rewrite the film to inject it with some much-needed life. And, as a final repeat of the disclaimer, I don't think "Rises" is a bad film. It contains some excellent performances and has its moments in spite of its flaws. So, to kick this piece off, let's start at the beginning, shall we?

"The Dark Knight Rises" opens with Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows, allowing himself to be captured by the CIA in Uzbekistan in an attempt to abduct a nuclear physicist named Dr. Leonid Pavel while onboard a plane by ripping the wings off, stealing the cabin, grabbing Dr. Pavel, and then dropping the rest of the cabin while still onboard and tethered to another airplane. Not to nitpick, but this is a bad plan. At any time, the CIA operatives could have just shot you and thrown you out of the plane. Heck, they almost did. If anything went wrong with the cables, you'd find yourself falling to your death along with the wreckage of the plane. Anyway, the plan goes off without a hitch because the plot requires it, and Bane makes off with Dr. Pavel. Then, we're introduced to Bruce's new life as a hermit living in the outskirts of Gotham City. Gordon goes on a whole mission of his own, where he gets captured by the bad guys and taken to an underground base. But no biggie, because he escapes within a matter of minutes and gets admitted to a hospital where he babbles about an "underground army." We establish a few supporting characters here and there, and then, all of a sudden, about an hour into the movie, Bane and his League of Shadows cronies who lived below Gotham are blowing up all the entrances and exits to the city, trapping everyone and establishing their own form of government that kind of reminded me of the Soviet Union following the Russian Revolution. I have a number of problems with this premise, and I want to go over them and then provide an alternate story that will improve upon some of the issues in this film.

The biggest issue I have with "The Dark Knight Rises" is that this film just moves way too quickly in the first half hour. We're being introduced to too many characters in too many places with too many problems. To make matters worse, the opening of the film, despite moving so quickly, doesn't really accomplish anything other than explaining how exactly Bane acquired the means to turn Gotham to cinders if he deemed it necessary and that Bruce is an old dude with a limp now. We're treated to some interesting philosophy and pretty words, but philosophy and words don't really push a story forward. Actions and intentional characterization do. And in the first half hour, this film says so much and yet accomplishes so little. Which is a shame, given how tight the script for "The Dark Knight" was.

A more minor issue I have with the film is Talia Al Ghul and the League of Shadows. The inclusion of the League in a major role ultimately felt like a weird attempt to bridge the gap between "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight Rises," because for as good as "The Dark Knight" was, it doesn't really accomplish much narratively outside of its own direct sphere of influence. With "The Dark Knight Rises," there shouldn't have been as much of an emphasis on plot points that "Begins" had established and then seemingly resolved. The filmmakers should have never felt pressured to try and tell a story that doesn't try to stand on its own two legs. Alright, that said, let's start this rewrite and turn "The Dark Knight Rises" from a depressingly OK film into a truly great one.

I loved the idea of Bane blowing up the football stadium. That National Anthem scene that came before it gave me chills all over. This entire sequence is amazing, but it appeared in the film way too late. The very beginning of the film should have showcased Bane and his men sneaking through Gotham, taking out some cops discreetly, and demonstrating why exactly they are a threat. We should show that they despise the rich, and Bruce Wayne in particular. The militants could have left some kind of secret symbol around Gotham as well to act as a foil to the chalk bat that appears in the film. But other than a secret army preparing to invade Gotham, all should seem to be well. Gotham is thriving. The economy is booming. Crime is at an all-time low. However, I do want some of the poorer classes to have a dissatisfaction with the rich. This will give some people in Gotham a genuine reason to join Bane's army once it reveals itself. Then, enter the football scene. Blow up the field, blow up the bridges, isolate Gotham from the rest of the world through military force, build up your forces, and target the rich. And who better to target than Bruce Wayne, the reclusive former billionaire who just disappeared one day without any explanation? This opening would have moved more fluidly than the one we got and eliminated a lot of issues the film possessed along the way. Bane, instead of sending Bruce to the pit on the other side of the world, should have blown a hole in the ground in Gotham, recreating the pit, and sent the rich and anyone who harbored dissent towards him or rebelled against him to it.

So, to avoid being thrown into the pit, Bruce goes into hiding and meets a thief named Selina Kyle, who steals from anyone, Gotham City or the League of Shadows, to provide for her personal needs. Along the way, Bruce has to learn to bridge the divide between him, formerly one of the richest men in the world, and Selina, a woman who came from the bottom. This would have been a fascinating dynamic, and we eventually did get to see this play out in "The Batman." However, I digress. Eventually, Bruce is captured and thrown into the pit, where he begins to question his purpose and has to learn to rise from the pit and be reborn. That was, in fact, a part of the original film, and it was a glorious sequence. And after that, I think the film should play out more or less exactly like it did, minus the nuclear bomb tangent and that rushed ending where Bruce kind-of-sort-of-maybe-dies-OK-I-guess-not-actually. This way, Bane is still an explosive and physically formidable foe, Bruce is still a recluse, we trim a lot of fat from the film, and we have the chance to give Selina Kyle the personality she deserves in this film. Oh, and Bruce should have actually died in the film but fallen into the river and drifted away, or something like that because there is ultimately something mythic about owing your life and your existence to a fallen man who was a symbol without a name. Keeping a lot of the film the way it was would ultimately benefit a theoretical alternate version of "The Dark Knight Rises" because there are some things this film does really, really well, despite its flaws. Batman is a truly inspiring figure in this movie. The scene where they light the flaming bat signal on the bridge was nothing short of movie magic, and Bruce's sacrifice at the end of the movie was powerful. Until you learned at the very last minute that his death was a somewhat lame fake-out.

"The Dark Knight Rises" is ultimately a good movie with a lot of bad things about it, and if the film had exercised a little bit more brainpower, a little bit more pacing control, and a little bit more narrative consistency within the confines of the trilogy it was a part of, it could have very well been a film that lived up to its predecessor. But we'll just have to accept that it was, at best, a satisfying enough and, at worst, a somewhat disappointing ending to an otherwise amazing trilogy.

The Dark Knight Rises - 7/10

Proverbs 29:4-8