With his eagerly anticipated “The Odyssey” opening in US and UK cinemas on Friday, Everyman Cinemas have been running a Christopher Nolan retrospective season as a part of their excellent “Throwback” series (in which you get a free glass of wine/beer and a popcorn thrown in!). The other week I saw the immaculate “Interstellar“. Last night I saw “Inception“, one of my top 10 films of all time. And – neatly sidestepping “Dunkirk“, which for me is his only fail – I also took in his dramatic and impressive take on the Batman legacy.
The last of this trilogy came out in 2012, the year before I started doing these film reviews. So I thought this was a good opportunity to walk down memory lane and review them with a critical eye. But I was unprepared for how astonishingly good these were to revisit on the big screen.
“Batman Begins” (2005, 4*, 12): A Whole Lotta Backstory.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
After witnessing the brutal death of his parents at the age of 8, Bruce Wayne (Gus Lewis, then Christian Bale) grows up with grief and anger issues. Vowing to fight crime and injustice in Gotham City, he travels abroad to find himself and comes into contact with an organisation called The League of Shadows led by Ra’s Al Ghul (Ken Watenabe).
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Moderate horror and violence.”)
Talent:
Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Rutger Hauer, Morgan Freeman, Linus Roache, Sara Stewart, Gus Lewis.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
Written by: Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. (From a story by David S. Goyer and from characters created by Bob Kane).
Running Time: 2h 20m.
Review:
As a fan of 1989’s “Batman” with Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson and (the utterly gorgeous) Kim Basinger, I remember thinking when this came out “why do we need another interpretation of the DC Caped Crusader”. But Nolan thought we did (he was right) and Warner Brothers threw $150 million dollars at this: a small fortune of a budget today, but especially so back in 2005 (it is equivalent to $290 million in today’s money). And you can see that investment up on the screen: this is big-scale Hollywood movie production at its finest.
Positives:
- The film boasts a really terrific cast and was instrumental in putting together the core of Nolan’s ‘family’ of players: this was the first film to feature Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Christian Bale, Ken Watanabe, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman, who would crop up in multiple future Nolan films. Christian Bale is suitably enigmatic as Bruce Wayne but almost stealing the show is Michael Caine’s Alfred. I thought Michael Gough was the definitive Alfred, but Caine put his own masterly stamp on the role. The script allows him to act much more as the friend and guardian to Bruce rather than his ‘butler’. He is also given some great comic lines. Nolan successfully manages to make Caine look the 15 years or so younger for the numerous flashback scenes, in an age before CGI-de-aging was a thing.
- Elsewhere in the cast we have Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson and Rutger Hauer: a veritable smorgasbord of male acting talent. While the script does not serve up many decent roles for woman (might Nolan ever do a more female-centric film in the future?) we do have Katie Holmes – soon to me Mrs Tom Cruise, of the infamous sofa-bouncing incident – playing the love-interest and Assistant-DA Rachel Dawes and Sara Stewart in the brief minor role of Martha Wayne.
- The action scenes are superbly done, exciting and dynamically edited, leaving you breathless afterwards. Hats off to the cinematographer, Wally Pfister: the picture is wonderfully dark and brooding when it needs to be. In addition, the sound design and production design (Nathan Crowley) are both superb. It’s only at the cinema, with a big screen projection and Dolby sound, that you can really appreciate the art that has gone into the film. Phister was Oscar nominated for the film, but it is a genuine surprise that this was the film’s only nomination: I would have expected more noms in the technical departments.
- The music is cleverly done, with both Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard being brought on to reflect the different sides of Bruce Wayne’s conflicted personality. It is Zimmer’s bombastic music that stays with you after the film.
Negatives:
- I really do like backstory to develop a character, but for me we spent far too long on it here. It’s a full 50 minutes before we really get into the ‘proper’ Gotham plot: in the lead-up to that we have countless flashbacks to well, bats, dead parents, pearls, yada yada…. all stuff that is so much a part of the Batman culture that 90% of the audience will already know it and be thinking “move along please”. We also get the Tibetan Jedi-style training stuff with Liam Neeson and Ken Watenabe, all of it is really impressively done… but, for me, there is just a bit too much if it for what is an already bum-numbing film.
- I really don’t buy the whole premise of the finale. It looks to me like Gotham is already pretty comprehensively fucked, without any train having to reach Wayne Tower! This feels like a plot contrivance.
