Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy

I should preface my remarks by saying that I have never read a Batman comic book so I am only looking at these films as a moviegoer.  I understand that Nolan draws from the comic books in plotting and designing these films but I am only interested in the results on screen.  Nolan’s films tell a three part story of about 35 years in the life of Gotham City and its most famous resident, Bruce Wayne.

As a child I watched a few reruns of the 1960s Batman show and only enjoyed Burgess Meredith as the Penguin with his large cigarette holder.  In 1989 as a teenager I saw Tim Burton’s Batman with Michael Keaton and kind of enjoyed it, though I never understood why it was such a huge phenomenon.  Keaton was interesting as Bruce Wayne and Jack Nicholson was a lot of fun as The Joker but too much of the film was told from the Kim Basinger’s uninteresting character’s point of view.  Batman Returns was, save for Michelle Pfeiffer’s fantastic Catwoman, a complete mess.  Batman and Bruce Wayne were supporting characters and much more time was given to Christopher Walken’s boring corrupt businessman Max Shrek and Danny DeVito’s annoying Penguin.

 

I liked Batman Forever the best of that series since I remember it focused more on Batman, played by Val Kilmer in this film, and the dynamic of his relationship with Nicole Kidman’s character and the development of Robin.  I don’t remember much about Tommy Lee Jones’ Harvey Dent but recall Jim Carrey was fun as the Riddler.  Batman and Robin was rushed into production after Batman Forever performed better than expected and I remember wondering throughout the process if there was a good script in place.  The answer was no.  I went to see that film for free and almost walked out after an hour.  George Clooney, an actor I like a lot, was badly miscast as Batman and Arnold Schwarzenegger, playing Mr. Freeze, just had a lot of awful puns about cold.

 

Wisely the series took an extended break.  In 2005 Christopher Nolan, the director of Memento (a film I loved for its innovative story telling device) and Insomnia (a clever remake of a European police thriller with a unique setting and dilemma for its protagonist) debuted Batman Begins with Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman.   

Nolan’s approach to the series is to tell the story of Bruce Wayne, mostly from Bruce’s point of view.  Bruce is always presented as a man who is trying to help his city and fulfill his parents’ wishes to make Gotham a safe place.  Bruce pays a huge physical (he is always shown with bruises and other scars of his battles) and emotional price (he is forced to present himself as a shallow playboy who gives up his one true love for the greater cause) for providing a symbol of protection for Gotham.  Gotham is also a full character in the films, reacting in different ways, not always good, to Batman’s exploits.  These all help the audience relate more to the city and cheer for it to overcome whatever challenges lie ahead.

Batman Begins

Things I liked:

Christian Bale, an actor I have followed since watching his performance as a child in Empire of the Sun (1987) is a terrific choice to play Bruce Wayne/Batman.  He gives a haunted performance of someone who suffered at a young age and who is strong and sharp but humane.  He also occasionally makes bad decisions and pays for them.  Bale is equally at ease with the menacing side of Batman, the playboy and the self doubting Wayne. 

Batman Begins has a terrific supporting cast with Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Tom Wilkinson.  Unlike in the other series, the villains never outshine Batman as a character and Bruce is always the one I cared about the most.

 

Liam Neeson, one of my favorite actors, shows depth as Ducard.  He has many fighting scenes with Bruce mostly in which he is training him.  His character has also experienced loss (the nature of which is revealed in The Dark Knight Rises) but unlike Bruce he has allowed it to corrupt him and he has come to believe that Gotham represents a scourge that needs to be removed from the earth.

Gary Oldman, who has played many villains in action films, is wonderful as Officer Gordon who gradually rises in rank throughout the first two films.  He shows a lot of warmth from his first scene where he comforts young Bruce after his parents’ death. Gordon constantly wears a heavy burden as one of the few honest cops trying to do good but surrounded by a corrupt police force and fighting such insurmountable odds.  In every film I always feel as much for his character as for Bruce.

Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox is dependable and charming.  Tom Wilkinson is sleazy as the mobster Falcone.  Michael Caine as Alfred is one of the few people Bruce can openly be himself around. Alfred guides Bruce and treats him with affection and also has the best lines in the film.  

The first act of the film was the most interesting.  It starts with Bruce as a child developing his fear of bats due to a nasty fall into a well after his parents are killed.  These events traumatize Bruce, along with his frustration with the mob’s control over Gotham, greatly to the point that he eventually goes on a pilgrimage to Asia to understand the criminal life and ends up in a Bhutanese prison.    

