REVIEW TEXT

Name
Class

: Nadia Kurnia Hapsari

: XII Science 2/22

TERPRETATIVE RECOUNTEVALUATION
ORIENTATION

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

The series of Batman has always been the number one for me. I
absolutely love its comic and the two previous films, Batman Begins
and The Dark Knight. Especially because the handsome Christian
Bale played as Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman.
The Dark Knight Rises is the most entertaining of Christopher
Nolans Batfilms, and it is certainly the best. Is it not bad at all? Im
not quite sure. The whole movie feels like a series of contradictions. It
has a long duration yet rushed, deeply serious yet utterly silly,
politically minded yet ultimately flat. But, those reasons make this
movie wildly entertaining.
The film picks up eight years after the death of Harvey Dent at
the end of The Dark Knight. Batman was never again seen after
that night, and Bruce Wayne has become a hermit as well. In the
wake of Dents death Gotham City apparently cleaned up its act
instantly, and organized crime is a thing of the past. Gordon is now
commissioner, but hes seen as a relic, a war hero in a time of peace.
Trouble arises when a mercenary named Baneplayed by Tom
Hardy, big guy, bald, relying on a respirator mask to keep him
alivehas come to Gotham, and hes building an army beneath the
streets in the gutter. Meanwhile, someone has hired a cat burglar

Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) to steal Bruce Waynes fingerprints.

Perhaps theres a connection of some sort between these events.
Fascinated by Selinas skill, Bruce slowly walks out of his retirement.
His body has been worn down by his adventures (he walks with a
cane), but he forces himself into shape to investigate the cat burglar
and Bane.

INTERPRETATIVE RECOUNT

The first hour of the film is light and easy to digest. There are
actual comedic scenes, and its engaging to see Bruce Wayne pull
himself together from his utterly out-of-character majority-of-adecade slump. And as Banes weird and complicated plan comes into
focus it seems as if Nolan has finally embraced the comic book
origins of the character. Or at least attempted to fold them into a
genre idiom he understands.
The movie then goes on from its lightness into a dark themed
movie when Wayne finally comes out of his shell and shows Gotham
his new rides. Throughout the film Bane speaks out to the people of
Gotham. The Dark Knight Rises includes absolutely not one single
average citizen. The closest it gets are a bunch of orphans who hang
around cop John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Theres one line of
dialogue that indicates some homeless have been joining Banes
army, but the film casts them simply as criminals. Perhaps this is
Nolans intention, to say that the underclass is naturally criminal and
that the middle class are a bunch of helpless orphans.
The film does have great performances going for it. Bales Bruce
Wayne is nicely essayed, and since Wayne is in the film as much, if
not more than Batman, thats a relief. He still has that stupid voice as
Batman, but at this point you figure they feel committed to it. Anne
Hathaway is probably the , bringing life to her every scene.
Catwoman is in no way as good as the Joker, but she has the same
electrifying impact on this film that Heath Ledger did in the last one.
Tom Hardy is criminally wasted in the film. Bane is a dud; driven
by the exact same motivation as Ras al Ghul, he feels like a repeat,
except with a genius plan. Hardy works hard to act behind that idiotic
mask, but its no use. Theres a moment towards the end, in one of
the films too many flashbacks, where we see Hardys full face and
were reminded of what a powerful figure he is on screen when
allowed to be completely seen.
As the movie wrapped up with five final minutes that play out
exactly like Superhero Hype forum fanfic, I wasnt hating it. I hadnt
been squirming in my seat. I thought a lot of it was dumb, I laughed
at things that probably werent meant to be laughed at, and I
experienced a few moments of deflation when I realized the movie

INTERPRETATIVE
SUMMARY RECOUNT

had nothing to actually say. But I had also been caught up in it, even
when it didnt quite work or make much sense. I liked that Nolan went
a little broader, even if that broadness occasionally clashed with his
efforts to be realistic.
I just dont care either way. After being profoundly disappointed
by the way Batman Begins turned out, and after really enjoying
most of The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises is really a blow
for me. Not only by the actors playing it but also by its unthinkable
plot, and in the end its a big shrug because every legend has an end.