"The Dark Knight Rises" (The Dark Knight Rises) was the first time I saw a movie in my life, and the whole audience applauded at the opening. "He has almost never made bad films." This is what people think of director Nolan.
In 2005's "Batman Begins" (Batman Begins), Nolan portrayed "Batman" as a "dark hero" with intense inner conflict in the first blockbuster of his life, and added his best "non-linear narrative" "To tell this classic superhero story ups and downs, but it doesn't make ordinary viewers feel like watching "Memories" as bothering their brains. In 2006's "The Prestige" (The Prestige), he further tried to explore the psychological depth of the characters in the blockbuster. In "Inception" in 2010, he put the original complex dreams in a clear hierarchy, which once again proved his ability as a master of narration.
The 2008 "The Dark Knight" (The Dark Knight), this is an almost insurmountable peak. After having the first Batman trial, Nolan's handling of the blockbuster is already clear. He has unprecedentedly injected deep thought into a Hollywood comic superhero film. He has created a unique, even unsurpassed, classic villain image. At the same time, this film has achieved both elegance and common appreciation. More importantly, Nolan found a perfect narrative structure for a blockbuster film in just three years. This structure was not only used in Nolan's latter two films "Inception" and "The Dark Knight Rises", but was also used for reference by other blockbuster movies.
The blockbuster shots based on the "Nolan Structure" are almost not bad. But it needs to be said that this structure is not the first of Nolan, but he is the best director. As for the "Nolan structure"? It's not clear in a few words, maybe it's easier to understand through comparison.
Comparing "The Dark Knight" with "The Avengers", another superhero movie at the box office this year, you will find that they have many similarities in narrative rhythm and structure. Both films start with the appearance of the villain, and the time is generally controlled at 15 minutes. "Sharpness" is the key, in order to quickly show the strength of the enemy. If the villain does not appear in the early stage of the film, then the film can only be made into a suspense drama, otherwise the audience will be ignorant-what bad guys are they trying to solve in the film? And soon, the righteous heroes came on stage and showed off their skills. In "The Dark Knight", Batman captured the "Scarecrow" and the Italian gang; in "Reunion", various heroes took turns to show their talents. . Then the narrative routine must be a multi-round contest between the decent villains. Generally speaking, before 50% of the film, the villains have the upper hand. When the progress reaches 60%, the decent state must fall into a trough. Then Decent rebounded bravely and returned to the film’s 75%-80% progress. A new crisis appeared when he saw the victory. But this crisis needs to be "very serious", but it requires the protagonist to act decisively and spend 10% of the progress. Relieve the crisis and make the whole film enter the final climax. The narratives of the two films are as good as they are.
Under this seemingly clichéd structurally similar premise, how does "The Dark Knight" do better? At least several aspects determine its excellence. First of all, the depth of thought of the film is beyond the reach of "Reunion". Secondly, in terms of villain shaping, the clown is also exceptionally plump. Generally speaking, there are often three ways for a director to shape a villain. The first is to make the villain extremely powerful, such as Loki in "Avengers"; the second is to make the villain’s experience ups and downs, so that it makes people sympathize, as in the recent "Spider-Man 3" (Spider-Man 3). people". Both of these are the best way to go. The former is straightforward, while the latter pursues the so-called "dramatic conflict of characters." But Nolan took the third hardest path to take the "evil" to the extreme: the clown is not worthy of sympathy at all, and the clown does not have extraordinary martial arts, but its crime is so charming and tasteful. Finally, as a blockbuster, big scenes are also essential. The battle scenes in "Reunion" are very enjoyable. It is not easy to make a good big scene. It can't be made by spending money. I admire Jos Weyden for this. And the big scenes Nolan gave in "The Dark Knight" are not only compact in rhythm, but also unique in ingenuity. Taking the classic "Defend Harvey Dent" car chase scene as an example, from the beginning, the clown cleverly set up roadblocks and swept away Clearing the obstacles, going to Batman’s house to block the cannonballs, just let the police on the police car breathe a sigh of relief, the clown took the helicopter down again, just as everyone was worried, Batman’s motorcycle rushed over and overturned the clown truck. The Joker got it done, but unexpectedly Batman knocked him to the ground because he refused to kill him. When he saw the clown succeed, Sheriff Gordon "resurrected from the dead" and made the clown. The whole car chasing scene has twists and turns, not only the scene is beautiful, but also the "promotion of the plot" is everywhere. The scenes used in "Reunion" are crowded tactics, which is obviously lower.