Liam Neeson’s character, Ducard, finds him there and has him released and recruits him into the League of Shadows, a group theoretically designed to bring justice to situations where the law cannot.  Bruce matures during this stage and determines that his goal in life is to help his city.  He also learns many fighting techniques and discipline.  Ducard, and the League of Shadows, instead want to destroy Gotham, since they believe its corruption in incurable.  The sequence ends with Bruce destroying the League of Shadows’ headquarters in the Himalayas and saving Ducard, who has become a father figure to him, from being killed.

Bruce returns to Gotham and develops Batman as a symbol the people of Gotham can get behind.  Bruce decides to use a theme of bats as a way of overcoming his fear of them, claiming if he can embrace his fear then the people of Gotham can do so as well  At exactly one hour into the film, we see Batman take his first action against several members of the mob and leaves Falcone for the cops to arrest.

Ducard’s reappearance in the third act and states that he is the true Ra’s Al Ghoul, the head of the League of Shadows.  He has developed a plan with Crane to poison the water supply of Gotham (using the toxin and disbursed by a stolen Wayne Enterprises transmitter).  I like the scene in which he enters Bruce’s birthday bash and Bruce pretends to be drunk and insults all the guests to get them out of the house since he knows there will be violence.  This scene perfectly encapsulates the sacrifices Bruce makes.  He hurts the people and his own reputation in order to protect them.

The final scene in which Gordon reveals that the villain of the next film will be the Joker by showing the deck of cards is very clever as is his dialogue with Batman.

Things I did not like:

Cillian Murphy plays Simon Crane, a psychiatrist who uses a scary toxin to appear like a scarecrow. He is a boring villain and his role in the overall scheme is minor.  

Katie Holmes is miscast as Rachel Dawes, the assistant DA in Gotham, who Bruce is in love with. She is beautiful but despite the character being written with substance, I could not see why Bruce would aspire to be worthy of her.  Even though Holmes did not return for The Dark Knight I was glad Nolan simply recast her character as opposed to writing her out.  

After the first couple of scenes of Batman thwarting the attacks I actually lost a little interest in the film.  In this film three villains and all of their henchmen are too many and Ducard is really Ra’s Al Ghoul who is using Crane who is manipulating Falcone.   It is difficult to follow each villain’s agenda was and why it should matter.

Ra’s Al Ghul’s reappearance is dramatic but it made no sense that he would show up and just tell Bruce his plan. Also I did not understand why Bruce was not reacting to his house being burned right in front of him (while they were both in it) just so he could keep listening to Ra’s Al Ghul. 

Despite these minor grievances I was pleased with the approach and as the film finished I saw that Nolan was definitely going to be bold.  In this film he did not use any of the villains from the previous Batman series.  Jack Nicholson’s Joker, was by far the most memorable villain of that series and I thought it was going to be very brave to recast that role.  If whoever played the role came up with a less than iconic performance it could hurt the series.  I followed the casting process with a lot of curiosity.  When Nolan cast Heath Ledger I knew that he produce an original characterization and The Dark Knight proved me right.

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight implements grander themes and makes  the relationships more personal.  It is incredibly well structured with many main themes as well as smaller ones, all tied to Gotham.  The film also changes the parameters for this type of film.  Despite being a Gotham set film like all three films a significant piece occurs in Asia as Batman has no jurisdiction.  Also at least four to six months pass between the first scene and the last which allows all the actions to have clear consequences.   I am very relieved that Nolan does not use over editing style typical of Michael Bay and other current action directors.  His action is always easy to follow and always has fun surprises.

The Dark Knight picks up a several months after Batman Begins as Batman and Commissioner Gordon are waging an overall successful war against organized crime in Gotham.  Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent, the new District Attorney who is Gotham’s “White Knight”, openly taking on mobsters and is dating Rachel Dawes, now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.  

The film’s three act structure proceeds as follows:  In the first act, Batman and Gordon are battling the mob by attacking their finances and The Joker, after the opening sequence, hovers more in the background as a potential solution to the mob’s problems.  Dent becomes the third link in the Gordon and Batman alliance. In the second act, after the mob has been stopped The Joker attacks in many unpredictable ways and it culminates in Rachel’s death and Dent’s disfigurement.  The third act deals with The Joker’s final test, his climactic battle with Batman and Dent’s eventual madness leading to the concluding face-off between the three former allies.  The film ends in a very surprising way for a superhero film.

