Movie Review - The Dark Knight Rises

After waiting four years, we finally got the third film in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. I've loved Batman since I was a little kid and I really enjoyed the first two films in this series. Batman Begins gave us a fun and intriguing origin story steeped in the Batman mythos with plenty of nods to comic lovers while still staying stark and realistic. The Dark Knight continued the trajectory and took us into a world even darker and grittier than the first film. And now we arrive at the conclusion of the trilogy with the promise of Rising out of the darkness…somehow.

Because of the twists, turns and surprises, I will try to avoid too much information about plot details, but I may say some things that might hint at plot points. If you're worried about that, skip to the final paragraph above the stars. :)

Like many, I was saddened at the death of Heath Ledger. I certainly haven't seen everything he's been in but I've enjoyed his work and had a lot of fun watching him. And I felt like his characterization of the Joker was fabulous. He really nailed the creepy crazy psychopathic nature of the Joker. With him dead, I was worried that the final movie in the trilogy would either have another actor try to mimic Ledger's Joker or the Joker would be completely absent from the film. Part of me hoped that we'd have a copycat actor working as the Joker just because the Joker is such a quintessential part of Batman. In the end, we had no Joker in Dark Knight Rises which was a bit of a let down to me personally, but I think the movie was fabulous even without the Joker.

While the first two movies were meant to happen almost back-to-back in terms of chronology, this movie takes place 8 years after The Dark Knight. Wayne manor has been rebuilt but both Bruce Wayne and Batman have essentially gone into hiding. The nature of their simultaneous disappearance and almost simultaneous reappearance makes me wonder how it is that almost nobody (especially not the police commissioner and other smart people like him) puts two and two together to deduce his secret identity. I think Nolan tried to address this a little bit by having Commissioner Gordon comment almost apathetically that he didn't care who he really was because all he needed to know was that he was "the Batman."

As shown in the trailers, the primary villain in this movie is Bane as played by Tom Hardy. I've only seen Tom Hardy in a couple of things but I have to say that if you didn't know this was Tom Hardy, it would be difficult to identify him. He is always masked…not only his face, but also his voice. He also felt a lot "bigger" physically than I've seen him before. I'm not suggesting that he was a slouch in his previous films, but he seemed taller and bulkier as Bane than as his other characters. However they did it, Bane was definitely a huge physical presence in this film. Which is good considering Bane's nature and relationship to Batman in the comic mythos.

Review - Batman: The Killing Joke

I've been a fan of Batman for as long as I can remember but only really via TV Shows, cartoons and movies. I never really got into the monthly comic book scene and haven't picked up many superhero graphic novels. But I've seen The Killing Joke sitting on the store and library shelves for a long while and it kept calling to me...until I finally read it.

Of the Batman villains, my favorite is the Riddler. Mostly this is due to my own penchant for riddles, puzzles, codes and random mind games. However, close behind Riddler's methods of toying with Batman, my next favorite antagonist is the Joker. Thus having the entire cover devoted to him, really made me eager to read this. Add to that the writing of Alan Moore and I was stoked to get into this.

Apparently the original novel had much less color (mostly black and white, from what I understand) but the one I read was the "remastered" (that's the term for movies...does it apply to books?) version with cleaned up art and color.

I really enjoyed the art style. It was a little greusome at times and there were a couple of scenes that I would have prefered a little less "graphic" in the graphic novel.

The story was very fast paced and the writing very tight. Rather than the long back stories and explanations from something like Watchmen or V for Vendetta, this book just jumped right through all the hoops and presented the story with clean, concise movements that kept the plot jolting forward.

Probably my favorite part in the whole book was during the actual joke at the end. The joke itself was alright, but having Batman give a half smirk really just cracked me up. The stoic, withdrawn Batman who never reveals his humanity let himself emit a small sense of appreciation at the Joker's joke. Not a laugh or a giggle...more just a slight exhale with even slighter motion at the corners of his lips, but enough to see Batman's humanity.

For Batman lovers, this is a fun book. It's definitely not for kids (violence, language and covered/implied nudity) but for the more mature Batman crowd, this is an enjoying read.


3.5 out of 5 stars


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Today's Quote from Quoting Quotes:

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Scott Pilgrim vs the World - Make your own Avatar

At the movies last week, I saw a trailer for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, a movie based on the comics.

The movie itself looks like it might be kind of fun...probably a rental for me though. Still, the comic/concept is fun and could make an entertaining film.

But what's added cool is that they've created an online 'avatar creator where you can create your own character based on the style of the comic art.

It's a cheesy little way to waste a couple of minutes. Check out my zany dood above. What does yours look like?


And if you're interested, here's the movie trailer: