The Dark Knight Rises

Directed by: Christopher Nolan


Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and Morgan Freeman


Plot: Eight years on after the dark knight, new terrorist Bane (Hardy) rises to create a new age of terror for Gotham city leaving the citizens wondering if batman will return and rise against this new enemy.


SPOILER ALERT - THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS AWESOME...........
AND MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS


This review may be difficult to write as although the film was good and will have a high rating, the way it will sound is I rate the film very low which I don't. I just want to start off with my opinions on the first two films. The first one I thought was OK but nothing special, the acclaimed dark knight I thought was good - but didn't deserve the reputation it got saying how amazing it was. I found it slow and overrated. Like I said, it was good but not great. Although Heath Ledger was amazing. Now we come to this one. Some people are already saying the trilogy could be one of the greatest of all time, and that this film is one of the best films ever. I disagree, I thought it was good, very good, but again it doesn't deserve the hype it has already got.


Lets start with the good points before I say what I didn't like about it. And I don't want to appear that i'm completely against this film as I'm not at all, it was very good. Lets start off with the performances from the actors. Overall, the cast was great, and has always been great. Solid performances from the veterans of the trilogy such as Bale and Caine. However, the two main newbies stole it for me, one more than the other. But first Anne Hathaway or should I say Cat woman, besides looking like she was from most guys fantasies which she probably is she looked amazing and gave a good performance. She suited the persona of Cat woman more than other's who have tried the role. She looked in control but added very good emotional depth and story to her back ground. 


Now, if you've seen the film or not you will probably know who stole the show and that is the monster that is Tom Hardy. And I don't mean Bane is the monster!  Tom Hardy does actually look like a walking tank which anyone who have seen Bronson and the Warrior will know he is. As Bane I can say he gave my favorite performance out of any villain. And considering he is up there with ARNIE as Freeze it is hard. Seriously, considering he is up there with the performances of both Jokers from Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson then you know how good he was. What did it for me?  The eyes!  You could hear when he spoke but since you couldn't see him talk you can tell how he felt just by his expressions and considering he didn't show much face that is very impressive. Batman has always given us great performances but I honestly think that Hardy is up there for Bane. Just plain outstanding.


One thing I loved, that it wasn't in 3D and still looked real and amazing. It just looked realistic and you couldn't tell that some of it was CGI like you can in others. It sounded amazing especially the soundtrack. Usually this isn't a subject many people discuss but in this the continuous use of the "prisoners chant" is amazing.  I Liked how they kept playing it and it just built and built up the tension. Very good choice of, music and when it was revealed that the chant meant rise - it tied the whole theme together with the rise of many characters as nearly every character in the film, good or bad, had to rise up for what they believed in which was a brilliant concept.


Another thing I want to praise is that Batman has always amazed me how it can be so dark but suitable for kids at the same time. In this case the darkest parts of the film involved Bane and the neck snapping he did, although it sounds dark the view always jilted away or didn't show you everything so kids would get the idea but not be horrified. I also want to praise how they didn't use any blood, I think in some movies it looks cheesy and tacky. In this film if people were shot it would just show them on the floor so you knew they were killed and it didn't need the blood making it more child friendly which was an excellent choice. The balance it had of darkness but still suitable for kids is a skill it has always had in this latest trilogy that has always surpassed marvel which has always been to child friendly in my opinion and has never mastered both.


A lot of the scenes in this film were brilliant, such as the battle between Bane and Batman surrounded by convicts and cops. But my favorite scene was so eerie and was just brilliant. It involved a choir boy singing the American national anthem, and that's all you could here bar talking. No music just silence. This eerie silence as the voice echoed around the cinema showing Bane taking over and realisation of what he is doing. Then the action just exploded, you could feel everything building up while the national anthem was going on. Was just a jaw dropping scene in my opinion.


Now, there were some things I didn't like about this film. The first which is similar to the Dark Knight is that it was slow in parts. I don't mind a build up, but in a film that long it needs to maintain attention and I just thought it had too many slow parts. The next few things that annoyed me are only minor and just my opinions. I didn't like the cameo of Scarecrow. He had no place in the film what so ever and could have been used to develop or show how the city had changed like the mayor or a police officer to show the change and influence Bane had not a character that Nolan keeps making a cameo. And the other thing that annoyed me is that I felt they kept purposely trying to make and force one liners down our throats in the hopes of creating another "why so serious".  I don't mind people obsessing over a quote and making it memorable like so many great films have them such as "Run Forrest Run" and "you had me at hello". But I hated how every line seemed that they were trying to force another movie one liner  out when it wasn't needed.


My final complaint is with the predictability of it, even with the "twist". For this bit i'm going to approach it as from my own point of view since I know the batman universe and an average Joe who wouldn't have seen it coming.  For myself, everything was predictable, I knew that Bane wouldn't be the master villain and the new love of Mr.Wayne, Miranda would be a bad guy, or bad girl. And since I knew that Ra's Al Ghul had a daughter when it showed the child I figured it would be her now known as Talia Al Ghul, and not Bane. Also I sussed out even before the film that they would end the film on the hint of Robin and - SHOCK they did.  So anyone who knew batman even not that well like myself won't be surprised by anything in the film. However, for the average Joe although it was still obvious about Miranda being a villain and that Bane wouldn't be the master of the plan, I think people would have been surprised about the reveal that the child was Miranda not Bane. But the Robin thing was still obvious.


Overall the film was very good and does deserve a lot of the credit it is getting especially for Hardy as Bane. I was impressed but I just don't think it as phenomenal as people are claiming it is and certainly isn't the greatest trilogy of all time. Does it deserve an Oscar nomination - yes, will it get one - yes, should it win - no.  It is a must see film but I just don't think it's as god like as it has been claimed to be.



The Good: Hardy, Hardy, Hardy
The Bad: Slow at parts
The Ugly: Predictable

Rating: 4*