The end of a saga...

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2012)

The Dark Knight Rises ends the Christopher Nolan trilogy based on the DC Comic superhero. Set eight years after the end of The Dark Knight, Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Michael Cane, and Gary Oldman are back to fight the crime in Gotham City. This time, though, Batman faces one of his toughest opponents yet: Bane(played by Tom Hardy). Joining him are the unpredictable Catwoman(Anne Hathaway), and the young but passionate policeman John Blake( Joseph Gordan-Levitt).
As expected, Christian Bale gives an excellent portrayal of Batman, although this time he is allowed more time to build on Bruce Wayne. Morgan Freeman and Michael Cane bring their best once again, as they seem to always do in their films. Personally, I was a little weary of Anne Hathaway's performance of Catwoman. I've seen many of her films and generally enjoy her work. However, I was unsure if she could pull off Catwoman/Selina Kyle. Well, I was wrong. Hathaway was spectacular and shined in every moment on screen. I could say the same thing about Joseph Gordan-Levitt's performance, too. Sometimes the greatest asset to an actor is his or her ability to control every facial expression. Gordan-Levitt has perfected it, and proved it in his performance in TDKR.
There are only two negative notes to make about this film, as great as it is: the first being that it felt long. Yes, the film is nearly three hours long. And despite the fact that boredom never set in, I still felt the effects of a three-hour movie. At the same time, I didn't mind because there were several new characters who needed introducing and building, so it worked out for the better than the worst. The second, Bane's voice was a bit too raspy for my taste. There were a few moments where I had a difficult time understanding what he was saying. If they would have cleared his voice up just a wee bit more, it would have been perfect.
Overall, the film was fantastic, and was definitely what I was expecting, especially coming from a beautiful cast and superb director. Also, I can't help but mention the perfection that comes from Hans Zimmer. His film scores are sometimes the only reason I'll watch a movie(although not in this case lol)! The Dark Knight Rises was the best ending to this excellent trilogy. Now I'm looking forward to the next big project of Christopher Nolan!