Christopher Nolan
The Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan closes the Batman trilogy with the acclaimed The Dark Knight Rises.

I waited before writing the review because it's difficult to go against the current, especially when a film collects so much acclaim that it creates the aura of a masterpiece. The main virtue of the film is that it maintains a good narrative pace, alternating scenes taken from the two previous films, quick flashbacks that blend with the action on the screen.

It seems that the director wants to conclude by trying to please everyone, even the loyal butler Alfred who wishes his master were married and settled, like any middle-aged billionaire.

I suspect that Nolan may have never read a Batman comic because on the screen the hero acts differently compared to the comic version. It's not just him; some surrounding characters are stripped of their identities, useful only for concluding the film in a certain way, leaving the viewer with the bittersweet taste of a happy ending.

Batman/Bruce Wayne is entirely inadequate in this chapter, especially for facing the villain of the moment, Bane (the excellent Tom Hardy), who in fact, will have to lose his backbone before climbing back to the top and defeating him with the crucial help of Selina Kyle. A Batman that does not convince, and there's even the doubt whether he was of any use, other than taking the blame for Two-Face, thus becoming a wanted man for the sake of Gotham City. Considering that the third film is set eight years after the second, and that Batman has not been seen since then, it can be deduced that in this trilogy the masked hero fought crime only for a couple of years (the first two films). This is absurdity since Batman was created by Bob Kane in 1940 and still swings in the readers' imagination, now for several generations.

The inconsistencies between the characters and the cinematic version are really numerous, and in this narrative stew, we see the main ones:

- Talia Al Ghul, daughter of Ra's Al Ghul, is in the film the secret mastermind seeking revenge, manipulating Bane to carry out the criminal plan thwarted in the first film. In contrast, in the comic, Talia was Batman’s wife and even had a child with him.

- Bane on paper is a brute created in a laboratory thanks to the use of a special steroid called Venom, far from the cinematic version that depicts him as a cunning strategist with a violent mind.

- Robin is Batman's partner since he was orphaned as a child. Robin acts with his own identity and a costume known to all readers. In the film, the enterprising police officer who helps our heroes is eventually revealed to be named: Robin.

- Selina Kyle is the name of Catwoman, but in the film, the character is never named, and obviously, her motivations are not explored, except appearing as a charming thief with a crush on the bat-man.

What should be emphasized is that for a Batman fan, that is, a comic book enthusiast, a film like this can only leave one puzzled. Nolan has demonstrated he does not know the character, astutely drawing some narrative elements from his adventures to tell something abstract. From this point of view, Tim Burton's film is better, surreal and comic book-like as it may be, but at least faithful to the character.

Forgive me, but I even prefer the 1966 Adam West version, with Batman and Robin taken straight from the comic when our hero was considered the champion of justice, and not a mad psycho dressed as a bat.