Story
Bruce Wayne/Batman (Christian Bale) has stayed in seclusion for the past eight years, having never fully recovered after taking the blame for Harvey Dent’s crimes. People now think of him as a criminal and murderer. At the same time, most of Gotham’s criminals are now behind bars because of the passing of the Harvey Dent Act. This means Gotham is relatively free of crime. But all this changes when Bane (Tom Hardy) arrives in Gotham to steal a nuclear weapon and destroy Gotham City’s police force.
The threat posed by Bane forces Bruce Wayne out of retirement. But Batman finds that Bane is more than he can handle, so he gets some friends to help him. They include his old friends Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman), as well as new friends John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a rookie cop, and Selina Kyle/Catwoman (Anne Hathaway).
The movie is a race against time as Batman and his friends try to locate and disarm Bane’s nuclear weapon before he can use it to destroy Gotham.
Themes
Nuclear weapons; organised crime; superheroes
Violence
As well as the stylised action violence you might expect to see in superhero movies, this movie also has scenes of disturbingly realistic violence and battles. These scenes include large-scale collateral damage, hostage-taking, anarchy and rioting. For example:
Sexual references
This movie has some low-level sexual references. For example:
- The movie includes a story about a man who fell in love with a warlord’s daughter. The daughter became pregnant and was forced to give birth in a prison full of men. Bane protected the woman and child from the prisoners.
- A man makes a sexually provocative remark about Catwoman being his prisoner.
- Catwoman jumps into the back of a man’s car and tells the man that it’s his ‘lucky day’. The man agrees with her and drives off.
- Alfred tells Bruce Wayne that Bruce needs a woman to make his life meaningful. Alfred says, ‘I’d set you up with a chimpanzee if it would bring you to reality’.
- A powerful businessman entertaining some male guests offers his guests some champagne. Then he says, ‘And can we have some girls in here?’
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
This movie shows some use of substances. For example:
- People drink wine and spirits at social events.
- There is a story about a man who ended up in prison because he got addicted to morphine while he was working as a doctor in the prison.
- Bane’s henchmen inject their victims with a knock-out drug. This makes the victims unconscious immediately. Batman makes several henchmen unconscious with drugged boomerangs.
Nudity and sexual activity
This movie has some partial low-level nudity and sexual activity. For example:
- Women wear cocktail dresses with plunging necklines.
- Selina wears a short maid’s dress and stockings. She pulls up her skirt to show her upper thigh before climbing out a window.
- Catwoman wears a tight-fitting jumpsuit and high-heeled shoes.
- Bruce passionately kisses Selina.
- A woman and Bruce kiss passionately. They lie on the floor under a rug. The scene shows the woman’s bare shoulders and Bruce’s naked chest and torso.
Product placement
Car and phone brands are displayed and used in this movie.
Coarse language
This movie has some occasional low-level coarse language, name-calling and put-downs.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Dark Knight Rises is the final chapter in the current trilogy of Batman movies. The movie is a powerful and intense drama with a plot and subplots that need your full attention. Parents of younger viewers should note that the movie is too intense, violent and disturbing for children under 13 years. The movie’s running time of almost three hours is also too long for younger viewers.
These are the main messages from this movie:
- Ordinary people can be heroes. You don’t have to wear a mask and cape.
- There comes a time when older people must give responsibility to younger people.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include selflessness, honesty and bravery. John Blake in particular shows these qualities.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about real-life issues such as what to do if you’re told to do something that goes against commonsense and moral behaviour. For example, in this movie some soldiers have been ordered to stop a busload of children from crossing a bridge. They won’t let the children go across the bridge, even though the children pose no possible threat and stopping them results in their deaths.