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Eight years after Batman takes the fall for Harvey Dent, a new breed of evil hits town, who is known simply as Bane. Batman is forced to come out of the darkness to once again save Gotham as it is being ripped apart from the inside. As Bane terrorizes and destroys the beloved Gotham City with his ruthless gang of mercenaries, Bruce Wayne/Batman must push himself to his limits in order to rescue the people of Gotham City.
Christopher Nolan has given the conclusion that Batman fans all over the world were hoping to see. It was grand spectacle of striking images, from the burning and rebellion within Gotham to the will and determination of the people to keep fighting for their cause, Nolan was crafted a film that is fitting to end this series. The longest film in the series to date, The Dark Knight rises concludes the Dark Knight Saga in a way that will leave fans of the other two films satisfied, even if this film was a little drawn out at times.
Within the film are all returning players from the previous films including Christian Bale as the Bat himself, Michael Caine as the loyal Alfred, Gary Oldman as the reliable Jim Gordon and Morgan Freeman as the always prepared Lucious Fox. Nolan has an incredible ability to utilize every member of his cast to perfection, always getting top notch performances from his main players. The newcomers included Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake and Tom Hardy as Bane.
It was Hathaway and Gordon-Levitt that were the particular stand-outs from the newcomers, as Hathaway played a slick and Chic Selina Kyle, bringing out the mystery we were all hoping for from her. Hathaway was sexy, sophisticated and elegant in her portrayal of Catwoman, a character who at the start of the film held no alliances with any character. Gordon-Levitt reminded us of the early day Jim Gordon, who was fierce and compassionate towards the people of Gotham. John Blake was the symbol of optimism through-out the film and Gordon-Levitt proved to be able to take on this character who often switched from a hard-ass to a soft-spoken understanding character depending on the scene at hand. Tom Hardy provided a physically menacing embodiment of Bane, but through-out the film it was the electronically altered voice that stopped him from being able to completely transform into the character the same way Heath Ledger did in the previous film. When you compare the two, Hardy did alter his voice slightly before it was distorted even further, but his mannerisms and the overall small subtle nuances of the character that Ledger brought to his version of the Joker were just not present. Where Heath Ledger completely transformed himself and took us away into the jumbled thought-process of The Joker, Tom Hardy just fell flat at being anything more than a physical force to be reckoned with. His dialogue was at times hard to comprehend and left me hoping Batman or others would Re-iterate what he had just spoken. At times there were flashes of brilliance from Hardy, where the altered voice didn’t affect the dialogue as much, and those were particular good scenes for Hardy to try and win over the audience. In the end, he does, but not for the same reasons villainous portrayals in the other two films have.
The Dark Knight Rises serves to be the most predictable of the series. We knew the back-story before the film, there were rumours circulating for months and even what was supposed to be considered the big plot twist seemed to have somehow been spoiled by the overall feel of the film. With a run-time of nearly three hours, and a first half that dragged on a slightly longer than it should have, it seems impossible to just let the predictably of the eagerly anticipated climax slide. This trilogy of Batman films will probably remain the best series of Batman films to ever be made, and The Dark Knight Rises is very much an entertaining film because it serves as the conclusion.
It brings the story of Bruce Wayne/Batman full circle, and those who have been on the ride of their lives with their favourite superhero will enjoy this flick for what exactly what it is, an homage to the great series of Graphic Novels the fans have been treated too over the years including the Knightfall and No Man’s Land. Nolan has done a perfect job of translating some of the greatest Batman works from the pages of the intricately written graphic novels to the big screen. His ability to keep the same well-structured characters and take out some of the things that are cheesy and unrealistic about the graphic novels and perfectly translate them into the modern day world while still maintaining the fact that it could be real is what makes him one of the best film makers of this generation.
The Dark Knight Rises because of how it represents the series is the movie of the summer. It is enjoyable, sophisticated and emotional to see a series of such magnitude end. Nolan was given a generation a trilogy worth celebrating for many years to come. The Dark Knight Rises, much like the two previous films is a top-notch big screen adventure, and will go down as one of the best films of 2012 when all is said and done. Here is too hoping that Man of Steel can be the next DC hit that offers them same satisfaction that The Dark Knight Saga has offered fans.
8/10
