Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re well aware that a little movie called THE DARK KNIGHT RISES hits theaters this Friday, in what may be the most anticipated movie of the summer season. If any movie has the ability to over-throw THE AVENGERS in terms of quality and box office, it’s this one. Not only is it a Batman movie, it’s the sequel to the monster hit THE DARK KNIGHT and the last Batman film to be directed by Christopher Nolan. Yep, it’s the epic conclusion to his Dark Knight story. I’ll be seeing that shit opening day, but before I do, I’m gonna go ahead and make a bold statement: Nolan’s DARK KNIGHT trilogy could end up being the greatest trilogy in the history of cinema! Yup, I said it!
I’m not talking just in terms of film quality, but also as a financial powerhouse. The most successful trilogy in history, the best trilogy in history, and if anyone can live up to such a claim, it’s Nolan. Let’s look at what he’s done so far: he rebooted a franchise that was already 5 movies deep and made everyone forget about what Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher did before him. He made another origin story that was more exciting and compelling than anything we had seen about Bruce Wayne before, and delivered when it came to hard-hitting entertainment, with equally interesting character development and explosive action sequences. BATMAN BEGINS was more epic and better than most people gave it credit for when it was initially released but has since grown in popularity and is now finally getting the respect it deserves.
Then Nolan outdoes himself with THE DARK KNIGHT, a Batman sequel that was far superior to any Batman movie before it, and probably way better than it had any right to be. Part superhero movie, part heist movie, part crime drama, part epic storytelling, there’s a damn good reason it become the number one grossing film of all time before AVATAR came and took the crown away. Heath Ledger did what no one thought was possible, which was out-perform Jack Nicholson as The Joker, and his performance was even awarded with an Oscar. That alone should blow your mind. An Academy Award-winning Batman movie. Oscar worthy. It’s a f*ckin’ comic book movie for f*ck’s sake, and yet… it’s that damn good. It’s not a perfect movie, but it’s a damn good movie, with so many awesome things going for it that it almost makes me sad to think that THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is Nolan’s final Batman film.
The setup for TDKR is great—8 years after he was shamed, Batman comes back to save Gotham from Bane. Catwoman is in the house too (though as friend or foe… we don’t know yet!), and basically everything we’ve seen thus far (trailers, teasers, posters, clips, stills, etc…) have pointed to 100 on the Awesome Scale. Sure, people claim to not like Bane’s voice. There are gripes that the trailers don’t show enough Batman in them. And to these gripers, I say, you haven’t even seen the movie yet! Go hate on the marketing team at Warner Bros. and reserve your judgment for the film when you finally see it. Sure, I’m praising the film 6 ways to Sunday before seeing it, but what the hell ya gonna do, right? It’s more for the potential the film has, which is all we can do until we see Nolan’s final masterpiece in action.
I said this could be the greatest trilogy of all time—and I meant it. If TDKR is as good as TDK, Nolan’s trilogy will be better than the CHILD’S PLAY trilogy, it’ll be better than Sam Raimi’s SPIDER-MAN trilogy, the EVIL DEAD trilogy, and even the BOURNE trilogy. But f*ck that, I’m taking it one step further into insanity. It may be better than THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, the INDIANA JONES trilogy (I don’t count CRYSTAL SKULLS), THE GODFATHER trilogy, the original STAR WARS trilogy, the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, and even THE TERMINATOR trilogy. All of these trilogies are epic. They’re all good, and most have stood the test of time, as even today people cherish every one of these films. And I’m not taking anything away from them… I’m just saying, Nolans’ DARK KNIGHT trilogy has the potential to be better than any of them.
The old saying that “the third movie always sucks” can be said for a large percentage of the greatest trilogies of all time (THE GODFATHER, BACK TO THE FUTURE, TERMINATOR, SPIDER-MAN, etc…), so there’s a small possibility that THE DARK KNIGHT RISES will follow suit, however… I doubt it. We’re talking about Christopher Nolan here, and I just don’t see his last Batman movie sucking ass. If this is truly the “epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend” as the marketing campaign claims it to be, there’s no way it will be anything less than epic, right? But let’s just entertain the idea that TDKR won’t be as good as TDK… so what? Even if it’s not as good chances are that it will still be pretty goddamn good and if that’s the case, then it will still be better than most thirds in the trilogy, and thus still rank up there as one of the greatest trilogies of all time!
Maybe it’s the booze talkin’, but THE DARK KNIGHT RISES could end up making Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT trilogy the greatest film trilogy ever made. And I mean ever, as it’s rare that all three films in a series are as epic as the one before it, and goddamn it… Nolan has already struck gold twice, I doubt he’ll fold for the third round. It’s his last Batman movie, and every ounce of my soul tells me he’s going to put his all in this motherf*cker and make one of the best films of his career. And if I’m right, then this will truly be the most epic trilogy of all time. And if I’m wrong… well, I’m a drunk asshole, what are you gonna do about it? But something tells me I’ll be right, and we’ll find out soon enough when THE DARK KNIGHT RISES smashes into theaters everywhere this Friday, July 20th!