News Taffy

Batman lovers, rejoice! Not only has director Christopher Nolan churned out another great movie to his repertoire with The Dark Knight Rises, but the best movie of 2012 so far. Although the tragic shooting at a theater in Aurora, Colo. during a midnight screening last Friday might make it difficult to watch the movie comfortably, it's still a masterpiece that you won't want to miss. The ending of the Dark Knight trilogy was definitely satisfying cinematic masterpiece, from the musical score, acting, visual and more.

We join up with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and company eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, with Wayne retreating back into the shadows after losing his love, Rachel and being blamed for campaign poster-boy Harvey Dent’s death. Wayne has hung up his cape for the last time he claimed, with only his servant Alfred (Michael Caine) to keep him company. Under the streets of Gotham in the sewers awaits the Bat’s biggest foe yet (literally), a very large and intimidating mercenary with an odd mask named Bane who wants to make Gotham a pile of rubble and to rule it with his own sadistic vision of government. Wayne decides it’s time to save a city that still hates him for what he supposedly did.

Wayne encounters two semi-love interests between Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard), a wealthy Wayne Enterprises board member who shows interest in heading up Wayne’s super-secret clean-energy project and Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), an acrobatic feline-like jewel thief with dreams of having a clean slate. Both ladies do a great job acting their parts, especially for someone who was a clumsy princess back in 2001 in The Princess Diaries. I was a big fan of Hathaway standing her ground and kicking as much butt as the Bat himself.

The acting in this movie was top-notch, as expected. To me, Bale definitely brought the emotions and made a true connection as being Batman for me in his times of strife than the other two movies. The conversations between Wayne and Alfred were definitely touching and emotionally-charged. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as young cop John Blake stepped up as a newcomer to the trilogy and made great strides as being a headstrong cop with passion to save the city the best way he could—motivate Batman to get back into the game. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Tom Hardy did great respectively as well. The one thing that did bother me though was that Hardy lost a great asset to his acting when he donned the gas mask—his ability to annunciate. To be honest, I couldn’t understand a lot of what he was saying due to the mask nor did I care to strain as his accent wasn’t believable for a sinister villain to me.

The epic music and scenery with big explosions and chaos added to the experience as well. With at least three or four actors from Inception reuniting once again, Nolan definitely brought those influences in this movie. The booming sound definitely heightens the tension during the fight scenes, especially during the chaotic last half of the almost three hour movie.

Moviegoers may want to rewatch the first two Batman movies, as there are a few cameo appearances and references to past events that newcomers to the Dark Knight trilogy may not catch. But despite the Aurora tragedy that has overwhelmed the news, the Dark Knight rises for one last time and making a movie experience truly worthwhile. Though some may fidget through some dull spots in the middle of the movie (as it’s bound to happen with the long running time), The Dark Knight Rises is bound to break records across the board as being the best 2012 movie yet.

Until next week,
Rachel