Imagine The Fire: Analyzing The Dark Knight Rises

July 24, 2012 Jonathan R. Lack 26 Comments

The Dark Knight Rises is a big movie.

I think that’s one thing we can all agree upon, whether we loved or hated the film, whether we were disappointed or uplifted. The ambition behind Christopher Nolan’s final Batman story is monumental, and from the nearly three-hour runtime to the mammoth IMAX presentation to the sheer scope of the story to the staggering wealth of character, sociopolitical, and philosophical themes on display, The Dark Knight Rises is the first true ‘epic’ Hollywood has produced in at least a decade, dating back to Peter Jackson’s Return of the King. Movies, for better or for worse (I tend to think the latter), just aren’t made like this any more.

The film’s incredible weight makes it nearly impossible, to my mind, to ‘review.’ I can boil down my ‘review’ of the movie into one (admittedly complex) sentence: The Dark Knight Rises is a spectacularly satisfying conclusion to Nolan’s trilogy, a wickedly smart and audacious story propelled by phenomenal character work, tremendous performances from all involved, and some of the most awe-inspiring visuals of the modern era.

There. Reviewed.

It’s not very insightful, though, is it? Nolan’s trust in his audience is so great at this point that shallow surface analysis simply will not do. To properly explain why or why not one thinks the film succeeds, one must dive deep into what the film says, pick it apart, and have a meaningful discussion on the story, characters, and how it all operates in a larger context. This is what The Dark Knight Rises asks of us, and this is the challenge I now intend to confront.

In this article, I have written four interconnected essays that analyze The Dark Knight Rises on what I consider to be its most significant fronts. You may read them all sequentially, or navigate to individual sections using the linked table of contents below. There is an awful lot of material here for you to immerse yourself in, but given the magnitude of the film, I believe the size is justified. This is by no means a definitive analysis, but I hope you find it to be an invigorating starting point to a truly fascinating discussion. Enjoy.

Part One: A Storm Is Coming – The Structure of The Dark Knight Rises

Part Two: More Than Just A Man – Character Closure in The Dark Knight Rises

Part Three: Born in Darkness – The Dark Knight Rises in a Sociopolitical Context

Part Four: The Fire Rises – Stylistic Innovations in The Dark Knight Rises

Read ‘Part One: A Storm is Coming’ by continuing onto the next page…

Atomic Ross

This is terrible. A painfully long, over-written jerkoff that offers no critical insight.

And I liked the movie.
- Anonymous
  
  I liked the part where he quoted himself and recommended that you read his other article.
- Tracer Bullet
  
  Was just about to write pretty much the exact same comment…… The writer seems obsessed with using long, fanciful words that add nothing to the article which in itself isn’t up to much anyway.
serenityncc880

I loved this article. So insightful and passionate. First worthy article I have seen for such a great film and Trilogy. I will be saving this on my computer. Thank you!!
Geoffrey Shauger

Loved the movie…it’s my favorite of the 3 and is 2nd only to Inception on Nolan’s resume.
rks

Did you like the movie though? I couldn’t tell from reading the article.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Lack/100000619690152 Jonathan Lack
  
  I loved the movie. I think it’s an excellent conclusion to the franchise, and an impressive cinematic milestone.
http://twitter.com/maliu808 Maliu

Thank you for this piece. Ever since seeing the movie, and blown away by the breadth of skill throughout, I couldn’t organize my thoughts. Much like you I loved it but am enamored with the Dark Knight. I do, however, think that this is one of the best ending to an intense & moving trilogy. And I can’t wait for the boxed set so that I can marathon the trilogy.
James Matlock

Excellent article, very thoughtful and insightful and I agree with it 100%. The best review of this film!
Jon Buch

Thank you for some great articles on the Batman triology. I’ve got a question for you. Which other films throughout history do you consider as epics? And how come you don’t consider TDK an epic
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jonathan-Lack/100000619690152 Jonathan Lack
  
  Obvious examples include “Lawrence of Arabia,” “Ben Hur,” “Seven Samurai,” and “2001: A Space Oddyssey.” Those are the ones that come immediately to mind. I think “Lord of the Rings” is clearly an epic as well.
  
  TDK is a great movie, one of the best ever made in my opinion, and better than TDKR. Not being an epic isn’t a bad thing. It just means its goals are different than that of an epic. TDK, compared to epics like TDKR, simply has a smaller scope. The Joker’s goal, for instance, is not full-scale annihilation so much as chaos and terror. There are also fewer characters, and the film is more focused on a singular narrative than multiple converging plot threads. This, to me, is what makes it a great movie. It means it’s not an epic, but again, that’s in no way a bad thing.
Alejandro Roggio

My main gripe with the film was that it contradicts everything established by the last films. It completely reverses the impact that Joker had on Gotham while at the same time “fixing” Bruce Wayne and ridding him of his psychological trauma. In essence, it cheapens the significant of everything that happened in the first films. The film is fine as a stand-alone flick, but it fails as a continuation (and as a finale) to this theatrical saga.
Russell Reynolds