Things I liked:

Nolan's style (combining ambitious visual shots with multi-tiered plotting) is immediately established with the terrific opening bank robbing sequence (the first shot is a helicopter shot-filmed with IMAX cameras) of Gotham that gradually focuses on a building that suddenly blows out several windows-literally opening the film with a bang) that introduces the Joker.  In a nod to the 1995 film Heat, which had an even bigger bank robbery as its centerpiece scene, William Fichtner, who was in that film, plays one of the bank managers who is actually a mobster.  The Joker gets a fantastic opening line as he reveals himself (he was wearing a Bozo the Clown mask) while he simultaneously kills the last robber with the unexpected appearance of a school bus.   The Joker then drives off in the bus on the main street and immediately blends in with several other yellow school buses.

This sequence perfectly sets up the Joker character.  He is devious, having the other robbers kill each other to cover his tracks.   Only a crazy person would think to use a school bus as part of the robbery but it turns out to be a perfect cover.  He has a voice like a ventriloquist and has a scar across his mouth but obviously painted on make-up.   He wears an old purple suit and every time he opens it there is a threat underneath.  He looks like a violent clown so the Bozo mask is an appropriate introduction.  He also enjoys toying with people and thinks outside the box when instigating his schemes.  His larger reason for the bank robbery is to show the mob how capable he is so they will pay him to fight Batman and the police (which only he is crazy enough to do by robbing them directly).

The Joker’s actions build on the theme of corruption in the film.  Ultimately the Joker wants to corrupt Gotham’s citizens and continually tests their morals with his outrageous actions. 

Dent knows that Gordon has a connection with Batman but Gordon does not trust him enough.  Many plot threads are dropped in this part of the film that surface later.  Dent, the “incorruptible” White Knight, is suspicious that some of the people on Gordon’s task force might be bent since he had investigated them when he was in Internal Affairs.  Gordon has limited resources and accepts that he has to work with what he is given but most of those potentially corrupt cops end up being true to their nature. 

Gordon wisely never tries to find out who Batman really is because he only cares that Batman is helping him make a difference in Gotham.  He also would not want to be forced to try to arrest him (since Batman functions outside the law).  Gordon often sends other cops away when Batman appears so they cannot be seen as working with him.

Coleman Reese’s arc is small but thought provoking.  He is the Wayne Enterprises employee who figures out that Bruce must be Batman because Bruce finances Batman’s equipment through the company.  His suspicions are further amplified when he sees Bruce asleep at a meeting (since he must be tired from fighting crime at night).  He has a great scene with Lucius Fox in which Freeman beautifully reacts to Reese’s blackmail attempt.   It pays off very well in the third act when he feels by going public with it may protect the city but he comes to see it is a bad idea to trust a madman.

The love triangle between Rachel, Bruce and an unknowing Dent is well developed. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a big improvement as Rachel.  She is in a relationship with Dent, but Bruce holds out hope that if he accomplishes his goal of giving the people of Gotham the strength to face corruption they can be together.  Rachel is torn between the two men since she still loves Bruce but is a little put off by his playboy antics (in order to cover his activities as Batman) and cares for Harvey but her feelings for Bruce keep her from giving herself over to him completely.

A line from Julius Caesar is repeated twice from the film. "You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain."  Dent ultimately becomes a villain and Batman is later forced to appear to be one.

In a link between Bruce’s two identities Lau, a Chinese accountant is looking to conduct a merger with Wayne Enterprises I think to help him launder mob money.  Due to a tip from a dirty cop, referenced by Dent earlier, he finds out about a raid the cops are planning to conduct on mob money and flees to China with all of it.  This action, which is revealed in crosscutting between the cops finding an empty truck and the accountant cleverly telling a group of mobsters about it after the fact via a satellite link while sitting on a plane, leads to two great sequences.  First it gives the Joker a chance to offer his services to the mobsters, which he does in a funny and scary scene.  It also sets up Batman’s abduction of Lau as he finally invites Dent to the rooftop meetings with Gordon to plot it.  The plan is to bring Lau to the U.S. to reveal enough information the cops can move against the mobsters.

Batman’s abduction of Lau is well plotted as Bruce, in a grandiose and fun move, disappears with the attractive members of a Russian ballet company to explain his absence while he goes to Hong Kong to get Lau.  Lucius’ scene with Lau accomplishes the audience pleasing gambit of Fox going to his office to insult this arrogant businessman to his face, in his understated way but also has the greater goal of planting the bug.  Batman’s entrance to the building from above recalls similar stunt in Mission Impossible III in which Tom Cruise’s character leaped onto a building in Shanghai.  The punctuation of the scene with Batman and Lau by being pulled into an airplane is one of many thrills.  

A huge scare occurs when the mayor walks to the window to be confronted with the hanging body of one of many vigilantes dressed as Batman, an unfortunate result of the appearance of Batman that even the Dark Knight himself does not endorse.  The Joker sends a terrifying video to the police in which he is getting information from one of his victims.  He does all this to draw out Batman to force him to reveal himself, which he feels will demystify him in the public’s eyes, as well as abandon his values.  

The following sequence is perhaps the best example of crosscutting as we see the Commissioner poisoned, the Judge’s car is blown up and the lead up to the attack in the Dent fundraiser.  Dent is very out of place at this posh event.  He is a man of substance and action and the superficial setting is uncomfortable for him.  When the Joker strikes and there is a Nolan crosscutting sequence to build suspense as Dent informally proposes to Rachel and she is unsure.  Bruce, aware of the pending attack knocks Dent out to hide him while Dent is insulting him to Rachel, a fantastic touch, especially since the audience has no idea why and thinks it may be just to get even with him.  A great social satire is thrown in when Bruce goes to change into Batman and comes across a middle aged politician in the middle of foreplay with a young girl in an office.  When The Joker enters and faces off with Rachel and then Batman he uses a knife in his shoe which I think is a Nolan tribute to From Russia With Love.  

I love when The Joker tries to shoot the mayor during the funeral for the Commissioner there is a quick shot of him without his white make-up.  The police are anticipating the attack and Gordon appears to sacrifice himself to save him though it turns out to be a ruse.  This act is kept from the audience and Gordon’s family, which ends up costing Gordon dearly in the next film (in my opinion).   Gordon is kept offscreen long enough that it is a true surprise when he turns up alive after the big chase scene.

There is a scene here in which Dent threatens one of The Joker’s henchmen and he appears about to betray his own values but Batman stops him.  Batman continually recognizes that compromising oneself allows The Joker to win.

The scene in which Dent claims he himself is Batman (effectively taking the fall for Bruce even though he does not know it) is unique.  Bruce, who was prepared to reveal himself, could have intervened but does not recognizing Dent has a larger plan in mind  (to use himself as bait while being transported to jail to draw out The Joker).  This costs Bruce Rachel’s heart as any remaining romantic feelings for him die in favor of Harvey.  Right after this scene Dent gives Rachel a big kiss goodbye which in this type of film usually means someone is going to die.

The centerpiece action scene of the film is when The Joker attacks the police transport with several weapons and Batman fights him first in the Batmobile and then in a lean motorcycle that comes out of the Batmobile when it is destroyed.  It is an exciting fast paced scene that culminates in The Joker facing off with Batman in the street.  Batman has the chance to run him down and end the threat but holds to his values and is unable to kill him directly.  The Joker is almost disappointed when Batman does not run him down.   Batman crashes and is about to be unmasked by The Joker when Gordon heroically appears and stops him.  

Once again it appears the good guys have won but yet again the triumph is short lived.  Gordon’s wife is happy to see that he is alive but also distraught that she was deceived by him.  When Gordon is promoted to Commissioner the moment is sullied by the Joker mockingly clapping.  When Dent gets into a car to go meet with Rachel the camera stays on his assistant, who has a worried look on her face,for a few seconds which is easy to miss (the audience is a little worn out after the chase).

The interrogation scene is brilliant.  Gordon is unable to interrogate the Joker and is primarily concerned with finding the now missing Dent (I love The Joker’s line-“I was right here.  What have YOU done with him?” and when Batman is revealed to be standing right behind him, one almost fears for the Joker.  While the Joker is clearly a capable fighter he is no match for Batman and he makes no move to physically defend himself.  The Joker loves the chaos and when he says he does not know what he would do without Batman the viewer can agree.  The Joker forces Batman to choose between saving Dent and Rachel.

The next few scenes make additional use of crosscutting (whereas many directors would focus solely on Batman trying to reach his goal).  It is ingenuous to see both Dent and Rachel kidnapped and held in different locations with explosions set to go off at both places, tied in with The Joker’s inventive escape. 

