Why ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ isn’t as good as ‘The Dark Knight’ (Part 2)

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

THE MAIN VILLAIN

I’ve been rewatching some scenes from TDK this past week, and although I’ve already seen it at least a dozen times, it always strikes me how great a villain the Joker is, and how Heath Ledger’s portrayal raised it to a completely different level. Unfortunately, Bane never approaches those heights in TDKR. This is not an indictment on Tom Hardy. In fact, I rather enjoyed his performance (and put me squarely into the ‘pro’ camp when it comes to Bane’s voice), but anyone going up against Ledger’s Joker is going to have a tough time measuring up.

To be fair, the script could have done more to elevate Bane from a menacing villain to a great one. The reason why the Joker is so intriguing is because he is not a ‘regular’ villain, but that he the very anti-thesis of what Batman stands for.

Why ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ isn’t as good as ‘The Dark Knight’ (Part 1)

The Dark Knight (TDK) is one of my favourite movies of all time, so I had high expectations for The Dark Knight Rises (TDKR), but I’m sorry to say that the TDKR is nowhere near TDK. Now, I’m not one of those persons who gets disappointed easily because of high expectations. In fact, I have the opposite problem. Once I’d decided I want to like a movie before I even watched it, I have trouble adjusting my opinion. So my first reaction after watching TDKR was that it was a fantastic movie, but not as good as TDK, so I decided to give it a 9 (out of 10), but after pondering over the matter for a couple of more days I realized that I didn’t think the movie deserved such a high score, so it was with great reluctance that I downgraded the score to an 8. I still enjoyed the movie, but I think it is vastly inferior to TDK, and there are a couple of main reasons why.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

THE PLOT

Let me clarify first that I admire Christopher Nolan and his credentials as a writer. TDK, The Prestige and Memento (and possibly Inception, although less for its actual story than for its inherent coolness) all rank within my personal top 20 movies of all time.

But… a nuclear bomb?? A freakin’ NUCLEAR BOMB in a BATMAN movie??