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Dark Knight Trilogy #3
The Dark Knight Rises: The Official Movie Novelization
EVERY HERO HAS A JOURNEY... EVERY JOURNEY HAS AN END... Eight years have passed since Batman was last seen in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne’s alter ego is hunted by the law, and nothing � it seems � can bring him back. Not even a brazen theft committed by the enigmatic and seductive cat burglar Selina Kyle � inside the walls of Wayne Manor itself. But then a deadly new threat appears, as if out of nowhere. Bane. Huge, powerful, and terrifyingly methodical, Bane is bent on spreading chaos and death. Commissioner Gordon and the GCPD are unable to stop him and have nowhere to turn. But after so many years, can the Dark Knight once again save Gotham from its gravest threat yet? THE OFFICIAL NOVELIZATION OF THE FINAL CHAPTER IN CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S EPIC, THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY
236 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews
March 22, 2023
Novelization of the last of the Dark Knight films from the trilogy by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan. Frank Miller's dark Gotham and dark Batman are very well rendered by Cox and co. telling the story of Bane's invasion of Gotham and what appears to be the last stand of the Batman. 6 out of 12, Three Star read.
2013 read
2013 read
April 30, 2021
This story has everything. It is well written. True to the character, taking elements from some of the best Batman comics Kinghtfall, No Man's land, and Dark Knight Returns (the comic not the last movie). Not giving too much away the basic story is Gotham has had 8 years of peace with no need of the Batman or Bruce Wayne. Now this is coming to an end thanks to the arrival of Bane. Comic fans already know who he is, but his origins are slightly different in the book, and he might not even be the biggest threat. Bruce has to reinvent himself and rise from the ashes if he has a chance of beating Bane. Alfred sums it up when he tells Bruce that you are not Batman anymore, but he will need to be if Gotham has a hope of surviving. Excellent book. Even though it is 413 pages, they will fly by. Recommended to any Batman fan of the movies or comics. Cox and the Nolans to Batman justice.
September 16, 2020
خیلی بهتر از جلد دوم مجموعه بود
August 7, 2019
Exit Joker , Enters The Bane
After Joker, peace prevails in Gotham. For eight years very few incidents of crime takes place, that can be solved by GCPD. And the Gothamites do not feel the need of a Superhero.
The citizens although, do not forget to blame Batman for the murder of Harvey Dent. Very few citizens knows the truth about the Two faced Harvey Dent, who succumbed to his traumas and changed sides from good to bad.
Even, Bruce Wayne do not see the need to wake up Batman from his deep slumber, not even for a casual stroll around the city.
Eight years of peace and one day the wall of security collapses. Gotham is invaded by ferocious masked Bane, who has come to finish the work of Ra's Al Ghul. He is feared by bravest of Gotham city and even Police department goes into hiding. He releases all the inmates of Arkham Asylum and makes them guardians of Gotham. The Word "Law" is replaced by Jonathan Crane, The Scarecrow.
Eight years of disappearance and now the GCPD and Citizens of Gotham needs the Batman. But will he come out of hibernation? The Question remains !
The book introduces a Miranda Tate and a Petty thief Selina Kyle a.k.a The Catwoman, which fills-up the story with humor and peppy lines at times.
Alfred goes missing during first half. Lucius Fox is in full action. Blake , ends the book with next Batman¿ or Robin ¿
Anyone who has seen The Dark Knight Rises, has been disappointed by the movie. After watching the splendid performance by Heath Ledger they will feel this one was dry and the character of was Bane weak and not enough to be like Ra's Al Ghul or The Joker.But the book gives proper justice to the Mask Wearing Demon.
The book is very well written by Greg Cox. It has a different flair than one written by Dennis O'Neil, author of the previous two. But this one gives the best reading experience , even though the previous two were no less entertaining.
Again, If you love Batman Movies , You will not want to Miss this One.
After Joker, peace prevails in Gotham. For eight years very few incidents of crime takes place, that can be solved by GCPD. And the Gothamites do not feel the need of a Superhero.
The citizens although, do not forget to blame Batman for the murder of Harvey Dent. Very few citizens knows the truth about the Two faced Harvey Dent, who succumbed to his traumas and changed sides from good to bad.
Even, Bruce Wayne do not see the need to wake up Batman from his deep slumber, not even for a casual stroll around the city.
Eight years of peace and one day the wall of security collapses. Gotham is invaded by ferocious masked Bane, who has come to finish the work of Ra's Al Ghul. He is feared by bravest of Gotham city and even Police department goes into hiding. He releases all the inmates of Arkham Asylum and makes them guardians of Gotham. The Word "Law" is replaced by Jonathan Crane, The Scarecrow.
Eight years of disappearance and now the GCPD and Citizens of Gotham needs the Batman. But will he come out of hibernation? The Question remains !
The book introduces a Miranda Tate and a Petty thief Selina Kyle a.k.a The Catwoman, which fills-up the story with humor and peppy lines at times.
Alfred goes missing during first half. Lucius Fox is in full action. Blake , ends the book with next Batman¿ or Robin ¿
Anyone who has seen The Dark Knight Rises, has been disappointed by the movie. After watching the splendid performance by Heath Ledger they will feel this one was dry and the character of was Bane weak and not enough to be like Ra's Al Ghul or The Joker.But the book gives proper justice to the Mask Wearing Demon.
The book is very well written by Greg Cox. It has a different flair than one written by Dennis O'Neil, author of the previous two. But this one gives the best reading experience , even though the previous two were no less entertaining.
Again, If you love Batman Movies , You will not want to Miss this One.
May 23, 2017
Batman, má láska na celý život. :) Četlo se to skvěle, příjemně krátká kapitoly dodávaly příběhu na svižnosti a 320 stran uteklo jako voda.
September 7, 2012
Rating: 3.5
I don't even know how to "rate" this book. I'll just go for middle ground.
