The Dark Knight Rises concludes in a truly majestic, epic, flawed and satisfying way.

Rating: 8/10 (19 July 2012)

The legend comes to an end in spectacular fashion and although it has its fair share of faults and issues, it still delivers in spades. Christopher Nolan has stayed true to his promise of standing alongside these characters and delivering a beautiful conclusion to wrap up the trilogies characters and their stories and emotional arcs, even if some of the new characters don't quite get the same treatment. The first half of the film is clockwork and introduces new characters, some unnecessary, some not and decides not to introduce major plot points until Bane turns up in major fashion about 45 minutes in. For some this will grind the experience wanting the film to be air tight like TDK but I found it to be necessary points, but it could have been swifter. Christopher Nolan really assures us that he is a director in control and not only manages to shock and twist us and deliver gorgeous and truly exciting spectacle, but really balance a story of emotion and modern society in a frightening and realistic way. The screenplay is bloated and overflowing with ideas and could have done with a lot of tweaking and taken a bit more time on certain things, but it always remembers what is important and strives to finish exceptionally...and it does. What is notably strong is an array of actors across the board delivering truly astonishing performances. Christian Bale pains us with such vulnerability and heartache behind his eyes, Anne Hathaway really sells both Selina Kyle and Catwoman beyond words and is truly sexy, swift and spellbinding, Joseph Gordon-Levitt shows strong will and delivers a very important character so well and Tom Hardy does so much with his facial restriction and has such a chilling delivery behind those brooding eyes that show such force and his physical delivery is brutal. The voice has many moments of greatness with just a few questionable points. Unfortunately the prologue voice is now much worse, but it improves. But who was most striking in the film was a easy best supporting actor turn from Michael Caine. He bought the emotion and really tore deep. The Dark Knight Rises is really quite an astonishing and majestic spectacle that really delivers a wonderful and wholly satisfying conclusion. Just be sure to not try and focus on the many issues and not to compare it to its predecessor.
***85/100***