7. The Dark Knight Rises
By any normal standards, The Dark Knight Rises would be judged a tasty slice of cinema, and for most directors it would represent a career high-water mark. But these are not normal standards, for Chris Nolans body of work is as robust and littered with brilliance as any filmmakers you care to name. As such, TDKR was something of a disappointment, albeit a thoroughly entertaining one that brings his Gotham saga to a satisfying close. As the story begins, we find a reclusive Bruce Wayne eight years removed from his self-appointed position as Gothams Dark Knight. The death of Harvey Dent in the prior instalment and Batmans sacrifice in covering up his crimes have practically eradicated organised crime, but a new threat emerges in the form of Bane a mysterious hulk with a score to settle, an army to unleash and a city to enslave. So what went wrong? For the films many fans and defenders its a negligible question, but most would agree TDKR lags a valiant third in the hierarchy of this Batman trilogy. In terms of ambition, Rises stands alongside anything Nolan has attempted, but a disjointed, occasionally muddled storyline features several characters that fail to properly register, Bane is a less-than-inspired villain despite Tom Hardys best efforts, and the abiding impression is of a film bloated by its own seriousness and aspirations. Part of the problem, of course, is that the two films that came before it The Dark Knight in particular were very hard acts to follow. Heath Ledgers bulldozing performance and untimely death left Nolan with a monumentally difficult task to top his own work; this he failed to do, and the results are good very good, even but not great.
Jonathan Cordiner
Contributor
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
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