The Dark Knight Rises is a jewel in the world of cinema. Not only is it a brilliant conclusion to a trilogy and plays plenty of homage and reference to the other two, it is also just a genuinely enjoyable film. It has important elements about love, family, and finding yourself - and oh my god, it's a teen Bruce Wayne. Sort of. More like midlife crisis, really, but it's the Batman so it warrants a kickass movie at the hands of Christopher Nolan.
I giggled and clapped and stared transfixed at the screen, sometimes horrified but mostly enraptured. I walked out of that movie in awe. Words could not describe it, a sentiment echoed by many others I have discussed the film with. I get that feeling very, very rarely - in fact, I can only think of Harry Potter 7, Part 2 coming close.
The main gravitas of the movie is how it makes me look at my own life. Seriously. One, the film is about a man's journey to save his city and find himself a happy life, overcoming a dark, desolate, almost Lord of the Flies-esque society. It's hard not to identify with that. Two, the film explores the power of just one individual in various ways through not one but really all of its characters - Bruce, Blake, Gordon, Selina, Bane.
Three, and most importantly, the film's ability to make me feel. People created this film - artists made me feel what I felt, a feeling of hope and redemption and power. It's hard to describe but I think that if you see the film, you'll understand. If one man essentially (Christopher Nolan) can direct and execute a film - hell, a trilogy - such as this, what says that one girl/woman such as myself cannot do the same? I am a writer, an artist, a dreamer, a creative mind. I don't think in terms of numbers or absolutes like some do. I am always thinking and creating. In short, I'm a writer, and a writer's dream is to not only paint a canvas with words but to effect people, make them feel different corners of their emotional wavelength.
Going to the movies is intended to offer an escape, and The Dark Knight Rises does more than just that. It made me feel inspired to do good, to find hope in every darkness, to overcome all the people that don't like me - Catwoman is an excellent example of not caring what other people think - and to become something more than just another one of the masses. I can contribute to the world. I can become powerful by making people feel what I feel, and tell stories that make people not feel alone, to make them feel inspired. Life is an occasion; rise.
"If you make yourself more than just a man...."
On another note, a moment of silence for those injured and killed in the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre, and a prayer of thanks that a similar event did not happen at my theater or a theater that contained loved ones.
