Tremendous

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2012)

Cast aside all doubt that TDKR can't live up to the expectations and the hype; this movie is amazing. Nolan and company solve the obvious dilemma of Hardy's Bane comparing unfavorably to Ledger's Joker by not even acknowledging it. Ledger's performance is one of the finest in the history of cinema - menacing, broken, manic, sociopathic, and yes even sympathetic at times - so Hardy created a relentlessly evil character of bold strokes. Where Ledger was nuanced and complex, Hardy is the movie's unstoppable force, furious and foreboding with a singularity of purpose. Bane's mask, resembling something out of Alien, prevents us from seeing him speak. More than anything else, this prevents any legitimate Joker/Bane comparisons from being made. The movie is intelligently scripted, superbly acted, and proves that Nolan had not yet reached his creative peak with The Dark Knight. The newest characters - Hathaway, Cotillard, Gordon-Levitt, and Modine, are all fully realized. This leaves less screen time for returning characters played by Caine, Freeman, and Oldman but Nolan makes their scenes count. Full of unexpected twists and turns along the way, TDKR soars highest at the end, pulling off the impossible task of leaving us hungry for more while at the same time providing a completely satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. Bravo!