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The Dark Knight Rises... Against Obama and the Occupy Movement

July 19, 2012 @ 4:54 pm (Updated: 1:22 pm - 7/23/12 )

NO SPOILERS! (The less you know about what happens, the more you will enjoy the movie.)

The Dark Knight Rises is the last of Christopher Nolan's ground breaking and exceedingly entertaining Batman trilogy. In this outing, Batman squares off against Bane, a seemingly unstoppable terrorist who inspires cult-like devotion and worship from his henchmen. Bane invades Gotham with his army and "gives it back to the people" urging them to take back the power and wealth from those who have had it for too long. In order to accomplish this feat, he needs the services of Catwoman(Ann Hathaway makes a better than expected Catwoman), who foresees a storm to come that will overwhelm Bruce Wayne and the 1 percent. Bruce Wayne, whose income has not been immune to the economic downturn, dawns his cowl and cape again to put a stop to these Progressive villains.

I found it interesting that a Hollywood filmmaker as influential as Nolan would choose to make demands for "equality" the underlying terror of his film. The chaos and suffering that commence are reminiscent of The Terror in the French Revolution, complete with a "court of the people" (featuring a fun cameo). Sadly though the story does not fully explore what would make human nature terrifying in a situation like that, and while Nolan deserves credit for bringing it up, the script waters it down almost as quickly by featuring villainy from mostly inmates and Bane henchmen instead of exploring the nature of the common man.

Some have expressed a curiosity as to whether having a villain named Bane in hit film that will play into the fall would be a problem for Mitt Romney, due to his work at Bain Capitol (for the record, as any comic fan knows (and I was one!) Bane has long been a Batman villain and there is absolutely no political connection to the name). But after seeing the film, one might wonder if it might be a bigger problem for Obama and the Democrats since Bane and company are eager to spread the wealth around and get revenge on the "richest" for getting more than their fair share.

Just in case MSNBC's Chris Matthews reads this, I should add that I do not actually think Obama and Bane are exchangeable--clearly, Bane can't sing and Obama is a much better speaker.

The Dark Knight Rises is the sloppiest of the Nolan Batman trilogy. Times elapsed don't always make sense, there are some unfortunate plot holes, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt was sadly wasted in this film.

I would explain why, but I think that's a better conversation to have AFTER you've seen the movie.

Criticisms aside, Nolan has still created a film that at 2 hours and 45 minutes, felt too short to me. It's the least of the series, but that's just saying it's the least of THIS series, and THIS series has been spectacular. If I'd said "it was the least of the Matrix series" or "It was the least of the Terminator series" that would mean something entirely more negative. The soundtrack alone of the Dark Knight Rises is worth the price of admission.

Lower the expectations a bit and don't expect a repeat of The Dark Knight. Just go to see Batman in action--and see it on an IMAX screen.

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Comments (6)


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  • kata wrote...
    Some have expressed ...?
    July 19, 2012 4:19 pm
    I go to only two movies a year. I go to see explosions, car chases and cool fight sequences. I want to see heroes and bad guys and indulge in two hours of escapism. I could really give a rat's butt what "some have expressed" about it.
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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    Boze - you're as much a fool as Rush is...
    July 20, 2012 8:58 am
    The only people who ever see these so called 'subtle' signals in movies are the idiots who try to tell us what to think... No one is going to make the connections that you and Rush are without being told to do so by people like you guys. And even then, all they're going to do is laugh at the idiots that tried to tell them that these connections exist. It's sad that the two of you can't do a movie without forcing political overtones into it. You'd enjoy yourself more if you stopped doing that. Yes, there are movies out there with blatant political messages, but when you ascribe overtones to movies where it doesn't exist? Get over it dude. Everything happening around you isn't a political plot one from one side or the other.
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  • sweetpea123 wrote...
    gee...
    July 22, 2012 10:42 pm
    Given the fact that the Bane character has been around in the Batman series since the 80's or 90's, I highly doubt it was some grand conspiracy to tie it to today's political wrangling...sheesh...
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  • JW1984 wrote...
    Nobody seemed to notice...
    July 23, 2012 1:20 pm
    ...that the words read at are the closing paragraphs of Charles Dickens' masterpiece: A Tale of Two Cities, which is very much about the French revolution and the mob mentality that David is talking about. There are some very obvious parallels between the movie and the book. This is why Christopher Nolan is - and should be - a millionaire.
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  • halfshaft wrote...
    Really?
    July 23, 2012 4:26 pm
    Geez Boze, you are kind of grasping a bit there, aren't you? Not that that's unusual or surprising, but still..........
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