The Bat is dead.
Long live the Bat.
In 2005 Christopher Nolan and company added the word reboot into Hollywoods lexicon.
Prior to that movie, the idea of just starting from scratch with a franchise brand seemed ridiculous.
I mean James Bond had been going straight without a reboot for 20 films!
But sinceBatman Begins, everyone and their sidekick is getting a reboot.
Rest assured, there will always be Batman movies.
The character is even supposed to appear in 2015s purportedJustice Leagueflick (thinkAvengersbut with more capes and grimaces).
However, it will not be Christian Bales Batman in that movie.
Thats an even crazier notion when one realizes Batman has never had a definitive ending .
People just cant let Batman go.
But thats exactly what Nolan did in his final Bat-flick,The Dark Knight Rises.
So, howd he do?
Its been eight years since Harvey Dent died and the Caped Crusader took the blame for his crimes.
In that time, Gotham has done the impossible: it cleaned itself up.
But all this idyllic peace has left Bruce Wayne (Bale) with none.
But two strange forces pull Bruce out of his deep funk.
The first literally knocks the self pity right out of him when she steals his mothers pearls.
The other masked figure pulling on the once and future Bat is a far more menacing supposed revolutionary.
Bane (Tom Hardy) in truth is a rogue offshoot from Beginss League of Shadows.
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The Dark Knight Risesis an incredibly ambitious film.
There are points where the movie can be messy as it gallops through its Second Act.
Bane is a false prophet who wraps himself up in revolutionary rhetoric to advance his own agenda.
Literary and historical allegories aside, Bane is an interesting villain in his own right.
Everyone had the same reaction last summer.
Hes not the Joker.
And hes not, but I doubt Nolan or Hardy wanted that.
Likely knowing they couldnt top Ledgers manic iconography, they went for a different kind of threat.
Bane is obviously the greatest physical challenge Batman has faced in any of his films.
However, Nolan made Bane more than his comic book sum for this movie.
On the page, Bane is an intelligent brute.
He can outwit Batman to a point and uses super-steroids to outfight him.
These ideas may be rich, but they are held together by Hardys bravado performance.
It almost lets you move past Ledgers Joker.
As entertaining as Bane is though, it is Hathaways perfect feline who steals the show.
Not even the most disgruntled fanboy had a nit to pick after the picture dropped.
Thanks to Jonathan Nolans urging, comic fans finally now have a Catwoman who isnt evil or supernaturally psychotic.
While the men start firing bullets at one another, the forgotten Selina lightly struts out of the bar.
Unlike most female protagonists in this genre, she doesnt need anyone to save her.
After three outings, he has become very comfortable in the role.
Even audiences have, for the most part, stopped snickering at his gravely Bat-voice.
But this is a special one for the actor and the archetype he has been exploring.
WithRises, Bale is back at the center and explores the greatest taboo in comic book history.
What if Bruce Wayne can overcome the death of his parents?
What if Bruce can look past his pain and anger?
His city needs him, but Bruce Wayne does not.
The whole narrative ultimately becomes about Bruce climbing out of the darkness and giving the construct of Batman up.
He may even give a murderess a free pass.
The Dark Knight Risesis a bold movie.
But dont forget its about letting go of childhood trauma!
It is many things…maybe too many things.
Yet despite being a bit top-heavy, the movie does find the right balance to soar.
Early inBegins, Bruce tells Alfred that he wanted to create a legend that would inspire people.
One that surpasses anything of its kind that has come before and stands alone on its rising platform.
