On July 20th, 2012, Christopher Nolan's epic finale to The Dark Knight Trilogy was released, leaving me wanting to rise to the goals I have set for myself throughout my entire life. That's right, this film produces that much emotion. The Dark Knight Rises truly was a perfect ending to a remarkably well-done trilogy, the best trilogy in the history of film.
Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, George Lucas' original Star Wars trilogy, and Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather trilogy are just a few of the great cinematic trifectas we have had the luxury of seeing. These sets of movies have mesmerized audiences for years and have provided countless debates as to which set of films is best. After seeing Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, there is no doubt which trilogy is now the king.
In 2005, an up-and-coming filmmaker by the name of Christopher Nolan was granted Warner Brothers stamp of approval to re-boot Batman on screen. Batman is one of the best money-makers for WB, but it was in somewhat of a slump after Joel Schumacher famously shit on every citizen of America with Batman and Robin. With no cash coming in from the caped cash cow, it was time.
Batman Begins was a critical success and earned $372 million dollars world-wide. It was a grittier take on Batman with a plot that the filmmakers wanted to base in reality. Any person can relate to the characters in Begins. Batman himself doesn't have the luxury of a superpower. Aside from his wealth, he is just an everyday man like you and me. He wasn't born on Krpyton, he wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, and he is not the Norse God of Thunder; Batman is just...a man. Nolan did a fantastic job of portraying that on screen.
After the success of Begins, came what many consider to be the greatest comic book movie of all time, a game changer, and a bar-setter. The Dark Knight shook the world up in the summer of 2008. With Nolan at it again, this time with the most famous villain out of Batman's rogues gallery--The Joker (played to Oscar-perfection by the late Heath Ledger)--he changed the CBM landscape forever.
TDK earned over $1 BILLION dollars at the box office, which at the time, was a record for a CBM. It was nominated for various Academy Awards but was famously snubbed for a Best Picture Nod (which, in the following year, had fans so outraged that the Academy expanded the field of nominees to 10.)
The Dark Knight is my third favorite movie of all time, behind only James Cameron's Titanic, and another Christopher Nolan film- Inception. With Nolan setting the bar so high with TDK, anticipation for the finale, The Dark Knight Rises hit a fever pitch. You couldn't go on any film website in the last two years without reading at least one bit of relevant news from production on TDKR. From guessing the movies villains early on, to how it would all end, to if the film would include Robin, to even such fantastic ideas as: "is it all a dream?" The journey to get to July 20th was one of the most fun I have ever had being a fan of film.
The Dark Knight Trilogy was finally here. This is not my review of TDKR, this is just a post on my experience at the trilogy. For my review, go HERE.
I got my tickets for the trilogy the day they were available. And to me, there was no other way to see this film than in IMAX, as Nolan shot nearly 100 minutes of this 164 minute film with 70 mm IMAX cameras. Once I got my confirmation email that the tickets had been purchased, it had finally become a reality to me. I had been waiting for this day since the Joker was literally left hanging from a building at the end of The Dark Knight in 2008. The fact that I could see my actual ticket to the end of a legend was heart-stopping.
I have been a fan of Batman since my parents first showed me Batman in 1989. I remember running around my circular carpet in my living room to Danny Elfman's beloved Batman theme for hours on end when I was a child, and--to some extent--as an adult. Now, in my mid-twentys, this was MY Batman. Not my father's, or my grandfather's, this was MY Batman. My story. My saga. MY Dark Knight.
When July 19th hit, it was time. I couldn't sleep the night before knowing that the legend would end in less than 24 hours. As the movie's tagline read, a fire will rise, and all I hoped for, was for Nolan to rise to the occasion with his finale. And he did, in a major way.
The experience at the theater was by far the best time I have ever spent at a movie theater. I got to the theater at 4 p.m. and wasn't back in my hotel room until 3:45 a.m. Nearly 12 hours at the cinema, and every minute was well worth it.
The IMAX theater I was in, theater number 8, had a capacity of 509 people. 509 people just like me, all wanting the same thing--a satisfying ending. As the room filled up, and with each passing minute, I could feel the palms of my hand getting sweaty, the butterflies in my stomach whipping around, and the thoughts in my head twirling like a spinning top (pun intended fellow Nolanites). Continuously checking my cell phone for the time, I sipped on my cherry coke and fiddled with my commemoration lanyard until the Warner Brothers symbol hit the screen to the first few notes of Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard thrilling score. And so, it begins.
When Batman Begins initially came out, I did not enjoy it all that much. It was too dark, the music wasn't fun, and Christian Bale's voice as Batman was annoying. It took my multiple viewings on blu-ray to truly grasp the scope of what Nolan was trying to do with the film. My review for the film after various viewings is put right at 3.5/5 stars. Re-watching the film in theaters and in IMAX for the first time, was easily the best viewing experience of Begins that I have had.
