The Fire Has Risen

Rating: 9/10 (31 July 2012)

To sum it all up plane and simple, absolutely amazing, what a way for Christopher Nolan to end the greatest Batman series of all time. Filled with ruthless action, twists and turns, great special effects, tremendous acting, and one of the most intense climax's I've seen in a long time. I waited in line for 4 hours to see the midnight showing and it was definitely worth the wait.
8 years after Harvey Dent has been killed, Gotham is without Batman, as they all believe he was one the one responsible for the unfortunate events that led to Dent's demise. Bruce Wayne is now in terrible shape, his body is giving up on him and he is still heartbroken over Rachel's death. Gotham seems to have everything going for it until the pain driven Bane begins to terrorize the citizens of Gotham, Batman must rise and fight for himself and Gotham before everything crumbles and society is no more.
Once again we see Christian Bale as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucias Fox who still leave us all speechless with their performance's and continue to give us their A game. New to the cast we have Anne Hathaway as Catwomen, Joseph Gordom-Levitt as Blake, Marion Cotillard as Miranda and of course Tom Hardy as Bane. I have to say the cast is one of the main reasons why this movie is so good. The way Tom hardy can haunt you by just the look in his eyes and his evil and menacing voice. The determined young detective Blake portrayed by Joseph Gorden-Levitt leaves us all begging for more, Nolan truly picked the right person for the job. Marion Cotillard also gives a stellar performance. Anne Hathaway by far is the best Catwoman, the way she portrays the innocent girl who you would never think would do anything to hurt a fly but when she has what she wants turns into this devilish fighting machine who you wouldn't want to mess with. In my opinion best performance given by an entire cast.
The action sequences in the film are beyond amazing, filled with special effects leaving you saying "how was that possible". The fight scenes between Batman and Bane were so well done and so intense and so packed with unpredictability you'll never expect what happens next. The climax was so intense and so spectacular my jaw almost hit the floor in amazement.
Spoiler alert: The twists and turns are another big reason why this movie was so good, such as the cameo of Liam Neeson as Rhas Al Gul, and at first we are led to believe that Bane is his son but with the biggest twist of them all we find out that Miranda is actually Talia, his daughter. We find out that at the very end that Blakes real first name is Robin, which just seemed to bring a smile to everyones face.
Spoiler alert: With greatness must come some down sides, I was very disappointed with the cameo of Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow, he doesn't put the mask on or anything to make people go crazy with the fear toxin. The biggest downside to this movie was Bane's death, Catwoman flies in on the Batpod and blows him away and thats it there is no follow up which left me feeling stale but luckily the action that follows made up for it.
Regardless of the downside there is no way for this movie to be bad, with all the action, special effects, twist and turns, and wonderful actors. Director Christopher Nolan really out did himself with this and this really cements him as one of the greatest directors of all time. I'm sure we are all saddened that the greatest Batman Series of all time has come to an end and now we have to see another crappy reboot but who knows it could be good only time will tell.
Also be sure that you watch the first two Batman movies before you see this one as there are many points in this movie that involve the first two and you will be lost if you see this first. In the end an amazing movie that everyone must Rent, Buy, or at least see before they die.
Overall rating: ********* out of **********
****1/2 out of *****