Kelvin Green">
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      Kelvin Green
      December 31, 2018
      News, PDI Press, PDI Press Catalog
    Recent
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      psychodr
      December 31, 2018
    • VOICES FROM THE NIGHT: The Living Dead Tell Their Stories

      John E. Meredith
      October 31, 2018
    • American Carnage: Tales of Trumpian Dystopia

      psychodr
      March 24, 2018
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Psycho Goreman (2021)

      Kelvin Green
      February 12, 2021
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Psycho Goreman (2021)

      Nate Zoebl
      February 12, 2021
    • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 9, 2021
    • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

      Nate Zoebl
      February 2, 2021
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Kelvin Green
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      Kelvin Green
      July 30, 2019
      DVD/Blu-ray, News
    Recent
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Avengers: Endgame arrives on Digital 7/30 and Blu-ray 8/13

      psychodr
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Psycho Goreman (2021)
  • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)
  • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)
  • Promising Young Woman (2020)
  • Possessor: Uncut (2020)
  • Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Movies

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Kelvin Green
July 22, 2012
Movies, Reviews

I hated Batman Begins. The best bits of it were ripped off from Highlander and the rest of it was plain dull, aside from the unintentional comedy double act of a disgruntled train driving Irish ninja as the villain and Christian Bale playing Batman as a dazed and rubberised Tom Waits.

The Dark Knight was better. It had some beautiful photography and a couple of thrilling action sequences, although it was rather obvious at times that Christopher Nolan wanted to be making a James Bond film; see also the snowy bit in Inception. The writing was all over the place — the Joker’s an agent of chaos and yet the entire film is his two-and-a-half hour Heath Robinson scheme; really, Nolan? Really? — and Bale was still rubbish.

So I wasn’t looking forward to the new film, then they announced Anne “Dead Eyes” Hathaway as Definitely Not Catwoman Because Catwoman Is Silly and my interest withered away. Then they released pictures of Anne “Dead Eyes” Hathaway as Not-Catwoman, and my interest went away to put its head in an oven.

Batman Rises

I had resigned myself to disappointment and to waiting for the inevitable reboot and a hope that some director out there would want to make a movie about the swashbuckling sci-fi closet Batman rather than the grim and gritty one, but then my mate Bob came along.

Bob loves Nolan’s films, has been excited for The Dark Knight Rises since the moment the credits rolled at the end of The Dark Knight, and convinced me to go and see it with him at the Imax in London. This involved a thirteen quid train ticket, a fifteen quid cinema ticket, plus lunch in a capital city getting ready to gouge Olympic tourists for every penny they’ve got. In other words, the film had a lot to live up to, no matter how excited Bob was.

It turns out that The Dark Knight Rises is quite good. It’s nowhere near the best Batman film, but it’s the best of Nolan’s Batman films by a long shot. Let’s call it DKR for short, not so much for ease but because it evokes another Batman story; the trailers make the No Man’s Land influence clear, but the truth is that the film draws more from The Dark Knight Returns — including at least one sequence lifted straight from its pages — and there are few sources better than that. It’s not a direct adaptation — Superman isn’t in it (SPOILER) — but one could describe it as Ultimate Dark Knight Returns and not be too far off.

The writing is tighter this time around; the Nolan brothers and David Goyer resist the urge to fill the plot with elaborate curlicues of nonsense and the film benefits from the more direct approach. It’s also a funny script in places, which given the oppressive dourness of the earlier films is quite the surprise; there are actual jokes and everything!

Of the cast, Tom Hardy stands out as an excellent Bane; his weird lilting growl is charming in an odd way, and he is quite convincing as a charismatic leader able to bend an army to his will. That said, I may be biased as my crush on Hardy is well-documented.

