The grand finale in maestro filmmaker Christopher Nolan's gargantuan thrill-machine gets an epic send-off; one of the year's best

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2012)

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (2012) **** Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Alon Aboutboul Ben Mendelsohn, Burn Gorman, Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, Brett Cullen, Juno Temple, Tom Conti (SPOILER - Cameos: Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy) The grand finale in maestro filmmaker Christopher Nolan's gargantuan thrill-machine with the comic-book franchise reboot of The Caped Crusader making a comeback to Gotham in a self- imposed eight-year exile after the death of DA Harvey Dent that resulted in a peaceful crime- depleted sabbatical until. cue entrance of impenetrable, powerful brute and ex-mercenary spawn from hell, Bane (Hardy in a face-hugging Darth Vaderean life/death mask), a formidable foe for arthritic, ailing secluded billionaire Bruce Wayne (Bale validating his place in the cinematic pantheon for a well-executed recreation of the mythos of Batman and his alter ego), facing entrepreneurial and financial woes. Adding fuel to the fire is master cat burglar come fly-or cat- in the ointment silky Selina Kyle (Hathaway vamping and having a field day kicking ass and kissing off any pretense of what makes her sexy!) with plans of her own. The heavy-laden screenplay by Nolan with his brother Jonathan and collaborator of the series David S. Goyer manage to touchstone on practically everything in its kitchen sink timely-socio/politico themes including the entitled '1 %" getting a comeuppance from the masses; identity crises; facing the real truths (looking within can only be obtained with help from outside); and basically overcoming fears and obstacles in being what is true to you: good will triumph over evil. always! Some radical and pulse-pounding action sequences to the hilt including the opening mid-(h)airy plane jacking and a few improvements on the Batmobile while introducing the beastly aero vehicle of mayhem, "The Bat". Waycool as always with fantastic cinematography by Wally Pfister, (and a must see in IMAX format that always envelops instead of smothers!), epic production design by Nathan Crowley and Kevin Kavanaugh (ably supported by having Manhattan (FINALLY displayed as Gotham's rightful geographic Doplleganger - as well as such diverse cities as LA and Newark, NJ !) with omnisciently awesome orchestrals by the one and only Hans Zimmer. The returning ace ensemble of Oldman as the on-the-mend commissioner JIm Gordon; Caine as the avuncular manservant Alfred; smooth operator Foreman as Lucius Fox, the procurer of bad-ass toys and weaponry of Wayne Enterprises; with newcomers Gordon-Levitt as a rookie cop cut of the same cloth of Gordon and Wayne and cosmopolitan Cotillard as Bruce's love-interest with more at stake in a clean fuel invention of some pointed interest. One of the year's best and arguably one of the best trilogies of all time.