I thought it would drag on, knowing that the fire was going to rise soon, but it didn't--it flew by. The other fans in the theater enjoyed it too. Many different moments in the film entice applause out of the audience, and to me, that is one of the best things about the early screenings of these big films. The best moment for me during my screening of Batman Begins, was the final scene atop a building in Gotham where Gordon shows the Batman the Joker card for the first time.
The audience erupted. Everyone knew what was coming next. And the goosebumps on my arm flared up like a nasty infection. Begins was made better by what followed. Nolan's interpretation of the origin story was mesmerizing and infectious. His basis in reality was astounding, and the emotional connection the audience feels with the characters, especially that of Bruce Wayne's makes this movie all that it is. When that Joker card flashes on screen at the end of the film, you know that we haven't seen the end of Batman on screen, and that a bigger, better, and bolder sequel would follow.
With the fans clamoring for more, and the time ticking down until midnight. Hans Zimmer ushered the fans out of their seats as the credits rolled, to refill sodas and popcorn, smoke cigarettes and text, and best of all--discuss the film everyone has just seen. I was thrilled to have just seen Begins again, and had just a half hour more to wait until The Dark Knight.
I won a gift set of posters and stickers for The Dark Knight Trilogy. It was a small gift, but the experience is what made it for me. Getting that right in front of hundreds of people, having those same people cheer and clap for you, as well as a select few chanting "nerd" at me, made me even more proud to consider myself a "Nolanite." In Nolan I Trust.
Fresh off my big win, came the screening of The Dark Knight. Everyone in the theater was amped up for this one, as it truly is the best CBM of all time. The experience was amazing. Knowing that everyone in the theater has seen the movie at least a few hundred times (or maybe that was just me?) it was fun to see people laugh and applaud at the same scenes that we did 4 years prior when it was still fresh and exciting.
This movie flew by for me, it felt like I was watching a trailer. Even though I know every line of dialogue and how every frame is shot, I still found myself on the edge of my seat, filled with suspense. "The Pencil Trick," the chase scene, the classic Bale growl, and Ledger's once-in-a-lifetime performance. These moments are what made this movie great.
When it finally got to be time for Gary Oldman to deliver his gut-wrenching monologue at the end of the film, I started to cry. "This is it," I thought to myself, "it is really going to end." It was 11:11 when the credits stopped rolling (and yes I did make a wish, and yes, it did come true). 49 minutes until the epic conclusion to The Dark Knight Trilogy.
I left the theater to call a few of my friends and express my emotions and thoughts, and to have once last little debate about how the whole saga would end. I looked around and saw over 2,000 other Batman fans all thinking and doing the same thing. The scene was surreal. After ten minutes of pacing and feelings of sadness and excitement, I went back to my seat to get ready for The Dark Knight Rises.
When the opening credits hit, I had a rush of anticipation course through my veins and into my head where I just burst out and cheer and a laugh, because this was the moment I had been waiting for. The applause was deafening.
I didn't know exactly what to expect from this film. I knew what I wanted, but I didn't know what I would get-and it NEVER even came close to disappointing me.
I am not going to spoil anything or give any major plot points away because I am saving that for my review, but I will say that there are moments in this film that had my jaw drop and look to my left and right to see hundreds of others with the exact same facial expression on. This film is grand in scale and even bigger and better than TDK. I was on the edge of my seat for the entire thing. I remember getting that feeling that I was still living in real time, and that in real time--this film would eventually end. In my dreams, this movie goes on for ten days.
Tom Hardy's Bane was a character that I had followed since it was first announced. I had spoken in Bane's accent for weeks on end, and even started the Bane chant on countless opportunities. "DESHAY! DESHAY! PASHA! PASHA!" This film was amazing.
I cried twice during this film. Once, during a very emotional, hard-to-watch scene; and the second, as the credits started to roll. When the title of the movie splashed on the screen as it does at the end of every one of Nolan's films, I became paralyzed. Completely muted from feeling emotion, from speaking, from moving. This film had that strong of a reaction in me. It took 20 minutes after the film ended for me to regain some semblance of normalcy. The last credit rolled, and it was over.
The fire had risen, and the legend had ended.
This near-12 hour excursion to the cinema to see one of my favorite characters of all time portrayed on screen by my favorite filmmaker of all time was a once in a lifetime occurrence. You only get to see a film for the first time once, and this was as good as it was ever going to get for me.
The sum of it's parts are never greater than the whole. Christopher Nolan has fashioned the greatest film trilogy to ever be told. Each film compliments one another, before coming together masterfully in it's epic finale.
I can only wish that my son will someday be able to experience such a strong experience at the movies as I did on July 20th. This is what we go to the movies for: spectacle, and The Dark Knight Trilogy is truly a spectacle.
You can label cinematic adventures into two categories: movies and films. These three Batman stories are films, and three of the finest films ever assembled.
I witnessed the entire legend in IMAX on July 20th, 2012.
5 stars out of 5 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment