Southampton Was Packed at 3 a.m. Thanks to “The Dark Knight Rises”

When I arrived at the theater, it was already packed—and I was a half-hour early for the movie. I ran into frequent Dan’s Papers cover artists Mickey Paraskevas, who said he had been at the theater all day, as it had been showing the first two movies of the Dark Knight trilogy. But that is an aside. Let me just get straight to how I feel about this film.

The Dark Knight Rises is fantastic. I’m still not really over it. I can’t remember the last time I’ve had that much fun at the movies. Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest storytellers of our time. The movie is dark, it is cerebral and it has that quietness that Nolan is known for. Once again, Nolan brings a philosophy into Batman, asking questions in his storytelling about humanity, right and wrong, justice and politics. The character Bane is portrayed beautifully, with his voice rumbling through the theater when he speaks, and the intensity of his presence throughout the film is magnificent.

There were scenes during which I literally said to my girlfriend, “I think this is the best scene I’ve ever seen in a theater.”

The Dark Knight Rises has that edge-of-your-seat action that forces you to become completely captivated by the film. I simply refuse to give spoilers in writing this review, and I urge you to do what I did and avoid reading anything that gives details about the movie. But I will say this: If you don’t see this movie in the theater with a big tub of popcorn, a Coke and a good friend or significant other, you are missing out on a life experience.