Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Well Bat-boys and Bat-girls, it's finally here. After years of internet speculation, months of binging on promotional material, and more than a few movie tickets bought as a shameless excuse to watch the new trailers, The Dark Knight Rises is here. Christopher Nolan's genre redefining take on the Batman mythos glides into theatres aloft on the praise of audiences and critics alike, but faces the infamous foe that is the finale. So, have Nolan and company stuck the landing, or is the burden of expectation too great to bear? Is The Dark Knight Rises the "Return of the King" or a super disaster of Spider-Man 3 proportions?

The answer is… it's "Jedi". "Rises"is to The Dark Knight saga what Return of the Jedi was to "Star Wars." Wait, wait! Douse the torches and sheath your pitchforks; there are no fuzzy teddy bears or toy tie-ins to be found here, the comparison is meant as a compliment. As many of us had hoped, Bruce Wayne's journey as the caped crusader Batman comes to a definitive, satisfying end, synthesizing the character study that was Batman Begins with the greater thematic aspirations of The Dark Knight into a package that feels whole and complete. Some will find a few niggling questions remain unanswered and criticize the door being left ever so slightly ajar for someone else to pick up the franchise mantle, but it's clear that Nolan but it's clear that Nolan has stretched this comic book adaptation/myth making exercise to its absolute limit.

But just like "Jedi" however,the payments made to satisfying the grander narrative are at the expense of the final instalment itself. The huge shift in scope and ambition between parts I and II created a gulf for the trilogy as a whole that "Rises" spends most of its first act filling in. There's a lot of catch up to play when returning to Gotham eight years after Batman shouldered the blame for Harvey Dent's crimes at the end of The Dark Knight, and everyone's out of their element. As Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) struggles to maintain a lie that cleaned up Gotham's streets, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) retreats further into solitude in his rebuilt Xanadu of Wayne Manor, having retired from nights of jumping off of rooftops to nurse a broken heart and a lack of purpose.

With great speed, a bevy of new players enter to shake up the peace. There's Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillar), an alluring CEO looking to save the world by getting into bed with Wayne industries, John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a rookie cop who understands Bruce better than anyone, and Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a jewel thief looking for a fresh start with a new identity. But the real catalyst for Batman's return is a new threat, the hulking beast Bane (Tom Hardy), who rasps and wheezes like Vader through an analgesic mask, and has designs for Gotham nothing short of total annihilation.

An exhilarating and beautiful opening plane hijacking (as in, one plane lassoing another midair) launches things spectacularly, but early signs of turbulence come about from the half a dozen plot lines frantically racing towards their required destinations. The instances of contrivance and convenience that detracted from The Dark Knight pale in comparison to the happenstance on display here, and numerous scenes feel like nothing more than setup without the memorable quips and sardonic humour the first two scripts had at beck and call.

With "Rises," Nolan has completed the transition from superhero movie to all out epic, one describing a modern day apocalypse of dizzying magnitude. People talking about the film's awards potential could point to its "and the kitchen sink" approach to weaving in every contemporary boogeyman Oscar voters like to reward, from domestic terrorism and Wall st., to civil uprising and weapon proliferation. It doesn't meditate on these ideas too throughly, but keeps their presence a constant as the heroes and villains scramble toward a powerful finale, amping up the sense of dread and despair as Bruce Wayne faces his most agonizing trials yet.

But that's where the film finds its most focussed and satisfying through line, in closing out Bruce Wayne's story by exploring his dependence on his secret identity. It's fitting that the film comes out the same week as the remake of Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, because that's how Bruce functions without the cape and cowl, as a warrior looking for a good death in a world that doesn't want him. With doting butler Alfred (Michael Caine) begging him to hang up the costume for good, Bruce's choice to fight evil physically instead of economically and socially comes into question. Through the endless plot turns, character moments and set pieces, one question comes to centre the film and the franchise as a whole: can Bruce Wayne overcome his inner demons and return to a world he gave up on, or is he destined to go down fighting as the Batman?

