REVIEW: The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises (2012): Dir. Christopher Nolan. Written by: Christopher and Jonathan Nolan. Story by: David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan. Based on characters created by: Bob Kane. Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Morgan Freeman. Rated PG-13 (Gloomy brooding and brawling). Running time: 165 minutes.

2 stars (out of four)

Eight years have passed in Gotham City since the events of The Dark Knight, when the Joker plagued the city, turned Harvey Dent into Two-Face and raked in hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office. Gotham is a safer place now: the streets have been rid of organized crime and there is no need for the Batman, that masked vigilante the police mistakenly accused of murdering Harvey Dent.

On the streets, however, there is still belief in the Bat. The streets of Gotham also, for the first time in the series, actually feel part of a real city, one with food vendors and school playgrounds, suited investment bankers and cabbies. And director Christopher Nolan populates his city with some intriguing, well-developed characters.

Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) is back, a tired man who’s probably getting too old for this sort of thing but just believes in it too much to quit. Gotham is in “peace time,” as one officer puts it, but Gordon has seen it at war and remains wary. It is his diehard commitment to justice that caused his wife to take off with the kids, leaving him alone to defend a city that does not currently need him but could at any moment.

Perhaps he is not alone though. John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a young and ambitious officer, appears to be on hand to pick up the Commissioner’s torch of idealism. As an orphan, Blake looked up to Bruce Wayne, the parentless billionaire, but even more so, he idolized Batman. He has since lost faith in Wayne but still believes in Batman.

Speaking of Batman, where is he? He mysteriously vanished from Gotham following Dent’s death, we are told. (He also mysteriously vanishes for sizable chunks of this movie.) The man behind the suit, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), is still alive, living in self-imposed exile in Wayne Manor. Tending to him as always is the Wayne family butler, Michael Caine. Er, I mean, Alfred.

There is also Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), a leather-clad femme fatale with hair so silky smooth you’d think she was strutting through a Pantene commercial. Selina is a cat burglar. She robs jewelry off the wealthy and while the movie is sneaky in the way it avoids flat-out calling her Catwoman, we know better by that sly, twinkling Hans Zimmer theme that accompanies her on the score in several scenes.

Coy though the movie is about her, she is one of the best parts of it. Ms. Hathaway is a nimble actress, both physically in combat scenes but even more so when playing the role of seductress, and she is a lot of fun to watch. She is the only glimmer of the wisecracking playfulness that was once (long ago) a hallmark of the superhero genre.

The rest of that freewheeling fun is buried deep under a heap of rubble by Bane (Tom Hardy), the joyless antagonist of The Dark Knight Rises. Bane is a terrorist who was excommunicated from the League of Shadows, that nefarious organization Batman worked so hard to defeat in Batman Begins. Bane, like Batman, wears a mask, except his only covers his mouth and distorts his British accent into a hissing Darth Vader-esque growl. This makes for an intimidating presence but also obscures roughly half the actor’s lines so that he sounds as though he is talking through a washing machine.

Bane seeks to burn Gotham to the ground and punish its citizens for their decadence. In turn, Christopher Nolan punishes us with an overlong and supremely decadent second half, which disappointingly goes on autopilot. The Dark Knight Rises is undoubtedly Mr. Nolan’s sloppiest script (he co-wrote it with his brother, Jonathan Nolan, from a story by David S. Goyer). It labors early on with expository backstory and neglects to surprise in its final act. The absence of surprise is the most lamentable aspect of this cheerless movie. Mr. Nolan is usually so good at keeping us on our toes; here he bores us by plodding through every plot point his characters have promised us will happen.

Much has been made of the dark tone Christopher Nolan adopts in his Batman films. That somber mood does play a crucial role in the success of the first two movies but even more important is the grandeur Mr. Nolan lends them. He treats these comic book stories as though they are classical myths.

