Aside from the tragedy of last night's movie theatre shooting, The Dark Knight Rises ended up being a highly enjoyable conclusion to Christopher Nolan's trilogy of Batman films.
The film takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Gotham City is now relatively crime free and Bruce Wayne has retired the Batman persona and has become a recluse in his mansion.
Then Bane enters the picture.
He is a hulking brute of a mercenary and he aims to literally bring Gotham to rubble. This results in the return of Batman, who embarks on the fight of his life against his toughest adversary.
While both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were stand-alone stories so to speak, The Dark Knight Rises aims to bring the films together into a satisfying conclusion. Events from both films play a major role in this film and I quite like how everything tied together in the end (including the reemergence of some familiar faces – one of which was quite pleasantly unexpected).
There was probably going to be no way that Tom Hardy as Bane would have been able to top Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight. However, Bane turns out to be probably one of the most brutal, yet intelligent, villains in the series. While The Joker was all about creating anarchy, Bane was all about carefully controlled chaos. I have to say that I was also impressed with Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman. The character is much more of an anti-hero than a full-out villain and Hathaway gives her a very sassy persona. I also like how they find a practical way to give her a cat-like outfit (i.e. the “ears” are really goggles).
All of Christopher Nolan's Batman films were quite lengthy, however The Dark Knight Rises really tips the scales at 2h44m. However, despite this long length, I though that the film was quite well paced, with most of the film's extra running time going towards the epic climax. I also should stress that the film MUST be seen in IMAX to get the full and proper experience. About a full third of the film was shot with IMAX cameras and I can't really see any other way to get the full effect of the film, other than seeing it an the giant screens (beware digital “LIEmax” cinemas).
Overall, I thought that Christopher Nolan ended his trilogy in a very satisfying way. I have to admit that I started tearing up a bit towards the end of the film. This will definitely end up being one of my favourite films of the year.
10 | LOVED IT