It is these extraordinary mastery of the details and the whole of the film that have made Nolan's reputation today. So does he put this structure into full play in the final chapter of the Batman series "The Dark Knight Rises", or even to a new level?
Batman's journey
"Every hero has a journey, and every journey has an end." As the third Batman movie, Nolan's primary goal is to give Batman a destination, a reasonable destination.
In "The Mystery of the Shadow", the birth of Batman originated from the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. Bruce was afraid of bats and asked his father to take his family out of the opera house early. As a result, his parents were killed by robbers. It is this guilt for the death of his parents that makes Bruce have a great aversion to "fear"; it is the hatred of those robbers that makes Bruce yearn for "revenge" and "justice." Then this young man had a misunderstanding of "fear", "justice" and "revenge": the gang boss Faconi "reprimanded" the "child of Gotham" for not knowing true fear at all. He thought he was fearless. In fact, it is far from the case; Bruce's childhood friend Rachel reprimanded him for conflating "revenge" and "justice"; Ra's al Ghul, a master of the "Shadow League" who trained Bruce, instilled a sense of justice that overrides the law.
Bruce's understanding of these three words accompanied Batman's entire growth process: In "The Mystery of the Shadows", Bruce overcomes the fear of "bats" and the physical and mental fears brought about by nerve gas, and makes the criminals fear Batman; When Ghul told Bruce at the end of the first movie that their "Shadow Alliance" had already planned to destroy Gotham, but the generous people like Bruce's parents used their wealth to fight against it without success, Bruce and the "Shadow Alliance" duel There is an extra meaning of "revenge for the parents"-although this connection is very far-fetched, and it is also the reason why the first film is not good enough-but in any case, Batman did not personally kill Ghul in the end: "I will not kill you. But I don't intend to save you." As for "justice", this is Batman's eternal sin: Although he strictly adheres to the principle of "no murder", from the moment he put on his cloak and escaped into the dark night, he was a "righteous policeman" above the law. . That's right, he uniformed the criminals and sent them to the police every time, but this did not offset his various illegal actions in the operation. This original sin was used by the Joker in the second part, making the film "The Dark Knight" a classic. If Nolan can solve this "legality" issue for Batman in the third part, it will be an excellent ending.
Batman has never been pure "justice." If the Joker is a "pure evil", then Batman is more like a government-a "necessary evil": an enforcer with great power in order to maintain social peace. The government is bound by the Constitution, and Batman is bound by his own moral creed. When the people believe that Batman can abide by the creed, everything is fine; once the people don't believe that he is still a self-controlling hero, then he is no different from the Joker.
But Batman wants to do more. In the first part, Batman told the old butler Alfred before returning to Gotham City about the original intention of Batman's birth. He hopes that there is a symbol, an immortal symbol that can inspire the whole people to fight against this corrupt, dark, criminal rampant, and official-business collusion force. This is Batman's ultimate goal. As Bruce Wayne, his favorite woman, Rachel, also hopes that one day, this city no longer needs Batman, justice and fairness can be maintained through a perfect order, at that time, she is willing to be with him.
