Bat Wars

Today marks the home release of "The Dark Knight Rises," the conclusion to director Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight Trilogy." I loved the movie, so much that in one week I saw it four times. I even saw it at the midnight showing, a tradition started with first film "Batman Begins" in 2005 and continued with "The Dark Knight" in 2008. In addition I saw "BB" three times in theaters and "TDK" twice, which should've been more but being in the Air Force at the time didn't allow for such free time.

"TDKR" is easily one of the best threequels out there and with its ability to stand against other, usually disappointing atrocities, made it and its preceding films into what I've called the "Star Wars" trilogy of our generation. Consider it this way.

When the first "Star Wars" came out it changed things, forever, redefining the blockbuster, franchise film as we know it. "Batman Begins" rebooted the Batman films from a nipple-marked grave, in the process invigorating the superhero genre with emotional gravitas and down-to-earth grit. The outbreak of Marvel films owes itself to this film, a sentiment marked by its creators and several others citing Nolan's inaugural film as influence.

Then come the big ones, the sequels that are so wildly favored, they are often considered superior to their predecessors. "The Empire Strikes Back" and "The Dark Knight" are two such films. Both took the universe introduced in the previous film and turned it on its head, expanding it and sealing an insurmountable amount of fan favoritism.

The "Dark Knight Trilogy" bears considerably more weight in the violence and mental complexity department, structured around Bruce Wayne's struggle with his psyche, crusade and subsequent consequences Conversely "Star Wars" has admittedly more fun, centered around the Jedi training of Luke Skywalker that inevitably leads to his father's redemption.

"TDKR" and "Return of the Jedi" were both received similarly: fun, worthy conclusions that were not quite as good as their immediate predecessors. I agree mostly with that sentiment, but see "Jedi" as a near-perfect film, but lacks the (ahem) flawlessness of "Empire." It came upon one day when I was watching the speeder bike chase that "Jedi" would be perfect if not for one at that moment, impending doom: Ewoks.

"TDKR" compared to "TDK," suffers not from what it has that ruins it but what its lacking. A sentiment that most any reader can see coming, "TDKR" is marred by the question of "What if?" Specifically, what if Heath Ledger had not died, granting us not one, but two, films with his brilliant, disturbing portrayal of the greatest villain ever, the Joker. Granted that is pipe dreaming, but considering Joker's place as Batman's most important foe, it only makes sense that he would be a participant, at the least, in Wayne's final battle. But, we do have Bane, who while not quite the Joker, is an adequate villain who tests Batman almost as agonizingly as the Joker did.