Rachel dies off camera in an explosion which I thought was a tasteful choice.  I love the touch that she leaves a letter telling Bruce that she had chosen Harvey but Alfred needs to decide when to give it to him.

Gordon’s scene with Dent in the hospital is painful.  Nolan gradually shows the audience Dent’s new appearance (the left half of his face has been burned off and his teeth appear particularly menacing) and Dent cruelly blames Gordon for the death of Rachel since he thinks she may have been kidnapped by some of the potentially corrupt cops that Dent had lambasted him for including on his task force.  Gordon’s long suffering role is extended here.  

The Joker, dressed comically as a nurse, visit to Dent in which he explains his love of chaos is ironic.  The Joker's many schemes are all intricately designed to force people to abandon their values.  The emotional pain Dent has suffered at losing Rachel, combined with the anger of his situation brings out his dark side.  After leaving the hospital goes on a quest to avenge Rachel, allowing The Joker to win the battle for his values.

This section of the film also shows Nolan’s insistence at having consequences for people’s actions.  Gordon had kept corrupt cops on hand which he needed to rid himself of the mob threat but which ended up hurting Gotham’s White Knight and killing Rachel.  Rachel told Dent she wanted to be with him right before she died (knowing she was about to die) but in doing so only helped fuel his rage.  

In the last big sequence ahead of the climax Bruce saves Coleman Reese, who was trying to blackmail him by crashing his Lamborghini into them and then covers his actions from an unsuspecting Gordon be saying he was just trying to make a green light while exchanging a knowing look with Reese who apparently will keep the secret to himself.  

One of the cops providing protection to Reese, has a wife in the hospital the Joker is planning to bomb and has an internal struggle as to whether or not to kill him to protect his wife which Gordon picks up on just as the attack occurs.  This is another touch showing the effect of Batman’s actions on the people of Gotham.

The hospital explosion, shown in a single shot is gigantic, with the added effect of The Joker walking away in his unique way.

 The Joker’s ultimate plot to turn Gotham into chaos fails because Batman has given them hope.  After a lot of suspense setting a group of civilians and criminals against each other is a true test of groups under mettle and everyone passes, which is the true defeat of The Joker.  

Batman’s final showdown with The Joker has a lot of good moments.  Batman is shown with the lit eyes due to his controversial surveillance equipment.  I liked the irony that he has to battle cops to keep them from killing the disguised hostages.

The emotional climax of the film follows as Dent has been killing the cops who were involved in Rachel’s death and then directs his rage on Gordon’s family.  The film ends with a face off on the roof of the building in which Rachel died with Dent threatening Gordon’s son. Batman and Gordon, who is truly desperate, try to talk him down.  Batman ends up tackling him off the roof of the building and Dent is killed in the fall but Batman saves Gordon’s son.  Batman then falls himself which hurts his leg accounting for the injury he has in the beginning of the next film.

Batman agrees to take the fall for Dent’s murders in order to preserve Dent’s pristine image in the eyes of the public.  This lie, he claims will benefit the image of Gotham and prevent the Joker’s scheme to cause chaos from being successful since they and the public had held Dent in such esteem and he had proved to be corruptible.  So they have stopped the villain but at a heavy price.  Alfred, employing the same ideology burns Rachel’s letter to Bruce so that he will be spared the pain of knowing Rachel had picked Dent over him.

While the Dark Knight was lauded and was a gigantic box office success some people thought it was too long and overextended by including Dent as one of the villains.  I think the point of the film was for The Joker to corrupt Dent so we needed to see him as a heroic figure for the first two acts so his downfall would be more effective.  It also set up a tantalizing scenario for the next film.  What would the plot of Dark Knight Rises be with these threads in place?  It was hard to imagine a darker story that The Dark Knight but Nolan and his brother who co-writes the films managed to do so.

Things I did not like:

The only thing I did not like was the fact that Batman’s voice sounds artificially deep.  In the first film it was about right and they corrected it again in the third film.

There was a lot of coverage relating to the fact that Heath Ledger died from a prescription overdose a few months before the release of The Dark Knight.  He won a posthumous Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.  I think while that affected the production of the film during the film The Joker is such a twisted menace that it does not affect the viewing.  It also serves to make the character more immortal in a way.  Nolan claimed that he planned to use the Joker in the third film which I think would have hurt the film.  The Joker dominates any scene he is in and it could have detracted or distracted from the effect of the villain they did ultimately use, Bane.

