If the film has one flaw it is just that it's too ambitious!

Rating: 10/10 (23 July 2012)

'THE DARK KNIGHT RISES': Five Stars (Out of Five)
The third and final chapter in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy! This film has Bruce Wayne coming out of retirement and dawning the bat cape once again in order to defend Gotham City from an evil terrorist named Bane. Batman also has to deal with the master cat burglar Catwoman who definitely complicates things for Bruce Wayne. Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Cillian Murphy all reprise their roles from the other films. They're joined this time around by Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard (who all take on key roles in the new film). Nolan directed and co-wrote the film with his brother Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer. The film is extremely grand in scale and does a good job of bringing the Batman saga to an epic conclusion.
The film picks up eight years after the events of 'THE DARK KNIGHT' with Gotham City in peace and most of the criminals off the streets due to the Dent Act. Commissioner Gordon (Oldman) has managed to keep Harvey Dent's reputation intact by keeping to he and Batman's (Bale) plan of letting the Caped Crusader take the blame for Dent's crimes. Due to this the Batman hasn't been seen or heard from in eight years and Bruce Wayne has disappeared as well, a crippled hollow shell of the man he once was. His loyal companion Alfred (Caine) urges him to move on with his life but Bruce feels he is still needed and when he hears of a new terrorist plan to take over Gotham by a brute calling himself Bane (Hardy) Batman returns to action once again. Things are also complicated by a cat burglar named Selina Kyle (Hathaway) who enables Bane and his partners to strip Wayne of his fortune. Gordon takes a new hot headed young detective (Gordon-Levitt) under his wing as well, going by the name of John Blake. Blake has had past experiences with Batman and Bruce Wayne and manages to figure out the two are one in the same.
The movie (like most Batman films) has a lot of characters and way too much going on for one film. It stretches to a nearly exhausting running time of 2 hours and 45 minutes but the epic story does deserve such grand treatment in my opinion. Like Nolan's other Batman films it's rich in character development, clever dialogue, stunning visuals and spectacular action scenes. Nolan's directing is superb and Hans Zimmer's score is breathtaking. The acting is all exceptional. I wasn't entirely sold with Hathaway as the femme fatale Catwoman because I don't think she's that beautiful or sexy. She is a decent actress though and does what she can with the role, making it work for the most part. Gordon-Levitt is a great addition to the series and the twist involving his character is rewarding (one I saw coming from the first trailer he was included in). Bale is a little underused in the lead role this time around as the film tends to seem more like an ensemble piece than a movie primarily about Batman. Hardy steals the show though in the film's biggest role (both by screen time as well as the massive size of the character). He has become my favorite actor recently, with his incomparable ability to blend into each role he takes on seamlessly. For this role he did put on over 30 lbs of muscle and fat making him almost unrecognizable (while dawning the mask the character wears as well). His voice is a little too cartoonish and strange but Hardy's presence and passionate performance steal the show once again. Not quite as memorable as Heath Ledger's Joker but still a very memorable villain. If the film has one flaw it is just that it's too ambitious, perhaps it would have been better broken in to multiple films, but it does give the viewer much more than they pay for. While it's not quite as good as it's predecessor it's still a masterpiece that will please fans of the characters for many years to come!
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