Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

All good things must come to an end, as Nolan's Batman Trilogy draws to its conclusion!

 Before I start talking about my impressions and opinions on the film I would like to express that my thoughts are with the Victims and their families who were involved in the tragic events that took place this opening weekend in Colorado.

It's safe to say that upon hearing about the release of this film I was rather skeptical. Of course why wouldn't I be? When it comes to the 3rd film in a comic book adaptation saga, it always seems to be the 3rd part that falters in quality or just utterly disappoints (I'm looking at you Spider-man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand). However perhaps the main reason I was skeptical about this film was because of the hard act it had to follow up,  that being its 2008 predecessor, The Dark Knight. Upon seeing this movie however my doubts and concerns were put far behind me, as this movie blew away all my expectations.

Those who are going in to this movie expecting an action packed super-hero romp may be disappointed with the slow, dialogue heavy, character driven style the film takes.Whilst the film presents some brilliant action sequences, which all have higher stakes than any other action sequence in the trilogy, the amount of action sequences presented in rises most certainly dwindles in comparison to the Dark Knight. However this really works in the films favour, as it decides to take substance over style, in comparison to other recent Superhero  films which particularly choose style over substance.

The Films Substance comes in its perfectly crafted plot, brilliant character development and excellent pacing. The film never fails to retain your fullest attention throughout its 164 minute run-time. The story follows on 8 years after the events of the Dark Knight, and shows how Harvey Dent's Death has affected Gotham and in particular the life of Bruce Wayne (who's alter ego is now wanted for Dent's Death). It's not until Bane and Catwoman come on the scene that Bruce feels he needs to put on the Bat-suit attire one more time. I really don't want to say much about the story at all cause I feel i would be doing the film an injustice if i said too much about it, all i will tell you is that it ties-in all 3 films very cleverly, not only is the story gripping, the conclusion that the story draws to is frankly completely unexpected and possibly one of the best endings I have seen to a film in a long time, I have no doubt that viewers will be more than satisfied with the way that Nolan has Concluded the Trilogy.

The Casting in the Movie is nothing short of top-notch. Christian Bale reprises his role as Batman, who does an excellent job of further developing Bruce Wayne's character, in particular his relationship with his butler and closest friend Alfred who is again played by Michael Caine. Other returning actors include Gary Oldman reprising his role of commissioner Gordan and Morgan Freeman returning as Lucius Fox. Newcomers to the fray are of course this films villain Bane played by Tom Hardy, who is given some excellent dialogue, whilst some viewers may find some of the dialogue is 'lost in translation' due to the vocal effects placed on his voice, it really didn't take me long to get to grips with what he was saying.

Perhaps the 2 roles that surprised me the most were Anne Hathaway who plays Catwoman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Blake. In my opinion they definitely stole the show, Hathaway being able to give a sassy performance and some comic relief for some of the Cat's more tongue and cheek sequences and giving a more sombre performance in some of the more serious scenes. Definitely a contender for being the best portrayal of Catwoman on the big screen. Levitt's character is also interesting, he plays a cool-headed cop, and is perhaps the most dedicated to saving Gotham, he also plays a massive role in the story and is really involved in the plot. 

In a film that's full of very well developed characters and excellent acting of those characters its strange to say that one of its major flaws is a particular character. Miranda played by Marion Cotillard is frankly, dull and lacks any personality, making for a very dull character, her performance of the character is not particularly bad, but out of all the performances within the film, its sadly the least memorable.

Overall the final part of Nolan's trilogy is utterly satisfying, and had me glued to the seat, its emotional, its tense, its got great action sequences, its brimming with character, and in my personal opinion its the best film of the trilogy. The only real issue the film presents is what direction will Warner take Batman in its subsequent Reboot, as this trilogy will be a tough act to beat!

I Give The Dark Knight Rises a 10/10