The Dark Knight Rises

One of the most anticipated films of all time, The Dark Knight Rises, was released in 2012.  It takes place eight years after The Dark Knight and in the story Batman has been out of sight since Harvey Dent’s death.  A positive effect has taken place in that the Dent Act was passed which has freed Gotham from organized crime and has probably eliminated corrupt cops from the police force. 

The scope of the film is enormous.  There are several gigantic setpieces and locales that send the audience on quite a journey that of course mirrors Bruce Wayne’s throughout the story.  The opening plane sequence, the sequence in the sewers, the stock exchange scene and chase, the fight with Bane, the football stadium attack, the escape from the pit, and the extended climax in Gotham. The odd thing is even though the film is almost three hours long and there are so many set pieces Bruce Wayne drives it but as Batman is only in it minimally.  He makes his first appearance 45 minutes in, disappears after taking the beating from Bane half an hour later and then does not appear for almost another hour until the climax.

The three act structure is as follows:  In the first act Bruce is presented as a recluse, using a cane since he hurt his leg at the end of the last film and is unable to leave his experiences as Batman behind him.  Gotham has become free of organized crime but it’s based on the lie Gordon unwillingly perpetuated about Batman.  Selina Kyle and John Blake are also introduced as a clever cat burglar and a young honest cop respectively and Bane surfaces as a vicious and powerful threat.  Miranda Tate is also introduced as a love interest for Bruce. In the second act Batman reappears but soon afterwards most of Wayne’s money is lost after a stock market robbery by Bane.  Batman is beaten badly by Bane and taken to a pit to watch Gotham be torn apart by Bane.  Bane manages to trap most of the police force underground and isolates Gotham from the rest of the world by threat of an atom bomb.  In the third act Bruce escapes the pit, returns to Gotham and helps Blake free the trapped cops.  Along with Gordon’s help they organizes a resistance that culminates in a massive battle in Gotham and Batman and Selina manage to defeat Bane and Miranda, who is Ra’s Al Ghul’s daughter, Talia and Batman takes the bomb out of the city right before it explodes, seemingly sacrificing himself but at the end he has survived and disappeared to Florence with Selina Kyle.  He has left coordinates to the Batcave to Blake suggesting that Blake will be the new Batman.

Things I liked:

The opening sequence which introduces Bane on a plane which he first appears as a CIA prisoner (with a hood over his face) and then manages to turn the tables on his captors, crash the plane and fake the death of a key character is fantastic.  The scenery, filmed in Scotland but taking place in the Ukraine is green and mountainous.  When Bane is introduced, with his stocky muscular physique, a mask that covers his mouth that looks assembled from machine parts and the odd voice the effect is startling.  There is a sense of an unpredictable caged animal and when he breaks free in the tight quarters the audience immediately fears for the agents.  Another plane comes above this one filled with Bane’s men (he let himself get captured to find out how much the CIA knew about him and to fake the physicist’s death). The whole sequence is impressive but one of the last shots (where Bane is holding the physicist while attached to a cable as he activates a release that drops the captured plane) is amazing.  

As a James Bond fan I must note it seems inspired by a similar stunt from the film Licence to Kill.

Gordon’s speech announcing the eight year anniversary of the death of Harvey Dent, supposedly speaking to the good that the Dent Act, passed in the wake of his death which has rid Gotham of organized crime, showing that the sacrifices made by Batman and Gordon has paid off.  But it has exacted a toll on him since this honest cop has now been living a lie and being forced to punish the one man he trusted.  It also pains him greatly to describe the man who almost murdered his son as a hero.  Gordon’s wife has left him, perhaps due to marital difficulties from his faked death in the previous film.   The Joker is never mentioned in the film but the end result of his efforts has left a big scar on Gordon and Bruce Wayne.

Every scene with Selina Kyle is great.  Anne Hathaway gives one of the best performances in the film and the score accompanying her appearances is playful.  She is actually what first starts to bring Bruce out his shell since he immediately checks out her background after the pearl/fingerprint robbery.  Even though initially Miranda seemed to be the love interest Bruce always reacts more to Selina.  Miranda had to seduce him to really get his attention.

In the first scene between Miranda (Talia) and Bruce she makes a reference to “restoring the balance” which is a minor foreshadowing of who she is since Ra’s Al Ghoul used exactly the same terms in Batman Begins.

The congressman’s kidnapping is well designed and gives Selina a chance to show all her wiles, especially the scene in the bar.  

