I must mention beforehand, that I am a big fan of the concept of superheros, which is largely a westernized phenomenon, though I am not a comic book nerd, simply because most of my childhood was spent reading European spiel about a blonde boy and his fox terrier, a bunch of cousins and their dog, two unlikely heroes who travel the world, drink cool potions and kick military ass, along with a little dog. I hardly had time for the x-men, batman, superman and the marvel franchises of course, apart from the random cartoon shows on TV.
There were a couple of superman movies in the late '70s featuring Christopher Reeve, which descended into direct to dvd type stuff by the time the fourth installment was released. The '80s and '90s saw a number of smaller less popular superhero features releasing, but none making an impact whatsoever. Of course, there were no marvel features then. With Bryan Singer's X-Men and Sam Raimi's Spiderman, the foundation was set for the superhero summer blockbuster. This time, the auteurs were aided with a lot of money, advanced technology, a more accepting audience and computers for state of the art visual effects. What followed hence forth is there for everyone to see, with the latest being The Dark Knight Rises, which released last Friday.
I have actually enjoyed Christopher Nolan's take on the Batman, giving him a more human facade, incorporating a grim, darker tone exploring diverse emotions, three dimensional supporting characters and a storyline that does not take our sensibilities for granted. However, I must say I was a bit let down with the third installment, which has largely to do with the fact that expectations were sky high following the phenomenal success of the dark knight.
I attribute it to what I call " the second helping" phenomenon. The Dark Knight Rises is like eating a second slice of a rich chocolate cake, layered with all the goodies one can think of. The first slice was out of the world, simply the best 15 spoonfuls of bliss in the past few years. You want to have the second piece, you know it will be as fantastic as the first, simply because it is another slice of the same pie. But what happens is increased sensitivity of the teeth, a nagging pain in the stomach and suddenly the cake does not seem good anymore. You realise it but you do not want to admit it because of the simple fact that the previous helping elavated your experience and you want it to be that way. You’d rather believe it was just as awesome, despite realising that some of the nuts are rotten, including the stubborn one that is stuck between your implant and the penultimate molar, the chocolate icing does seem uneven and the glazing a little too sweet.
