MOVIE REVIEW: The Dark Knight Rises

by | Jul 23, 2012

I left the theatre less than an hour ago and, despite being way too old to put on a cape(towel) and run around kicking and punching things the way I did as a kid after some superhero movie or another, I did get those butterflies. You know those butterflies.

I left the theatre less than an hour ago and, despite being way too old to put on a cape(towel) and run around kicking and punching things the way I did as a kid after some superhero movie or another, I did get those butterflies. You know those butterflies. This film is a perfect third act. No, it does not have the Empire Strikes Back effect, where you’re left with heroes in conflict, striving towards an as yet unrealized hope. The Dark Knight does though – and that is why, like The Empire Strikes Back, we consider it the meat in the sandwich.

The second act is the easiest to love. We know who the characters are. We’ve seen the triumphing power of the protagonist in most sequel-begetting films in the first act (film). We’re confident in them. We’re ready for them to face their “even bigger challenge” with the stakes raised and the outcomes uncertain. You never really know where the second act is going to go. That’s where its ability to be unique comes from.

The third act, in standard Summer-fare movie trilogies, is like graduation. You know it’s going to be long, you know there’s going to be resolution, and when the story is as epic as this one (which stands at shoulder height with the original Star Wars trilogy and LOTR) is, there is going to be extended denouement. But when the diploma is received and the mortarboards and gowns are off, the deeper reflections of the moment are not on just that momentous day. It should make you think about the entirety of the journey there. That is something TDKR does very very well.

Like Return of the Jedi, a maligned third act that is MUCH better than people give it credit for, The Dark Knight Rises has to eschew the minutiae and prepare you for finality. In doing so it has to resolve, or at least address, in a measured pace (so as not to discredit the emotional weight) of every conundrum brought up in the previous entries. It has to also make you care about what’s happening now. It has to keep you guessing at eventualities that most third acts lay bare – like we all just sat back and waited for Anakin and Obi-Wan’s lava fight at the end of Revenge Of The Sith. Instead of merely waiting for the “final epic fight between Bane and Batman,” I gave a shit about what was going to happen in between.

All in all, I loved this movie. There are very few trilogies that call for repeat watching as a marathon event. Other than this trilogy, there’s probably only SW, LOTR, and… hell, maybe that’s it. I think that’s all a review of this film needs to say. Nolan did NOT fuck it up. He landed the jet fighter at full speed on a moving aircraft carrier. Bravo!

Marilyn Drew Necci

Marilyn Drew Necci

Former GayRVA editor-in-chief, RVA Magazine editor for print and web. Anxiety expert, proud trans woman, happily married.




more in community

This is What The Diamond District Ballpark Could Look Like

Finally, we have our first look at what the new Diamond District stadium will look like.  Recently acquired through a Freedom of Information Act request by Richmond BizSense, the preliminary designs, which are subject to change, offer a glimpse into the envisioned...

Matt Strickland and the Image of Strength He Must Demonstrate

Strickland Appeared before the Virginia Board of Elections “Buy the ticket, take the ride” is that old proverbial saying coined by Hunter S Thompson. I prefer the saying “take the ride, pay for the ticket. Now is almost the time for Matt Strickland to pay for the...

Richmond’s Next Mayor? Get to Know Garrett Sawyer

Today, I’m getting a drink with a politician. Coffeeshop, lunch spot, in-studio - those are perfectly fine places to get to know someone, but there’s nothing like a good whiskey to loosen up a conversation. Garrett Sawyer is meeting me at The Camel for happy hour on a...

Richmond Loves Its Baseball

Been Playing Since 1866. Cobb, Ruth, Williams, Mays Played Here. We Even Had a Major League Team — For 46 Games Everybody knows that our beloved capital city has a rich history. Settled by Native Americans, explored by English colonists, burned to the ground by the...

You Can Call Me Bill: An Interview William Shatner

Over the course of his decades-long career, he’s been known by many names: Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Sergeant TJ Hooker, Commander Buck Murdock, and even Stan Fields if you can be so bold as to tell us why April 25th is, in fact, the perfect date (Answer: it’s not...

Topics:

Pin It on Pinterest