The Dark Knight Rises
Oh boy this was a long film, hopefully my reiew/synopsis/recap doesn’t take as long to produce/read! A quick note on the previous two instalments of this franchise which I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed, they were well done and just hoping that this third edition would be a good send off. Actually, I just want to make a few points rather than recapping the entire film as that would certainly take too long. The film starts off in Uzbekistan where the CIA is apparently taking custody of a Russian scientist and some other prisoners, but lo and behold one of them is Bane, some super criminal/terrorist, he manages to kill everyone on the plane and escape with some friends and the scientist. Next, we see that Gotham City is now pretty clean and clear with relatively low crime and violence compared to the first two episodes, some eight years after the conclusion of the second film (in the chronology of the story), Batman (along with Bruce Wayne) have disappeared as he is no longer needed. But of course we wouldn’t have a film if he wasn’t needed any more, Bane makes his way to Gotham and starts running some business in the sewers, his plan was about as coherent as his speech as far as I was concerned, there were certainly times at the beginning where the (extra) pompous Darth Vader was terribly hard to understand. I don’t read Batman comics so I have no idea where Bane is meant to be from or what he is meant to sound like, the posh English accent seemed a bit odd to me. Any way, Bruce Wayne got bored and decided (I think thanks to Commissioner Gordon) that Batman needed to come back and have his go at Bane (also a former member of the League of Shadows, but in better shape) but as expected so early in the film, he got his arse handed to him and then locked up in some prison (Hell on Earth) where he was to witness the destruction of Gotham City as a cripple. *Personal Note: I found Bruce Wayne’s correction of the pronunciation of Ibiza a LOL moment.
The Dark Knight Rises
Bane has somehow worked out that Bruce Wayne has an awesome fusion reactor which can be used as a thermonuclear weapon and steals it and activates it while holding Gotham City to ransom. The US government and the police are powerless to stop him as he has captured the police underground and blown up all entries to the city and threatened to detonate the bomb if anyone intervenes. Meanwhile Bruce Wayne suffers in the prison watching the struggles of the Gothamites and eventually decides that he can’t take it and starts rehabilitation, he is helped by some guy and the (former) prison doctor, basically Bane has been providing the motivation for him to return. Eventually he is fit and healthy enough to try his escape which he initially fails with the bungee cord, he then decides to try it without the bungee cord and of course, he is able to make the final leap, once he makes it to the surface, we see the prison is in India. He returns to Gotham to see Catwoman, no mention of how he got there since he has no money or friends (in India or anywhere else), so I guess he pulled a super marathon swim and run. It’s been five months, not that anyone would have any idea apart from the fact that it is now cold and snowy in Gotham, and somehow Batman knows that the bomb is set to blow in one day, he certainly has a perfect sense of timing!
The plan to deactivate the bomb and capture Bane is set up, Batman and a bunch of escaped police officers will do what they can, but they will require a lot of luck! The police start the plan by marching toward the bad guys carrying only batons, for some reason the bad guys don’t shoot them until they get within grappling distance. At which point Batman shows up to take on Bane mano-a-mano for the Heavyweight title of the world! This time Batman has the advantage as he has surprised Bane and has regained his sense of fear and is able to weaken Bane by striking his mask. To his surprise (though not to my Em, she picked the girl that sleeps with the good guy first in the film to end up being the baddie) he is stabbed in the side by Miranda Tate his business partner who happens to be Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter (Liam Neeson from the first Batman film) who has been planning this whole vengeance thing for years. She leaves to try and set off the bomb, leaving Bane to finish off Batman, but wouldn’t you know it, it is Batman’s lucky day because Catwoman has come back and shot Bane to bits. Together they chase down Miranda Tate and manage to kill her (not before she gets her last words out though) and take control of the bomb, but there isn’t enough time, it’s about to blow. Batman decides to sacrifice himself (or does he?) and flies the bomb out to the sea where it explodes far enough away that it only kills all the fish in the sea and the radioactive fallout can only affect those living right on the coast for the next fifteen thousand years.
Gotham is saved and everything can return to normal, there is even a new superzero in town as Robin (whom I didn’t mention cos he was boring) takes over the bat cave after Batman’s death and peace returns until the next crazy from the League of Shadows returns (or the Joker, or maybe even the Riddler?). Oh, actually it turns out that Batman was too selfish to sacrifice himself, he used the autopilot on the Batcopter/jet to fly the bomb out and managed to escape the blast radius as well and is enjoying life with Catwoman in some luxurious Mediterenean country, well away from the nuclear fallout surrounding Gotham.
So yes, in the end I liked the film despite it going on for a bit and also the few plot holes (but it’s a movie, it doesn’t have to make perfect sense!).
Picture taken from Wikipedia.
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