Great conclusion to the trilogy

Rating: 9/10 (9 August 2012)

Firstly, I have watched this film twice, once in IMAX and once on a normal size, and could tell from the audience's reception the film is just as thrilling at either. The film itself has a great Oscar-worthy score from Hans Zimmer which has developed further with the trilogy and actually gives the movie more darkness. Once again Christian Bale has astounded all with his beautifully defined accent, the likes of which I have not seen since his cringeful performance as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Although disappointed whilst watching the adverts to see no revival of the Penguin as the main antagonist, I was extremely surprised to see how adaptable Anne Hathaway could be as the new Catwoman, playing the part extraordinarily well by not trying to live up to Michelle Pfeiffer's twisted portrayal of the character 20 years earlier, but played the character with a little more heart. Tom Hardy as well, although not having much competition for the best portrayal of Bane, taking Robert Swenson's (Batman and Robin) muscle and adding sophistication and cruelty to make the character the perfect villain for the finale in such as widely renowned and acclaimed trilogy.
The plot line, for 150 of the 165 bowel clenching minutes, was perfect. A well used '8 years on' tagline gave Bruce Wayne/Batman's character a greater mystique and added the large section for his 'return' to crime fighting. However, the 15 minutes in which he single handedly saves all of Gotham and supposedly kills himself (although probably necessary to make the story work) has been used a few too many times, so you could have expected something a little more shocking from Mr. Nolan. However, to make a good end-of-trilogy-film the ending must sum up most of what the audience expect to know, however leaving a few twists that leave it up to the audience to figure what happens (which we all know is the magic of cinema, making the audience imagine). Sadly although making a fantastic scene out of Joseph Gordon Levitt's character; it bluntly ends Michael Caine's scene by showing Bruce to have survived, when surely they should have left it with Michael Caine sat there, smiling, without changing the camera to show Bruce Wayne, leaving it up to audience to imagine. Overall, any kid, mum or dad who has heard of Batman will love this action packed end to a block buster trilogy, although I would advise you to watch the others first.