Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

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It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known. 
-- Charles Dickens (A Tale of Two Cities, 1859)

Since it's been publicized for a long time that The Dark Knight Rises is the final installment in the  story weaved by Christopher Nolan and his team, I knew that I'd be saying goodbye to this most realistic version of Gotham City as I sat through the movie; the experience, I thought, would be similar to reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or to watching The Return of the King for the first time.

In a sense, Bruce Wayne went the way of Harry Potter and of Frodo Baggins. He also, somewhat, followed the footsteps of an even older literary hero, Sydney Carton. All three of them had to make difficult, selfless acts to save their loved ones from the chaotic world they were in. All of them, too, eventually found their piece of heaven. The decisions and actions of Carton and Baggins had made their stories classics; it is still too early to see if Potter passes the test of time.

And what about the Batman?

I think that The Dark Knight Rises is such a good way to conclude the Nolan-helmed version of the Gotham world. Batman becomes what he truly is, a legend. Bruce Wayne, himself, said it best in Batman Begins:
People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can't do that as Bruce Wayne... But as a symbol, I can be incorruptible, everlasting.

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