Well Done Christopher Nolan.

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2012)

What a captivating end to Nolan's phenomenal trilogy. The Dark Knight broke box office records and I believe that this film will do just the same!
From the very beginning I was drawn in and was pleasantly surprised to find that Anne Hathaway is a very very good Selina Kyle/Catwoman. I did have my doubts about her but within her first few scenes they immediately diminished. She is intelligent, witty and sexy and this was a real bonus for me. Hathaway was probably the best actor in The Dark Knight Rises.
I thought that the fact the film is set 8 years on from the events of The Dark Knight would make it not as enjoyable but I was very very very very wrong! Its entirely relevant that it be set then, otherwise the story would have been nowhere near as good! Christian Bale reprises his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman with relish and really works hard to maintain the characters.
Other new characters include Bane (Tom Hardy) seems the perfect counterpart to Batman! While many may remember Bane in Batman & Robin as Poison Ivy's mindless henchman in The Dark Knight Rises he is cold, calculating and brutally intelligent. Hardy does a fantastic job of portraying Bane and I'm sure if there ever was to be a reboot of the Batman films that included Bane, they would have to use Tom Hardy. Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who plays a newbie cop with a passion for saving lives and reawakening the Batman. Gordon-Levitt is a rising star and plays a really convincing part. Finally there is Marion Cotillard, she plays your regular damsel in distress who needs saving. Although towards the end you realise that she is a standalone character as her back story thickens. Cotillard seems quite boring and irrelevant in the beginning but towards the end it all becomes clear and you see that she has been doing some very good acting.
And of course the return of the recurring cast includes Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne's ever trusting butler; Alfred Pennyworth, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox and even Cillian Murphy as Dr Johnathon Crane/The Scarecrow for a brief moment!
This film is truly amazing, it has an all star cast a captivating storyline and more twist and turns than a corkscrew!
An amazing amazing amazing film! It truly rivals The Dark Knight. Well done Christopher Nolan, you should be proud of this...