The Dark Knight Rises

Following up one of the most critically and commercially successful sequels of all time is no mean feat. The Dark Knight remains a crime drama with scale and pathos to spare, and holds the distinctive merit of being the first super-hero flick for adults that scored just as big at the Academy Awards as it did at the box office. The inevitable consequence is that Nolan has now set expectations so high for The Dark Knight Rises, that they are unlikely to be matched.

This is a shame, because while TDKR admittedly never lives up to its Oscar-baiting predecessor, it is certainly not due to a lack of commitment or ambition from its talented director. In fact, it may be one of the best threequels ever made.

Setting the plot eight years after Batman’s last appearance is a narrative stroke of genius. We now see a greying, frailer Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) who spends his days as a creepy recluse (and thus making similarities to Frank Miller’s highly acclaimed The Dark Knight Returns all the more pleasing). This is no longer a masked vigilante battling thugs and psychopaths – the biggest struggle is against his forced retirement. This is just one of Nolan’s many neat touches that have managed to ground Batman in reality and made him an infinitely more relatable (and commercially reliable) character than Superman or Green Lantern.

But then again, people are not paying to see a three hour film of Bats sorting out his pension fund. So it’s not long before he is called into action by the film’s ‘big bads’: the slinky cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), and the colossal masked terrorist known as Bane (Tom Hardy). Hathaway, whose look has been subjected to online abuse for a distinct lack of feline features, manages to shut all the fanboys up with a disarming performance that is true to the character from the comics and – in true Catwoman style – shamelessly steals the first half of the movie.

Bane is the tougher assignment. Tom Hardy definitely has the required presence and hulking physique to pull off the role, but his job is made harder by having to act behind a mask that covers most of his face, and is marred by a voice that makes him sound like a Jamaican Sean Connery with asthma issues. However, his brutal role in Batman’s undoing – and those familiar with the Knightfall storyline from the comics know exactly what’s coming – make him a villain who is much easier to boo and hiss at than the Joker or Two-Face.

But characters are only as good as the context into which they are inserted, and it is quite admirable how far Nolan has always been willing to push them, especially his protagonist. Not many summer blockbusters get to tread such pitch black waters, especially when so many parallels with real world issues are drawn in the process – terrorism, economic inequality and the ‘occupy movement’ being firmly referenced.

Which makes the idea of a masked superhero swooping in to rectify these wrongs and save the day all the more relishing, if you think about it. Nolan has confirmed this will be the last we’ll see of his grounded, quasi-realistic Batman, and his contribution to the comic book movie genre is indelible. Good luck with the reboot, Warner Bros.

4/5

The Amazing Spiderman

Let’s get one thing out of the way, right off the bat: the decision to reboot Spiderman merely 5 years after he last swung into the sunset is no doubt off-putting. That much everyone knows – just look up all the slander and death threats posted on the internet over the past months. There’s still a lot of love out there for Sam Raimi’s trilogy, which makes this new Spidey’s chances of scoring with worldwide audiences much harder.

But here’s the kicker: you may hate what The Amazing Spiderman represents (i.e. shameless cash-in) and yes, the first half does stick a little too close to what we saw on screen ten years ago, but cast aside your cynicism for a couple of hours and you’ll find there is a lot to love about the film.

Like what, you ask? Well for starters, it is a remarkably faithful adaptation that sticks to the tone and original setting of the comic books. Midtown High, Gwen Stacy, mechanical web shooters, a beloved villain from the classic rogues’ gallery… hardcore fans will find their boxes have all been firmly ticked.

More importantly, mainstream audiences will be pleased to see that, despite a complete cast and director reshuffle, Spiderman has lost none of the heart and charm that have always made him arguably the most beloved superhero on the planet. Marc Webb was offered the gig based on the complex emotional themes on display in (500) Days of Summer and he successfully manages to transfer the rom-com’s best qualities over to his first blockbuster. The scenes in which Peter awkwardly tries to ask Gwen out or when he first meets her authoritarian father (a scenario many teenage boys will identify with) are likely to resonate more than the ones in which he gets pounded by a giant lizard. Moreover, the scenes between a bruised Peter and his protective aunt May carry an emotional heft that you’d expect from an indie domestic drama, not a superhero blockbuster.

The Amazing Spiderman is also impeccably well cast. Martin Sheen is Uncle Ben, Dennis Leary brings the laughs as the gruff Capt. Stacy, while Emma Stone is endearing as the high school sweetheart who may well be (whisper it!) a better fit for our hero than Mary Jane. Rhys Ifans as a fundamentally good man trapped in a game of Jekyll vs Hyde is an alluring proposition, even though his reptilian alter ego is occasionally marred by half-baked CGI – but at least he’ll go down in comic book folklore as the first Welsh super villain.

And what of the star of the show? Recasting a role that many feel belongs to Tobey Maguire was always going to be a tough gig but the truth is Andrew Garfield makes a brilliant Peter Parker/Spiderman. He looks like the character from the comic books (no matter how impressive Maguire’s sculpted pecs were, Spidey was always meant to be slender), nails his wisecracks (“You’ve found my weakness… it’s small knives!!” is the kind of humour that was woefully absent from previous films) and excels during the film’s more emotional scenes.

So, the inevitable question: is it better than Raimi’s trilogy? The best answer would be “it’s different”, but if you’re really after a comparison, let’s just say it betters the now outdated 2002 version, is way better than the over bloated third installment and has all the potential for delivering a sequel as triumphant as Spiderman 2. Check out that final swing through the New York skyline in glorious 3D and try not to feel your hairs stand at the prospect of seeing Spidey again in two years’ time.   

4/5