Why so series

Rating: 9/10 (15 November 2017)

Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, more than any other superhero flick, showed us what heights comicbook cinema can scale. Nolan's Batman flicks have been cerebral as well as entertaining. Obviously, the director's immediate concern this time was a two-fold test. First, he had to top what he had already done with The Dark Knight. Secondly - the tougher deal, considering Batman as a franchise has forever thrived on its villains there was the question of giving you a baddie who could live up to Heath Ledger's Joker.
Tom Hardy gets the difficult job of following up Joker, as Gotham City's latest bad man. His character, Bane, is a towering brute with a bald pate. A mask covers his nose and mouth which gives his voice a synthetic tone. With a sinister impact, Hardy does a good enough job as Bane.
The screenplay, co-written by brothers Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, sets off eight years after The Dark Knight. Batman, taking blame for the death of Harvey Dent in the last film, had gone into exile. For a while, the Anti-crime Dent Act ensured peace on Gotham's streets. The situation changes with the arrival of the sexy cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway). She is mysterious, and Bane's emergence hints at the fact that she could be the masked terrorist's sidekick.
Bane raids the stock market and sets off terror on the streets. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) must return in the caped crusader's garb before Gotham is destroyed. A few distinct traits set apart Batman from other superheroes. He has no super powers and basically depends on gadgets and brains to bust criminals. His world, as opposed to those of most other superheroes, thrives on a noir edge that makes Batman adventures exhilarating as well as exhausting to watch. His fight against evil is more than about reinstating the pulp morality diktat that a corrupt world needs honest heroes. It is a layered adventure trip that makes a few potent political comments by the way, even as the vigilante strives to battle self-doubt.
The Dark Knight Rises retains those essentials of the Batman lore. Nolan also borrows references from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight to ensure no loose ends are left as his trilogy ends with this sequel. This is no teenybopper superhero flick. But, apocalyptic as the tone is, the film is far from boring. Spectacular action propped by the right dose of drama keeps coming in, and a runtime of 164 minutes huge by Hollywood standards doesn't seem too long. You notice how this film unlike other biggies has avoided the 3D route.
Nolan has almost deliberately chosen to be old-school with his filmmaking. He proudly proclaims at the end of the final credits: "This motion picture was shot and produced on film". In this era of digitised glitz, that itself is no less a feat than what his superhero sets out to achieve on screen.