The Dark Knight Rises - Brooding, Edge-of-Your-Seat, Exhilirating

Bruce Wayne, the billionaire philanthropist of Wayne Enterprise, has turned into a recluse. It’s been 8 years since District Attorney Harvey Dent’s (aka Two-Face) death for which Batman has assumed responsibility. While lamenting in his solitude, Bruce (Christian Bale) meets a jewel thief named Selina Kyle, known underground as the Catwoman (Anne Hathaway). Meanwhile, an underground army is gradually taking Gotham down its knees, headed by a warlord called Bane (Tom Hardy). He has effectively disarmed the city by trapping its 3,000 police force in the sewer tunnels. 

For 3 long months, the city turns into a chaotic society with no effective law enforcement. Moreover, a thousand of Gotham’s inmates has been released to the streets. What’s worse, they want to segregate Gotham and its 15 million populace from the rest of the world to destroy the “corrupt” ways inherent in the governance of the city, i.e. “to fight the decadence of Gotham”.  Bane eventually gets hold of the 4 megaton nuclear reactor which, when unstable, becomes a fully primed neutron bomb, with a destructive reach covering 6 miles. Needless to say, this becomes an urgent matter because Bane wants to blow the city into smithereens.

Bruce’s curiosity about the mysterious jewel thief has him donning his cape again, but this leads him to Bane and his minions. A rookie cop-turned-Special Agent John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) turns to the hibernating Bruce for help. He somehow knows of Wayne’s alter ego and the city is in dire need of a hero, what with Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) falling ill. And would a dark knight turn his back on Gotham when its survival is on the line?

Bruce Wayne steps back into the spotlight. With Wayne Enterprise running bankrupt, Wayne has to rise up from his seclusion.

The Catwoman triggers the return of Batman.

Christopher Nolan’s final installment is an engaging ride into the psyche of retribution and heroism. Despite its contemplative tone, Nolan deftly covers the iconic bubble of these comic book characters, turning two-dimensional personas into real people with plausible motivations. Alfred Pennyworth (the resplendent Michael Caine), Bruce’s butler, is particularly heart-wrenching as he emotionally blackmails his “Master Bruce” against becoming Batman again. Selina – the Catwoman – oozes with mischievous and malignant charm as she slithers her “paws” around Bruce, et.al. She believes that she is beyond redemption, thus she moves around with nothing but self preservation in her mind. Tom Hardy (who gained 30 pounds for the role) is as menacing as the Bane that I knew from comic books. In fact, Nolan and Hardy’s depiction of this behemoth “beast” is astounding. He frightens me so. I am absolutely impressed by how this film is able to retain the essence of comic characters the way they were originally conceived.

SPOILERS!

There are moments of utter agony: when Bruce is overpowered by Bane, demasking him, taking him prisoner, then breaking his back (his vertebra protruding from his back). Bruce is left almost-invalid and thrown into a pit alongside other prisoners (this pit was said to have been partly filmed in the Indian city of Jodhpur). During a conversation with one of the inmates who asks him why he doesn’t fear death, Bruce replies: “I fear dying in here while my city burns.” Despite a lingering undertone of hopelessness, Nolan turns the exposition into one of endurance and optimism; that no adversity is too difficult to overcome. And that human beings – like Bruce Wayne – are capable of rising from personal and moral catastrophe.

Morgan Freeman is Lucius Fox who runs Wayne Enterprise fro Bruce Wayne. He also "suits up" Wayne's alter ego.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays John Blake whose fascination with the "rich orphan" Bruce Wayne gives him clues as to Wayne's alter ego. Blake was an orphan himself. What's more appetizing is how his character is primed to give us a possible follow up featuring a famous sidekick! 

Selina Kyle as the jewel thief.

Anne Hathaway as the adorably mischievous Catwoman.

Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate whose character I refuse to expound further as this will cramp  your viewing pleasure. She plays a pivotal role and gives you one of those "ohmygosh" moments!

The Batman

Bane: intellect and brawn in one scary package.

The Catwoman rides a bike.

Fisticuffs

The comic concept of Bane - sure makes you wanna return to buying those expensive DC Comics again!

Bane in one of his more contemporary comic depictions.

What's Gotham without its crusader?

My Name is Catherine - On Emily Bronte, Tom Hardy & the Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte published her first and only novel in 1847. This was a colorful and tumultuous year in the world. The first postage stamps came out in the U.S. Mormon pioneers arrived in a small town that eventually became Salt Lake City. California bound emigrants became snowbound in Sierra Nevada and had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Hundreds of thousands perish in the Great Irish Famine. Verdi premieres his operatic version of Shakespeare's Macbeth in Florence. General Zachary Taylor's 5,000 American army drove off 15,000 Mexican soldiers in the Battle of Buena Vista. So it seemed like another normal day in world affairs, right? Well, not much different from current affairs, except that these days, we can blog, text, attain cyber orgasm, send documents within a few seconds, watch Pinoy indie films with the technical quality of the 1800s and cook meals by mere pushing buttons.

What we can't do is have three strong-willed sisters publish mind-blowing novels within the year: Charlotte Bronte for "Jane Eyre", Anne Bronte for "Agnes Grey", and Emily Bronte for "Wuthering Heights" - although they had to use androgynous pseudonyms Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell, respectively (to avoid prejudice against female writers).

I just watched Coky Giedroyk's 2009 version of "Wuthering Heights" and its tale of amoral passion which once again swept me off my feet. This time around, it's Tom Hardy portraying Heathcliff, Charlotte Riley as Catherine, and "Walking Dead's" Andrew Lincoln completing the triangle as Edgar Linton.

But back in 1847, when "Wuthering Heights" first came out, it was greeted by a firestorm of protests, some quarters calling it "one of the most repellent books ever published" while others encouraged that the books be "burned". It wasn't until the 2nd edition came out that people learned that author Ellis Bell was actually the daughter of a parish priest - which shocked the public (Thanks, Ms. Laura Linney!)! How can a parson's daughter from west Yorkshire write such sexual passion and vengeance?

You see, Emily wasn't much of a social being. She kept to her house (and was close to her siblings) and hated to travel. When she did (she took language classes in Belgium), she became gravely ill. She was 29 and single (in fact was never known to have had a romantic relationship) when "Wuthering Heights" came out. A year later, she died at the age of 30!

"Wuthering Heights" is told in broad and dark narrative strokes, nothing short of a sweeping romantic epic involving poor young English boy named Heathcliff who's taken in by the wealthy Earnshaw family where he develops an intense relationship with his young foster sister, Cathy. The staggering power of this relationship is chronicled as they grow into adults driven apart as a consequence of the patriarch's death. What made it so powerful is its unapologetic depiction of love and passion. To me, an affection that's anything less than passionate is not worth having. Do you read that, Tom? ;->

The staggering story will not fail to shake you.

This was from a 1992 version starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.

The only surviving photos of the Bronte sisters are from paintings. This is Emily Bronte.

Riley and Hardy in "Wuthering Heights".

Tom Hardy was Eames in Leonardo DiCaprio's "Inception", if you orbited Neptune when it was showing everywhere.