But there is a fine line between grandeur and pretentiousness and The Dark Knight Rises hurtles right over it. Aside from Gordon and Blake (Gary Oldman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are Mr. Nolan’s two most valuable and underused assets), the movie is dominated not by people but by symbolic avatars used to bludgeon us over the head with the film’s thematic intent. Bane stands for anarchy. Batman stands for some vague notion of justice.

What made 2008’s The Dark Knight so much fun was its identity as a thrilling comic book movie elevated to the level of a crime epic. The Dark Knight Rises is all elevation and no entertainment. During that dreary slog of a second half, Christopher Nolan wants us to sit and be impressed by his movie, to be overcome with awe. I sat. I was impressed. Awe? Eh.

- Steve Avigliano, 7/20/12

REVIEW: The Fighter

The Fighter (2010): Dir. David O. Russell. Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. Rated R (language throughout, drug content, some violence and sexuality). Running time: 115 minutes.

3 stars (out of four)

Boxing dramas often tell the story of one man’s path to redemption. In The Fighter, we get two. The film is based on the life story of half-brothers Micky Ward and Dicky Eklund, and follows Micky’s struggle earn a name for himself in the shadow of his older brother and trainer.

Thirteen years earlier, Dicky (played by Christian Bale) beat Sugar Ray Leonard and he hasn’t stopped talking about it since. He’s known as “The Pride of Lowell” (his hometown in Massachusetts) and watching him mingle and greet local faces on the street, it’s easy see how he became a town hero. Following him around is an HBO film crew that Dicky explains to his family is shooting a documentary about his comeback. That comeback seems unlikely, though. Whatever talent he had years earlier looks to have left him. His current life is in shambles and his frequent visits to a local crack house make him absent for much of Micky’s training.

Micky (Mark Wahlberg), meanwhile, shows great promise in the here and now but can’t seem to get the fights he needs. His mother and manager (Melissa Leo) is too hung up on Dicky’s former glory to recognize this, and so Micky gets pulverized by guys outside his weight class just so his family can get paid for the match. He’s ready to quit the sport entirely when he meets Charlene (Amy Adams), a bartender who encourages Micky keep fighting, but without his family bringing him down.

The movie has an odd structure that shifts focus back and forth between its two main characters, leaving the viewer a little unsure of who the protagonist is meant to be. Dicky’s exuberant personality dominates the early scenes and draws attention away from the more stoic Micky, a dynamic that no doubt mimics their real-life relationship. Once Dicky hits rock bottom though, the middle third of the film consists of Micky’s training and rise to success.

This being a boxing movie, the story is a fairly familiar one. The Fighter’s surprises, however, do not necessarily come from the outcomes of the fights but from the source of the film’s emotional payoff. In the final leg of the film, the brothers’ relationship comes front and center. Dicky’s search for redemption is inextricably tied to his brother’s efforts to succeed in the game, and this balance of storylines ends the film on a very strong note.

This is also a movie filled with strong performances. Christian Bale leads the pack with a career best as Dicky, whose charismatic energy is a far cry from the stone-faced heroes the actor is asked to play in action movies. Once again, Bale has lost weight to play the role but his performance goes beyond a physical transformation or imitation (a clip of the real-life Dicky in the closing credits though shows that Bale’s acting is spot on). Dicky is a tragic figure who doesn’t have much to hold onto. Even his one proud accomplishment is believed by some to have been a fluke (“Sugar Ray tripped,” says a few of the locals). He projects a charming persona but is consumed by inner shame and Bale is thrilling to watch as a man careening through this complex set of emotions.

Mark Wahlberg gives a effective and restrained performance, though next to Bale he might be mistaken for underacting. The long-suffering Micky isn’t as dynamic to watch as his brother, but Wahlberg is a strong leading actor and can more than carry his scenes without Bale. Melissa Leo shines in a supporting role as their mother, a manipulative woman whose love for her eldest son comes through even during her fervent denial of his drug addiction. Amy Adams gets the opportunity to play against type as the feisty and sexy love interest and she’s a joy to watch in the role. Also noteworthy is Mickey O’Keefe playing himself, the upstanding cop who trains Micky in Dicky’s absence. Despite having no prior acting experience, O’Keefe holds his own amongst A-listers and gives a memorable performance.

