Since I was without phone or internet for several days, I didn't hear about the shooting at the midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises until a few hours before I went to the theater. It's an intensely sad story, but one that news and entertainment outlets have covered at length far better than I ever could. The news did not seem to slow the anticipation for the movie; the showing I was at was easily sold out.
Even if this hadn't been the last movie in a well-regarded trilogy, and even if the culture-at-large hadn't been anticipating it for months, you know I'd be first in line, for obvious reasons.
Thankfully, I was able to walk into this movie knowing almost none of the details and none of the critical response - I tend to be a bit too easily swayed by other people's opinions, both good and bad. The Dark Knight Rises clocks in at almost three hours, and although long running times make me suspicious, the movie didn't seem bloated at all. There are a lot of characters on all points of the moral spectrum, and each of them gets a chance to shine. Christian Bale is reliably good as always, but the supporting cast is equally impressive. One by one, Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), Detective John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Bane (Tom Hardy), and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) take center stage, and all of them do a fantastic job.
The film wasn't a total home run for me, but the issues I had were relatively minor: This is a Batman film that doesn't have a whole lot of scenes featuring...Batman. Bane's voice is a bit too reminiscent of Darrell Hammond impersonating Sean Connery. There was too much of a focus on Alfred, who works best in a background capacity. But like I said, none of this detracted from my overall enjoyment of the movie as a whole. If The Avengers is the superhero movie to beat in terms of pure popcorn fun, this one is the heavy hitter in terms of tone and thoughtfulness.
The Dark Knight Rises: B+
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