The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Title: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Director: Christopher Nolan

Written By: Christopher and Jonathan Nolan

Cast: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Cillian Murphy

Review:

The Dark Knight Rises is an event movie, the kind that comes along rarely, not only because of the excitement behind seeing this final installment of the film, but also because of the tragic events that surrounded the premiere of the film. As most of the world already knows, On July 20, 2012 in a Century 16 Cinema in Aurora Colorado, a psycho by the name of James Eagan Holmes entered a theater during the premiere of the film and while wearing a gas mask, threw a smoke bomb into the theater and started shooting randomly at people who where there simply to enjoy the latest installment of the Batman franchise. He managed to kill 12, and injure 58 others. What was he trying to say by doing this? What was his purpose? Did he hate movies or people going to see them in droves? Whatever was running around that guys head, he was seriously disturbed. Did he feel he was one of the villains in the Batman films? Did he not learn to differentiate between reality and fiction? Between entertainment and real life? Whatever the case, this disturbed individual probably had a half-baked idea of what he wanted to say swimming around his brains; all villains do.

James Eagan Holmes; getting what's coming to him

You see in films, the villain is commonly used as a way of pointing towards something that is seriously wrong in the world we live in, and the results that this ailment can bring upon society. Take for example ‘The Joker’ in Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008). In that film the character was angry at the importance that the world gives to money, and how the society we live in revolves around it. One scene has the joker burning a mountain of money simply to show how little he cares for it; and he burns it with gasoline, just to be poetic and comment on how oil and money are entwined in the world we live in. The Joker pitted people of Gotham against each other just to show that humanity is selfish, that in the end, all we really care about is ourselves. Villanous? Sure, but you have to admit the character is making a point. This guy who killed 12 people in the theater, what point was he trying to make? By telling the police he was The Joker, he’s saying that he saw himself as a villain trying to make a point. Was he commenting on societies obsession with movies and entertainment? Was he saying films blind us from reality? That we are not living our lives and instead we are wasting it in a movie theater? 

If that was his point, then he was wrong. Sure Hollywood can be shallow and is often times filled with empty spectacles, but The Dark Knight Rises was not one of those films. This film had a lot to say, it is in my humble opinion a very important film. Same as The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises says a lot about the way the world is NOW. Thematically speaking, The Dark Knight Risesis all about the class war, a very heated topic these days, considering how middle class in the world is quickly fading away. Currently, you are either ridiculously rich or obscenely poor and that’s the way the powerful like it. Through the dynamics between Batman and Bane the film speaks about the struggles of the working class, the oppressed and the ever going hatred for the dudes running Wall Street. The status quo of the world today shows us that it’s true, a part of humanity is selfish instead of giving. It thinks only of itself and not of the needy, the less fortunate. Sadly, the rich and powerful are not currently thinking about making this world a better place for everyone, they think about making it a better place for them, and how those who have less then them can serve them. These are the themes that The Dark Knight Rises tackles with great precision and assuredness. This film knows what it wants to talk about, and it says it very clearly, through its villain, Bane. So this isn’t just any stupid little comic book film, nope, this film is bombastic, epic; a mesmerizing film that  has important issues to adress.

Christopher Nolan in my opinion has made his best film to date with The Dark Knight Rises. Technically speaking, his films have always been top notch and this one is no exception, but what I loved the most about The Dark Knight Rises is how fleshed out the characters are. I was missing the time when great villains dominated a film, Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger are good examples of the kind of performance I like to see from a villain in a film; and I have to thank Nolan for making that special effort to build these memorable villains. Case in point: Tom Hardy’s Bane can now proudly stand next all those great villains of cinematic history. We hardly see Tom Hardy’s face in this film, save for a small flashback scene, his face remains hidden behind a mask for 99% of the films running time, yet Hardy’s performance shines through none the less. The character itself is extremely fleshed out, his back story is a very satisfying one. As a comic book fan, I was particularly thrilled to see moments from the storylines Knightfall, Knights End and No Mans Land on the screen.

DC Comics Batman # 497, one of the comics that inspired the storyline for The Dark Knight Rises. 

