Absolutely incredible

Rating: 10/10 (28 July 2012)

I have never understood the need for escapism as part of cinema, to me it seems like too much of a brilliant format to waste on people who don't have the intelligence to further their outlook on the world. But nonetheless, mind-numbing, multi-million dollar movies are churned out like nobody's business and the majority of the population will happily pay their money to sit through cinematic garbage and learn nothing new about the universe they live in.
When Chris Nolan walked onto the 'superhero movie' scene with 'Batman Begins', I cant say I or anyone else for that matter expected him to do anything out of the ordinary with the franchise. I even expected $150 million of Hollywood vomit to be wiped before my eyes, but what instead happened was a $150 million art-house movie, a film that challenged and made no shortcuts in explaining its multiple engrossing plots (a Chris Nolan strength in general)and it did not insult the audiences intelligence. I loved the dark and frightening twist on the franchise, along with a grade A cast and a superb score, one would have been forgiven in thinking that if and when a sequel were to be made that it would not match it.
And then Nolan did it again, moulding together an even better cast (I much prefer Maggie Gyllenhaal to Katie Holmes) and not to mention the bloody fantastic Heath ledger who puts most screen villains to shame with his extremely sadistic yet darkly humorous joker.
And that was it. 'The Dark Knight'. I certainly didn't think even Chris Nolan could out-do that. Especially after 'Inception' in 2010, it was about time the man did something ordinary and created a bad film to dent his incredible record.
But he couldn't even do that.
I do not want to go into detail about the plot of 'The Dark Knight Rises', so all I will say is this. In my opinion Tom Hardy's 'Bane' is the most frightening screen presence of all time. There is a moment where he gently places the side of his hand on Daggett's shoulder, a fantastically subtle shift in power between the two characters. Christian Bale shifts between Wayne and the Batman in such a way that you feel the weight of the suit and challenges of donning his alter ego, Michael Caine is fantastic, an emotional charge that has been somewhat missing from the other films. Anne Hathaway might have had an excuse to be poor considering the talent she was surrounded by but even she was marvellous. Gary Oldman deserves far more praise than he gets for his involvement in the trilogy and Joseph Gordon Levitt was the perfect choice for his role.
Hans Zimmer shows us why he is the best movie composer of all time and Wally Pfister's photography is an art form in itself.
All in all the most well rounded action movie/superhero comic adaptation of all time, the final part in the Dark Knight trilogy that we were all waiting for and perhaps the most satisfying (yet totally up for debate) ending to a movie ever!
Thankyou Chris Nolan for enjoying what you do, your work in cinema is a relief to those who want to watch films for what they truly are; an art form.