So, on Friday the Dark Knight Rises was released. The final film in a trilogy from Christopher Nolan re-imagining the origins of Batman and his rise to the hero of Gotham City, with all the troubles along the way. Batman Begins was a good film, enjoyable. The Dark Knight was amazing, with extra emphasis as a result of the death of Heath Ledger (who portrayed the Joker) shortly before the film was released. I went to see The Dark Knight Rises on Saturday morning, and I have no qualms in saying it is easily as amazing as The Dark Knight if not better. I'll do my best to stay away from any spoilers in the film over the course of this review, but will refer to stuff that happened in the previous films (don't hate me, they've been out for years, you've had PLENTY of time to watch em).
Okay, so for those unaware, a little background on the film. It's set 8 years after The Dark Knight, and following on from the end of that, Harvey Dent's descent into being Two-Face has still been hidden and he is still regarded as a hero. Batman is still regarded as a villian by most of Gotham and Bruce Wayne still mourns the death of Rachel Dawes. He soon encounters talented Cat burglar Selina Kyle and is instantly intrigued by her. Meanwhile, Gotham begins to be terrorized by a new threat in the form of a mysterious masked man known as Bane, who seems to pose a big threat to Gotham, and one that Bruce Wayne as Batman will have to face.
The film is great. It kinda seems to take awhile to get into the heart of the action, but it's good actually as it subtlely builds up plot and character points that become important later on in the story and slowly builds up the threat of Bane and leaves you wondering about the overall plan and scheme. I did feel that there wasn't as much Batman action in this film as in the previous films, but this didn't feel like a major negative thing and there was plenty of action and drama in the film already.
Bane as a villian was great. I know people who watched the leaked prologue and trailers etc. complained that they found it difficult to understand Bane, but in the finished film I wouldn't say that this was a problem at all, the filmmakers obviously tweaked the audio to make sure Tom Hardy would be understand through the mask. Bane was a good, intimidating villian with a clear master plan. Bane is known in the comic books for testing Batman physically and mentally, for being a great strategist and that does come across in the film. It was a very nice change from the Bane from Batman & Robin where he was a mindless goon anyway.
John Blake, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, was a nice addition to the cast as a Gotham Cop, being a main investigator and assistant-hero whilst Gary Oldman's Gordon settled into his commisionner role. He was very multi-faceted and a good hero character with some interesting twists later on in the film.
Anne Hathaway's Selina Kyle/Catwoman was fiesty and seductive and interesting, and found the suitable Catwoman balance between hero and villian that she sways between in the comics.
Overall, the film was really good. It had great music (once again) and the cast was superb with well-rounded characters, both the veterans of the series like Alfred and Gordon, who have clearly continued to develop and have changed between this film and the previous one, and new additions to the series like Blake and Catwoman. There are a multitude of twists and turns and gripping moments that kept me hooked throughout the film, although if you've heard some of the rumours about certain characters one or two of the twists might not be so surprising. The ending of the film was a satisfying conclusion to the series as a whole, wrapping up this trilogy as well giving a suggestion of hope for what will happen for Gotham next, even if there are no more films.
Overall, an excellent film. Go see it!
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