This is the third time Christian Bale has played Batman, I enjoyed how this time around he is a beaten, reclusive character, hiding away from the world in his mansion, like Mr. Kane in Orson Welle’s Citizen Kane (1941), the rich old guy who doesn’t want to answer to the world outside. It was great of the filmmakers to use the Bruce Wayne character to criticize the rich and powerful. If you have so much power, so much money, why not do something worthwhile with it, something that will improve humanity and the world we live in? Loved it how the movie tackled those themes through Bruce Wayne. It was a very intelligent move on the filmmaker’s side to comment on classist issues with the character, considering how the rich are viewed by the working class that’s struggling to get by on a day to day basis in this greedy world we live in. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman was somewhere between sexy and deadly, but nothing as overtly sexualized as Michelle Pfeiffer’s take on the character in Batman Returns (1992). The rest of the amazing cast does an amazing job, Michael Caine turns in an emotional performance on this one.

On the fun side of things the film delivers in spades. It was great to see a film that balanced action set pieces with story development so well; this really is a well though out picture, Mr. Nolan went up a couple of notches in my book with this one. Where the first two Nolan Bat films seemed a little on the talky side, this one balances fleshing out its characters and wowing us with amazing action and visual effects to perfection; kudos to Nolan for achieving that so well. So that’s it ladies and gents, I say don’t let the whole shooting thing scare you from seeing this one. It truly is a great film that touches up on important themes. This is an event picture, the kind you want to go to the theater to celebrate the fun of watching movies; don’t let the isolated incident with the crazy kook scare you out of that my friends! There was a special kind of electricity in the theater before and after the film started, people were genuinely excited to see this one. From what I can gather and from the resounding round of applause that I heard after the film was over, this one has won audience approval. The momentum these films have captured since the first film premiered has exploded on the screen with The Dark Knight Rises, the final film in Christopher Nolan’s Bat Saga; don’t let what that psycho did in Colorado scare you away from enjoying this awesome film.

Rating: 5 out of 5 

Nine (2009)

Title: Nine (2009)

Director: Rob Marshall

Cast: Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Fergi, Marion Cotillard, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Sophia Loren

Review:

Legendary Italian director Federico Fellini’s 8 ½ is a film about filmmaking. It tells the story of a film director who is struggling with the fact that he has producers breathing down his neck, waiting for him to produce his next film. Problem is that Guido never really knows exactly what film he wants to make. He is struggling between the idea of making the film he wants to make, and making a commercial film that will make money for the producers. In between all the madness that accompanies making a film, Guido Anselmi also struggles with all the women in his life. His wife, his mistresses, his lovers and the complications that accompany them. The film was Fellini’s semi-autobiographical explorations of what it meant be him. Juggling so many responsibilities at the same time, juggling so many women. In the end, Fellini comes to the conclusion that life is just one big circus and that we all form part of it.

The one, the only 8 1/2

NINE, the new film by the director of Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha (Rob Marshall) is essentially a remake of Fellini’s 8 ½. It’s also a film about a director struggling to make his next picture. The directors name is also Guido, only this time his name is Guido Contini, not Anselmi. And basically, NINE goes step by step through the most important moments seen in 8 ½, but in the form of a musical. NINE is also based on a broadway show of the same name. So NINE is really a film based on a broadway show that was based on a film. And same as it happens with a copy of a copy of a copy…NINE feels a bit lifeless and distant when compared to what is considered by many to be Fellini’s best film.

What this film does basically is, aside from adding a musical number for each female we encounter in Guido’s life, is update the ideas that Fellini presented us with in his films. You see, Fellini was a very macho kind of guy, he was the center of the universe in his films. The character of Guido Anselmi in 8 ½ has always been seen as a mirror image of who Fellini was, the character represents his creator. Guido Anselmi (as played by one Marcello Mastroiani) has always been seen by more then one movie buff as Fellini’s alter ego. The obvious reference to himself is of course that the films main character is a film director. In 8 ½, Guido is famous, everybody needs his opinion, everybody needs to interview him, talk to him, and everything needs his approval first. Same with his women, they all desire him, they all want to be with him, and they all need him. And, Fellini had no problem with depicting Guido as a womanizer, who worships women but hates the responsability of marriage. Fellini always chose these beautiful sexy bombshells for his films. In the films, Guido loves women for their femininity, their natural beauty, their sensuality.

