The Dark Knight Rises

(spoiler warning)

Undeterred by unfortunate events, I went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Friday night. I wasn't sure how it was going to affect me compared to my recent immersion into the Marvel films.
It perfectly complemented it.

Much has been said about DC characters being too powerful or perfect while Marvel's each have their own humanizing flaws. I partially agree with this and tend to lean towards Marvel myself, however, TDKR and The Avengers have contributed to a bit of role reversal. Nolan definitely puts far more effort into portraying the pure myth of Batman in the last 2 films over the personal story of Bruce Wayne. Before really analyzing either film, I viewed TDKR as a grandiose show of good vs. evil while The Avengers highlighted the down-to-earth humanity in every character. Now after much thought I've seen a completely different perspective. While the previous statement remains true, it is, in other ways, false. TDKR goes into far greater depth about humanity's will to survive and the heart of societal problems. When I reflect on it, in contrast The Avengers is really only focuses on an upper echelon fighting off an evil that is beyond the common man. While I still favor The Avengers for its cast and overall hype, TDKR embarrasses The Avengers with its sheer comprehensiveness. Kind of ironic when comparing a team of superheroes to a sole protector. That being said, where one movie fails, the other makes up for it. I'm glad they were released so close together.

The cinematography, CGI, and overall visual effects were inevitably brilliant. Due to his role in relation to the plot twist, Bane is not comparable to the Joker but compelling once you realize his true nature. Joseph Gordon Levitt was quite the scene stealer. You could hear half of the theater take in a sharp breath of joy when his 'true name' was finally revealed. Christian Bale's performance felt like Batman finally matured morally and socially. My favorite scenes were definitely Wayne's struggle in the prison, which brings me to the single best aspect of the movie:

The music.

It's hard for me to put myself in the shoes of the average non-musically trained moviegoer and try to imagine how easy it is to miss the subtleties in various different film scores. Hans Zimmer's work for The Dark Knight trilogy is on a different level. It will take many years, if not decades, for the Dark Knight (musical)motif to leave the ears of the public. If you don't know what I'm talking about, simply click here and listen to the first 42 seconds.

0:21-0:27, a simple interval, is Batman beginning.
0:33-0:42, a powerfully uplifting chord, is The Dark Knight rising.
At least that's how I see it.

And the beauty of the music is that it is so well intertwined with the film that after the first two movies we've been conditioned to respond to that simple harmony. How does that play into TDKR? When Bruce Wayne finally rises from "hell," cheered on by a primal chorus, and takes his first steps back into the light, everything builds up to the Dark Knight motif, finally unleashed on the audience in full force.

You can't help but shiver in triumph.

If Nolan set the bar for superhero films, Zimmer built an impassable mountain for superhero scores.

I've been seeing way too many films twice recently, but I might just have to go for one more.