Very Good Way to Close This Amazing Trilogy

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2012)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
The final film in Christopher Nolan's trilogy finds Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) coming out of retirement and putting on the Batman suit as he tries to save Gotham City from a nuclear weapon being controlled by Bane (Tom Hardy). THE DARK KNIGHT RISES isn't quite as good as the previous film but I'd put it a little ahead of the first movie in the series but no matter how you rank them you really have to give Nolan, Bale and company credit for really delivering a very special series that I'm sure went a lot higher than most people thought when news broke that this group would be taking over the franchise. While this film is far from perfect there are still so many great things that it's easy to get lost in the film and caught up in the various situations going on. I think the strongest thing going for the picture is the wonderful visual style and as with the previous two films, the way Nolan builds this dark atmosphere and city is just something so many other directors should be studying going forward. Another major asset is that Bale can bring that dark and mysterious nature to the Wayne character while at the same time being very believable in the part of Batman. I think it's fair to say that he's put his stamp on the character and if this is his last go at it then he's done more than any previous actor. The supporting cast includes strong work from Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mario Cotillard and Gary Oldman. Hardy was extremely good in the villain role of Bane and really helped make the film so much fun. Anne Hathaway gives a decent performance as Catwoman but I must admit that I thought the screenplay really didn't do much for the character and in the end she had little impact with me. The 164-minute running time does seem a bit too drawn out at spots but I was still rather amazed at how well it flowed and this credit certainly goes to Nolan. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES closes this trilogy and really ends it with a bang and it's clear that the series going forward will have a lot to live up to.