At the beginning of the second "Dark Knight", some people have already devoted themselves to Batman's career with Batman masks, but this is not what Batman wants. Harvey Dent, the "Knight of Light" from Gotham is the perfect successor to Batman. Not only did he impress Batman in his first meeting with Bruce, but as a District Attorney, Harvey could bring the city’s gangsters to justice without a mask. He has the same sense of justice as Batman. And it's not like most who are often dissatisfied with Batman. Most importantly, this true "black hero" is widely welcomed by the public-We believe in Harvey Dent. He can do what Batman can't: make everyone believe that justice can be achieved through the law and corruption is not invincible.
But in the final ending, we all know that the most perfect Batman successor-to be precise, should be Batman's replacement-has completely fallen. Batman took all the charges in order to prevent the people from losing their faith. The problem is, as Nolan said before the release of the third film, "The stability based on a temporary lie is not lasting." If the lie is exposed and the people's beliefs are completely collapsed, what should be done? Batman, as a villain who has become a villain for everyone, needs to regain his reputation in the third installment. But this is not the top priority. He is a "dark knight" who is not afraid of being infamy. As long as the "justice" can be rebuilt, the whole people, whether it is the low-level civilians, middle-level white-collar workers, or top-level elites, can re-believe that Gotham can. Through everyone’s efforts to make society fair and just, everyone can live a happy and healthy life through their own efforts. There is no need to pay bribes, do not need to take precautions, and even do not need Batman to be a hero in the night—because everyone has it in their hearts. The spirit of Batman.
Does the Batman series, which has the best blockbuster narrative structure and perfect thought connotation, achieve this in the final third installment? The movie, which was not
sure for
more than two and a half hours, ended, and the audience burst into applause again. Why are the audience applauding? Hot visual scene? As always, profound speculation? Or a happy ending? I'm not sure.
What I am certain is that Nolan made a fatal mistake in the third part.
The whole film structure is similar to the second one, especially the first half can be completely comparable to the previous one. Unlike what some audiences and film critics criticized, I feel that the first half is not procrastinated, the rhythm is perfect, and there is no wordy content: the
film began eight years after the second part, everything is peaceful in Gotham City, everyone live Eight years ago, Batman and Sheriff Gordon woven a lie to commemorate Harvey, the city's "Knight of Light". On the other side, the movie villain appeared on the scene and used an extremely amazing method to steal a scientist from the sky. Back in Gotham City, Catwoman appeared on the scene. She was a thief who stole finances at Wayne's house and, more importantly, collected Bruce's fingerprints. And Batman? He hasn't shown up for eight years, and Bruce himself is in a terrible state, old and weak, limping.
At this time, another important task appeared, the police Blake. Blake always had doubts about the night Harvey died, he was a believer in Batman. Bain formed an army in the underground waterway of Gotham City and was discovered by Sheriff Gordon, but the Sheriff was captured. Although he escaped desperately, he was shot and wounded. Seeing that the situation was serious, Blake went to Wayne's house and begged to see Bruce. Blake expressed his insight that Bruce is Batman, and he hopes that Batman will come back to save Gotham City, which is full of rain and rain. Bruce is noncommittal. The old butler Alfred is always opposed to whether Batman will come back. He hopes Bruce will live a good life again, but he should not continue to be Batman, because he feels that once he pays, Batman will inevitably die, and he feels that Bruce even wants to do City sacrifice. A crack appeared between the two.
Bruce still decided to come back. He visited the sheriff on the hospital bed outside, and the sheriff also hoped that Batman could save the city again, which strengthened Bruce's determination. Then the last important person appeared, Miranda Tate played by Cotillard, a charming woman with strong financial resources and very interested in investing in green energy. She met Bruce at the reception and expressed her willingness to invest. . Coincidentally, the Wayne Group has had poor financial resources in recent years and has a nuclear fusion project that has been secretly developed for many years. President Fox also suggested that Bruce find Miranda to invest.
