The Dark Knight Rises
Likely because of recent events in Colorado, this was not only a tough movie to watch, it was a tough movie to write about.
This, Christopher Nolan’s final instalment of the series, is pure evil with very little comic relief. The scenes depicting a massacre at the Stock Exchange brought to mind once again just how fragile life is and how sometimes we are at the mercy of a force so terrible that life changes our world in a way we could never imagine.
Having said that, the performances from this cast of stars is superb.
So superb, in fact, that we forget it is a movie, and become awe stuck observers of act upon terrible act forced upon the citizens of Gotham and the protagonists themselves. In fact, we actually forget that these stars themselves are heavyweights in the entertainment world to the point that they become exactly who we are meant to believe they are as they elicit the emotions that are perfectly relevant to the scenes—usually, fear and horror.
What an assembly: Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne (Batman); Gary Olman, (Commissioner Gordon); British-born Tom Hardy as the evil Bane who we know from Band of Brothers and Inception; Anne Hathaway as Catwoman; 3rd Rock’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Blake); Marion Cotillard, the French actress who won an academy award for her role as Edith Piaf (Marion Tate); Morgan Freeman (Fox); Mathew Modine (Foley) and of course, Michael Caine is the loyal Alfred.
From the action packed opening to the surprise ending, this show never let up. There was not a moment when the gravity of the situation wasn’t almost overwhelming or when the viewer felt that relief was at hand. This felt like hell in every scene and every scene was played brilliantly.
As Bruce Wayne’s status and finances ‘wane’ and all seems lost, there is no “light at the end of the tunnel’ moment. It is a rough couple of hours and again, perhaps because of last week’s news, there was in the theatre none of the usual murmurs, chuckles or chatter at the show’s end. There was only silence.
An industry first, the studio has declined to report ticket sales from this weekend’s release, a rare show of reverence to the events surrounding this movie. Only time will tell if movie goers actually buy tickets to see it; but this Dark Knight will have a dark shadow hanging over it for a long time to come.
I give The Dark Knight Rises 3 1/2 reels with thoughts going out to our neighbours in the south who are experiencing another senseless tragedy.
Susan Steen is a local non-profit executive and a movie buff.
susansteen1234@shaw.ca
