FILM REVIEW: THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (12A)

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Gary Oldman

Director: Christopher Nolan

Running time: 164 minutes

Released 20th July

Released by: Warner Bros.


"There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all going to wonder how you ever thought you could live so large - and leave so little for the rest of us." 

There’s little doubt that Christopher Nolan has been one of the key cinematic players that helped usher in a new century for comic-book heroes on the big-screen. With the eye of a cinematic architect he took a firm hold of the Batman mythology and painstakingly reconstructed the notion of super-heroics from the ground up, concentrating on the body and spirit behind the costume.  Though given undeniable extra momentum and coverage by Heath Ledger’s untimely death, The Dark Knight was truly great and justifiably successful film-making and one of the few sequels that actively improved on the original chapter.

Now The Dark Knight Rises and while Nolan demonstrates the same commendable degree of ambition and technical skill, his blue-print for this final chapter of his Batman trilogy seems off-kilter, trying to pack far too much into a running-time already over-stretched beyond two and a half hours.

This latest film sees a Gotham that supposedly no longer needs a Batman. Eight years after the battle that saw Batman take the fall for Harvey Dent’s rampage (to ensure Gotham’s spiritual heart survived) crime-rates are down and Bruce Wayne lives a hermit-like existence, walks with a cane and isdevoid of any real purpose except regret.  However, a mysterious bad-guy, with a rep that would make Keyser Soze look positively timid, is heading to Gotham. Bane (Tom Hardy), who wears a claw-like mouth-piece to control his pain, has an agenda that initially seems like the anarchy of the Joker’s outing. But Bane has a bigger plan… for himself, for Bruce Wayne and for the citizens of Gotham. Will Bruce be able to get himself back in shape to face this new threat, or will he be knocked off his game by the notorious cat-burglar Selina Kyle (Hathaway)?  Unfortunately, the various agendas at work here are about to collide and cause misery and heartache for all… especially with a nuclear bomb at their heart.

"The problem with RISES is that the audience is here for the final game of the season and not what amounts to a feature-film of a half-time sports psychology pep-talk... After a while it feels like you're watching The Man with the Gotham Tattoo rather than the promised reBourne Identity Batman..."
 

Though famously loathe to depend on CGI, Nolan still manages to pull some kinectic set-pieces from his bag of tricks. A plane stunt that wouldn’t look out of place in a Brosnan-era Bond outing kicks off the proceedings and before we’re done we have the 21^st century equivalent of a Bat-Copter soaring through the sky-scrapers yet somehow not seeming out of place in the heightened urban world the director has created.  Nolan wants to make Gotham a character in its own right, but he concentrates too much on the blueprint and not enough on the heart

Flaws begin to show in the moments where Nolan’s reach exceeds even his considerable grasp.  He loses much essential sense of pacing by populating his Gotham with far too many players – often causing major characters Gary Oldman's James Gordon, Michael Caine's Alfred etc) to disappear for long periods yet somehow finding time to have cameos at the expense of more essential scenes.  Juno Temple – outstanding in the recent Killer Joe is given two pointless scenes and then disappears without us even learning the character’s name (though comic fans may know she’s Holly Robinson). She’s one of several talented performers who are criminally wasted. Then again, for a film about a superhero, the cowled crusader has remarkably little face-time himself.  

There’s some truth to the fact that you cast a Bruce Wayne and let the suit play the alter-ego and as a character-study of the billionaire orphan, Bale does well throughout the trilogy. But the problem with ‘Rises’ is that the audience is here for the final game of the season not just what largely amounts to a feature-film of a half-time sports psychology pep-talk. The action is often undeniably good when it comes, but it feels like Nolan is reluctant to bring it centre-stage until he really has to. He had to... more.  You're watching The Man with the Gotham Tattoo, rather than the promised reBourne Identity Batman.

Bale, Hathaway, Caine, Freeman, Oldman and Levitt are perfectly okay - they're just not asked to do much except furrow their brows and emote as if their lives depended on it, often acting in ways that the script demands rather than seems likely.  Tom Hardy does the best he can behind his face-mask, but has to rely totally on his physicality, rather than the ADR'd voice which makes him sounds like Darth Vader's petulant little brother.

After a while, it all feels like pre-amble, rather than... amble.

Rises is the memorable Tiny Lister/bomb choice segment from the previous outing written large and with greater stakes, but somehow loses some of its very power because of that. Nolan wants us to think about the nature of spirit, hope and morality, but he sometimes forgets this is also a superhero movie as well. It all feels worthy, it doesn’t always feel entertaining. Too much angst, not enough anarchy.

There’s also been talk of the political element of this outing and it’s certainly there front and centre in Selina's speech to Wayne and then the way that the militant bad-guy Bane begins to take down the institutions that hold supposedly-civilised society together – the stock-exchange, the police and… you bastard… a football field (albeit the American kind). He says he’s giving the isolated populace of Gotham the chance to take back from the opportunistic rich, but there’s an ambiguity to the moral stance that seems very broad-stroked for a film that’s otherwise obsessed with details. The rich are complacent opportunists, the poor are brow-beaten sheep that embrace anarchy…. nobody comes out looking that good or moral and thus it’s hard to feel any passion for the conflict, however well staged. It's like Occupy vs Tea-Party as muzak and Batman being grabbed as a totem for both when neither earn it.

Die-hard fan-boys will like some of the mythology and may easily spot sign-posts for the twists and turns that the casual cinema-goer will not expect. Despite some noticeable plot-holes and contrivances, Nolan clearly did his homework on the source material minutiae and there are moments when the script works well, yet somehow the movie feels less than the sum of those parts, always just missing what its aiming for and resulting in some editing and pacing choices that don't seem consistent for a man of Nolan's reputation...

Ultimately well-intentioned but off-target, The Dark Knight Rises varies between too-detailed and too broad-stroked, never quite on-message because it doesn't really have one. But this will likely be seen as a missed opportunity rather than a wholly bad Batman. It's better than a lot of stuff out there but nowhere near  as good as it could -and should -  have been with a tighter running time, better prioritising and more solid pacing. This is a long, dark knight of the soul that just like the hermitted Bruce Wayne, is missing essential passion and humour to make it live up to its potential...

3/5

Continue

FILM REVIEW: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN

THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (12A)

Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Denis Leary

Director: Marc Webb

Running time: 136 minutes

Released 3rd July

Released by: Sony Pictures

Several years ago Marvel Comics decided to give their figurehead character, Spider-man, what amounted to no less than a complete overhaul. Suddenly his marriage to Mary Jane had magically never happened, his secret identity - exposed in the publisher's epic Civil War saga - was once again secret. It was a Brand New Day and to this day there are some who felt this was a reboot too far, but it seems to have stuck. So it's understandable that when Sony announced they were taking the highly-profitable cinematic version of the character and completely going back to basics, some fans were mystified at the reasoning and skeptical of the outcome. Would this be a new day or just an old brand?

Recast, re-imagined and somewhat respun, The Amazing Spider-man's first task was always going to be about re-establishing its credentials.  Most of the mainstays of Marvel's mythology remain intact, but director Webb and screenwriter James Vanderbilt have sought to view them from a slightly different viewpoint, taking the familiar and restructuring some of the elements, aligning them in different ways - even if the destination is the same.


Peter Parker is  entrusted to his Aunt May (Field) and Uncle Ben (Sheen) when his parents fear for their own and his safety. After their apparent deaths in a car-accident, Peter is raised by Ben and May, inheriting his father's thirst for knowledge and gift for invention, but suffering in the social-skills department. He finds his father's briefcase and opening a hidden compartment, he also finds the remnants of his father's paperwork and genetic formulas. He searches out his father's scientific colleague Curt Connors (Ifans) now a renown geneticist himself, without realising that Connors is being unreasonably pressured by unseen billionnaire Norman Osborne to find a cure for the billionaire's illness at all costs. The meeting sets a series of events in perilous motion. Richard Parker's formula leads to breakthrough for Connors, but he is forced to experiment on himself with reptillian consequences. Peter too finds part of his life transformed after being bitten by a spider in Connors' lab... and realises he's picked up some interesting new abilities.  However they will come at a great personal cost when he fails to use them wisely. A confrontation between spider and lizard is inevitable...

Garfield is very good in the roles of Peter Parker and his alter-ego, the thirty-year-old perfectly capturing those awkward teenage years where the character goes from zero to hero but stumbles along the way. This is an actor comfortable in the skin of a character who isn't comfortable in their own. Peter is a child deserted and a young man underestimated, loved by his aunt and uncle but who feels on the fringes of his own life. Garfield measures that mix perfectly.  Equally Emma Stone gives some real depth to a role utterly ignored in previous cinema outings. Within the original comics,  Gwen Stacy would play a gigantic, fateful role in the direction of the title character and here we get to see why Peter would fall for her (and she him) in the first place.


The film's strong casting is also reflected in the supporting players. The ever-reliable Sheen and Field are instantly at home in their guardian roles, their reputations giving a shorthand that helps cut down on exposition. Leary has great fun as Police Captain Stacy and Ifans gives some needed humanity to the conflicted Connors.  

Those expecting a complete self-contained story may be surprised by just how many threads are left dangling. While there's a beginning, middle and end to some extent, Webb clearly sees this as a renewed and potentially ongoing franchise that doesn't have to rush to play all its cards in its 'origin' story. Though the secrets kept by Peter's parents somewhat bookend and inform the plot of the feature, the concentration is on the consequences of such decisions rather than answers as to why they were initially made. This is a first chapter we're seeing , but one that isn't afraid to hint that it's only part of a bigger story that will stretch backwards and forwards as it progresses. Well, hopefully.


The special effects are effective, the 3D elements being used well, if somewhat predictably. The technique of letting the camera provide a POV as we swing through the skyscrapers is a nice stylistic choice, though it is somewhat overplayed as the film goes on and may simply end up making the audience dizzy. The film's only problems are in the fact that this origin story, despite its tweaks, is still possibly too familiar to audience-goers who saw it play out with Tobey Maguire under the mask only a decade ago.  Equally, while Gwen's character is fine, it's just mightily convenient that she's Peter's classmate, Connors' intern and the Police Captain's daughter... all aspects that steer the character's journey.

There will be those who prefer the Raimi-directed trilogy and wonder what would have happened if that partnership continued, but quibbles aside, this is a solid enough romp for fans and the summer marketplace. Its slightly darker and more complex story elements play well  (though it ultimately ends up as more of a love story punctuated by smackdowns) and though they may not threaten the MUCH darker remit of the Dark Knight saga - concluding this month - they do give the webbing some extra tensile strength and backbone within a 12A certificate. Already doing well in Asian markets - where it was released last week - and early US screenings, this should be one of the bigger international hits of the already impressive summer. It won't quite do Avengers numbers, but should be able to spin itself to highly impressive, if not ultimately amazing box-office.

(One thing to note - as with the films produced by Marvel Studios (though Spider-man is a separate Sony release) - it's wise to stick around until mid-credits for another brief extra scene that suggests more questions and further developments, though it will likely mystify rather than inform...) 

4/5

Continue