The first wave of Bain's offensive arrived. He led his men to occupy the stock exchange and tamper with the trading system through instruments, leaving Wayne penniless. Batman showed up for the first time eight years later, but he failed to stop Bain's plan. Bain didn't retreat completely, and he was chased by the police throughout the city. Of course, it is not a problem for Batman who is driving the plane (The Bat) to get out.
Wayne has nothing on him, but Miranda got a seat on the board of directors in this stock market chaos. In addition, Alfred was very unhappy with Batman's comeback. He told Wayne that Bain had an extraordinary background and must be a master trained by the "Shadow League." Bruce didn't want to listen to the butler's nagging, and the more the butler got more excited, he told the truth about the farewell letter Rachel had given to Bruce when he burned it down. Bruce was heartbroken and bid farewell to the butler.
Wayne, who is "losing money and man", handed the nuclear fusion equipment to Fox and Miranda. Batman asks Catwoman to help take him to a duel with Bain. The fight was completely one-sided: Batman exhausted his eighteen martial arts and couldn't touch Bain's hair, but he was beaten to death by Bain's heart and his back was misplaced. Not to mention that Catwoman couldn't bear to watch, even Bain's mercenaries around couldn't bear to glance at her. Bain hijacked all of Wayne's equipment, including the Batmobile and the nuclear fusion reactor, in front of Batman.
The second wave of offensive is coming. The police in the city broke into the underground waterway, and Bain had expected that some explosives would trap the police underground. Then Bain took the reactor that turned into a nuclear bomb to the football field, threatening the people. But this is not the real goal of Bain, he wants "revolution." The truth about Harvey’s Night he had learned from Gordon before, and he announced it to the world at this time, and the spiritual pillar of the city collapsed. Then Bain announced that he would end the city’s corruption, the privileges of the elite, and return power to the people. He exploded all but one bridge out of the city. This bridge was used as a supply bridge. Anyone dared to cross this bridge and detonate a nuclear bomb. In addition, the people can do everything, whether it's beating, smashing, looting and burning, plundering the wealth of the rich, or arresting people to go to the "Public Judgment Conference." As for Batman, he was thrown by Bain in an underground cell in a foreign country.
At this point, the first half of the film is over. In addition to Blake's recognition of Batman's identity at the beginning of the game is very abrupt (smarter than the Joker?!), Bain showed the scheming and power that a super villain should have. He also did what the clown failed to do: to plunge the entire city into an anarchist carnival. And Zheng Fang, whether it is Batman's exhaustion, the old butler's heartache, or the sheriff's shot and the collective capture of the police, all have pushed the city to the most dangerous moment of the three films. However, the second half of the film falls into a strange cliché:
The prison where Bruce is located is not so much a prison as it is a training camp, because there is no jailer here, and no one prevents you from passing through the only exit-the patio. Climb out, as long as you have the ability. Scarred and wounded, he was helped by his inmates. The inmate not only helped him recover, but also told him many past stories, about a legend here: For many years, only one child had escaped, and this child climbed out of the cell patio with his bare hands. Bruce thought of Bain. The son of Gotham saw on the cell TV that Gotham had completely become an anarchist paradise. He was full of grief and anger. After many attempts, he finally succeeded.
In Gotham City, the sheriff, Blake led the few remaining troops to resist. They learned from Fox that the nuclear bomb was very unstable after being dismantled and would explode in more than 30 days, so the destruction of Gotham was inevitable unless it could be installed back in the laboratory. But this is an impossible task, no one can snatch things from Bain until Batman returns. Batman returned to Gotham and joined forces with the frightened world of the so-called "people's autonomy" to rescue the police from the ground and clear the way to the laboratory. The next day, the police and the mob fought in the streets, and Batman and Bain faced off again. The Batman who knew Bain’s fate, specializes in Bain’s mask and successfully defeated his opponent. Just when Batman asked where the Bain nuclear bomb detonated device was, Miranda stabbed Batman with a knife-it turned out that she was the last villain. Miranda took a moment to introduce her life experience: in fact, she was the child who escaped from the cell, and Bain was the one who protected her in the prison. Naturally, she loved Bain. In addition, Miranda is actually Batman's mentor and the daughter of the leader of the "Shadow League." The shocked Batman watched Miranda drive away the nuclear bomb that was about to explode. Fortunately, Catwoman arrived in time and shot Baine to death. The two of them, an airplane and a motorcycle, chased Miranda.