All through out the course of his career, Fellini worshiped the beauty in women. He always chose the most beautiful women on the planet for his films! This is to be expected since directors give great importance to the way things look. Beauty, and the aesthetic side of things are important to a film director. But while Fellini worshipped beautiful women, in Fellini’s films men are unfaithful, they despise married life or commitment, they love to have fun, and not be tied down. Fellini's male characters never want to live married life, they see it as boring. Fellini’s men were always free spirits with no emotional attachments. Free to go and come as they please. This is a theme that can also be seen in Fellini's I Vitelloni for example, where young guys are struggling with the idea of getting married and becoming parents. What NINE does is, it says, “this is wrong, women cannot be treated as sex objects, they need to be loved for who they are, not for their physical beauty alone”. This can be seen in more then one scene on NINE, but the one I noticed most prominently was the one with Nicole Kidman, playing the role that Anita Eckberg played in La Dolce Vita. That of Sylvia, the bombshell actress who Guido whisks away to that magical iconic fountain in Italy. In La Dolce Vita, that scene has Guido falling deftly in love with Sylvia, wooing her, saying beautiful things about her, making her feel like a goddess because she is simply so stunningly beautiful. On this film, Nicole Kidman says “I’m not that woman” and walks away from Guido. Leaving him alone. As if Nicole Kidman’s character was saying “We know we are beautiful and all, but nobody loves a chauvinist pig!”

This film has elements from many of Fellini’s films. It’s not just a remake of 8 ½, this film also has scenes taken from La Dolce Vita, Amarcord and even Nights in Cabiria. It’s like Rob Marshall took some of the most Iconic moments from many of Fellini’s films and updated them with new songs, strung them together and called it a movie. Problem is that the film feels like a series of sketches or musical numbers, and not a movie. I mean, yeah, there’s that main storyline, but the film unfortunately takes no time in fleshing out its female characters and instead rushes its way to the next musical number. It’s like "Hi; I’m the new girl we are going to be talking about…and this is my song!" And that’s it. I really didn’t like that about the film. I mean, the musical numbers are fine, the songs are sometimes catchy (loved that Cinema Italiano song) but as a whole, the film doesn’t feel together.

It certainly does lack something. I think it needed to flesh out its female characters more since in essence, they are as much a center of the film as is Guido. I never felt like I knew these women walking before us. They are simply to be admired for their beauty. In many ways, this film contradicts itself. In one way its saying “love women for who they are not what they look like” but then it presents us with shallow empty female characters whom we never get to really know, so what’s left? Simply to admire their beauty and their song and dance. It certainly is a plus to have so many beautiful actresses on one film. But they are paraded around like trophies instead of tangible characters with life. With the possible exception of Marion Cotillard who actually made an effort to act, the rest of the female performances felt more like quick phoned in cameos then anything else, specially Kate Hudsons sequence. I loved the song she portrays, but shes in and out of the movie in the blink of an eye and your not even sure she was really even needed in the film except to add that song to the film. Even Daniel Day Lewis, who normally wows me with his performances was kind of dry here. In my opinion, they needed an actor who was a tad more dashing then Daniel Day Lewis. Rob Marshall’s original choice of Javier Bardem would have worked better, but he backed down due to exhaustion. Heck, even Antonio Bandera’s would have worked better.

This is not the worst film ever made, but the problem for me with it was that it’s coming from such great inspirational material, that the result should have somehow been better elaborated. Even the art direction was lack luster at times. Most of the songs take place in a stage, not a location, not a cool set, but a stage. I was expecting something grand for the big fountain sequence with Nicole Kidman, something that at least lived up to the memory of that awesome sequence in La Dolce Vita, but what we get is this silly looking little fountain. Nothing that came even remotely close to the great work of art we saw on Fellini’s film.

So why is this movie tanking at the box office? Well, my main hypothesis is that Fellini is a well known director amongst movie buffs and critics, but he isn’t a house hold name. He isn’t somebody that everyone knows about, and for that matter, neither is his film 8 ½. An awesome film, but a film that not everyone will be able to watch from start to finish. Fellini fans are a knowledgeable bunch; they aren’t your regular everyday movie goers. Problem is that NINE was made for the regular everyday movie goer, and these are the people who will enjoy this movie the least! This movie will be enjoyed by fans of Fellini, and that’s it. Nobody else will understand why the film takes place in Italy, why it takes place during the 60s or what films are being referenced, they will simply be disappointed and lost, which is what I’m thinking is happening right now with the abysmal Box Office Performance this film is having. Even with all its stars, it was not able to pull audiences in.

Rating: 3 ½ out of 5