The pearls Mrs. Wayne wears in Batman Begins are referenced throughout.  Selina Kyle wants them.  She steals them, Bruce gets them back and then the keepers of Wayne’s estate are shown to be looking for them.  Selina is wearing them again in the scene where Alfred spots Bruce in Florence.

Marion Cotillard played a key dark role in Christopher Nolan’s film Inception.  Throughout the first two acts she appears here and there but after she and Bruce sleep together she appears to represent a new chance for a normal life beyond Batman.  This is exemplified by her kissing Bruce as he sets aside the picture of Rachel, he is putting her behind him and moving on.  However, in fact it is a smart seduction.  She gets him into an emotional and reflective state by talking about Rachel and then kisses him, seemingly giving him a new chance at love.

During the first viewing as the film went on Miranda seemed to be little more than someone within Gotham that Bruce had to save and I was surprised that Cotillard was being given that role.  When she is revealed to be Talia then it all comes together.  

Batman’s first appearance is a lot of fun, with the cop apologizing for shooting at him and the subsequent motorcycle chase.  After the fight on the rooftop and Batman and Selina escape, Bane is shown walking toward them, hinting that it may be best to retreat from him.

The fight with Bane is the counterpoint to the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight.  It is one of the few extended scenes with no crosscutting.  A sense of dread hits as soon as Batman is trapped with Bane, despite the fact that Batman has just taken out several of Bane’s mercenaries with ease.  We have not seen them fight but we know Batman may be overmatched.  Batman throws everything he can at Bane but ends up beaten and with a broken back.

As Bruce confronts his fears about dying in the pit and is about to make the crucial jump to the outer ledge, bats fly out, hearkening back to the first film.

When Batman reveals to his identity to Gordon, it is similar to the way he revealed it to Rachel in Batman Begins (a hero can be anyone…) he is stating that Gordon is a hero of his in showing him warmth on that awful day that his parents were killed and it shows why Batman picked Gordon as an ally.

The epic scope of the film both in places and time (about a year passes from the first shot to the last) and takes place in Gotham (filmed in NY and Pittsburgh), Uzbekistan and an “ancient part of the world” as Alfred calls the locale with the pit.  When first watching the film I had the sense it was in Central Asia somewhere.  The areas outside the pit were filmed in India.

The pit is a great idea and the set was magnificent.  It also maintained the idea of Bane as an underground creature since he also spends the first half of the film in the Gotham sewers.

When Ra’s Al Ghoul appears to Bruce in the pit the staging is almost identical to how he appears to Bruce it Batman Begins (Ra’s dressed in dark clothing on the right side of the room, Bruce on the left bearded and in prison).

Second and third viewings indicate how cleverly Miranda has inserted herself close to Wayne to have control of the reactor after first bankrupting Wayne.  When Bane takes over the Wayne Enterprises Board meeting Miranda manipulates Lucius into freeing the reactor for Bane.  Also, when the Special Forces arrive Miranda sells them out.

The connection between Ra’s Al Ghoul losing his wife in Batman Begins and the revelation in this film of exactly what happened.

I think Bane is a fantastic villain.  His planning and terrifying presence makes him extremely formidable. Tom Hardy is a great choice to play him.  I liked the voice which was menacing and it had an ancient Latin flair to it.  I also liked the way he placed his hands to protect his breathing apparatus, which turned out to be his Achilles heal.

The physical price Bruce pays.  He has a very battered body as revealed by the doctor and probably should not continue being Batman.  His futile efforts against in the first encounter with Bane reinforce this.  Bane would always be a difficult match for him but especially so now.

The sequence in the hospital in which the doctor makes clear how much Bruce has suffered and then the following scene in which he visits Gordon with the ski mask as he is trying to decide if he should resume being Batman is funny, then moving.  Gordon, under anesthesia, shows the strain he has had to carry of being without his ally and friend.

When Bane and Batman start to fight during the climax, Miranda is quickly shown watching them with her dark Talia expression.

Nolan comes up with a good way to get Alfred out of Gotham before the siege begins so we do not have to see him in this situation.  Michael Caine gives a touching performance as the one person who still loves Bruce for who he is.

The attack on the football field and the city show us the vast scope of Bane’s plan for torturing Gotham.