I’m sorry, there is no way you can support DKR being the best of the trilogy. Apart from the several glaring pot-holes that exist, it also has the huge problem of making big moments revolve around people we are not made to care about. When we find out the Talia is the baddy all along, who cares? She is not important enough. When we find out that Bane is no more than Talia’s bodyguard, and then is killed off quickly and easily, doesn’t this cheapen everything he has done in the film? When we spend almost the entire film following John Blake only for him to drive a bunch of kids to the bridge when all the action finally happens, isn’t this meaningless for a character we actually care about? The use of the name ‘Robin’ was a cheap pay-off to satisfy any future films that may be made, and serves to be inaccurate to the comic books. Some of the flashbacks were completely unnecessary and were purely used to the effect of ‘look, we did actually say that in the first film so there!’ Some people use the argument that Bruce could have never avoided the blast in such a short amount of time, and others say this is irrelevant as it’s a comic book film, therefore allowing no restrictions on the physically possibilities. Well if it is such a comic book film, why is it nothing like one? It is made as a serious movie, so the impossible such as bane punching through a pillar and Bruce magically getting back into Gotham are flawed.The biggest problem with the film is how they decided to describe action instead of showing it. This made it an information fest with no enjoyment whatsoever. Apart from that it was good!
Russell Reynolds

I’m sorry, there is no way you can support DKR being the best of the trilogy. Apart from the several glaring pot-holes that exist, it also has the huge problem of making big moments revolve around people we are not made to care about. When we find out the Talia is the baddy all along, who cares? She is not important enough. When we find out that Bane is no more than Talia’s bodyguard, and then is killed off quickly and easily, doesn’t this cheapen everything he has done in the film? When we spend almost the entire film following John Blake only for him to drive a bunch of kids to the bridge when all the action finally happens, isn’t this meaningless for a character we actually care about? The use of the name ‘Robin’ was a cheap pay-off to satisfy any future films that may be made, and serves to be inaccurate to the comic books. Some of the flashbacks were completely unnecessary and were purely used to the effect of ‘look, we did actually say that in the first film so there!’ Some people use the argument that Bruce could have never avoided the blast in such a short amount of time, and others say this is irrelevant as it’s a comic book film, therefore allowing no restrictions on the physically possibilities. Well if it is such a comic book film, why is it nothing like one? It is made as a serious movie, so the impossible such as bane punching through a pillar and Bruce magically getting back into Gotham are flawed.The biggest problem with the film is how they decided to describe action instead of showing it. This made it an information fest with no enjoyment whatsoever. Apart from that it was good
lifelong-batfan

To your discussion of this film (and the other two in the trilogy) as an “epic,” I would add a definition often used by English majors like myself: that is, a narration of a particular culture or society’s core values and beliefs, typically in a mythical or larger-than-life fashion, and grounded in events and circumstances that are/were especially meaningful to that group of people at that time.

While it could be argued that this applies to many different comic book characters, I think it applies most of all to Bruce Wayne/Batman. He is “one of us”; an ordinary American who strives to become more than he is; an innovator, an individual who stubbornly, even self-destructively refuses to acknowledge “the way things are”; an individual who believes absolutely in the power of the individual.

Brilliant article, and the first I’ve seen that really engages with the film on its own very complicated level.
Zee Remorca

“we can stick to what our hearts tell us and rise above our worst instincts at the same time, and that in so doing, we may truly empower and improve the world around us.”

this alone makes reading the article worth it.

Congratulations, Jonathan. You’ve made me a fan. I look forward to reading more of your work
Hooty

What a great movie! I don’t think the cat woman character served much of a purpose, but that’s just my thoughts. Like with The Dark Knight, I will be buying this dvd when it’s released and watch it over and over. Good job!
Kovaks

Thanx for such a great read.
MariHh97

THANKS FOR THE ARTICLE! Excellent! LOVE IT
John

Jonathan Lack, and others, who understand the true impact of experiencing a movie like TDKR in a 15/70 mm perf auditorium, and know it is COMPLETELY different from seeing the movie in an auditorium that has been retrofitted to be an “IMAX” theater, need educate moviegoers about the difference more fully.

I saw TDKR is the IMAX at Lowes Metreon in San Francisco. That screen is 100′ x 85′. The scenes utilizing 15/70mm are AMAZING. Retrofitted IMAX auditoriums using the digital projectors are on screens that are 58′ x 28′, and the clarity of image Lack refers to is nowhere close to what is projected by those 15/70 projectors that IMAX is even removing from some of their auditoriums.

I hope that I will be able to see TDKR presented in the medium again. Hopefully it will be represented by Blu-ray/DVD in at least some way. They can at least fill our HDTV screens with what is filmed by the IMAX cameras.
http://www.facebook.com/joshualepselter Pennybags Lepselter

When you were discussing the far away prison, you state that fear was the ultimate motivation for Batman, yet when you bring Selina Kyle into the mix, you state that anger is their collective motivation, not fear. Why the change?

Fantastic article by the way. I was not expecting the entire film to be picked apart so beautifully and masterfully, all the way down to the score. It was worth reading all 10,000 words and more. Please keep this lost talent of writing going for all of us to enjoy for future epics. Thank you.
MichaeltheArchangel

That movie sucked on all accounts. The only people that like this movie are stupid people.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=599459594 Michael Little
  
  Go jerk off to that goddamn stupid Avengers movie. That movie was dumber than an NFL linebacker. Terrible filmmaking.
craig

Dude, I don’t think Nolan gives a shit about “Occupy Wallstreet”
Benjamin

While the movie has many good points, I thought the script and dialogue had many deficiencies. Every line Alfred spoke, for instance, had my toes curling, even if Michael Caine did his best to salvage them. I also found Bale exceedingly poor in the central role – little charisma and an absolutely ridiculously overdone voice as Batman. Hardy was good, but the plot and the themes juvenile at best.
Benjamin

Furthermore, and perhaps crucially, the scenes between Talia/Tate and Bruce/Batman do not really come off in my oppinion. There is little chemistry between the actors and the characters have little reason for being together. It just felt tagged on and out of place.