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#NowWatching “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Which remains the best superhero movie of the 2010s.
It’s a glorious ode to blockbuster excess, a David Lean social epic crashed gleefully into a twenty-first century for no greater reason than because the director can.
Which remains the best superhero movie of the 2010s.
It’s a glorious ode to blockbuster excess, a David Lean social epic crashed gleefully into a twenty-first century for no greater reason than because the director can.
With “Batman Begins”, “The Prestige”, “The Dark Knight” and “Inception”, Nolan had essentially completed his transition to blockbuster film director with a unique sensibility as auteur.
What do you make when given a blank cheque and you have nothing left to prove?
This.
What do you make when given a blank cheque and you have nothing left to prove?
This.
It isn’t that “The Dark Knight Rises” is “one for the studio” or a “paycheck movie” or anything that crass.
It’s recognisable as a Nolan movie, just in a looser style than the earlier seven. It’s Nolan being told he can do anything he wants, and so tries to do... everything.
It’s recognisable as a Nolan movie, just in a looser style than the earlier seven. It’s Nolan being told he can do anything he wants, and so tries to do... everything.
In a decade when blockbusters came to be seen as empty assembly-line “product”, it’s hard to resist a blockbuster as uncompromisingly esoteric as “The Dark Knight Rises.”
It’s has so much to say that it bursts with ideas even at a generous two-hour-forty-five runtime.
It’s has so much to say that it bursts with ideas even at a generous two-hour-forty-five runtime.
“You’re acting like we’re still at war.”
I have a theory that part of the visceral reaction from certain critics was rooted in the idea that “The Dark Knight Rises” was a movie out of time.
Until Abrams “Star Trek” or Whedon’s “Avengers”, it was not an Obama era blockbuster.
I have a theory that part of the visceral reaction from certain critics was rooted in the idea that “The Dark Knight Rises” was a movie out of time.
Until Abrams “Star Trek” or Whedon’s “Avengers”, it was not an Obama era blockbuster.
“The Dark Knight” was transparently a Bush era blockbuster about the War on Terror.
When Obama was elected, people wanted to believe that chapter was over and the door was closed.
So “The Dark Knight Rises” seemed dour and out of step to some viewers.
When Obama was elected, people wanted to believe that chapter was over and the door was closed.
So “The Dark Knight Rises” seemed dour and out of step to some viewers.
In hindsight, “The Dark Knight Rises” feels like a commentary on that fantasy and that idea that the problems of the Bush era had just... vanished.
Instead, it casts its eyes forward and suggests the true scars would be those from the 2008 recession, and its consequences.
Instead, it casts its eyes forward and suggests the true scars would be those from the 2008 recession, and its consequences.
“Might be time to get some fresh air. Start paying attention to the details.”
“The Dark Knight Rises” understands that Bruce’s refusal to meet his social obligations - to distribute his wealth to help Gotham - is a serious moral failing that has dire consequences.
“The Dark Knight Rises” understands that Bruce’s refusal to meet his social obligations - to distribute his wealth to help Gotham - is a serious moral failing that has dire consequences.
This neglect creates a resentment and anger that feeds populist campaigns that can be manipulated by cynical operators to their own ends.
“Make Gotham Great Again”, “Take Back Control”, armed militias standing on the steps of federal buildings, the breakdown of democratic norms.
“Make Gotham Great Again”, “Take Back Control”, armed militias standing on the steps of federal buildings, the breakdown of democratic norms.
Bane’s judicial appointments were a key part of his campaign platform, after all.