- Katie Holmes is all very cute in a ‘girl next door’ kind of way, but she seems underpowered in the role. I never felt she had the grit to be Assistant DA. (Maggie Gyllenhaal makes a much more believable, albeit less cute, Rachel in the sequel.)
Oscar Recognition:
Shamefully, for the Academy, “Batman Begins” only got a single Oscar nomination: the one for Wally Pfister for the cinematography. That seems nothing short of scandalous.
Summary Thoughts on “Batman Begins”:
A really impressive film that, back in 2005, made me sit up and want to see what the sequel would deliver. And boy, did it deliver!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neY2xVmOfUM.
“The Dark Knight” (2008, 5*, 12A): Nolan’s Action Masterpiece.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Nature abhors a vacuum and after the defeat of Gotham gangster Carmine Falcone (Tom Wilkinson) in “Batman Begins” there’s a new power in town: an anarchic sociopath who calls himself The Joker (Heath Ledger). Bruce Wayne finds that the character has more bats in his mental belfry than even he has.
Certification:
UK: 12A; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Contains strong fantasy violence and sustained threat.” This is a historic film from a UK Certification point of view as it was the first film to ever use the BBFC “12A” classification: allowing anyone under 12 into the screening if accompanied by an adult.)
Talent:
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Nestor Carbonell, Nydia Rodriguez Terracina.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
Written by: Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. (From a story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer and from characters created by Bob Kane).
Running Time: 2h 32m.
Review:
Wowzer! If “Batman Begins” set the bar for the new breed of darker, grittier Batman films, “The Dark Knight” raised that bar and then some, thanks largely to one secret ingredient: the force of nature known as Heath Ledger.
Expectations were high, and Warner Brother’s upped Nolan’s budget again: to an estimated $285 million!
Positives:
- Heath Ledger. As The Joker, Ledger is simply extraordinary.He just absolutely inhabits the crazed – “not crazy” – painted sociopath. His twitching, his snake-like tongue, his horrendous recount of his backstory. It’s a superb tour-de-force and most definitely the acting performance of the year, for which he was justifiably awarded the Best Actor Oscar. This, sadly, was awarded posthumously after the actor died on January 22, 2008, in his New York City apartment at the age of just 28. The official cause of death was ruled an accidental prescription drug overdose resulting from acute intoxication caused by the combined effects of multiple medications, including painkillers, sleeping pills, and anti-anxiety treatments. The film is dedicated to “our friends Heath Ledger and Conway Wickliffe”. (Wickliffe was a special effects technician who was killed when a vehicle he was filming from struck a tree during a test run for an action sequence near Chertsey).
- Some of the action is next level. The famous scene where The Joker blows up Gotham Hospital is a work of art. Yes, Nolan and his team really did blow up the building – the Brach’s Candy Administration Building in Austin, Chicago – and that really is Heath Ledger walking out of the front door of the building that is primed for demolition. That glitch, leading to Ledger’s ‘improvisation’ with the detonator? Not a glitch. Not an improvisation. A meticulously planned scene with the first mini-explosions to get Ledger far enough away to be out of harm’s way before the demolition proper. A truly memorable scene that HAD to be done in one take!
- Some of the imagery in the film is even more spectacular than in the first film, including drone shots of Batman standing on the edge of terrifyingly high skyscrapers. A Hong Kong-set sequence is particularly impressive.
- Once again, the production design is exquisite. Here we get not just a reprise of the Batmobile, but a Bat-bike as well. (The fact that the Bat-bike is an ‘escape pod’ for the Batmobile is a bit of a stretch!)
- Maggie Gyllenhaal steps into the Assistant DA shoes of Katie Holmes as Rachel (allegedly due to “scheduling issues”) and has more of the gravitas and grit that makes you think that she would actually get her hands dirty as a crime-fighting Assistant-DA alongside Harvey Dent.
- Also joining the cast is Aaron Eckhart, who does a great job as the windmill-tilting DA Harvey Dent. He is granted some really top-notch effects/make-up in the latter part of the film that is genuinely disturbing.) There’s also Nestor Carbonell – black smoke man in “Lost” – who turns up as Gotham’s mayor for this and the next film.
- We did at least get one other semi-decent female role in this film: Nydia Rodriguez Terracina plays Judge Janet Surillo. (Although it’s worth noting that few female characters survive to the end of the film: does Christopher Nolan just hate all women??)
