Truly, madly and deeply in love

Spoiler alert: If you haven't watched The Dark Knight Rises, please don't read ahead and instead go watch it ASAP! 

Disclaimer: This is not a review of the movie or any attempt to analyze it. It is just an account of what the movie means to me.

It has been a week since I first saw the movie, but hardly any minute spent not thinking about it, or hearing the soundtrack, or replaying the climax in my screwed up mind, or feeling simultaneously exasperated and enthralled at how damn hot Christian Bale/Bruce Wayne/Batman is. I haven't been quite able to differentiate between Bale and Batman himself.

Obsessed? Yes, most definitely. Fallen head over heels in love with the movie. It is not everyday that I fall completely in love with everything about anything, let alone a movie. (It was Dr. House the last time :) ) This may not be the best movie that I have seen, this is not the best movie that has been made, this is not even the best of the trilogy, but this is the one that I fell in love with.

Every morning, every minute is a part of an incredible loop.. I start the day with Risen from Darkness, for it is the way that my day is meant to start - gloriously. I then proceed to Gotham's Reckoning and feel the ominous terror in the music, terror that I can't quite point to, terror that makes me feel frantic and edgy, terror that very slowly and subtly shakes my bones. The elusive 'Mind if I cut in?' glides along next, giving me a hint of the much needed relief, despite being short lived and of course deceptive. 'Why do we fall?' is the next one on the line, already putting me out of words and sighs to describe the multitude of the emotions that go through me. (Yes, I don’t know why I keep writing when I run out of words every so often.)

The one that I love the most though is ‘Rise’. Starting on a high with the Batman theme, it proceeds with the slow, beautiful, torturous pain that seems to go on forever and when I just can't take it anymore the music changes. The pain lessens and anticipation rises leading to the magnificent climax after which life feels empty.  

Just like the movie itself, the soundtrack is powerful, intense, dark, magnetic, irresistible and super addictive, border lining on depressing. It reflects the movie so well. It is TOO intense for me to handle, I find it impossible to get it out of my being, and it does not help that I fight with every ounce of my irrational strength to dwell on it indefinitely. The rational part of my brain does eventually win and kicks me into my transition song. Carnival of rust.

              Don't walk away, don't walk away

             Oh, when the world is burning

The melancholy lyrics appeal to me and after an hour or so of Implication, Insinuation and Ill will, I am back to the ‘real world’ or at least as back as I can possibly get.  

I can't seem to stay in that 'real' place for long though, for I am back to thinking about Bale.    

Christian Bale! When did this happen?!! I used to like him as a good actor, yeah sure. In Batman Begins, he was this another actor guy who played a really well created Batman in this incredible Chris Nolan movie. In the Prestige, I was too intently focusing on understanding the movie to form any lasting impression of Bale.  The Dark Knight had Heath Ledger. Period. However, this movie totally changed how I saw him - a super actor who plays Batman to perfection, a man with stunning features and an impossible screen presence! Flashes of his scenes come in front of my eyes every now and then. The first glimpse of him as the brooding recluse at the manor, his disarming smile when he dances with Selina Kyle, fixing his broken back at the pit, Alfred's departure, the Bat's entry, the wheels of the Batpod spinning (yeah, that woman was good on it), tender moments with Miranda Tate (yeah, this one was a b*tch) (Edit: who the hell writes 'tender moments' huh get real) and the last scene. <sigh> 

The best part of the movie, to me, is the climax. With the 'Rise' increasing its intensity, Alfred's expressions and the camera turning towards the happy and satisfied smile of Wayne.. My heart stops every single time! Watching the movie once just left me in an agitated, hyper excited state, unable to do anything the whole day and with a desperate need for more. The second time was a more relaxed, pleasant affair taking me farther on the path to the closure that I hope to attain someday. 

Until then, as this review puts it, There is a fever, and the only prescription is more Batman!