Mark Wahlberg worked very hard to get The Fighter made and though the project shifted hands numerous times between different writers and directors, the final product shows no mark of its long road to theaters. Director David O. Russell’s past features have included stylized fare such as Three Kings and I ♥ Huckabees, but his work here bears the restraint of one who treads more carefully when handling another’s story. His presence is still felt though and the movie is wonderfully shot, particularly in the ring. The matches are faithfully recreated and easy to follow (even to a boxing novice such as myself).

The Fighter at first seems more like a pair of character studies than a plot-centric story, but builds over the course of its two-hour running time, slowly drawing you in. By the end, one can’t help but get swept up in the stakes of these two brothers. The final match is a requisite scene in any boxing drama, but it works so well here because the characters and story have earned our emotional investment.

- Steve Avigliano, 1/15/11

2009 So Far

2009 is more than half way done and it’s been a pretty good summer for movies with more good stuff to come. Here are a few thoughts that ran through my head in the last few months about some movies that I haven’t yet written about on this site. I’ve designated special awards for each.

The Gypsy Curse Award: Drag Me to Hell

Drag Me to Hell was the most fun I’ve had at the movies all year so far. Taking a break from the Spiderman films (probably for the best after a disappointing Spidey 3), Sam Raimi returned to his campy horror roots with a film that revels in its own over-the-top gory glory. The music on the jump scares is cranked to 11, the blood spurting gets the Monty Python seal of approval, and the talking goat box is decisively checked off. There’s a great scene where, in a tense moment, Raimi slowly zooms in on his star (Alison Lohman) only to cut back to a wider shot, zooms in again, cuts back, zooms in again, cuts back… He does this up to five times before we realize he’s just teasing the audience. This is the work of a horror movie junkie having unabashed fun with his own film, taking every disgusting moment too far and then a little more. It’s funny, scary and a great time, even if the ending can be spotted a few scenes away.

The I Wish It Didn’t Have Talking Dogs Award: Up

The opening twenty minutes-or-so of Up are utterly perfect and had tears in my eyes, but about half way through, the movie goes from a great film, to merely a very good kids film. Up has the feel of a great Pixar short that was stretched into a full length, becoming more conventional animated fare along the way. The ending returns to the sweet sentiments of the opening, and I left the theater satisfied even if I wasn’t too excited. Note: I saw Up in 3-D and I officially declare this 3-D craze not worth the extra $3. Computer animation is impressive enough on its own, and I see no need for the extra dimension.

The Don't Get Carried Away Award: Star Trek and The Hangover

This one is a tie between two movies that I’m happy to see have done tremendous box office, but if I may play devil’s advocate I’d like to clear the hype-dust from these movies.

I was never pumped to see Star Trek, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It’s a very entertaining film that retained the nerd appeal of the franchise while also bringing that appeal to a broader audience. (My initial prediction that the film would satisfy neither the geeks nor the masses was majorly wrong.) Star Trek gets a lot of things right, but it’s a little long and all the back-story exposition becomes tiresome. Still, I’m looking forward to the next installment when the writers won’t need to worry about such matters.

The Hangover delivered several big laughs with chuckles throughout, and it felt great to see a good comedy that didn’t have Judd Apatow’s name attached. Zach Galifianakis has also emerged as “the next big thing” and deservedly so – most if not all of the best jokes here are his. But a very funny movie does not equate to “the funniest movie ever,” a label I’ve heard used in conjunction with The Hangover. It was refreshingly funny; let’s leave it at that.