- Together with the requisite action sequences, we also get a surprising demonstration of social conscience with two packed ferries, two bombs and two switches. I’m afraid this came over as completely unbelievable to me: just 7 years after 9/11, this seems to be trying to tap into the “All New Yorkers together” spirit (or in this case, Gothamers spirit) that was a very fleeting thing!
Negatives:
- For me, the final action scenes, involving hostages wearing Joker masks, is all too frenetic and confusing. I only rewatched these scenes last night and I’m still not sure I can tell you what was going on and why. It just seems to be bolted into the plot for no particular reason.
- There are just one or two lines in the script that are a bit odd.
- At one point, The Joker describes Rachel as “so beautiful”. And while Gyllenhaal is not unattractive, would we call her “beautiful” in the traditional sense: she has other admirable qualities, but “so beautiful”? I perceived Dent as having fallen for Rachel for her intelligence, her grit and her steely determination rather than for her looks alone.
- An exchange between Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Wayne (Christian Bale) about the mis-use of Wayne Industry surveillance technology also didn’t ring true. Resignation? No – he surely knew what entering his name on the system would do and/or he could have just destroyed it himself. False, false, false.
Oscar Recognition:
At least the Academy seemed to recognise their omission on “Batman Begins”. “The Dark Knight” was awarded 8 nominations, winning two of them. They were:
- Best Actor – Heath Ledger (winner)
- Best Achievement in Sound Editing – Richard King (winner)
- Best Achievement in Cinematography – Wally Pfister
- Best Achievement in Film Editing – Lee Smith
- Best Achievement in Art Direction – Nathan Crowley and Peter Lando
- Best Achievement in Make Up – John Caglione Jr. & Conor O’Sullivan
- Best Achievement in Sound Mixing – Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo & Ed Novick
- Best Achievement in Visual Effects – Nick Davis, Chris Corbould, Tim Webber & Paul J. Franklin
Summary Thoughts on “The Dark Knight”:
Even more so than with “A Knight’s Tale” – which I saw a few months ago – this movie makes you ache for the future performances of Heath Ledger that were never to be. Such a tragedy; such a waste. I know the official reports put Ledger’s death down to be an accidental overdose, but I do have a niggling doubt as to whether his immersion in this twisted character’s psyche might have at least nudged him towards needing more of those ‘medications’ than less. We will never know.
“The Dark Knight” was an astonishing film and it was difficult to see how it could be topped. And so it proved to be. In my eyes, this was to be the high-water-mark of Nolan’s trilogy.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXeTwQWrcwY.
“The Dark Knight Rises” (2012, 4*, 12A): Another Great Film, Marred by a Stupid Voice.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
It’s 8 years later. Battered, disabled and persona non-gratia in his caped form, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is a recluse. He is blamed for the death of Harvey Dent, even though Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) knows the truth to be different. But Batman is no longer needed: the “Dent Act” has put an end to organised crime in Gotham. But an alluring cat-burglar and a shadow from the past force Wayne to get his act together to fight a terrifying new threat to Gotham.
Certification:
UK: 12; US: PG-13. (From the BBFC website: “Contains moderate violence”)
Talent:
Starring: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Alon Aboutboul, Ben Mendelsohn, Burn Gorman, Nestor Carbonell, Cillian Murphy, Glen Powell.
Directed by: Christopher Nolan.
Written by: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan. (From a story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer and from characters created by Bob Kane).
Running Time: 2h 44m.
Review:
Heath Ledger feels like a bit of a hole in this film from the outset. His capture at the end of “The Dark Knight” was pretty low-key and it was always Nolan’s intention that he would have made a significant reappearance in this sequel. (Wisely, Nolan chose not to recast out of respect for Ledger’s memory.) So instead we get a reworked story introducing the character of Bane (Tom Hardy).
Positives:
- The film, if that was even possibly, ups the ante even more in terms of the scope of the action. We start with an astonishingly realised aerial plane stunt that feels more at home in a Mission: Impossible film than here, but is spectacular nonetheless. And then some of the scenes of rioting and police vs the bad guys are shot on a massive scale with thousands of extras. A scene of destruction at a football field DID, obviously, involve some special effects, but as this reel shows it was initiated with a real stadium and real explosions before the VFX guys took over. Pretty stunning.
