Knight of all realms
The Batman. Yes, he’s not Batman but The Batman. The definitive article has been one of the many consistent elements of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy that may have gone unnoticed. And with The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR), Nolan proves yet again that with a powerful cast, gritty dialogues and stellar performances, you can make a viewer feel sorry for a billionaire with the fastest cars in town.
In this end to the trilogy, we pick up where we left off in Nolan’s 2008 blockbuster, The Dark Knight. While billionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne (a pitch-perfect Christian Bale) has thrown in his cape for good, resigning to live as a physically challenged recluse in a dark room of his multi-acre estate, Gotham city snores under a blanket of ‘peace’. After all, the thugs are off the streets. Citizens celebrate the Harvey Dent Day — a tribute to the city’s late District Attorney (Aaron Eckhart) who they believe had died fighting crime. And with this love resides a deep hatred for Dent’s killer, supposedly The Dark Knight.
What happens to a city when it is taken over by a terrorist who holds the judiciary and the stock exchange hostage? A city where the ultimate power — to take away a life — is put in the hands of its people? It becomes hell on earth, as Nolan’s vision proves.
Right from the film’s opening scene, one misses the ominous Joker. And more than that, one misses the insane villainy that the late Heath Ledger brought to The Batman’s age-old arch-nemesis. Which is why British actor Tom Hardy’s ‘Bane’ has big shoes to fill. And does he? Well, let’s just say, he’s not the Joker.
Bane is a masked heathen. He has no clear agenda except to create havoc and destroy Gotham. Yet through Bane’s antics, Nolan mocks the two systems of power he loves to hate — capitalism and the judiciary. I would have loved to know a little bit about Bane himself; after all, a hero is only as great as the monster he defeats. Also, Bane’s mask often restricts his ability to enunciate, making his ominous threats sound like muffled groans. The film derails into an unnecessary diversion which takes up about 30 minutes of the two- hour-forty-minute screen time.
And so begins a duel which a superhero film has never seen. The monsters are people among us. The Batman must return. And as our hero tries to defend himself against Bane’s humongous size, the giant brings a fact to light: “You have adopted darkness, I was born in darkness.” Interestingly, Bane thinks himself to be a “necessary evil”.
The machines are fast and heavy, leaving you awe-struck. Watch out for a gasp-worthy action sequence involving a flying batmobile.
Back to The Batman. Bale might have relinquished his spotlight in The Dark Knight to Ledger, but in TDKR, he is back with a vengeance. So we see The Batman get kicked, punched, his chiselled face mashed into an unrecognisable pulp. And yes, he shouts like a baby. Bale indulges the viewer in a few laughs even as he battles his inner conflict: can Bruce Wayne survive without The Batman?
In the most gripping performance of her career, Anne Hathaway bursts through the screen in a skin-tight catsuit, as the sly cat burglar, Selina Kyle. She flirts, kicks the bad and the good guys, gets The Batman into more trouble than any other villain. Bale’s charm is matched by her casual shrugs as she menacingly whispers, “A storm is coming, Mr Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches. Because when it hits, you’re all going to wonder how you thought you could live so large, and leave so little for the rest of us.”
Nolan puts the focus back on Wayne’s only surviving relationship. And yes, it’s with Alfred Pennyworth (a flawless Michael Caine). Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman prove yet again that you can leave an impression even from behind the shadows. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the upright cop John Blake holds his own.
Nolan’s Batman will possibly go down in history as the only superhero to have surpassed his own legend.