And it's a Christopher Nolan movie, which means thrilling action sequences (save for a criminally stupid continuity error during a motorcycle chase), gorgeous cinematography from Wally Pfister, and one haymaker of a late game twist that makes up for Bane's intimidating but not always engaging presence. And just as Nolan was the first to really understand Batman, Anne Hathaway's spot-on Catwoman is the sultry, badass addition such a solemn affair desperately needed. Having cleared the bar for our expectations so soundly in its first two instalments, it's no surprise that by the final chapter, The Dark Knight Rises ends Nolan's legend feeling all gassed out. But taken as a part of the greater narrative, its a rousing finish, an operatic swan song that's been earned. To hopefully use this tired old phrase one last time, The Dark Knight Rises may not quite be the finale the Dark Knight Saga deserved, but it's certainly the one it needed.

4 out of 5

The Dark Knight Rises

Directed by Christopher Nolan

2012, USA

Review: Inception

Originally Published: July 18th 2010 

How do you capture a dream, something so surreal and fleeting, that we barely remember it five minutes after waking up? People talk about the dream-like qualities of films by Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam, but few directors approach the things we really dream about. For as much as we think about the impossible while we sleep, it’s seems just as common to conjure up ideas based on ordinary, everyday life. Just think about how many times you’ve had that dream about an upcoming exam or a previous event in your life that you’ve all but forgotten. Filmmakers tend to focus on our more whimsical fantasies but with Inception, director Christopher Nolan dives into the dreams that really stick with us, the ones that seem so real that it’s only after we’ve woken that we realize it was all a mirage.

In the presumably near future, corporate espionage has risen to a level where morally flexible parties resort to extracting secrets from their rivals by accessing their mind through dreams. Cobb (DiCaprio) and Arthur (Gordon-Levitt), a pair of such extractors, are propositioned by a wealthy industrialist to do the exact opposite, insert an idea into a subject in order to control them. The operation is known as Inception. Without much care as to the science or technology driving the plot, Inception quickly establishes the ground rules for dream-invasion; an architect creates the world of the dream while the subject inserts their subconscious into it, whereby their knowledge manifests itself as documents often hidden in secure locations. Akin to what we’ve all experienced, death or a feeling of falling snap participants out of the dream. Simple enough, until it’s revealed early on that there can be dreams within dreams, operated by different architects at each level. If that weren't enough, time grows exponentially with every level, each layer feeling longer than the last.

Only thirty minutes in, Nolan makes it clear that he’s not going to make it easy for the audience. Like much of his previous work, Inception is an elaborate movie, one that drip-feeds you just enough information to keep up. The exposition, rather than forced, feels like a cheat-sheet as the film constantly dares the audience to keep up with it. Things only get more confusing when Cobb’s unbalanced subconscious begins to take over. As it turns out, living in dreams is a dangerous proposition, after all, how can someone exit one reality and accept that the new one is real? While there are themes similar to that of 1999’s The Matrix, Nolan’s take on multiple realities is far more haunting because most people have experienced that feeling of a dream so real that it becomes accepted as the truth. The constant question of what’s real pervades the entire film and will leave it open for wide interpretation in the future.

As convoluted as the plot may be, the film itself clicks along at a methodical pace. At one point planned to follow up 2002’s Insomnia, the complexity of the subconscious spanning plotlines are handled with such timing and precision that it’s clear Nolan knew his story inside-out. Despite the multitude of storylines occurring at varying real-time speeds, the script locks together with a military precision you wouldn’t expect to exist in something as unwieldy as the subconscious mind. The idea that you convert the length of real time minutes into near exact dream world hours seems a bit of contrivance but it’s beautiful to watch in motion. Such an unusually rigid approach to dreams may frustrate some viewers, but it’s intriguing to see how Nolan tries to wrangle together rules and principles based on things most of us have experienced from our own dreams.