Movie novelisations are usually pretty boring; I mainly got this book because I knew it would be more like a "companion" to the film, as there were a lot of unanswered questions that The Dark Knight Rises left gaping open. (And yes, it can act as a translator for Bane's speech, though to be fair, his sound had been considerably altered in post-production, so he was mostly decipherable)
Does the novel answer questions? Yes, and no. But then, some questions don't need answers. Either way, this book helped me understand the film a little better—mostly trivial bits, like I had no idea what "D&P" was when Gordon was shouting about it in the joint where Congressman Gilly was found, or that Ross (the Asian cop) was actually Blake's partner. Small threads of information like that that helped flesh out the story more. It's disappointing on the film's part that I had to read a lot of exposition to even follow the pace of editing though.
I don't even know how to "rate" this book. I'll just go for middle ground.
Movie novelisations are usually pretty boring; I mainly got this book because I knew it would be more like a "companion" to the film, as there were a lot of unanswered questions that The Dark Knight Rises left gaping open. (And yes, it can act as a translator for Bane's speech, though to be fair, his sound had been considerably altered in post-production, so he was mostly decipherable)
Does the novel answer questions? Yes, and no. But then, some questions don't need answers. Either way, this book helped me understand the film a little better—mostly trivial bits, like I had no idea what "D&P" was when Gordon was shouting about it in the joint where Congressman Gilly was found, or that Ross (the Asian cop) was actually Blake's partner. Small threads of information like that that helped flesh out the story more. It's disappointing on the film's part that I had to read a lot of exposition to even follow the pace of editing though.
January 26, 2025
(Spoilers not marked since I'm assuming anybody interested in reading this has already seen the movie and knows what happens.)
This is the best written of the three novels in this trilogy. (Sorry Denny.) And it's miles ahead of the Burton Batmans. (Not sorry at all Craig. Bad novelizations. Bad, bad novelizations!)
But that doesn't mean this didn't have its annoyances. Coincidentally, Greg does the same kind of thing Craig Shaw Gardner does with a chatty inner monologue for a couple of characters, but not to the same degree, thank God. They're just snippets peppered all throughout the novel, but some of them are out of place and just don't work very well, or they interrupt the action. E.g.: Throughout the story Catwoman has a hankering to escape to the French Riviera. At the end, she's trapped in Gotham just like everybody else. She finds herself in a dangerous situation and she thinks "the French Riviera was looking better all the time." That kind of line would've made sense if she were debating whether or not to leave Gotham and still actually had a chance to get out, but at that point it was pointless.
Then there are other chatty snippets that work just fine; it's hard to explain, and I suspect many of the ones that annoyed me would've been removed or moved somewhere else had it gone through another round of editing, but time is limited when you're trying to get a book out at the same time as the movie. Thankfully they did much better with this one than The Dark Knight, for there were very few typos, and it was structurally sound. It's even more impressive given that this was over 400 pages, about 125 pages more than DK.
As for differences between the book and the movie, I don't know that there are any. A couple of scenes and characters are fleshed out more, but just barely. Most of the lines are identical or slightly altered. Either almost no changes were made from screenplay to film, or Greg worked very closely with the production crew while it was being filmed and during post production, and he was able to make changes on the go.
This movie/story seems to be a love or hate piece for most fans of the trilogy. One friend of mine hated it when it came out because "it made Occupy Wall Street look bad." (I personally thought OWS made itself look bad without any help from anybody else.) A lot of people thought part of the movie was based on OWS, but this is easy to disprove. Filming took place from May to November of 2011. OWS didn't even start until September 17, 2011, and it took a week or 10 days to gain major traction in the media which brings it close to October. (While it was getting kicked off, the same friend who gave me the quote above was saying the media was trying to repress it and not cover it which is a sick joke. They loved it from the start and covered it plenty, but it was a few days before it became the leading story. That friend and I never discussed this kind of stuff with each other; I just saw those things on his Facebook page.) Anyway, people were apparently suggesting that the producers/director/actors/writers/crew and everyone got together in the last month of filming to make changes to reflect a current event... I'm sorry, making a movie doesn't work that way. Leaving aside the logistics, consider also the logic. Hollywood is liberal as hell and they were falling all over themselves to proclaim their support for OWS in spite of the fact that several of them fell squarely in the 1% category. You expect me to believe they made changes to this movie just to trash a leftist movement that they loved? Add to this the fact that Christopher Nolan flat out refuted the accusation (while also pointing out the logistical points I mentioned above), and it should be easy to see that the parallels were a complete coincidence. But sometimes that's all that's needed to hate on something, and...
(Although this image just begged to be used here, I think it's worth hating, but I digress.)
The parts of the movie concerning corporate greed, class disparity, have-not mobs rioting on the haves, and whatnot is more about Bane being villainous than social justice; that's the point of that, not to mention everything else Bane does. The scene at the stock exchange, though, provides us with the best line in the movie/book:
That one's right up there with:
In fact, Bane gets all the best lines in this story, though the other characters have a few good ones too.
As for the story, I love it, and it's more believable than its predecessor. The Dark Knight is my favorite movie in the trilogy. A lot of it is a mess, but you don't notice it in the movie because it moves so quickly. The flaws are laid bare in the written form because you have more time to think about what's happening and you realize that most of it could never happen. This story doesn't have that problem, at least not with the plot itself, which is part of what makes it a better read. Suspension of disbelief is needed for some medical matters such as Batman's recovery at the beginning, then how he breaks his back, and further how it's fixed. You don't get that kind of injury from that kind of maneuver, and you can't just punch a dislocated vertebrae back into place. If you could, back surgeons would also be karate senseis and have to pass a course in Kirk Chiropractics which just happens to be our sponsor. And now, a word from them:
Has a mean man given you a strange click-clack in the back of your sacroiliac?
Uh huh!
Did he also contuse your cervical center?
Yeah!
Then you need the captain's L1, C7 adjustment!
Yes, the L1, C7 combo will put that pesky popped spine right back into place.
It's not impossible! You can get it with a twist!
No lumbar displacement? No problem! Go halfsies with a C7 chop to fix that crick in the neck.
Plus, the technique is so easy to master, that amateurs can do it at home.
So kick that cane to the curb...
...and get your back back into shape with the L1, C7 punch today.
Would you butt out? Sheesh!
This is the best written of the three novels in this trilogy. (Sorry Denny.) And it's miles ahead of the Burton Batmans. (Not sorry at all Craig. Bad novelizations. Bad, bad novelizations!)
