Predicted Rating: Top 100 Movie
Directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception). Starring Christian Bale (American Psycho), Tom Hardy (Inception) and Anne Hathaway (Get Smart).
This movie kicks off 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight. Harvey Dent i.e. Two Face, is still the hero of the town, with only Commissioner Gordon and Bruce Wayne knowing of the true events of that fateful night. A law has been named after him that single handily forced all organised criminals in prison and essentially cleaning up the city of Gotham. The Commissioner is initially tempted to tell the town of the real events but backs down after he realise how the story of Harvey Dent opposed to Two Face, has such a positive influence on every citizen. Batman has not been seen since the last film left off. Bruce Wayne is feeling the effects from his days as the Batman being confined to his house and required to use a cane. Commissioner Gordon is investigating a crime in the sewers when he is attacked and almost killed by a new criminal, Bane. This forces Bruce Wayne to revisit his days as the Batman. Bane, also trained by Ra's al Ghul, is more than a match for Batman, and consequently holds the entire population of Gotham hostage.
I will tell you straight out that this will not be one of my good reviews for two reasons. The first is that my best ones are those where I can constantly criticise the film. I cannot do this with The Dark Knight Rises because it is absolutely fantastic! As I predicted, it has past Prometheus as the best movie so far this year, quite possibly since it's predecessor. This thoroughly deserves a spot on my top 100 movies list (which I will explain later in this review). The second reason is that usually I will write the review in my head whilst I am watching the movie. This time I was so encapsulated in watching it I completely forgot about my review. As a result I may forget some minute details I like to cover.
I have been waiting for this movie for years so I have was really setting my self up to be disappointed as I was a bit with The Avengers. Don't get me wrong Avengers was a fantastic movie, thoroughly deserving of a 4.5 star rating, but it wasn't quite the movie I expected prompting me to pick holes in it. From studying what characters will be in this movie (having my fingers crossed for the Riddler) to monitoring who is being cast (the battle between Rooney Mara, Emma Stone and Anne Hathaway for the role of Catwoman), have been following the progress of this movie since the last one ended. I can tell you this now, I was not let down at all. Yes it wasn't as good as the previous one but that is almost impossible. I will keep the promotion poster up on my wall for a long time.
Most of the talk after the movie finished was around the choice of Bane. Bane has never been the strongest enemy in the Batman repertoire despite the efforts of some writers. I feel that Bane was the right choice for this film script itself and also the entire series. This movie, and series, really plays on the aspects of fear, anger and the ageing Batman. To really accentuate these themes, the enemy for this film needed to be a physically imposing presence, something that Bane can easily provide. Other villains that could have been used include The Riddler, The Penguin and Dr Fries, however these don't provide the muscle mass required as well as being very cartoony, something that the Nolan brothers are steering well clear of after the last series of films. The other characters do provide a good supporting cast. Anne Hathaway is fantastic as Catwoman and Gary Oldman is good as always as Commissioner Gordon.
I can tell you what, the Nolan brothers can definitely write a good script. There are essentially no plot holes present that are often so prominent with recent movies. I also really enjoyed how the story went full circle, linking back to the last movie and in particular the first movie. I would love to tell you more about the story but I am worried that I will give too much away. All I can say is that the ending is fantastic and actually sets-up for more movies. Since the Nolan brothers won't be working on it, I better get cracking on writing the next film. Even though the script is almost perfect, the story I really wanted to see was compromised by the untimely death of Heath Ledger. I would have love to see the Joker return after being broken out of Arkham Asylum by Harley Quinn
Final Verdict: Go and see this movie before it is ruined for you. In the region of 50-60 on my top 100 list. I will explain this rating more in my overview but essentially this film is to good for just a 5 star rating and must be included in my Top 100 movies ever list
Next Week: I was thinking about watching Magic Mike something that has the potential to be hilarious but I think it is a chick flick involving Channing Tatum taking his shirt off periodically throughout the movie. In this case I might catch up on the Amazing Spiderman
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