Inception barrels forward at an unstoppable pace, especially near the end where just as it seems there’s no way things can get any more hectic, the film one-ups itself.It’s during the many action sequences that the audience may find the time to figure out just how each dream stage affects the others, which is alright because the more complex the story gets, the less enticing the action becomes. There’s an early shootout in Japan and a breathtaking chase through Mombasa which mirror Bond and Bourne respectively and this is where Nolan’s action is best; on a smaller scale where he can use the talent he’s shown directing the action sequences of the Batman franchise. When things get bigger, such as in a traffic jam shootout or the assault of a frozen hospital, the action becomes decidedly more muddled and it’s easy to check out. That’s not to say that there’s an absence of late set pieces; there's a particularly unusual fistfight in the third act that is jaw-dropping. By using the freedom of dreams to full effect, each layer consists of a wholly new locale, from a New York hotel to the previously mentioned hospital in the mountains. The film is consistently entrancing even when the action isn’t because of Wally Pfister's crisp cinematography and the responsibly balanced use of CGI and real stunts.

In many ways it would seem that Inception is a film more concerned with spectacle than narrative but it's a film that continually defies expectation. While the actual plot of the film is just a heist film with a unique objective, the world of Inception and the characters that populate it are entrancing because it seems like Nolan is just scratching the surface of a much bigger universe formed over the last decade. Aside from the two mind invaders, there’s a young architect played by Ellen page who is recruited to both design the dream of the subjects and share the audience’s ignorance as to the specifics of the Inception program. Marion Cotillard appears as Cob’s dead wife but don’t let the trailers fool you; she’s not just some distant memory of Cob’s past. As Mal, Cotillard gives a weighty and surprisingly terrifying performance. There’s also an illusionist, a chemist and a number of Batveterans who make up the rest of a large, star-laden cast. It might seem a bit crowded but the performances are stellar throughout, particularly DiCaprio who finds a perfect balance between being suave and constantly on the breaking point.

Like many heist films, some of Inception’s best scenes come from the group of thieves preparing the assault on the mark’s mind only to see their plan go horribly wrong. Yet most of the characters give indication of a much deeper back-story than is being given, as many of them appear to have a long history with mind manipulation. There are references given to old jobs performed by the extractors and the training undergone by marks to withstand mental invasion, all while the mysterious Cobal Engineering is given brief mention as the owners of the government developed Extraction program. It seems like there’s so much more to this universe than one film could possibly cover and even after two and a half hours, my appetite was not satiated. That’s not to say I want Legendary pictures to fast track a sequel for two years from now, but the world of Inception feels so rich that it has replaced the Batman franchise as the property I want Nolan, and only Nolan, to come back to.

Considering how frequently his name appears in this review, you’ll have probably noticed by now how difficult it is to separate Inceptionfrom its creator Christopher Nolan. Like a lot of people, I see Nolan as one of the most reliable filmmakers working right now. In the last decade he’s made five other movies and by my count at least four of them are great films. It’s not just that he makes entertaining movies; it’s that he makes entertaining original movies that perform well with mass-audiences. Even with established properties, such as Batman or The Prestige, Nolan’s worlds are always worth visiting. He in many ways seems like a beacon of hope in an industry where the unoriginal succeed and the the crap usually rises to the top. Inceptionchallenges a lot of things; the notion that original ideas are unprofitable, that carte-blanche direction is dangerous and the idea that a blockbuster has to be zero-recalcitrance fluff.  While Inception may have a few faults, Nolan has created a wholly satisfying and original film that's as entertaining as it is audacious. I can't wait to experience it all over again.

Five out of Five

Inception

2010 USA

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Review: Midnight In Paris

Who better to explore the mystique of a city than Woody Allen, a director who has spent much of his career professing a love for his own city, New York? His latest film, Midnight in Paris, is as much about capturing the beauty of Paris as it is about understanding why we romanticize places like it. Perhaps it's that they’re both set in Europe but it's easy to place Midnight in Paris as a companion piece to Allen's also very enjoyable Vicky Christina Barcelona, but Midnight benefits from the director's ability to explore a city on more than mere aesthetic terms and whereas Barcelona worked as an excellent infomercial for Spain, Allen's latest filmis both a wonderful open-love-letter and a keen deconstruction of a particularly North American fascination with the city of lights.