But that doesn't mean this didn't have its annoyances. Coincidentally, Greg does the same kind of thing Craig Shaw Gardner does with a chatty inner monologue for a couple of characters, but not to the same degree, thank God. They're just snippets peppered all throughout the novel, but some of them are out of place and just don't work very well, or they interrupt the action. E.g.: Throughout the story Catwoman has a hankering to escape to the French Riviera. At the end, she's trapped in Gotham just like everybody else. She finds herself in a dangerous situation and she thinks "the French Riviera was looking better all the time." That kind of line would've made sense if she were debating whether or not to leave Gotham and still actually had a chance to get out, but at that point it was pointless.
Then there are other chatty snippets that work just fine; it's hard to explain, and I suspect many of the ones that annoyed me would've been removed or moved somewhere else had it gone through another round of editing, but time is limited when you're trying to get a book out at the same time as the movie. Thankfully they did much better with this one than The Dark Knight, for there were very few typos, and it was structurally sound. It's even more impressive given that this was over 400 pages, about 125 pages more than DK.
As for differences between the book and the movie, I don't know that there are any. A couple of scenes and characters are fleshed out more, but just barely. Most of the lines are identical or slightly altered. Either almost no changes were made from screenplay to film, or Greg worked very closely with the production crew while it was being filmed and during post production, and he was able to make changes on the go.
This movie/story seems to be a love or hate piece for most fans of the trilogy. One friend of mine hated it when it came out because "it made Occupy Wall Street look bad." (I personally thought OWS made itself look bad without any help from anybody else.) A lot of people thought part of the movie was based on OWS, but this is easy to disprove. Filming took place from May to November of 2011. OWS didn't even start until September 17, 2011, and it took a week or 10 days to gain major traction in the media which brings it close to October. (While it was getting kicked off, the same friend who gave me the quote above was saying the media was trying to repress it and not cover it which is a sick joke. They loved it from the start and covered it plenty, but it was a few days before it became the leading story. That friend and I never discussed this kind of stuff with each other; I just saw those things on his Facebook page.) Anyway, people were apparently suggesting that the producers/director/actors/writers/crew and everyone got together in the last month of filming to make changes to reflect a current event... I'm sorry, making a movie doesn't work that way. Leaving aside the logistics, consider also the logic. Hollywood is liberal as hell and they were falling all over themselves to proclaim their support for OWS in spite of the fact that several of them fell squarely in the 1% category. You expect me to believe they made changes to this movie just to trash a leftist movement that they loved? Add to this the fact that Christopher Nolan flat out refuted the accusation (while also pointing out the logistical points I mentioned above), and it should be easy to see that the parallels were a complete coincidence. But sometimes that's all that's needed to hate on something, and...
(Although this image just begged to be used here, I think it's worth hating, but I digress.)
The parts of the movie concerning corporate greed, class disparity, have-not mobs rioting on the haves, and whatnot is more about Bane being villainous than social justice; that's the point of that, not to mention everything else Bane does. The scene at the stock exchange, though, provides us with the best line in the movie/book:
That one's right up there with:
In fact, Bane gets all the best lines in this story, though the other characters have a few good ones too.
As for the story, I love it, and it's more believable than its predecessor. The Dark Knight is my favorite movie in the trilogy. A lot of it is a mess, but you don't notice it in the movie because it moves so quickly. The flaws are laid bare in the written form because you have more time to think about what's happening and you realize that most of it could never happen. This story doesn't have that problem, at least not with the plot itself, which is part of what makes it a better read. Suspension of disbelief is needed for some medical matters such as Batman's recovery at the beginning, then how he breaks his back, and further how it's fixed. You don't get that kind of injury from that kind of maneuver, and you can't just punch a dislocated vertebrae back into place. If you could, back surgeons would also be karate senseis and have to pass a course in Kirk Chiropractics which just happens to be our sponsor. And now, a word from them:
Has a mean man given you a strange click-clack in the back of your sacroiliac?
Uh huh!
Did he also contuse your cervical center?
Yeah!
Then you need the captain's L1, C7 adjustment!
Yes, the L1, C7 combo will put that pesky popped spine right back into place.
It's not impossible! You can get it with a twist!
No lumbar displacement? No problem! Go halfsies with a C7 chop to fix that crick in the neck.
Plus, the technique is so easy to master, that amateurs can do it at home.
So kick that cane to the curb...
...and get your back back into shape with the L1, C7 punch today.
Would you butt out? Sheesh!
July 28, 2012
I'm rating this a 4 out of 5 as it does a good job of capturing the plot lines of the film and clarified a few points for me that I missed while watching it. A few times there was the sense that perhaps the novelization was based on a early script rather than the finished film as some touches were missing. I'm not talking about anything major, I mean little things like the scene with the orphan boy drawing bat symbols with chalk that was in the trailer and in the final film but is not mentioned in the novelization. It was interesting to read in writer Greg Cox's afterward that he was away from home in Burbank during the writing which makes you picture him securely locked in a room from which the script cannot be removed in order to protect plot security.
July 28, 2012
Cleared up a few things for me. Don't know why they explained Bane's mask in the book but not the movie. Can't wait to see the movie again :D
January 26, 2013
As awesome as the movie :) I especially liked the extras that weren't in the movie.
September 6, 2021
Are there any women cops in Gotham City?
I know there are women officers serving the city in other Batman stories. And there is a slight mention of women officers towards the end of the book. And this isn’t the fault of the novelization’s author.
But still... it reads like the police force is a boy’s club. Which is kind of a shame because there are so few women characters in the story.
I enjoyed the novel. I can’t remember the details of the movie but it felt like this book stays pretty close to the story. You get some insights into the thoughts of the characters. But the pace of the novel kept me going.
I kind of wanted a slower pace in some parts, like I wanted to see how exactly Wayne spent his time alone in that big empty house. I also wanted to see how regular Gothamites dealt with Bane’s occupation. I can’t accept just the cops we’re the only ones to fight back.
It’s funny, at the time, I thought the movie had some criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Which I thought was unfair because that protest was non-violent. But now in 2021 it seems like a sharper comment on the attempted takeover of Congress earlier in the year. There’s even a character—Daggett—who’s compared to Trump in the book, who brings Bane to Gotham.