The lies at the end of The Dark Knight made sense at the time (Gordon letting Batman take the fall for Dent’s crimes to minimize the Joker’s damage and Alfred burning Rachel’s letter to Bruce) but they both have unintended consequences (a recurring theme in the series).  Bruce has been unable to move on not knowing that Rachel already had.  Once he learns the truth about Rachel very soon afterward he is able to let go of his memory of her.  Gordon has of course paid his price as well and Gotham falls further into anarchy after Bane reads Gordon’s letter.  Lies usually are not the way to go.  It is better to go through a painful truth to find peace.

The scene where Bane reads Gordon’s letter and Gordon has to explain it to Blake is painful to Gordon. 

Bruce never really reacts negatively to losing his fortune, showing his selfless nature.  His immediate concern is protecting the reactor and the company.

Bruce really gets taken down (figuratively and literally) in the film losing his fortune, his father figure Alfred, his body for awhile and his hope.  He goes through a very grueling journey and makes it all the way back and is able to end the story happily, sitting with Selina and looking at Alfred.

Gary Oldman’s struggles as Gordon are moving as he suffers almost as much as Bruce during the same period that Gotham has been taken over.  He is wounded in the first act and then feels responsible for the safety of Gotham during the siege but never gives up.

The climactic sequence in which Batman fights in the daytime for the first time is epic and intense.  Seeing all those cops face off against Bane’s mercenaries is very exciting.

Blake was a good character and on second and third viewings I could see how every scene he has with Bruce or Batman (after their first scene together) Bruce is grooming him to take over.  

Wade Williams’ brief appearance as the prison warden in the scene in which Selina is being taken to jail is a great in-joke to us fans of Prison Break, in which he played a sadistic correctional officer.

When Batman reveals to his identity to Gordon, it is similar to the way he revealed it to Rachel in Batman Begins (a hero can be anyone…) he is stating that Gordon is a hero of his in showing him warmth on that awful day that his parents were killed and it shows why Batman picked Gordon as an ally.

As the climax was ending Gordon is heard reading Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities at Bruce Wayne’s memorial service, hearkening back to him reading out loud at the end of The Dark Knight praising Dent and speaking of the need to go after Batman.

The ending montage is played and edited beautifully as it gradually goes from mourning into a revelation that Bruce is still alive and has left tools for Blake to be the new Batman.  The final shot is the new Dark Knight Rising.

Hans Zimmer's score is fantastic.  It is exciting during the action scenes, appropriately playful during the Selina Kyle scenes and moving in the dramatic scenes, especially the chant scenes in the pit.

Nolan has done other films in between his Batman films.  I think this has allowed time for fresh ideas to generate between films and the two sequels are both extremely well plotted in a way they would not have been had they been rushed.

Things I did not like:

How exactly does Bruce return to the U.S. after escaping the pit? Obviously Bruce is resourceful but we needed at least some explanation.

How does Bruce get into Gotham in the third act?  For a long time I thought he took the Bat into Gotham but the script, though not the film, shows him using it to go meet with Selina ahead of his fight with Bane so he would not have had it later.   

Morgan Freeman’s role is reduced and he does not get any memorable moments.  The scene in which Bruce, played by an actor in his late 30s tells Lucius, played by an actor in his 70s, that he has retired seems a little absurd.

Bane’s revolution, in which without laws the rich are attacked by people in the streets who have less, is an interesting idea that is not really fleshed out.  The only offshoot is Selina claiming this is what she wants and then clearly disturbed by it. 

Why do Bane and Talia stay in Gotham knowing an atom bomb is going to go off?  The whole bomb plot (with it definitely going to go off in five months) was awkward.

Is it a good idea for Batman to fight Bane right after having sex at least twice?  That may be part of the reason he was ineffective but maybe that was part of Miranda’s strategy.  

Batman does not seem to have a revised strategy for his second battle with Bane.  He seems to get lucky by breaking Bane’s breathing apparatus but perhaps that was part of the design.  He does block a few more punches but it would have been better to communicate this to the audience in some way.

How did Batman survive the explosion?  He obviously bailed out of the Bat but it is a cheat to not say when this happened at the end of the film when other bits are being revealed.

In the end this film, while it is not quite as tightly plotted as The Dark Knight,  is extremely moving, is more ambitious and has a stronger emotional core.  Christian Bale does his best work in the series bringing the character full circle.  Anne Hathaway and Tom Hardy also give standout performances, as did Michael Caine in his reduced role. I have much enjoyed accompanying Bruce Wayne and Gotham City on its three film journey.

Batman Begins ***
The Dark Knight *****
The Dark Knight Rises ****