The final outcome is that Miranda died in a car accident. Before she died, she flooded the laboratory with water, and there was anxiously waiting for the nuclear bomb to be classified as Fox White. It was about to explode in a minute, Batman decided to dedicate his life, flying to the sea with a nuclear bomb in a plane, the nuclear bomb exploded-everyone knows that Batman died. I won’t talk about the last five minutes of the plot.
The impeccable first half and the leaky second half make it feel like this is not a film. Mistakes in various small details are annoying: the ghost of the "Shadow League" master suddenly appeared in the film that has always been "realistic"; the three federal agents who came out to die for no reason; the tutor who spoke a foreign language for a while, and an English for a while (he Seems to have assumed the role of Alfred in the cell); inexplicably let the Scarecrow come out and show his face; As for Rises, Nolan seems to be unable to think of any other way to make sense except for repeating questions in the film. There are several blunt questions in the film: the first time Bain said "The fire rises."; the second time the butler said "Sometimes, a man can rise in the darkness."; the third time it was the cellmate in the cell Sing the song "Rise" to cheer for Batman; the fourth time is Batman's return to light his logo on the building; the fifth time is the scene of a new character gradually rising in the last two minutes.
But these small details are not deadly enough. The biggest problem is that Nolan didn't make the story clear.
I would like to ask any viewer who thinks "The Third Part is Excellent": In the end, did the people commemorate Batman because he died with the nuclear bomb or because Batman reassured the public in the possibility of justice?
Nolan did not solve the problems left by the first and second installments at all. In the three films, Batman keeps saying that he wants to be a "symbol", hoping that the people will believe in justice, and hope that one day, the masked "dark knight" will become unnecessary. However, the third film reflects the impossibility of all this: the people are so comfortable in anarchy. Except for the children and the trapped police, all the scenes for ordinary people in the film show "mob carnival." Batman failed, he failed completely, completely reduced to a "human bomb disposal unit". The people's sympathy for Batman is because of the nuclear bomb problem that he solved self-sacrificingly, nothing more. It is conceivable that if there is another villain in the future, he can succeed as long as he catches the problems of corruption, privilege, and inequality again and makes a fuss. As the clown said, "It wasn't hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push."
Furthermore, Nolan did not solve this problem, not because it is unsolvable. In the first half of the film, Nolan has left enough contradictions to dig, and following those clues, I can find a much better solution than the original.
In my opinion, nuclear bombs are not a problem at all. What needs to be solved is the problem of popular belief. Nolan can even make the film more dramatic: if the nuclear bomb is no longer a threat, will the people continue to enjoy this kind of anarchy? If so, how does Batman rebuild justice? If it were Nolan's so-called "major sacrifice" to let Batman and the nuclear bomb belong together, it would be too petty. He can completely make Batman's true identity known to the world-this hero who has saved the city many times is actually the urban elite, the rich, and the so-called privileged class most hated by the people. But now, he is penniless, his girlfriend died tragically, Xinhuan betrayed, and the housekeeper left sadly. He was cast aside by the world for eight years and was beaten to death by the enemy, but he still did not abandon Gotham. The power of Batman does not lie in his special training, he has a wealth of wealth, he has the best weapons and equipment, but in his firm will, he believes that the hearts of the people will eventually be good. His experience can make people believe that the elite can be kind, rich or benevolent.
What a pity. Nolan could have made Batman a real spiritual reversal. However, he chose the worst ending: to make Batman's original intention unfulfilled.
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