The Dark Knight Rises... and ends

I finally watched The Dark Knight Rises a few hours ago. Nolan's epic trilogy of the cape crusader finally come to an end. It's been a fantastic journey, both critically and financially. I don't think WB envisioned this though when they chose indie director Christopher Nolan, whose best work was a little movie called Memento about a amnesiac man trying to find his wife murderer.

I'll be honest, I've been a fan of Batman since as an eleven year old I read Batman 360 in the neighbor house.In this comic, Batman investigates a series of murder done by a disfigured psychopath, called Savage Skull.

It was fascinating for me because, when other comic book heroes are these super powered gods, this guy equipped with only cool gadgets (CSI lab in the car trunk anyone?), and kick ass martial arts are dealing with equally dangerous mad men and psychos. You can't possibly hope of actually being an alien and gain super powers on Earth, or someday you'll get bitten by radioactive spiders and can climb walls as a result, but fantasizing of having the gadgets and martial arts to beat up criminals? It's entirely in the realm of possibility.

So, when Chris Nolan came up with his 'realistic' version of the Batman, it was like a godsend for me. Finally, I got to see how 'real' it would be if someone has enough resource and determination to actually jumping off rooftops and capture criminals.

 If Batman Begins is the story of how Bruce Wayne becomes Batman, and The Dark Knight is how Batman faced his arch nemesis, The Dark Knight Returns is about how Bruce Wayne can finally exorcise his demons and stopped being so angry. It was fitting to the realistic tone that Nolan worked so hard on the previous two films. There's no way a guy can keep that anger and determination for years and not letting up for a second. There has to be a point in his life that he has to let go his pain, otherwise that'll destroy him.

 Now I'm going to mention what I don't like about this movie first.
 - The plot is convoluted, messy and not as engaging as TDK
 - While Bane is really well done, his plans does not has the same 'oomph' as the Joker's
 - Miranda Tate's death scene. I mean wtf?

 Now the good thing is, despite all that shortcomings, the movie really works as the ending of the trilogy. Maybe it was intentional that Nolan made this less mind-blowing, because the climax of this trilogy already occurred in TDK.

Tom Hardy nailed it as Bane, and to my surprise, so does Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. The nods to classic Batman story arcs are also nice (Knightfall, No Man's Land). I also loved Bale's Wayne struggle to finally able to let go of his demons, even if it cost him his friendship with Alfred (Michael Caine). I gotta give major props to Caine here. It's by far the most heartfelt portrayal of Alfred ever seen on screen. It was also fitting tribute that it carries the idea from the first movie, that Batman being a symbol, it main purpose is to inspire people, and he finally did in the form of John Blake (Joseph Gordon Levitt).

 Now the more I think of it, despite its epic scale, this Batman feels way more personal. Bane's efforts to takeover and destroy Gotham is just a background to the personal issues that Wayne have to solve.

 Batman has gone full circle, and it's great that in this incarnation, Bruce Wayne finally found peace.