The Fuck You, McG Award: Terminator Salvation

I left the theater feeling under-whelmed, disappointed and, frankly, a little bored by the movie I had seen. Over the next few days, my disappointment festered inside my nerd gland, becoming nothing short of hatred for Terminator Salvation. It wasn’t long before I found myself loathing every frame of the movie from Christian Bale’s monotone voice to the cringe-inducing “romance.” Of course, the film isn’t nearly as bad as I’m making it out to seem. In fact, it’s a perfectly functional and disposable special effects showcase that just happens to have the Terminator logo branded on it. Remember how much fun the first two films were? This one is a stone-faced action flick, all washed-out grays and browns, without a shred of fun to its silly name (where’s the Salvation, anyways?). It’s unfocused, neglecting to offer the audience not one good villain, but instead, a host of faceless giant machines and thinking motorcycles for our heroes to fight. Director McG has plenty of ambition, but no creativity. Worst of all however how is how the once badass Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn in the first film) has been reduced to a teenaged wuss here. The film ends with a helicopter ride into the sunset (Jurassic Park anyone?) implying a sequel. You can count me out of that one.

- Steve Avigliano, 8/02/09

REVIEW: Public Enemies

Public Enemies (2009): Dir. Michael Mann. Written by: Ronan Bennett, Ann Biderman, Michael Mann. Based on the book by: Bryan Burrough. Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard. Rated R (gangster violence and some language). Running time: 143 min.

3 stars (out of four)

Truly great action goes a long way to elevating a middling story. In a summer that has already had two giant-robot-movies, director Michael Mann’s emphasis on adrenaline over spectacle is refreshing. That’s not to say the story Public Enemies is a weak one; it merely fails to offer anything new.

John Dillinger, played with class and restraint by Johnny Depp, is a bank robber in the so-called “golden age of bank robberies.” He is a criminal who sees himself as an entertainer: his heists are his performances, and the American people his audience. His impressive criminal record (already well under way at the start of the film) ironically earns him the title, “Public Enemy #1,” but it’s clear from the media attention he receives, the man is nothing short of a celebrity. After being arrested, an impromptu press conference is held at the police station while reporters scramble to ask questions of the cuffed Dillinger. Throughout all of this, Dillinger remains a man of the people, insisting on only taking “the bank’s money” leaving the change and belongings of patrons behind.

The plot treats Dillinger’s crime streak in the 30’s as a standard cat-and-mouse crime film, with Christian Bale as Melvis Pulvis, the newly appointed leader of the FBI’s hunt for Dillinger. However, to label either man as the mouse would be to downplay the competition between the two. Bale (thankfully breaking his grunting speech with an accent somewhere between Southern and Bruce Wayne) is a smart and exacting hunter, with Depp playfully dragging him and the FBI along his trail. The remainder of the film’s heart lies in a standard romance with the beautiful Billie (Marion Cotillard) who Dillinger handpicks out of a club and subsequently woos with his fugitive charm.

Both the romance and the competitive interplay between Depp and Bale however are underdeveloped, and the real meat of Public Enemies is its action. As he did with his last two films (the brilliant Collateral and the stylish but underwhelming Miami Vice), Mann uses handheld cameras to give immediacy to his action scenes, thrusting the viewer into the center of the violence. At times it almost feels as if we’re watching a well-shot episode of Cops. These kinetic sequences are edited with quick cuts, giving brief flashes of images that imprint themselves on your eyelids. Where other films’ attempts to use handheld cameras result in nausea and confusion, Mann skillfully creates some exhilarating moments with a pace worthy of a man who claimed he could rob a bank in a minute forty flat. This modern style works well with the film’s period details, avoiding the tedium that often comes with period pieces.

Public Enemies paints an image of this moment in history as the end of an era. Crime and crime fighting are no longer a gentleman’s game, and both Dillinger and Pulvis find their fields being taken over by more heartless men than them. Dillinger’s Robin Hood persona doesn’t fit with the brutal violence of his peers like Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham), and Pulvis is told by J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) that he’ll need to “take off the white gloves” in order to catch Dillinger.

But the film never truly delivers on these elements of history and character, and we’re left with a half-developed concept of these men and their time. Still, in the hands of Michael Mann it’s hard to complain with the final result. I’ll always be a man who prefers story to action, but damn if I don’t just love the sound of a Tommy gun.

- Steve Avigliano, 7/2/09