Bane

The Kid From 3rd Rock from the Sun is also very good, which is handy as at times it seems as if he’s the only actor who turned up on set, so enamoured is Nolan with him. Marion Cotillard doesn’t get as much screen time as The Kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun, but she’s also very good as Bruce Wayne’s friend and business partner, and the only woman in Gotham who’s not a jewel thief. Gary Oldman is as strong as ever but Michael Caine is lumbered with Nolan’s reliance on Michael-Caine-says-something-profound-then-turns-away-almost-in-tears as a way of making a dramatic point. If I had been allowed to take vodka into the cinema, I could have invented a drinking game around how often Caine went all damp-eyed, and I would have been hammered by the forty minute mark.

I could also have expanded the game to include every time Bale does that weird sticky-out tongue thing — ONCE YOU SEE IT IT CANNOT BE UNSEEN — or when he was rubbish as Batman, because yes, he’s still rubbish as Batman. “Dead Eyes” is — as predicted — as bland and soulless as ever and her character could be cut from the film without affecting a thing. I’m not even exaggerating; Not-Catwoman makes one relevant contribution to events, and that’s only because Batman is sitting on the floor doing nothing for no good reason.

If it seems like I hated the film then I’ve given the wrong impression, because I liked it despite my misgivings going in and the almost fifty pounds I spent getting to my seat. The problem is that most of the things I liked about it would involve spoilers; even saying that I appreciated the Dark Knight Returns influence could be seen as giving too much away, and I can’t even discuss that wonderful, brave ending. Come back in six months, and we can talk; for now, go and see this film, because while it’s not as good as the 1966 or 1989 movies, it is ace.

Oh, and Bob liked it too.

(Visited 32 times, 1 visits today)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
4.0Overall Score

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Anne HathawayChristian BaleChristopher NolanDark Knight RisesJoseph Gordon-LevittKelvin GreenTom Hardy

Sword of Desperation (2010)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

About The Author

Kelvin Green
Red Right Hand / Our Man in Albion

Kelvin Green erupted fully formed from the grey shapeless mass of Ubbo Sathla in the dark days before humans walked the earth. He grew up on Judge Dredd, Transformers, Indiana Jones #12, the Avengers and Spider-Man, and thinks comics don’t get much better than FLCL, Nextwave and Rocket Raccoon. Kelvin lives among garbage and seagulls and doesn’t hate Marvel nearly as much as you all think he does.

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK

Daily Top Ten

PDI Press Bestsellers

Entertainment Earth

Weekly Top Ten

  • Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) by Corin Totin
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Sick Flix: Guinea Pig - Devil’s Experiment (1985)Sick Flix: Guinea Pig – Devil’s Experiment (1985) by Corin Totin
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • Unnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012)Unnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012) by Brooke Brewer
  • The Searchers: A Quaint and Polite Film about Racism, Rape, and RemorseThe Searchers: A Quaint and Polite Film about… by Thom V. Young
  • Cahiers du Horror 08: Director Roundup February 2021Cahiers du Horror 08: Director Roundup February 2021 by Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
  • If It Ain't Funk He Don't Feel It: Howard the Duck (1986)If It Ain’t Funk He Don’t Feel It:… by Paul Brian McCoy
Entertainment Earth

Latest Reviews

  • Psycho Goreman (2021)

    Nate Zoebl
    February 12, 2021
  • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    February 9, 2021
  • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

    Nate Zoebl
    February 2, 2021

Latest Columns

  • Anything Joes: UNBOXING: GameStop Exclusive Funko Box – Transformers Vs GI Joe

    Greg Engle
    February 28, 2021
  • Cahiers du Horror 08: Director Roundup February 2021

    Fred L. Taulbee Jr.
    February 26, 2021
  • Lost in Translation 372: X-Men, The Anime

    Scott Delahunt
    February 26, 2021

INSTAGRAM

psychodrivein

Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: UNBOXING: GameStop Exclusive Funko Box - Transformers Vs GI Joe

Greg tests his luck with the new GameStop Funko Box.
---
Watch the new video at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Transformers #FunkoPop #GameStop #Unboxing
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Cahiers du Horr Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Cahiers du Horror 08: Director Roundup February 2021

Trollhunter (2010) combines some great special effects with a mythical monster concept.
---
Read more of Fred's article at the link in our profile!

