WMW- Dark Knight Rises

Than muyarchiyil satrum manam thalaraatha Gils is still in search of his elusive good movie in the land of Hollywood. And after three fairly unsuccessful attempts of 3, Saguni and Billa -2, the fourth one was largely on target. But it didnt quite meet the sky high expectations that surrounded it. I wanted to see the movie on an IMAX theater, having never been to one. But wonder would've if my disappointment would've maxed watcihng it on IMAX.

I am die hard fan of Christopher Nolan. His movies are like mind games. Be it Prestige or Inception, even Memento for that matter, they are so full of layers and layers and what you see, in many scenes, is not what is given. There will always be a hidden meaning, a cryptic reference, a clue to what is coming and what he might tweak to create a mind blowing scene to follow. The second part of the trilogy, Dark knight, fuelled so much hype into the third one, that it almost killed the movie. Till date i always thought, Lord of the Rings collection are the best of the triology movies. But Nolan's Batman series, pounds them down to dust take that exalted position. As a three part series, these are by far the best i've ever seen.

I loved the first part. Prior to that, Batman was never my favorite comic hero. Infact, i had hardly read any Batman comics. They always carried a sense of darkness about them, right from the colors used. Obviously, the caped crusader was a nocturnal vigilante. But still, i was more fascinated by Superman and Spiderman came a distant second. I always felt Spidey was someone i guess any commoner to could relate more to. But Batman, with his super powers all driven by the gizmos and gadgets he carry, always sounded like a futuristic James Bond. That is the reason why the first part thrilled me to the core. The way he conquers his fear of bats as a kid, will always remain etched on my mind and believe it or not i remind myself of that scene whenever i go on a ride i've never tried before. More than inspiring, it sowed the sense of purpose to the character and gave it a base of validity. The way Nolan had built Bruce Wayne into Batman, could be the best tribute an adaptor can ever give to its original creator, Stan Lee. Diamond Comics, should come out with a law that any more movies based on their superheroes, should have this series as the benchmark. (P.S: That one was for "Amazing Spiderman". One word. YUCK. It was neither amazing and i've never seen a more soplaangi Spiderman before. Disappointing it was. Bring back Toby). 

Bad time for superheroes i guess. In the name of making them look realistic and more humane, the directors have taken the task of getting the heroes beaten up into pulp movie after movie. If Spidey needed the help of everyone from Crane operator to candy sucking kid in his movie, Batman is no less weakly projected. Atleast this one had a reason, being the end of the series. Spidey director is just opening the franchise. Hard luck buddy. Better luck next time.

The first part of the Batman series laid the base for the mind boggling second part. I am still at loss to figure out who actually was the "Dark Knight" in the movie. Obvious reference to Batman apart, the character of Joker was so fantastically framed, the dark side was made to look so sexy in the movie. Infact, he is the crown prince of dark characters and could well be the titular character. And the third one being the two face Harvey Dent. At the end of the movie, Batman takes the blame for the mishaps of Gotham and goes into hibernation, making Dent the hero, so that Gotham can have tough criminal laws. This is how the third part begins. The first half drags a bit, where in Batman is shown as a frail middle aged man with a limp(!!!) unaware of the approaching storm. In comes the villain - Bane. Now, poor guy, need to be cut some slack. Its like, Arjun Tendulkar trying to hold a cricket bat and people right away compare him to his demi-God Dad. He takes up the task of challenging Batman, that was done with aplomb by his illustrious predecessor who had immortalised the character to such an extent that rumour has it that there wouldnt be another movie with Joker till 2050 as a mark of respect. This man, Bane, to start with has such a cheesy name. And to make it worse, roams around with a hannibal lecter mask and a Darth vader voiceover. Nolan has tried to show him as the ultimate baddy and it feels, he has overplayed his hand. But that character grows into a well and truly menacing one with increasing might scene after scene. The scene where he breaks Batman's spine and the one where the entire stadium collapses were WOW. His character, when it almost tries to redeem its esteemed place, is put to such a shoddy end that, its made to look like a villain's sidekick on a B grade movie. And that unnecessary twist of the lady turning color...???!!! Cmon Nolan. Didnt expect this from you. Ellaatha vida uchha katta kodumai..catwoman driving the Bat pod!!!!!! Oh..My...GAAAWWWDD.