- Joining the cast for this outing are Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a fellow orphan turned crime-fighter (you’ll never guess his name!) and not one but two strong female roles: my, my Mr Nolan, you are stretching yourself! Firstly we have an immaculate and very sexy Anne Hathaway in the cat-suit playing Selina Kyle. We are done with the whole ‘shoving out the window’ story of old and here she is a straight up bad-ass: an ace-burglar whose orbit merely crosses that of Bruce Wayne. Then we have the wonderful Marion Cotillard, soon to return memorably in “Inception“, playing a successful businesswoman and Bruce Wayne’s love interest: yes, in this one he actually gets to have rumpy-pumpy in front of a roaring fire! It’s also fun to see two immaculate actors before they really broke out: Ben Mendelsohn as the evil businessman Daggett and Burn Gorman as his sidekick Stryver. And oh what a joy to see a fresh-faced Glen Powell in one of his early bit-part roles as a stockbroker. Even here, you think – jeez, this guy has ‘the look’ to go far.
- The film has a really great twist in the plot: I’ve seen this film a number of times before and I still didn’t see it coming!
- The production design is again terrific. Yes, we have the amazing hardware: in addition to the Bat Bike, with its insanely twisting wheels to change direction, we also get “The Bat” – a truly impressive aerial combat vehicle. But it is in some of the little touches that I found great pleasure. When Selena pulls her bike goggle back to the top of her head, they become cat ears: just superb.
Negatives:
- Bain’s voice. Oh dear. I was reminded of Jared Leto’s Skeletor in the recent “Masters of the Universe“. Put it in a pantomime, to make the kids in the audience less scared of the villain, and it would work a treat. But WHY Nolan, WHY? It makes a nonsense of what is an otherwise memorable character: “Follow him!” says Bain as he puts a mobile phone in a henchman’s pocket and tosses him into the fast flowing sewer outflow. Evil, right? But when said in such a stupid high-pitched squawk it loses some of its impact. How did this happen? Did Hardy say on the first day of shooting “Hey Chris, I just want to try something… it’s a bit out there… but lets do one take and then tell me what you think.” If this is how it happened, Nolan should have shot it in the head a birth. It’s tragic.
- There are a number of other aspects of the script that don’t quite work: I have still given the film 4 stars for the overall confection, but these things still niggle at me:
- Batman’s back. Bain breaks his back across his knees, such that there “are vertebrae sticking out”. Yet a bit of rope-based traction and Wayne is back on his feet and fighting fit again. No paralysis! If only poor Christopher Reeve had known this trick.
- The sequence in the “pit of doom” is all very well, but why does everyone have to do the ‘leap of faith’ when the rock wall looks perfectly rough enough to climb across it! I don’t think you’d even need to be Alex Honnold to manage that! And then when he gets to the top, you’d think at least he’d toss a big rope down to help the friends who helped him!
- The scenes of hundreds of police, armed only with police batons, is all very well, but when they are facing armoured vehicles and bad guys with fully loaded machine guns, its totally unrealistic: they wouldn’t have got more then 10 yards up the street before they were turned to mincemeat!
- The whole Bain backstory, past “the twist”, is weak and unbelievable. He was outcast because he “reminded him” of someone? Please!
Oscar Recognition:
This film failed to get a single Oscar nomination. So in Oscar terms, the Nolan trilogy was near-zero to hero to bust again. Aren’t the Academy quirky?!
Summary Thoughts on “The Dark Knight Rises”:
A film that could never live up to its predecessor, this is still a blisteringly fun watch and one that rounds out the trilogy nicely. I particularly enjoyed the little coda with Michael Caine.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8evyE9TuYk.
Trilogy Summary.
So, there we have it. In terms of film history, a highly successful trilogy, grossing:
- Batman Begins – $375 million
- The Dark Knight – $1009 million
- The Dark Knight Rises – $1085 million
a total of nearly $2.5 billion in their original theatrical runs. This isn’t anywhere near the $5.6 billion of the “Avatar” trilogy or the $4.48 billion of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. But it is still a solid entry in the top 10 trilogies of all time. A rewatch, particularly for the first two which I saw on the big screen, was really enjoyable and I remain in awe of what Nolan can do in film.
Will I be as impressed with “The Odyssey”? I’ll tell you next weekend!
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!