The Plot
This movie picks up eight years after the events of the last film. Bruce Wayne (played by Christian Bale) is no longer the crime fighting vigilante we all know and fear. He is instead reduced to a man who can barely walk five feet without the assistance of a cane. He is a shell of his former self in that he no longer attends parties or does anything play boy related. After taking the fall for Dent in the last film, Bruce decided to call it quits and linger in the shadows since he never really got over the tragic death of his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes. He doesn’t even have much of a say in his own company anymore since most of his money went down the tubes. When he learns of a ruthless mercenary named Bane (played by Tom Hardy) Bruce musters up the strength to dawn the black tights once more to take him down. What happens when an irresistible force meets an immovable object? It is a concept that has been told numerous times before where the hero suffers a defeat and needs to pick themselves up to overcome the obstacle in front of them (Fun fact: Kevin Smith referred to this movie as Rocky 3). I have so many things to say about this film, yet not so much if that makes any sense. There were some things I absolutely loved but there were some things that just stuck out to me as being flat out bad. Since I got the basic plot out of the way let me go into detail about what I did enjoy about the film.
My Positives
There were a lot of things this movie got right. Batman’s introduction was handled very well and might go down as one of the best character entrances in movie history. I remember my reaction when Batman first showed up on screen to lay the smack down on some baddies and after watching it again, I can see why I reacted the way I did. The scene was just as intense, if not more intense than his first appearance in The Dark Knight. The music enhanced the scene quite a bit and in some ways it gave the film a more epic feel than the previous two entries. The choreography is spot on in this film! I enjoyed every fight, especially the first fight in the sewer between Bane and Batman. I don’t think the director could have made that scene any better if he tried. Selina Kyle (played by Anne Hathaway) really holds her own against the baddies and there is a well shot fight scene on the rooftop where she and Bruce fight off Bane’s henchmen side by side. Bane is one of the scariest villains out there and this film is to thank for that. Tom Hardy’s portrayal is mesmerizing in that he eats up every scene he walks into. His presence alone can intimidate anybody in the blink of an eye because of his figure and demeanor. If I were to walk into a room and I saw a hulking man with a gas mask I would probably defecate myself. The sewer scene alone will sell his performance for you if nothing else does.
What Didn’t Work?
The plot was a jumbled up mess… There were times in the movie where my brain just wanted to shut off and I had a few, “huh” moments. Whenever Morgan Freeman started babbling on about the fusion reactor I could feel my interest level drop substantially. All in all, I felt bored throughout most of the movie and it is a pretty long movie with a variety of scenes that felt tacked on to extend the run time a bit. I didn’t particularly like the scene where Crane made people choose whether they wanted to walk on ice or be killed. I just felt like the court hearings were a bit too cheesy for me in an overall serious film. The story is simple but the way the movie was structured made it seem more complicated than it really was. There is a huge chunk in the second act that drags for what seems like a half hour and I felt every second of it. I was begging for the movie to cut back to Bruce Wayne doing his own thing instead of showing a whole lot of nothing going on in Gotham City. I think Anne Hathaway was pretty forgettable in her role as Cat Woman for the most part other than a few scenes in the first act where she steals a car from Bruce Wayne and fakes being in distress so she can get away. When Selina stole Wayne’s car that made me laugh a little bit because it’s not often Batman meets his match when it comes to being a stealth nut.
Some Interesting Facts
- Bane’s voice was originally more distorted. His lines had to be re-recorded so people could actually understand what he was saying.
- Bane’s theme is a chant that is uttered in the film a bunch of times. The chant is “deshi basara”, which means “rise” in Moroccan.
- Tom Hardy based his voice for Bane on Bartley Gorman, who was the unbeaten bare-knuckle boxing champion of the United Kingdom.
- In order to make The Bat fly, it was supported by wires, suspended from cranes and helicopters, and mounted on a purpose-built vehicle with hydraulic controls to simulate movement.
In Conclusion
This was a bloated mess all around with some good scenes sprinkled throughout the movie. I spent the majority of the film being bored since a large portion of the movie did not incorporate Batman to his full potential like the other films did. I will have to agree with Kevin Smith when he said that this film is pretty much the same story as Rocky 3. It is not all bad that this film copies over from a half way decent boxing movie if it is done right and in this case I feel like it stumbles a little bit with some of the structure but effective everywhere else. The second act is definitely the worst part about this movie since it centers around the citizens of Gotham running a muck throughout the city while Bane just hangs back with nothing else to do. The third act caught my attention quick when Batman shows up to get some revenge and take back his city. It kind of reminded me of The Lion King in a way where the protagonist makes their way back home to challenge the antagonist for the rightful claim to the territory. I do not think this is a bad movie but I will say that it is the worst movie in this franchise. I am split on this movie because it gets so many scenes right and a big part of the second half wrong. If you are a Batman fan then I recommend you add this to your collection to see for yourself how the franchise ends. It is worth checking out for that but don’t expect it to be as good as the other films in the franchise. I am going to give this film three stars out of five! It was an okay time to sit through and as a Batman fan I got some of the stuff I would want in a crime drama. Bane was no Joker but he did have an intimidating presence that shined in every scene like Heath Ledger did in the previous film. If you enjoyed my article then be sure to share it around on social media! I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!
The Great Critic 