Call me male chauvinist. But if ever there was a vehicle that was definitely male, like the Bajaj Pulsar tag line, that would the Bat pod, Batman's bike. Not only does Catwoman gets to vrrroom it on first try, uughhh...she even drives it well. Doesnt stop at that. Anne Hathway's catwoman, is shown to be more stronger than the Batman himself in some scenes. Wonder why the delibrate attempt to show Battie on a bad light, as it is, him being the denizen of the dark times. But the ending tries to justify these a bit. The ultimate aim of Nolan is to bring the trilogy to a meaningful end and he also repeatedly tries to tell that Batman is not getting any younger in way too many scenes. And it was an interesting sub plot where the normal people, aka police of Gotham, takes control over the city, on their own, managing the thugs of their own size, while leaving the big baddie to Batman, it bring the story to a logical conclusion. Shows that everytime, they can't depend on a superhero to clean up their mess and at times, they need to take the broom and start cleaning themselves.

To me the crown jewel of all the scenes is the one where Bruce wayne escapes from the well. Could well be one of the best ever scenes depicted on a movie ever. He tries to climb out of the well with the rope tied to him. But rather than supporting it pulls him down each time. He is adviced that, at times, fear is the best buddy to bring out the best in oneself. He unties himself from the rope, symbolically his fearlessness and needless to say, fear lends him wings to get out of the hell, he brought himself into. Symbolically, at the top of the hole, bats fly away, disturbed from their nest, just like the scene from the first part. Hats off Sire. Inspiring stuff. The ending though was a wee bit disappointing. But couldnt deny the Nolan touch in it. One is left wondering, whether Batman is actually dead or not. Might argue that Bruce wayne is shown to have survived the blast. But  will he ever be Batman again?? The intriguing part being introduction of Robin as the end credit rolls by.


Gils verdict: Its a sacrilige to watch this movie, without watching the other two. Its a tribute to a great series and deserves to be seen at a stretch, back to back, to enjoy every single drop of essence of it. Its depressing and liberating and the same time. Next stop is to hunt for the gold disc for the series with director's cut.

Comments

Vincy Joseph said…
yaay.. Got to be the first one to comment on your blog..Cheap thrills of life. That was a good reveiw. Now whenver i get to watch that movie, my attitude to DKR will have shades of your perspective. I especially liked the way you let your chauvinism peep out, but quickly added to say she did a good job with the batmobile.
Asha said…
360 degree spin on my head. onnumay puriyalay since i don't watch english movies especially this sci-fi and batman, superman genre.

Anyways you enjoy :)
Aarti said…
I enjoyed this movie.. The pace was rad slow in 1st half but well worth it.. And hahaha @ cat woman drivin the bat pod.. She was good.. And robin- whatte twist at the end.. :-)

Same here- I got hooked on Batman thanks to Nolan and Prestige is one of my all time fav movies :-))
Ramesh said…
Total amen to Asha.
gils said…
@vincy:

:) thanks for ur comments. DKR has atracted lot of negative criticism..despite being a great movie..for the simple reason that..people expected lot more from Nolan. its like 100 marks vangara pasanga 90 vangina mathiri :D
gils said…
@asha:

:d unga psangaloda poi parunga..u wl realise :D

@rt:

*hifi* planning to see prestige again :D

@thala:

neenga kandippa intha padam paathay aganum :)
RamNarayanS said…
Lots of same same [high fives]

Had walked into this movie after a back to back viewing of part 1 and part 2. No denying Nolan built it brick by brick believably towards this climax.

Anne Hathaway paththi appdi ellaam sollapdaadhu. :-) :-) What if C(B)atwoman drives the batmobile? She does that with elan. Batman goes with certain principles, she doesn't agree to them in toto, that is it. :-)

Same opinion on Amazing Spiderman. Somehow something was missing. Was fuzzy there.

Did you see Avengers? I loved it immensely, though I had not seen any of its comics heroes earlier. paisa vasool movie.

Agree-o-agree to the verdict. Jooper.

Haven't seen Prestige yet. Will see.
gils said…
avengers paathen..Felt THOR character was not needed...or rather asinga paduthitaanga...Ironman part 3 matiri irunthichi padam..

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