At the final showdown of 1990’s Quigley Down Under, Alan Rickman's character philosophizes that some men are born in the wrong century while others are born on the wrong continent. It's a pat little musing that a screenwriter like Gil, the protagonist of Midnight in Paris, may point to as the kind of banal work he's had to make a career out of as a Hollywood "helping hand," but the feeling of being displaced in both time and space is what drives Allen's latest neurotic stand-in for himself. A literary struggling to start his own writing career, Gil is convinced that Paris of the 1920's was the golden age of society, a nostalgia that's equal parts unfounded and annoying for his vogue fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her conservative parents who have flown the pair out to the city.

Gil is on paper as stock a Woody Allen lead as they come, prone to many of the requisite Allenisms (alternately stammering and putting his foot in his mouth for example) but giving the lead to Owen Wilson was a canny bit of casting. Wilson's naturally lackadaisical charm undercuts much of Gil’s quirkiness but he's always been able to approach the edge of hysterics just by widening his eyes, and Wilson’s performance has enough bipolar emotional range to communicate how a guy this rich, smart and good looking could possibly be crushed under the weight of his own ennui. Granted, a relationship comedy featuring a passionate yet liberally self-loathing cosmopolitan facing romantic obstacles both personal and existential is well within Allen's safe zone and even the film's supernatural hook isn't too far a stretch considering Allen’s penchant for injecting mystical elements into his films.

The hook, in this case, being that every night at midnight Gil finds himself transported back to Paris of the 1920's to rub elbows and act star-struck around literary and artistic greats. It's equal parts magic and wish-fulfillment as Gil manages to frequently cross paths with Salvador Dali, the Fitzgeralds and Picasso as though they were all the clique at the centre of history's greatest unrecorded sitcom (I’m thinking Friends via Frasier), the rules simply being that midnight is the magic hour. Even when it dips into territory that I’m inclined to describe as Inception-y, the film isn't all that concerned as to why the streets of Paris run like a nostalgia fueled DeLorean, and it's hard to blame Gill for not wondering about the mechanics of the space-time continuum when a drunk Earnest Hemingway is challenging strangers to a boxing match.

Advertising for the film has done a clever job of hiding the real crux of the story but it really is to the film's disservice since it’s always at its best when Gil is hobnobbing through history. The slow corroding of Gil's confidence by his in-laws or his fiancee's passive-aggressive best friend during the daytime is pleasantly contrasted by drinks with Zelda Fitzgerald or discussing art with Gertrude Stein at night and because the script is so loaded with future laureates and cultural icons, it's understandable that Allen's characterizations of these historical figures is largely cursory. Presenting Hemingway as a boozer who's a touch self-serious may lack subtlety but it's a concession for the sack of the audience and it supports the wish-fulfillment nature of the story; the figures we love from history have had their personalities so blown out over time that it's hard to think of them in anything but broad strokes.

Regardless, what the performances may lack in depth they more than make up for in energy. Adrien Brody is positively unhinged in his cameo as Salvador Dali and Kathy Bates as Stein is a great anchor to the films various eccentrics. But the real show-stealer is Corey Stoll as Hemingway, who brings the right mix of frat-boy energy and melancholy to Allen's alpha-male interpretation of the writer and I’m hard pressed to think of a historical figure in a film that I so badly wanted to party with. Finally there’s Marion Cotillard as the woman Gil is willing to break the space-time continuum for and even though their relationship largely hinges on a preposterous stroke of luck (beyond, you know, time travel), Cotillard has the necessary cool and grace to be a nice romantic foil.

Much like how film has taught us that LA is destined for alien invasion and Tokyo is a hotspot for oversized monster attacks, it just makes sense that if ever there was a city with real magic in it, it would be Paris. The opening montage all across the rainy streets reminds you why a city a city so full of history yet bursting with life can be seriously described as magical. And maybe it's been the crushing impatience of waiting for something really great to come to theatres but I was rather disheartened to see a film I enjoyed this much end after a mere 90 odd minutes. It seems unfair to have such great dialogue and characters confined to such a short run-time yet the film left me feeling unfulfilled in the best way possible. The zeal for life Midnight in Paris exudes just left me wanting more, but sometimes being left a little unsatisfied is all for the best. C'est la vie.

4 out of 5