The action of the story was pretty clear. I thought Cox wrote the story pretty well. There were a couple parts where I didn’t understand what was happening but I blame the screenplay.
I wish Cox could write a sequel.
I’m having fun reading Batman books. I think I like him best on the page. It’s interesting to see the similarities between this book and Nightwalkers.
I know there are women officers serving the city in other Batman stories. And there is a slight mention of women officers towards the end of the book. And this isn’t the fault of the novelization’s author.
But still... it reads like the police force is a boy’s club. Which is kind of a shame because there are so few women characters in the story.
I enjoyed the novel. I can’t remember the details of the movie but it felt like this book stays pretty close to the story. You get some insights into the thoughts of the characters. But the pace of the novel kept me going.
I kind of wanted a slower pace in some parts, like I wanted to see how exactly Wayne spent his time alone in that big empty house. I also wanted to see how regular Gothamites dealt with Bane’s occupation. I can’t accept just the cops we’re the only ones to fight back.
It’s funny, at the time, I thought the movie had some criticism of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Which I thought was unfair because that protest was non-violent. But now in 2021 it seems like a sharper comment on the attempted takeover of Congress earlier in the year. There’s even a character—Daggett—who’s compared to Trump in the book, who brings Bane to Gotham.
The action of the story was pretty clear. I thought Cox wrote the story pretty well. There were a couple parts where I didn’t understand what was happening but I blame the screenplay.
I wish Cox could write a sequel.
I’m having fun reading Batman books. I think I like him best on the page. It’s interesting to see the similarities between this book and Nightwalkers.
fic-guided
June 11, 2020Although Cox’s name is on the title page he merely services (with commendable efficiency) the pre-existing narrative created by the film’s director, Christopher Nolan, and his brother Jonathan. Christopher Nolan took on the exhausted Batman film franchise with strict conditions as to his complete artistic freedom. There should be no genuflection to what Neil Gaiman would call an ‘American God’. A Wunderkind and an (English) English Literature graduate, fascinated by post-modernism, Nolan had, in his late twenties, written and directed Memento – a detective story told backwards through a hero with pathological memory loss, who has to tattoo clues on his arms.
The Batman series was, by the twenty-first century, ritually formulaic. A dastardly criminal – typically some circus-themed villain like The Joker – threatened Gotham City. Enter Batman and Robin to save the day with Bat-cave gadgetry. Batman, of course, was – in propria persona – millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne. Rockefeller in cape and mask. Nolan, in his ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, complicated and ultimately destroyed the formula – creative destruction, one could call it. Robin went. The design was darkened to pitch black. In the first film, infant Bruce is traumatised by witnessing the street murder of his parents. In the second film, the opponent is The Joker (played as a blood-chilling sadist by Heath Ledger). The third instalment finds Batman eight years retired and a pariah. He is believed to be the killer of Harvey Dent – the man who, before Batman threw him off a high building to his death, ‘cleaned up’ Gotham. In fact, Dent was evil incarnate. It was the maligned Batman who was the cleaner up. Bruce Wayne, now closing on forty, is no longer as rich. He is also a physical wreck. He still has Alfred Pennyworth, the British butler, to bring his drinks (too many of them). Alfred agonises over what he sees as a deathwish in his master. Wayne’s ally, James Gordon, one of the few honest cops in Gotham and someone who knows his secret, is at death’s door in hospital.
Things perk up when Catwoman breaks into the Wayne mansion to steal some family jewels (normal enough for a cat burglar) and Bruce’s fingerprints (why?). Out of uniform she is Selina Kyle, born working-class, with a grudge against the rich. Not a criminal, but a revolutionary. It emerges that Catwoman is working for the dreaded Bane, an old foe, who plans to destroy Gotham’s soul – and Batman’s body with it. The dead but not gone (he never will be) Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Shadows resurface, with a sinister tinge of Osama bin Laden. He has his eye on Wayne’s cold-fusion apparatus, which could give Gotham clean energy for ever, but which has never been activated – lest some villain convert it into a Doomsday machine. Doomsday is precisely what Bane wants.
Batman dies saving Gotham – or does he? Perhaps, like Hannibal and Clarice, he retires, more happily than first time round, to live an incognito life in Italy with Selina – political differences forgotten. Mother of God, can this be the end of Batman? As far as Nolan is concerned, it may well be.
The Batman series was, by the twenty-first century, ritually formulaic. A dastardly criminal – typically some circus-themed villain like The Joker – threatened Gotham City. Enter Batman and Robin to save the day with Bat-cave gadgetry. Batman, of course, was – in propria persona – millionaire philanthropist Bruce Wayne. Rockefeller in cape and mask. Nolan, in his ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, complicated and ultimately destroyed the formula – creative destruction, one could call it. Robin went. The design was darkened to pitch black. In the first film, infant Bruce is traumatised by witnessing the street murder of his parents. In the second film, the opponent is The Joker (played as a blood-chilling sadist by Heath Ledger). The third instalment finds Batman eight years retired and a pariah. He is believed to be the killer of Harvey Dent – the man who, before Batman threw him off a high building to his death, ‘cleaned up’ Gotham. In fact, Dent was evil incarnate. It was the maligned Batman who was the cleaner up. Bruce Wayne, now closing on forty, is no longer as rich. He is also a physical wreck. He still has Alfred Pennyworth, the British butler, to bring his drinks (too many of them). Alfred agonises over what he sees as a deathwish in his master. Wayne’s ally, James Gordon, one of the few honest cops in Gotham and someone who knows his secret, is at death’s door in hospital.
Things perk up when Catwoman breaks into the Wayne mansion to steal some family jewels (normal enough for a cat burglar) and Bruce’s fingerprints (why?). Out of uniform she is Selina Kyle, born working-class, with a grudge against the rich. Not a criminal, but a revolutionary. It emerges that Catwoman is working for the dreaded Bane, an old foe, who plans to destroy Gotham’s soul – and Batman’s body with it. The dead but not gone (he never will be) Ra’s al Ghul and his League of Shadows resurface, with a sinister tinge of Osama bin Laden. He has his eye on Wayne’s cold-fusion apparatus, which could give Gotham clean energy for ever, but which has never been activated – lest some villain convert it into a Doomsday machine. Doomsday is precisely what Bane wants.
Batman dies saving Gotham – or does he? Perhaps, like Hannibal and Clarice, he retires, more happily than first time round, to live an incognito life in Italy with Selina – political differences forgotten. Mother of God, can this be the end of Batman? As far as Nolan is concerned, it may well be.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 15, 2012
This seems to be the year I turn to movie novelizations for reading material, as Greg Cox's adaptation of The Dark Knight Rises marks the third novel of this ilk that I've read this year. The best novelizations in my view deliver the action of the film in printed form, while taking any opportunities to expand the storyline or deepen characterizations in a meaningful way. As such, this book falls somewhere in between -- better than most, but not as good as it could've been.
The Dark Knight Rises picks up eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Inspired by Harvey Dent's alleged heroism, the Dent Act gave Gotham's police force the teeth they needed to clean up their city -- and for all intents and purposes, Gotham is a city reformed. But Police Commissioner Gordon and billionaire Bruce Wayne, the erstwhile Batman, bought that peace with a lie -- and a world built on lies cannot help but one day crumble. On one front, there are rumors of an army assembling beneath the city, led by the notorious mercenary bane -- and on another, more personal front, the reclusive Bruce has so withdrawn from life that he's left his resources and power vulnerable to assault. Gotham needs her Dark Knight -- but having been absent for so long, can Wayne survive another war with unspeakable evil without losing his humanity?
Cox has the richest material possible to work with, as in my opinion director Christopher Nolan and his co-writers are masterful storytellers. In several interviews Nolan references Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities as inspiration for the final Batman film, and that classic tale's influence is all over this film, particularly the final third, lending a timeless quality to the chilling scenes of the show trials and Bane's efforts to get the Gotham populace to tear down its wealthy, and the scenes of the resistance led by Gordon and Blake. The source material is extremely solid and dense, so the novelization has an excellent foundation from which to draw its material. Cox does a solid job of translating the film's rich storyline to the page (the paperback version is listed at 415 pages!). But that unfortunately doesn't leave much room for expanding on the storyline.
Selina Kyle perhaps fares best -- Cox gives readers a few additional nuggets of insight into her backstory and character, and fleshes out her relationship with her protege Jen. There are also some additional flashbacks that flesh out Miranda and Bane's backstory. But what I was hoping for, such as more development of the Selina/Bruce relationship, more insight into Blake's psyche, etc., is where this novelization falls short. However, that stands as a testament to the strength and density of the film's visual storytelling. Cox is a better than expected writer, so prose-wise this adaptation is a cut above others I've read. It's a fairly straightforward, no frills, written version of the film -- I just wish there'd been more insight into the characters' backstories and off-screen actions than this rather lengthy, risk-free adaptation delivered.
The Dark Knight Rises picks up eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Inspired by Harvey Dent's alleged heroism, the Dent Act gave Gotham's police force the teeth they needed to clean up their city -- and for all intents and purposes, Gotham is a city reformed. But Police Commissioner Gordon and billionaire Bruce Wayne, the erstwhile Batman, bought that peace with a lie -- and a world built on lies cannot help but one day crumble. On one front, there are rumors of an army assembling beneath the city, led by the notorious mercenary bane -- and on another, more personal front, the reclusive Bruce has so withdrawn from life that he's left his resources and power vulnerable to assault. Gotham needs her Dark Knight -- but having been absent for so long, can Wayne survive another war with unspeakable evil without losing his humanity?
Cox has the richest material possible to work with, as in my opinion director Christopher Nolan and his co-writers are masterful storytellers. In several interviews Nolan references Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities as inspiration for the final Batman film, and that classic tale's influence is all over this film, particularly the final third, lending a timeless quality to the chilling scenes of the show trials and Bane's efforts to get the Gotham populace to tear down its wealthy, and the scenes of the resistance led by Gordon and Blake. The source material is extremely solid and dense, so the novelization has an excellent foundation from which to draw its material. Cox does a solid job of translating the film's rich storyline to the page (the paperback version is listed at 415 pages!). But that unfortunately doesn't leave much room for expanding on the storyline.
Selina Kyle perhaps fares best -- Cox gives readers a few additional nuggets of insight into her backstory and character, and fleshes out her relationship with her protege Jen. There are also some additional flashbacks that flesh out Miranda and Bane's backstory. But what I was hoping for, such as more development of the Selina/Bruce relationship, more insight into Blake's psyche, etc., is where this novelization falls short. However, that stands as a testament to the strength and density of the film's visual storytelling. Cox is a better than expected writer, so prose-wise this adaptation is a cut above others I've read. It's a fairly straightforward, no frills, written version of the film -- I just wish there'd been more insight into the characters' backstories and off-screen actions than this rather lengthy, risk-free adaptation delivered.
March 6, 2020
The fusion reactor set to explode, Bane outpacing Batman on every test, Gotham is at its final lap of destruction in The Dark Knight Rises: The Official Novelization from DC Comics and Greg Cox.
After the events of the league of shadows and the joker, a new threat has come to Gotham city and challenges Batman. Bane, the hulking mercenary is the outcome of intense suffering and pain. He believes there is only one way for Gotham to be purified, by destroying everything.
This novel has had the greatest characters and conflicts that I’ve read. The style of the story combines physical conflicts with mentally conflicts between specific characters. Mainly Bruce Wayne, the highly known billionaire is not fully described as the legendary Batman throughout the book, but an old man past the days of fighting crime and finding a way to live the life he has always wanted to live. The author carefully writes that continuously in the book and, as well, retells the entire story in a new massively descriptive way compared to the movie.
Most readers that love crime and a lot of action would want to enjoy this book. It is much like any war/fighting style book because of Batman’s strength and superhero schedule. This is not for anyone uninterested in the DC storyline and unsure of what has been going on in the last two books. After reading The Dark Knight Rises it will always be an amazing read of fast-paced action and heroism.
After the events of the league of shadows and the joker, a new threat has come to Gotham city and challenges Batman. Bane, the hulking mercenary is the outcome of intense suffering and pain. He believes there is only one way for Gotham to be purified, by destroying everything.
This novel has had the greatest characters and conflicts that I’ve read. The style of the story combines physical conflicts with mentally conflicts between specific characters. Mainly Bruce Wayne, the highly known billionaire is not fully described as the legendary Batman throughout the book, but an old man past the days of fighting crime and finding a way to live the life he has always wanted to live. The author carefully writes that continuously in the book and, as well, retells the entire story in a new massively descriptive way compared to the movie.
Most readers that love crime and a lot of action would want to enjoy this book. It is much like any war/fighting style book because of Batman’s strength and superhero schedule. This is not for anyone uninterested in the DC storyline and unsure of what has been going on in the last two books. After reading The Dark Knight Rises it will always be an amazing read of fast-paced action and heroism.
July 25, 2012
A tightly-written, faithful adaptation that retains the grand/blockbuster pace of the film well. Those looking for 'deleted scenes' will be disappointed. The only real additions are Cox's takes on the characters' thoughts between their spoken lines, although it appears that most people's inner monologues are staggeringly dull and literal ("Whoa...did he just say what I think he said?" is one such groaner from the opening chapter). Ultimately, this delivers exactly what it promises: a good read for those looking to revisit the film.
Read
June 19, 2013There's a couple of great tidbits of information that were not in the movie. A few scenes are written differently than they were filmed. It's a perfectly reasonable use of $6.
August 28, 2023
The Dark Knight Rises ✈️🦇🐈⬛🌃💪💣 is a novelisation 📖 by Greg Cox of the screenplay to the 2012 film 🎥 of the same name by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, based on a story by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, in turn based on characters from DC Comics, including Batman 🦇, who was created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
Like the novelisations of the previous films in The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises takes the reader further into the universe 💫 of Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Batman 🦇. Like the film, it gives the reader a great insight into Gotham City 🌃 and its good, bad and morally dubious citizens 👥, perhaps more so than ever before. However, unlike the film, it definitely comes down on the side that Selina Kyle is Catwoman 🐈⬛ and is also more violent 👊 (particularly in Bane’s actions).
Whilst the film sought to be visually bigger than the previous films, in the novelisation 📖, Greg Cox is determined to maintain the continuity with Batman Begins 🦇 and The Dark Knight 🃏. For instance, the former CEO of Wayne Enterprises, William Earle gets a mention, we get a brief visit to Bruce Wayne’s lavish penthouse from The Dark Knight, and both The Joker’s actions 🃏 and what might have happened to him are directly addressed (even though he doesn’t make an appearance).
The novelisation 📖 also gives us some insight into scenes that were either different in the film or which were removed altogether. One, in particular, implies how unsettlingly determined Batman is to protect those around him… 😳
It keeps pace with the film, building the suspense 😬 and the emotion 😢 in concluding an epic story even though, naturally, it carries many of the plot holes 🕳️ and deus ex machina ⚡️ from the film, despite trying to explain some of them.
There are a few spelling and grammatical errors here and there (I can imagine that Cox was under a strict deadline given that this was one of the ‘event films’ of 2012) but, overall, if you loved the film 🎥 or you love Batman 🦇 generally, this is undoubtedly a must read!
Like the novelisations of the previous films in The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises takes the reader further into the universe 💫 of Christopher Nolan’s interpretation of Batman 🦇. Like the film, it gives the reader a great insight into Gotham City 🌃 and its good, bad and morally dubious citizens 👥, perhaps more so than ever before. However, unlike the film, it definitely comes down on the side that Selina Kyle is Catwoman 🐈⬛ and is also more violent 👊 (particularly in Bane’s actions).
Whilst the film sought to be visually bigger than the previous films, in the novelisation 📖, Greg Cox is determined to maintain the continuity with Batman Begins 🦇 and The Dark Knight 🃏. For instance, the former CEO of Wayne Enterprises, William Earle gets a mention, we get a brief visit to Bruce Wayne’s lavish penthouse from The Dark Knight, and both The Joker’s actions 🃏 and what might have happened to him are directly addressed (even though he doesn’t make an appearance).
The novelisation 📖 also gives us some insight into scenes that were either different in the film or which were removed altogether. One, in particular, implies how unsettlingly determined Batman is to protect those around him… 😳
It keeps pace with the film, building the suspense 😬 and the emotion 😢 in concluding an epic story even though, naturally, it carries many of the plot holes 🕳️ and deus ex machina ⚡️ from the film, despite trying to explain some of them.
There are a few spelling and grammatical errors here and there (I can imagine that Cox was under a strict deadline given that this was one of the ‘event films’ of 2012) but, overall, if you loved the film 🎥 or you love Batman 🦇 generally, this is undoubtedly a must read!
October 20, 2020
This review is in regard to the novelization and not the movie itself, of course.
First off, this book was FAR better than I expected. The dialogue, scenes, and pacing all followed the film with extreme accuracy, which made reading a breezy, enjoyable experience. I could read through the entire book with the luxury of the film playing in my head, but still able to add my own imagination to enhance what I was picturing, mostly due the crisp, clear writing by author Greg Cox. Usually movie novelizations feel somewhat mediocre and rushed, like how I felt the novelization of “The Dark Knight” turned out, with its many chapters of “catch up” material and changed dialogue. But this novelization was definitely given the proper time and devotion and is a true script-to-novel adaptation.
There ARE only a few typos here and there, but with how well the writing and sentence structure is, I found myself too immersed in the story to care.
You also get to find out what happened to the Joker.
If movie novelizations are your thing, and you like Batman, give this one a try, for sure.
First off, this book was FAR better than I expected. The dialogue, scenes, and pacing all followed the film with extreme accuracy, which made reading a breezy, enjoyable experience. I could read through the entire book with the luxury of the film playing in my head, but still able to add my own imagination to enhance what I was picturing, mostly due the crisp, clear writing by author Greg Cox. Usually movie novelizations feel somewhat mediocre and rushed, like how I felt the novelization of “The Dark Knight” turned out, with its many chapters of “catch up” material and changed dialogue. But this novelization was definitely given the proper time and devotion and is a true script-to-novel adaptation.
There ARE only a few typos here and there, but with how well the writing and sentence structure is, I found myself too immersed in the story to care.
You also get to find out what happened to the Joker.
If movie novelizations are your thing, and you like Batman, give this one a try, for sure.
August 2, 2012
Original Post: http://thefoundingfields.com/2012/08/....
“An epic story, some amazing set-pieces and moves at a spectacularly fast pace, the novel may not be as good as the film but it’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked.” ~The Founding Fields
The novelization of The Dark Knight Rises is the first movie tie-in that I brought since the novelization for the third Pirates of the Caribbean Movie, and to be honest, I don’t even know why I brought that. I didn’t even like the film, and the version that I picked up didn’t have the name of the author on the front cover or on the side (always a negative sign), and it stopped just before the final battle, and that annoyed me for several reasons. It was like the author had run out of word count, time, and couldn’t be arsed to write the final conclusion, which sucked. I hadn’t picked up a movie novelization since then.
However, when Christopher Nolan’s new Batman film came along, and after sitting through what was almost three hours of awesome, I decided that I’d give a movie novelization of what has recently become my favourite film (despite a couple of flaws) a try. And, was I disappointed? Well, not really. It wasn’t as bad as the At World’s End novelization, for starters, which is a good thing. In fact, it was nowhere near as bad as that. But it wasn’t as good as the movie it was adapting, neither.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman return in the thrilling and hotly anticipated conclusion to Christopher Nolan’sDark Knight Trilogy.
The blockbuster movie will introduce new faces to the franchise as well, including Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy), John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard).
From the team that brought you Inception, The Dark Knight Rises is guaranteed to be the blockbuster hit of 2012. This enthralling official novelization will transport fans into a Gotham City once again under threat.
So, The Dark Knight Rises Novelization. Although it may be not as good as the film (which I loved), there are several reasons why, if you’re a Christopher Nolan fan and have enjoyed the Trilogy on the big screen, you should give this novel a go. Although nothing new from the movie is added apart from a hint at the Joker’s fate, the characters, Batman, Selina, Bane and John Blake are all well visualized and as memorable as their film counterparts. The novel itself is also very fast paced, and I read it over the course of a couple of days. Sticking true to the movie, you won’t see stuff happening in different ways and you won’t see Cox taking any major diversions from the main plotline, which is what you’re looking for really in a Novelization.
The story is compelling, the action is well-written and despite the fact that having read the novelization, I am now picking up a few flaws in the novel that I also caught in the movie, and unfortunately I can’t go into the plot flaws in this review due to waging into spoiler territory. However, you still get that sense of epicness that you got whilst watching The Dark Knight Rises, for those that have already seen it (for those that haven’t yet, go and see it. Now.), and this will help you breeze through the novelization. It’s a page-turner, that is assured, and although I don’t think Bane can match The Joker as a villain, Cox has done a brilliant job of adapting the characters onto the page, and allows us to get a third-person perspective from several major characters, and although Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle dominate most of the page-time, you also get a lot of activity from characters such as Commissioner Gordon, still keeping the secret of the true outcome of the fate of Harvey Dent, John Blake, the young, rookie cop, and Bane, the dominant leader behind the terrorist threat to Gotham.
Although Batman as a character doesn’t feature a lot in this, The Dark Knight Rises Novelization spends, like the film, more time focusing on Bruce Wayne and his comrades. This didn’t really disappoint me as I enjoyed the novelization and the film anyway, although I can see for some people it could potentially be an issue.
The novelization kicks off with a spectacular aerial heist, where we learn straight off the bat (no pun intended), what Bane is capable of and the threat that he poses to Gotham. The aerial heist sets the tone for the novelization – big, gritty, bombastic and enthralling. I enjoyed watching Christopher Nolan’s film more than I did Joss Whedon’s Avengers Assemble, mainly due to the darker tone portrayed in the film, which Cox captures brilliantly for this novel. The writing can feel at some times simplistic, but I didn’t struggle with it too much. For those who found Bane’s voice difficult to understand (and I admit, there were parts that I couldn’t quite catch), you can check what parts you missed in this novelization, making sure that you don’t miss anything that comes out of the main villain’s voice.
Having read Knightfall Vol 1. prior to this, I can see where the ideas for The Dark Knight Rises come from, and I’ve been informed that Greg Rucka’s No Man’s Land is also a tale that has been used to inspire events in the film, and something that I will have to check out as soon as I can. I’m a newcomer to the Batman graphic novel world, but it’s a world that I want to find out more about. Greg Cox’s novelization, although – of course, is not going to be as good as the film (as when have you seen a novelization that is?) but it can certainly hold its weight as a standalone novel. I’d recommend it, and I think you should be able to read it without prior knowledge of the film, as long as you’ve seen the first two movies (or seen the first, and know the fate of Harvey Dent).
Verdict: 3.5/5
“An epic story, some amazing set-pieces and moves at a spectacularly fast pace, the novel may not be as good as the film but it’s something that shouldn’t be overlooked.” ~The Founding Fields
The novelization of The Dark Knight Rises is the first movie tie-in that I brought since the novelization for the third Pirates of the Caribbean Movie, and to be honest, I don’t even know why I brought that. I didn’t even like the film, and the version that I picked up didn’t have the name of the author on the front cover or on the side (always a negative sign), and it stopped just before the final battle, and that annoyed me for several reasons. It was like the author had run out of word count, time, and couldn’t be arsed to write the final conclusion, which sucked. I hadn’t picked up a movie novelization since then.
However, when Christopher Nolan’s new Batman film came along, and after sitting through what was almost three hours of awesome, I decided that I’d give a movie novelization of what has recently become my favourite film (despite a couple of flaws) a try. And, was I disappointed? Well, not really. It wasn’t as bad as the At World’s End novelization, for starters, which is a good thing. In fact, it was nowhere near as bad as that. But it wasn’t as good as the movie it was adapting, neither.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman return in the thrilling and hotly anticipated conclusion to Christopher Nolan’sDark Knight Trilogy.
The blockbuster movie will introduce new faces to the franchise as well, including Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway), Bane (Tom Hardy), John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard).
From the team that brought you Inception, The Dark Knight Rises is guaranteed to be the blockbuster hit of 2012. This enthralling official novelization will transport fans into a Gotham City once again under threat.
So, The Dark Knight Rises Novelization. Although it may be not as good as the film (which I loved), there are several reasons why, if you’re a Christopher Nolan fan and have enjoyed the Trilogy on the big screen, you should give this novel a go. Although nothing new from the movie is added apart from a hint at the Joker’s fate, the characters, Batman, Selina, Bane and John Blake are all well visualized and as memorable as their film counterparts. The novel itself is also very fast paced, and I read it over the course of a couple of days. Sticking true to the movie, you won’t see stuff happening in different ways and you won’t see Cox taking any major diversions from the main plotline, which is what you’re looking for really in a Novelization.
The story is compelling, the action is well-written and despite the fact that having read the novelization, I am now picking up a few flaws in the novel that I also caught in the movie, and unfortunately I can’t go into the plot flaws in this review due to waging into spoiler territory. However, you still get that sense of epicness that you got whilst watching The Dark Knight Rises, for those that have already seen it (for those that haven’t yet, go and see it. Now.), and this will help you breeze through the novelization. It’s a page-turner, that is assured, and although I don’t think Bane can match The Joker as a villain, Cox has done a brilliant job of adapting the characters onto the page, and allows us to get a third-person perspective from several major characters, and although Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle dominate most of the page-time, you also get a lot of activity from characters such as Commissioner Gordon, still keeping the secret of the true outcome of the fate of Harvey Dent, John Blake, the young, rookie cop, and Bane, the dominant leader behind the terrorist threat to Gotham.
Although Batman as a character doesn’t feature a lot in this, The Dark Knight Rises Novelization spends, like the film, more time focusing on Bruce Wayne and his comrades. This didn’t really disappoint me as I enjoyed the novelization and the film anyway, although I can see for some people it could potentially be an issue.
The novelization kicks off with a spectacular aerial heist, where we learn straight off the bat (no pun intended), what Bane is capable of and the threat that he poses to Gotham. The aerial heist sets the tone for the novelization – big, gritty, bombastic and enthralling. I enjoyed watching Christopher Nolan’s film more than I did Joss Whedon’s Avengers Assemble, mainly due to the darker tone portrayed in the film, which Cox captures brilliantly for this novel. The writing can feel at some times simplistic, but I didn’t struggle with it too much. For those who found Bane’s voice difficult to understand (and I admit, there were parts that I couldn’t quite catch), you can check what parts you missed in this novelization, making sure that you don’t miss anything that comes out of the main villain’s voice.
Having read Knightfall Vol 1. prior to this, I can see where the ideas for The Dark Knight Rises come from, and I’ve been informed that Greg Rucka’s No Man’s Land is also a tale that has been used to inspire events in the film, and something that I will have to check out as soon as I can. I’m a newcomer to the Batman graphic novel world, but it’s a world that I want to find out more about. Greg Cox’s novelization, although – of course, is not going to be as good as the film (as when have you seen a novelization that is?) but it can certainly hold its weight as a standalone novel. I’d recommend it, and I think you should be able to read it without prior knowledge of the film, as long as you’ve seen the first two movies (or seen the first, and know the fate of Harvey Dent).
Verdict: 3.5/5
Read
March 18, 202448. Batman: The Dark Knight Rises, by Greg Cox. A novelisation based upon a screenplay by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, based on the third installment in a reimagined movie trilogy created and directed by the latter. Having already dipped a toe in screen adaptations with 'Alien' during the 'A' list, it was a little surprising to find this here, but it's as fun and fast a page-turner as you might expect. What doesn't quite come across its the film's darker vibe. 7/10 #SutherlandChallenge #Books
March 31, 2018
A brilliant novelisation.
I enjoyed this novelisation of The Dark Knight Rises, and it is fare to say that I liked it more than I liked the film, which I also enjoyed very much.
This book is very well written, and tells the story of the film in superb detail. The characters were very wellwritten and enjoyable, as was the plot and the prose. I'll defntely read this book again in the future.
A lot of fun to read, and a very good book.
I enjoyed this novelisation of The Dark Knight Rises, and it is fare to say that I liked it more than I liked the film, which I also enjoyed very much.
This book is very well written, and tells the story of the film in superb detail. The characters were very wellwritten and enjoyable, as was the plot and the prose. I'll defntely read this book again in the future.
A lot of fun to read, and a very good book.
September 10, 2020
Obviously it's based on the 3rd and final movie in the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy but as all novels, even if it's a movie 1st then a novel, has differences. This novel explains what Bane decided to do with The Joker as he released all the prisoners even the ones in Arkam Asylum. Great novel and great movie.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 19, 2022
Great novelization of the movie. Described things in a straightforward manner, oftentimes wished there was bit more atmospheric detail but overall did a pretty good job. Helped clarify some parts of the movie as well as pointed out some things I had missed. A great quick read for fans of the movie or Batman in general.
October 28, 2017
all superhero fans gather around and give a bow to Nolan.What a movie and what a book.The climax gave me goosebumps all over again.First rate stuff for guys who are ardent fans of comics.An exhilarating read.
March 1, 2024
Really wish this author had penned all three Dark Knight Trilogy novelizations, because this was absolutely fantastic. What the other two lacked in building suspense and immersing the reader in the story, this one more than made up for in both departments.
February 12, 2025
"Bats were more than symbols of fear. In Gotham, they had come to stand for hope and justice and a legend that was bigger than just one man. A hero who could be anyone."
Nolan, you're the goat.
adapted film:
the dark knight rises (2012) dir. Christopher Nolan.
Nolan, you're the goat.
adapted film:
the dark knight rises (2012) dir. Christopher Nolan.
October 5, 2018
Flawless
I love movie novels and Greg Cox gets it right down to every detail, but without it seeming contrived. He did Man of Steel as well and seems to have a lot of talent!
I love movie novels and Greg Cox gets it right down to every detail, but without it seeming contrived. He did Man of Steel as well and seems to have a lot of talent!
July 5, 2020
447 - 2020
Displaying 1 - 30 of 98 reviews