The Dark Knight Rises

A monumental film – maybe too much so. It exhausted me as if I’d had to carry Bane on my back for three hours. The Dark Knight Rises has a massive scope, it follows about a billion different characters and the network of motivations and relationships among them it’s never very clear (at least not after watching it once). In all this burnt-out expanse, it needs to resort to various shortcuts (someone always comes and meets someone – without it being clear how they knew that said someone would be there – then they say something important and carry on – repeat and rinse after a bit) and pathetic holy speeches (and I won’t even mention the bus full of orphans), while Bane’s plan and its execution feels very dodgy. Yeah, it’s (only) a “comic book movie” and you also can find similar “comic book” twists, motifs and dialogues in the previous two parts, but here it’s a bit too much and Nolan is trying to take his very realistic concept too far. Naturally, the movie is technically flawless. In the end, it’s the character of Bruce the one who gets most of the attention, so as a conclusion to “his” trilogy, it does work well in all its fatality and epic (8/10). As a standalone film, however, it grinds a little. Let’s hope that in two years Christopher will go for something smaller. PS: Of course, it’s very likely that watching it a second time will make the film feel more cohesive, complex and clear (as usual with Nolan), but I don’t feel like going through it again so soon. (08/01/2012)

The ending of Nolan's trilogy is outright weak, although seemingly everything fits together like a puzzle. In three films, Batman was born, fell, and was reborn only to let the Bat fall back to sleep. In the third film, the theoretical highlights include Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Marion Cotillard as Talia al Ghul, but even they don't rank amongst the best displays of acting in DC films. (05/09/2022)

There are many forms of immortality.. The series from one bat cave does not end with a movie that rewrites or destroys its rules or genres. The laws of Batman stories were determined by the first part, and the immortal saga defined the second part. Therefore, Bruce Wayne rises in a completely logical way at the end. In one hand, Nolan gave him the comic book-like Batman in the form of Selina Kyle or references to the League of Shadows. In the other hand, he gave him the determination of the Dark Knight with anarchy and political-police intrigues. There is no need to rush, no reason to shock. Just untangle the final plot twists and place the characters of one great story in their final positions. In the end, another one and a half hours of fascinating and equally suffocating spectacle full of captivating characters, and a royal comic book trilogy with everything that goes with it. (08/04/2012)

A film that unfolds in one's mind in an unprecedented way. Let's go step by step. Huge expectations, especially after Nolan made a fantastic promotion with The Dark Knight, it was said he to have nowhere else to go. It is not possible to make anything better, more complex, more magnificent. It may well not be. This installment is not better than the second. It is different, and in the end, it turned out exactly as it should have: American, with its head held high and a torn flag. In all aspects it’s more classical, more pathetic, and essentially simpler and more clichéd. I wasn't expecting a return to finding oneself like in the first film, yet there were many elements here that were absolutely the same. Bane – one of the most anticipated villains of all time – yes, mission accomplished, with his monumental, demonic personality. During the scene “Who are you? I'm Gotham's Reckoning”, I had to blink. And this film has plenty of moments like that. Especially in the “mental” sequences from the prison – this is the good old Nolan that works just as well for the third time. The action is traditionally not the main attraction, it’s pragmatic and austere, essentially just a small bridge in the dense plot. Unfortunately, the closer the film gets to the finish line, the worse and less cathartic it becomes. The final seems very weak, American, and quite unexpected to me. I often missed genuine emotions, which were abundant in the first two films. But then the question arises: what if they are there, but we have become desensitized to them because we got used to them? Speculation. It is definitely necessary to see the entire trilogy in one go. It is not a disappointment, it is still the big film of the year that will make a lot of money and win awards. However, the middle part seemed more complex, urgent, and had more twisting scenes. Hans Zimmer is still brilliant and the Joker is on par with Bane! (07/26/2012)

Until the American anthem was played, this the best I've ever seen in an American blockbuster - for a lot of people this means that they'll be bored for about the first hour, but I enjoyed the masterful tension with which Nolan completely controls the screen. He is able to do so without action, and only with a massively built feeling of restlessness. After the American anthem, I began to have issues with the film - the brothers probably heard the criticism that came down against the Dark Knight's ideological background from the left and seemed to want to settle accounts with supporters of social justice and redistribution. However, they chose a destructive "weapon of choice" - Bane is an enchanting, overwhelming and utterly demonic character that allows Bale’s Wayne / Batman to do what they are strongest at: sacrificing themselves for the film / Gotham. In the end, I was missing more systematic work with the story and characters, the pace is deliberately very impetuous and the dosing out of information is cumbersome. The quite contradictory return to the "comic" mythology of the first film is also quite surprising... The final mega-twist, which weakens Bane's pure evil aura a little, tore me out of a pious ravings about one of the best characters in the trilogy. But I wonder in vain when the last time was that I saw something so overwhelming, monstrous, majestic and yet honed in terms of filmmaking. It was said that Batman would be the king of the season - and despite many objections, he definitely was for me. Edit: Only the second viewing will reveal how consistent and yet emotionally fertile this film is. The IMAX copy is stunning, and the film gains through every detail. Grandiose... (07/19/2012)