The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Christopher Nolan                          Writers: Jonathan & Christopher Nolan
Film Score: Hans Zimmer                            Cinematography: Wally Pfister
Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman

I have real trouble with the most recent Batman series, mostly because it lacks . . . well, everything. You name it, story, character, suspense, emotion, there is absolutely nothing there. Christopher Nolan's most recent entry, The Dark Knight Rises is simply a series of violent action scenes separated by lengthy sequences of tedious plot development that is utterly uninteresting. In writing about the previous entry in the series, New Yorker reviewer David Denby summed up the situation perfectly: “Individual sequences in The Dark Knight have a shocking power, but if you look at the movie closely, or even casually, the narrative dissolves. The sequencing doesn’t make any sense in time or space, [and] the movie depends on such cheap devices as ticking time bombs, characters in disguise substituting for one another, and people seemingly dead springing back to life.”

Granted, the film is based on a comic book character, but does that mean that a multi-million dollar production can’t aspire to something greater? Is there any reason that we can’t watch characters that we actually care about? Christian Bale was ridiculed mercilessly at the beginning of the series for his nearly unintelligible Batman voice, and it’s no better here. He appears to be going through the motions from the beginning to the end, so wearied by the whole thing that we can’t help thinking, “who cares?” Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman is repugnant from the start, not only betraying Batman but showing no remorse that she did so. The fact that he puts his trust in her at the end only leaves us shaking our heads thinking that Albert was right. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Modine are wasted, as their characters are two-dimensional at best. Which is more than you can say for the one-dimensional villain, half Darth Vader half Hannibal Lecter but without an ounce of believability.

Of course, the entire series has been a huge, blockbuster bonanza for all concerned, but at what cost? Is that all we’re going to get from films in the future, big-budget action pictures devoid of anything remotely resembling meaningful human experience? It would seem so. And yet, there are still far more important films at the beginning of the Twenty-First Century than there has been literature. And that’s important. As film pulls away from literature in terms of its importance for us in the future, it’s vital that we understand what films are bad and why--even if they are popular--so that we don’t inadvertently lose sight of everything that’s still good. The Dark Knight Rises is a bad film, confirmation of which will come at Oscar time. So, at least for now, I’m confident that we haven’t completely obliterated art with commerce.