A fabulous Rising of the silent guardian for one last time!

Rating: 9/10 (20 July 2012)

In the first film of director Christopher Nolan's Batman series, Bruce Wayne's father asks him " Why do we fall Bruce? " and answers "So we can learn to pick ourselves up", these wise words form the theme for this grand finale . It is a completely satisfying and a respectable send off to the resurrected franchise.
When an incredible film like 'The dark knight' is a sequel, then the follow up movie would have expectations so high, that it's often never met. It would be extremely unfair to the director when media hypes up such a film and the paparazzi go on frenzy every time there is an outdoor shoot.The Dark knight rises clearly went through all of this. Yet, it manages to please the fans and unlike the 'forced third' of some franchises it feels like a vital continuation and a meaningful conclusion to the batman story.
Bruised and retired as the batman for seven years, Bruce Wayne limps through his manor and watches helplessly as the sassy thief Selina Kyle, steals his mother's pearls. There is a new embodiment of evil in Gotham called Bane who is equal amounts brain and brawn. This forces the Dark knight out of his retirement and plunges him into a dark, gritty and personal fight against anarchy. The past haunts him and the future is ominous while the present sees him separated from the handful of people who care for him. This is perhaps the most emotional and hard hitting Batman story that the Nolan Bother's clearly meant as a Frank Miller tribute.
The movie runs for a lengthy 2 hour 45 minutes but it never feels slow. Action scenes have the Nolan signature and is edge-of-the-seat guaranteed. New characters like Miranda Tate, Selina Kyle(never called the 'cat woman') and Detective John Blake are seamlessly integrated into Nolan's Gotham and although many would like to, it would be inane to compare Bane to the joker. Although both of them wanted mayhem, Joker stood as a benchmark for just how low and treacherous the mind of a modern man can fall while Bane stands for how far a deeply wounded man would go to seek warped justice through revulsion & vengeance. Although Hardy gives a fine presentation, he may not seem as good as Heath Ledger simply because his character was differently written.If nit picking for the sake of a balanced review must be done then the only flaw one can find is the pacing of movie was uneven at times.
All actors seem to be perfectly in tune with their characters; Christian Bale gives his best performance and a fitting swan song to the iconic character while Anne Hathaway shines the most amongst the new cast, leaving the audience wanting more of her screen time. Gary Oldman as Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Freeman and Lucius Fox are some of the finest supporting roles both in terms of the deep characterization and their performance.
The Batman franchise is definitely up for a reboot in the near future but Chris Nolan's Batman would probably be the most realistic and gritty version ever. The Dark knight rises may not surpass its predecessor but it is still going to be a modern classic and that for a super-hero movie is a Plaudible feat.