#CahiersDuHorror #DirectorsRoundup #AndreOvredal #JonathanGlazer #MattBettinelliOlpin #SCraigZahler #TylerGillett #BoneTomahawk #BrawlInCellBlock99 #DraggedAcrossConcrete #ReadyOrNot #SexyBeast #ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark #Southbound #TheAutopsyOfJaneDoe #Trollhunter #UnderTheSkin
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Lost in Transla Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Lost in Translation 372: X-Men, The Anime

The series uses a different villain than seen in other X-Men adaptations, which makes for a refreshing change of pace.
---
Read more of Scott's article at the link in our profile!

#LostInTranslation #XMen #Anime
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Everybody Dies: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Everybody Dies: Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)

The fact that Hamlet at Elsinore was filmed at the ACTUAL Elsinore castle creates a striking verisimilitude.
---
Read more of Rick's article at the link in our profile!

#ShakespeareOnFilm #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #Hamlet #HamletAtElsinore #ChristopherPlummer #MichaelCaine #DonaldSutherland #RobertShaw
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E11 - G.I. Joe #3 / The Trojan Gambit

Greg and Jaren discuss the giant robot invading The PIT, and explore how science fiction fits into the G.I. Joe universe.
---
Listen to the guys discuss this comic at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #MarvelComics @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Psycho Goreman Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Psycho Goreman (2021)

Psycho Goreman is like a gloriously inappropriate Power Rangers episode for adults.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#PsychoGoreman #StevenKostanski #OwenMyre #MatthewNinaber #NitaJoseeHanna #AdamBrooks
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Advance Review: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

Bad Girls is a kaleidoscopic fever dream of rapid-fire cuts, over-the-top violence, psychedelic drug orgies, raging punk metal screams, and dashes of existential angst.
---
Read more of Paul's review at the link in our profile!

#BadGirls #TheThetaGirl #ChristopherBickel #MorganShaleyRenew #SenethiaDresch #ShelbyLoisGuinn
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Judas and the Black Messiah

The standout performance in Judas and the Black Messiah is Kaluuya as Fred Hampton.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Sundance #Sundance2021 #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival #JudasAndTheBlackMessiah #ShakaKing #DanielKaluuya #LaKeithStanfield #JessePlemons
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Adroit Theory G.I. Joe Glass Set Unboxing

Greg takes a quick look at the recently released Adroit Theory 7 piece glassware set.
---
Watch Greg's unboxing video at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #AdroitTheoryBrewing #Beer #Glassware #GIJoe @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Ailey (2021)

Ailey might not break any narrative and cinematic ground as a documentary, but it is a gorgeous evocation of artistry.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Ailey #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival2021 #Sundance2021 #JamilaWignot #AlvinAiley
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Top 10 G.I. Joe Classified Figures of 2020!

Greg & Jaren share their thoughts on the top 10 best releases from the G.I. Joe Classified line last year.
---
Watch Greg and Jaren count them down at the link in our profile!

#GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #AnythingJoes @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Shadow in the C Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

Shadow in the Cloud would have been better with a little more pruning, a little less Max Landis, and some tonal consistency.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#ShadowInTheCloud #ChloeGraceMoretz #RoseanneLiang #MaxLandis
Load More... Follow on Instagram

TWITTER

My Tweets

Look Who's Talking

Amari Wolfe
Amari Wolfe - 12/11/2020
Popcorn Cinema: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Don't know why, but the mention of Whammo Air Blasters made me laugh until it hurt. Very nicely...
mega leo
mega leo - 12/5/2020
Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
To torture someone takes a cold kind of sadism. One that exceeds rage or revenge. One that shows a...
Dignan
Dignan - 10/29/2020
Nosferatu (1979)
Thanks for that, I can never seem to nail down that movie!
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: