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July 21, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises: First Thoughts


Hey guys! I'm back! First off, I wanna say that I am so shocked at the events that transpired in Aurora, Colorado at around midnight yesterday/early morning hours. Thoughts and prayers go out to them (and you can google it if you don't get it)

Secondly, I know the aforementioned blows, but I hope my review of TDKR can help.

So, yesterday (well technically, that morning) I went to the midnight screening of TDKR.

OMFGHOLYCOWWTFBBQAJSGHJDFGJKFBGDN.

First off, this is the last installment in the trilogy of Batman movies directed by Christopher Nolan and it blew me out of the water (of course, others may not think so but it's my blog *muahahahaha!*)

The first 2 movies: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008)


But first; the essential main people


Bruce Wayne - billionaire/orphan/philanthropist


Alfred Pennyworth - loyal and extraordinaire butler to Mr. Wayne, confidant and been his 
guardian since his parents' murder


Commissioner James Gordon - ally of the Batman, uses the batsignal to contact him; one of Gotham's finest detectives and wants to protect it


Lucius Fox - the brains behind all of the Batman's gadgetry, not to mention the only other person besides Alfred that knows Bruce is the Batman. 


Harvey Dent - good district Attorney of Gotham, doesn't like the Bat's methods. Gets captured by Joker, turns into Two-Face as acid burns half his face off and goes eventually batsh!t insane. Killed by the end of The Dark Knight.



Rachel Dawes - the BFF of Bruce Wayne and later love-interest, she's an up-and-coming District Attorney and wants to help Bruce forget the vengeance he has against Joe Chill, the murder of Bruce's parents.  Killed by the end of The Dark Knight.






Batman Begins begins the chronicles of Bruce Wayne, orphaned billionaire who's been running from his problems. His parents murder, Joe Chills, is being set out on parole (on the condition that he testifies against a major crime boss, Carmine Falcone, and Mr. Wayne is extremely pissed. When he goes to exact vengeance for the death of his parents, Falcone's hired goons beat him to the punch. Bruce has a little turn-about and decides to travel away to understand crime (especially since Gotham is rampant with it). He joins the The League of Shadows, a group of highly trained assassins. Batman Begins is the exploration of Batman  taking justice into his hands since Gotham is corrupted (especially up in the higher-ups of government). One of villains was Scarecrow, his human persona as Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy) who studied the psychology of fear. The entirety of BB is that sometimes a vigilante is needed to do the things that others are afraid to do as exemplified by Bruce donning the Batsuit. As well, this movie is chronicling the beginning of Bruce's journey from scared boy to a (still-scared) young man that decides to become a hero that Gotham needs. 












The Dark Knight continues the Bat's story, but this time, Gotham's a bit tired of a masked man showing up their police/government forces. Harvey Dent, a straight-laced District Attorney who helps clean up the streets without a mask. The madman Joker then comes into town looking to push Gotham into chaos and anarchy (it's because Gotham* still has criminal running around crazily, making them an easy target). The Dark Knight covers the second half of Bruce's journey, as Gotham has turned on praising him to fearing him. This gets set up as Harvey Dent (as well as Rachel, one of Bruce's only BFFs/love interest) are captured by the Joker. While he places Rachel and Harvey in separate parts of town, he begins to destroy other parts of Gotham. He then forces the Batman to choose saving between Rachel or Harvey. (I think you know who he chooses...). Harvey Dent later gets turned into evil alter-ego, Two-Face, and terrorizes Commissioner Gordon's family but ends up dying. The town of Gotham doesn't know of Dent's turn to evil, only as the 'great' district attorney who was on the verge of finally cleaning up Gotham** once and for all. Gordon, however, tells no one of what he's done, choosing to live in silence for the following eight years.









The Dark Knight Rises begins eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Bruce Wayne, is now known as the billionaire recluse. He's angry at himself for Rachel and Harvey's death as well as giving up the role of Batman. Eight years later, Commissioner Gordon still feels guilty for not telling the city of Harvey Dent's crimes. There's a new detective in Gotham that still believes in the Batman when everyone else has moved on from him (John Blake played by Joseph Gordon Levitt). There's an introduction to the cat-burglar Catwoman spectacularly portrayed by Anne Hathaway, Miranda Tate[spoilers],  and Bane, a villain who is a terrorist "in both the physical and mental sense". The Dark Knight rises is more of a war movie, where Gotham is in danger of becoming destroyed [spoilers].
It was fantastically choreographed, visually stunning (even during the bleak scenes) and there are several sub-plots tied in throughout the movie to get tied in together near the end. I thought it was perfect and it was great ending to the Batman trilogy, as it showed the Batman's move from vengeance towards evil-doers to making peace with the imperfections and OHMYGOD THAT JOHN BLAKE THING, not to mention that fantastic kangaroo court scene (not to the people being "convicted", but rather who is doing the conviction. 




I will talk more about the superhero aspect later on today as I show you a new WIP idea that came from watching  Watchmen, Superman, the Batman trilogy, and a whole bunch of other movies. Hoorah! Watch the final installment of the Batman trilogy, it's freaking fantastic.  





* - I don't believe Metropolis had this problem... and they were like sister cities or something...

** - the whole great thing thought about Dent is also carried through in The Dark Knight Rises, where there's a law named after him that destroys any criminal activity in Gotham. The Dent Act says that all criminals are to be locked up in Blackgate Prison with no parole, thus angering all the inmates for the past 8 years.

2 comments:

  1. OMG Dark Knight Rises was so GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anne Hatheway as Catwoman was AHMAZING!!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wasn't it EPIC!?! I was honestly just BREATHLESS at the whole movie/beautiful cinematography.

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