Dark Knight Rises

The Batman Franchise is one of the greatest franchises out there.  It has, however, been plagues by horrendous feature films made successful only by the promise of an incredible portrayal of America's favorite super hero.  However, the promise has almost always been left with great disappointment.  These films typically had incredibly exaggerated portrayals that left the intelligent movie goer having to ignore everything about the film itself as they looked forward to another glimpse of the super hero's mask.  Even the plots were so corny and incredibly unrealistic that 3 year olds were left rolling their eyes.

Michael Keaton gave a rather generous attempt in the 1989 film " Batman " and the 1992 sequel "Batman Returns".  However, the casting was an utter failure when Michael Keaton was chosen for the role.  It had never occurred to anyone that Michael Keaton's degenerate, creepy, and evil demeanor made him a perfect choice for villain rather than hero (as his many movies playing villains have well proven true).  In the end, Michael Keaton's demeanor and film reputation destroyed his chances of ever being a truly accepted Batman.  The 1989 film had a budget of $48 million with a Box Office of slightly over $411 million.  The second film did rather poorly with a budget of $80 million and scoring a Box Office and less than $267 million.  Having seen the perfect super villain as Batman had resulted in a rather poor taste in the mouths of avid Batman fans and movie goers.

Val Kilmer's 1995 "Batman Forever" proved that Batman fans and movie goers hadn't given up on their favorite super hero quite yet.  Bringing the Box Office back up to over $336 million Hollywood realized they just might have hope yet again.  Val Kilmer had a great voice for the role but just wasn't animated enough to pass for a super hero.  Val has also never been the most capable actor in emotional scenes leaving the broken man aspect of America's favorite super hero lacking.

Hollywood then made yet another failed attempt at properly displaying Batman with the 1997 "Batman & Robin".  Taking America's least favorite, most egotistical actor impersonating the very essence of injustice and casting him in the role of...the most just, humble, and favorite super hero Batman they had already set themselves up for failure.  No matter that they took one of America's favorite heroic action stars "Arnold Schwarzenegger" and cast him as our villain...the movie itself was impossible to watch.  Our hero a villain...and the image of injustice as our hero?  George Clooney ruined Batman for nearly a decade.  George Clooney was perhaps the greatest super villain Batman ever had ensuring we would go from seeing Batman once every 1 to 3 years to killing Batman for 8 years.

Christian Bale may perhaps be the only man anyone will for decades that we will ever be able to see as the one and only true...Batman.  With the perfect voice, a face that can both be threatening and personify emotional turmoil...Christian Bale is the Batman America has dreamed of and waited for.  His first film "Batman Begins" presented the typical $372 million Box Office any other Batman movie managed.  This primarily due to everyone's fear that this would be yet another horrible rendition of a Batman.  "BATMAN BEGINS" was the first movie to gear towards more realistic plots, non-exaggerated performances, and a true image of what Batman was and stood for.  Christian Bale's rendition of Batman was incredible and to this day, people still talk about this movie 7 years later.

"THE DARK KNIGHT" played out as an incredible sequel.  Christian Bale proved what Batman could be and should be with a $1 billion dollar Box Office.  "THE DARK KNIGHT" proved to be a worthy sequel not only proving that a "Part 2" can be better than its predecessor but that it can add to it.  Christian Bale performed at what movie goers believed was the top of his game...but he would later show us he had a lot more to give us in "THE DARK KNIGHT RISES".

This most recent film (still in theaters) has thus far produced over $833 million proving Christian Bale has what it takes to keep Batman alive no matter what super villain is thrown his way.  In this rendition, we are introduced to Catwoman, Robin, Robin, and even Bane.  Ann Hathaway puts out her first great performance in this film with a rather convincing portrayal of Catwoman, and the first successful portrayal at that.  Bane was not exactly as incredible as his cartoon counterpart, but he was nonetheless convincing and in the end, left movie goers shedding a tear in his favor.  Be prepared for a conflict in your spirit as you encourage Batman to put Bane down once and for all and simultaneously hope that Bane will come out on top and have his dreams realized.  The introduction of Robin into this film was crafty, ingenuous, subtle, and yet bold.  The best possible actor was chosen for this role, Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Once can now only hope that the future of the Batman franchise will always include Christian Bale.  The only possible disappointment that could exist in the future of Batman is to lose Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robin.If you are looking for a great movie to watch (or rewatch), I highly suggest and recommend the greatest film ever made "THE DARK KNIGHT RISES".