newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MOVIE REVIEW

Practice makes almost perfect for writer-director Christopher Nolan, whose "The Dark Knight Rises" brings his Batman trilogy to a rousing and satisfying climax.

Beginning eight years after the dire events of "The Dark Knight," the latest installment collects the plot threads as well as the emotional backwash from that film. But that need not deter anyone who missed that movie or Nolan's "Batman Begins," as the new offering stands on its own above the usual splatter of high-volume summer movies.

Battered billionaire crime-fighter Bruce Wayne is a virtual recluse inside his mansion, while the grounds host a dinner party honoring the memory of his onetime collaborator turned menace, the late district attorney Harvey Dent. Wayne is still mourning his dead love Rachel, who in fact planned to marry Dent, unaware of his criminal bent.

With Wayne's backing, Gotham City's discreet Police Commissioner James Gordon is maintaining Dent's fictional image, while bearing up under the hidden truth, a strain expertly conveyed by Gary Oldman.

Like the car-carry event in a "World's Strongest Man" contest, that's a lot of weight for a moviegoer to pick up at the start of a film. Fortunately, Nolan and his screenwriting partner, his brother Jonathan, find a light approach to the back story. The prim maid carrying Mr. Wayne's sparse dinner upstairs is really Selena Kyle, otherwise known in the Bat World as Catwoman.

Anne Hathaway makes a breezy, no-unncessary-nonsense Selena, a woman whose job is relieving the rich of a small fraction of the gains, whether gotten ill or fair. Wayne momentarily catches her rummaging around in his things. Though hobbled and morose, when he pays attention, he's still sharp. He realizes that the main thing Selena has made off with is a set of his fingerprints, and is intrigued.

Even better than having Bruce Wayne back in the game is that it employs his loyal butler, Michael Caine as Alfred Pennyworth. What separates this series from run-of-the-mill superhero epics is the depth of relationships and emotions conveyed by the cast. Having worked for Wayne's late parents, Caine's Alfred is genuinely guilty that he has not pushed Bruce to move on beyond Batman echoes.

At Wayne Enterprises, the family firm, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) is happier to see the boss up and about. In the meantime, Mr. Fox has added to Wayne's collection of toys, deadly, mechanized toys. The only project that seemingly has gone nowhere is a sustainable energy fusion reactor, championed by board member Marion Tate, played by Marion Cotillard wearing a fine mist of smart sultriness.

As it turns out, Selena Kyle has been working indirectly for another board member at Wayne's family firm. We have already met another employee, in the form of steroid-enriched, mad-mask-wearing Bain Capital. Oh, sorry, that's Bane, just Bain. As played by pumped Tom Hardy, he is a terrorist so confident and skilled that he can seriously disrupt a CIA plane-borne rendition and torture session.

All of these people are fine actors, and know what to do with good dialogue. Despite the context - and like most movies of this genre, the plot of "The Dark Knight Rises" cannot withstand much scrutiny - they make their characters into people first. Of course, Hardy is challenged, being shielded by rows of metallic exo-teeth. But as it turns out, even Bane's personal history is important to the action.

"The Dark Knight Rises" introduces one more key player, and like Hathaway's cat burglar, it's a welcome addition. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is young police officer John Blake, whose orphan background mirrors Bruce Wayne's, minus the untold riches. He does not believe the media cover story that a murderous Batman killed saintly Harvey Dent. And lately, he's picked up some leads on other nefarious activity around town.