The Dark Knight Rises in Karachi

The audiences’ excitement takes over the cinema at the much awaited premiere.

KARACHI:

It was a star-studded Thursday night at the Atrium Cinemas where celebs and Batman fans gathered to attend the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. With limited passes, the much awaited movie was screened only for the media and celebrities. Stocked with popcorn and drinks, everyone was seated 10 minutes before the movie began, depicting the level of enthusiasm of the audience and the power of cinema. Unlike the Colorado incident, no one turned up at the Karachi movie premiere with a gun, and the experience remained bullet-free!

Snapshot

The final and epic conclusion to director Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, left the audience with a cinematic experience like no other. Not only did it captivate the audience in terms of action but drowned them in a sea of emotions as well. It has been eight years since Batman played by Christian Bale, vanished into the night in Gotham City, turning him from a powerful hero into a mere fugitive. Accepting the blame for the death of Harvey Dent, Batman sacrificed everything for what he believed was for the greater good of Gotham City. For some time, the lie seemed to have worked and criminal activities declined — but not for long. Everything changes with the arrival of the shrewd Catwoman played by the brilliant Anne Hathaway, who comes in with her own mysterious agenda. But this is not all. The emergence of Bane played by Thomas Hardy, who is a masked terrorist with a ruthless plan for Gotham City, seems far more dangerous. This ultimately drives Batman out of his self-imposed exile and the epic battle between the two concludes the final episode.

According to notes provided to The Express Tribune by Warner Brothers, the director says: “We were all very excited to bring this tale full circle; that was our chief inspiration for returning to Gotham.” He felt that it was a tremendous responsibility to fulfill the audiences’ expectations regarding the previous two parts, and it was definitely “a tricky balance”.

Reviews

It may come as a surprise, but the movie received a mixed response from Karachi, where some were completely blown away and others not so much, making comparisons with its prequel. “The Dark Knight Rises is an amazing movie,” said Faisal Qureshi, a prominent TV actor. “It was an awesome ending to a superb trilogy — you have to watch it, preferably at a cinema.”

Actor Marina Khan, also present at the premiere said, “I think it was a good film and definitely worth the experience.”  But she still felt that it couldn’t be compared to the prequel which was “much better”.

VJ Faizan Haque was also not impressed at all, “I am not really into this kind of film-making and Batman never really surprised me.” He also felt that it was the “least irritating and most boring (at the same time), episode of the Batman trilogy.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2012.