You Can Hate A Movie Now And Change Your Mind Later
I was wrong — so wrong — about ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
This essay is about how the human heart can change. It’s also about the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. But mostly, it’s the story of one man’s journey from “The Dark Knight Rises is boiled garbage” to “You know what? The Dark Knight Rises might be a flawed movie, but you gotta respect its ambitions.”
I regret judging Christian Bale’s final outing as Batman so harshly eight years ago. When discussing the movie with friends at the time, I used plenty of film snob-friendly words like “bloated,” and “portentous,” and “sucks death balls.” I’ve grown since then. I sobered up. I got engaged. I learned how to make lasagna AND admit I’m wrong. And I was wrong about 2012's The Dark Knight Rises.
I have a responsibility to my readers — both of you — to share the most well-considered opinions my small but compact brain can produce. I sentenced that poor blockbuster to my list of “Movies I Regularly Pooh-Pooh.” For instance, I regularly pooh-pooh The English Patient. I was mad with power.
But I’ve come to realize The Dark Knight Rises is deserving of justice. So here it goes: I hereby pardon The Dark Knight Rises. I free that Warner Brothers film from my “List Of Movies I…
