I know. I know. I said I wasn’t going to see Rise of the Dark Knight this weekend. Vows were made, and I broke all of them. Though my viewing of Rises last night had less to do with my desire to see it and more to do with my being sick of navigating the minefield of spoilers that the internet had become. Oh, and before I go any futher: Spoiler alert.
I won’t say that I disliked The Dark Knight Returns, though I’ll need at least one more viewing before I can speak to its minutia or its place in the Dark Knight Trilogy. As of right now, I only have one cohesive thought on the film: It was Rocky III. Bear with me.
In Dark Knight Rises, I found the most relatable version of Bruce Wayne that Christian Bale has ever been able to convey. It didn't make any sense. What had changed? Aside from the ridiculous voice, I didn’t really have a reason to dislike Bale’s portrayal of BatWayne. It occurred to me that it might be Nolan's fault. He never gave Batman any motivation. Sure, he wanted justice and was emotionally destroyed as a child, but that’s almost implied BatLore at this point. They never bothered to focus on Bruce Wayne as Bruce Wayne until this movie. They only focused on Bruce Wayne as Batman, leaving an entire well of potential character development completely untapped, save for a less than burning romance that was somewhat diluted when they replaced Katie Holmes with Maggie Gyllanhal.
If Rises accomplished anything, it was in its finally making Bruce Wayne a character. It took the elimination of Batman (twice) to let Bruce Wayne come through, and when you can see Bruce Wayne behind the mask, or know that Bruce Wayne is the Batman and you can relate to that character, then it makes his actions inside the suit carry that much more weight. And what do you do when you need to make a hero relatable? You follow the Rocky arc. It’s Hero 101.
In case you’ve somehow never beheld the majesty that was part three of the Rocky pentalogy: Having taken the title of World Heavyweight Champion from Apollo Creed in dramatic fashion at the end of Rocky II, we find Rocky Balboa on top of the world and extremely comfortable. Complacent even. Meanwhile, a violent upstart from the same school as Rocky (The School of Hard Knocks) named Clubber Lang has been pummeling his way through the heavyweight ranks, and publicly calls out Balboa on national television. Not one to be taunted, Rocky agrees to fight Clubber lang against the advice of his trainer Mickey, even after Mickey informs him that all of his fights were setups. Clubber lang is hungry, he has something to prove and Rocky doesn't. Rocky is defeated, and must again find his passion for victory through a series of training montages involving body oil, short shorts, and man-hugs. Having regained a reason to fight, Rocky makes himself into a better fighter than he has ever been, and destroys Clubber Lang in the ring to regain his heavyweight title, and the respect of a nation.
If you’ve seen The Dark Knight Rises, then the connections are already obvious. Come to think of it, they were probably obvious from the moment you read “It was Rocky III.” But just in case: In the Dark Knight Rises, having sacrificed his reputation so that Gotham could have the Hero It Needed, Bruce Wayne has become a complacent shut-in. Meanwhile, a violent young upstart from the same school as Bruce Wayne (The League of Shadows) named Bane has been forming an army to finish his dead masters’ business and destroy Gotham City. Deciding that he needs to come out of retirement and stop Bane, Bruce Wayne once again decides to don the cape and cowl against the advice of his friend and mentor Alfred, who warns him that Bane is hungry and capable in a way that Bruce used to be. Batman fights Bane and is defeated, and must again find his passion for victory through a series of training montages involving body oi-... Wait, that was Rocky III. Anyway, Bruce again regains his reason to fight, and comes back a better than he has ever been and destroys Bane in battle. He saves Gotham, and regains the respect of an entire nation.
I hope my correlation was deliberate enough... And as I’m suffering a creative hangover, I’ll leave you with that. Talk amongst yourselves.
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