The Dark Knight Rises Review

In the film world an entire trilogy is almost never successfully pulled off, Spider-Man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand, Return of the Jedi, The Godfather Part 3. It's just simple probability that eventually one of the the films isn't going to live up to the incredible heights set by its predecessor, and this film has to follow up the unquestionably phenomenal second entry that has yet to be usurped as the single greatest superhero film of all time. And while this film doesn't even come close to recapturing the magic of The Dark Knight, we are still given a majestic, epic conclusion that not only gives this series a fitting poignant finale, but it retroactively makes the previous films better. By the time this film is over you can sense the threads that were lain back in the first film finally paying off dividends, themes of myths and legends, a sense of profound meaning in what makes a city and the ever present duty that Bruce Wayne feels he owes to Gotham. A lot of characters are brought into the fold in this third act of the series and while they're sometimes lost in the shuffle they fit into the world perfectly. Old stalwarts of the series get fitting conclusions and new inductees are left with a promising future. Christopher Nolan has successfully made the greatest comic book movie trilogy of all time.

To even remotely describe the plot would be to unravel and deflate three films worth of build up and character development, so I wont even attempt to describe the goings on. Suffice to say it's been nearly a decade since Harvey Dents death and subsequent cover up in the last film and Bruce Wayne has had to hang up the cowl. The Dark Knight Rises is a technical marvel, with practical effects taking the place of over the top bombastic action, cinematography so gorgeous it deserves awards and a Gotham that comes to life like never before. The sense of scale is massive as well with easily more than three hundred extras running and fighting in the streets. Nolan's films have always been a visual treat because at the core of every amazing special effects is a practical one. Maybe the newly introduced flying vehicle cannot soar but it is certainty physically present in the late movie chases and it all lends to the feeling of believability and large scale conclusion this film caps the series off with. The performances are all top notch, with each actor delivering dialogue that in typical Nolan fashion is oftentimes verbose and over explanatory with great verve and believability. Anne Hathaway steals every scene she is in, embodying the cat burglar Selina Kyle in a grounded and manipulative way like she has never been portrayed before. Bane on the other hand is a typical one dimensional villain with a carnival ring leader cadence to his voice. His motivations are never clear even after a late movie revelation which in my opinion was the saving grace of his character. He is an impressive physical adversary to Batman and their fights are brutal with painstakingly lingering shots instead of the typical action movie quick cuts.

The films run-time is just under three hours and its a determinant in a few surprising ways. This is not a boring movie, nor does it drag but the film does have pacing issues. The film moves in fits and starts, there are times of exhilarating action crammed in the middle of long expository scenes and it makes the movie feel weird. What surprised me so much was for a movie as long as this, story revelations or character reveals are relegated to 3 minutes of gotcha scenes which suck all dramatic weight out of a moment. Things are bluntly explained, characters brush off gaps in logic and the story overall unfolds too conveniently. There is one thing that the run time adds to the film, and that is a real sense of time. The fact that it takes Bruce so long to put on the cowl for the first time isn't frustratingly slow, its meaningful and when he final dons the cape it is rousing and exciting moment. And later in the film when Bane has taken control of Gotham and Batman finally returns from his imprisonment he is, for the first time in the whole film, physically and mentally 'back'. With a rousing score and a real emotional story the last act of this film is touching and inspiring and a perfect book end for one of the few absolutely pitch perfect film trilogy of all time.

Despite some clumsy story telling and odd pacing The Dark Knight Rises winds up being the perfect conclusion to Nolan's vision of Batman. There was never any way to top the previous film, and Heath Ledger performances will always define that movie in a unique way. But Tom Hardy as Bane is an imposing foe and Hathaway's Selina is a strong and morally ambiguous counterpoint to Bruce that when brought together share great chemistry and fight well back to back. Even seemingly bland Officer Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt becomes a sympathetic and passionate character who lends his talents to Batman and the city of Gotham when the chips are down. Michael Cane even gets to stretch his dramatic talents as Alfred in one of the most heartbreaking moments in this series. These films when viewed together tell an intricate and complicated story of a man who sought vengeance and found salvation for himself and an entire city in an unstoppable and inspiring force, a symbol. When asked why I consider Nolan's Batman the greatest comic book film series of all time the answer is simple, while the likes of Iron Man and The Avengers are amazing 'comic book' movies (that's the conceit), The Dark Knight series is a masterclass of film-making that simply happens to star a comic book character.

(4.5 out of 5)

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

The Amazing Spider-Man is anything but, as the titular web-head swings through New York a perpetual sense of deja vu is permeating the entire films runtime, along with a single question, Why a reboot? The last Sam Raimi Spider-Man film was released in 2007 that was only 5 years ago, this is unquestionably the fastest turn around for a reboot and it's what cripples the movie right out of the gate. By rehashing the same exact plot from the original film this movie wastes time with things audience are intimately familiar with, because if I remember correctly those films were some of the most financial successful movies that kicked off the summer staple genre of super hero movies. This movie doesn't have a single unique aspect, anything new or different is only slightly so, frustrating you more as some of the unexplored aspects of the film are incredibly promising. Changing the love interest from red headed Mary Jane to blonde Gwen Stacy isn't much of a difference, and the villain is still a scientist who after experimenting on himself becomes insane and turns into a homicidal green monster. The parallels are constant and it keeps The Amazing Spider-Man from creating any identity of its own.

There are positives though, quite a few even. The performances from the two main leads are fantastic, Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker is great and his shy stammering nature is likable and even more believable then Tobey Maguire. Garfield is already a more accomplished actor and he brings gravitas to the typical overblown teenage angst. But it isn't just his Peter Parker that's good, he brings a grounded physicality to Spider-Man, a problem the old films had was a sense of weightlessness, not here. Spider-Man's wise cracking and agile swings through the city skyline are more akin to his comic book origins as well. Emma Stone similarly brings better acting chops then mouth breather Kirsten Dunst and never falls into the typical damsel in distress. She is an intelligent and capable young women and immensely more interesting than the red haired bimbo of the previous films. Their romance is the best part of the movie, unsurprisingly handled with deft hands by director Marc Webb (how perfect is that) who previously helmed my favorite romantic film of all time 500 Days of Summer. The young boundless affection these two show is twee as fuck (look it up), it's heartwarming if overly sappy, but it works all the same. It is the one thing in the movie that is handled well and given the time to develop. When (because it's not a question of if) this film gets a sequel, I hope they change the director, nothing against Webb but I fell he set up a great romance that I want to see strained by a more fascinating dive into Spider-Man's psyche with a truly sadistic villain.

Which brings me to my last point The Lizard, I'll let that sink in for a bit. No go ahead I'll wait, get a drink or some cookies this isn't going anywhere. Ready. Ok. The villain is a giant lizard, humanoid to be fair but he is A. GIANT. LIZARD. And this Lizard has a plan, to make all the people of New York and eventually the world, into similarly giant lizard men and women. This is single handedly the dumbest fucking villainous scheme I have ever heard. It is so dumb it is never outwardly spoken by any character, instead it is pieced together by Spider-Man and more aptly the audience through audio recordings and notes in the lab Spidey discovers in the sewers. Now initially a scientist with the admirable goal to make human beings more resilient through cross species genetics is interesting. Even the Wolfman style transformation he goes through after testing the experiment on himself is cool. But at what point does an aerosol dispersal of a lizard transformative toxin make sense from a revered OsCorp geneticist. But put aside the ridiculous villain and the real problem is that he is immensely underdeveloped  his motivations are unclear and his eventual preposterous plan makes even less sense. There are some weird creative choices as well  like having The Lizard speak intelligible makes him look dumb stalking around, "I'm going to get you Parker". Add to that the film's other retread of a villain who yells at himself akin to multiple personality disorder and you have an uninteresting and silly antagonist.

The Unremarkable Spider-Man is a more appropriate title to this movie. There are no new ideas and the plot is frighteningly close to the original, like grounds for a legal suit similar. But underneath a general feeling of sameness there are great performances from the two love bird leads and a snarky kinda asshole Spider-Man. Quips and smart remarks are abundant and the fight in the highschool is what every Spider-Man fan has been waiting to see, and its the best fight in the movie. There was one scene in the movie that I adored, and its something I'm a sucker for, and that's the every-man blue collar worker banning together for the greater good. When Spider-Man is shot and is having a hard time making it to the OsCorp building where The Lizard is planning to disperse his toxin. A construction worker who had his son rescued by Spider-Man earlier in the film calls all his buddies up and tells them to swing all their cranes over 59th Ave. to give Spider-Man an easy route. I nearly sprang outta my seat cheering and crying. It is touching scene and embodies one of Spider-Mans greatest qualities, his inspiring attitude to do the right thing simply because you can. All the elements of a possibly great Spider-Man film are here, but a ridiculous villain and a origin story retread hold back a new trilogy brimming with potential.

(3 out of 5)