Best superhero movie since ..... SUPERMAN 2

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2012)

Not having bothered to see the new SPIDERMAN, I wasn't going to take in the latest instalment of BATMAN. I'm glad I changed my mind. This is the best superhero movie since - how far back do I go? - since SUPERMAN 2? Christopher Nolan brings his trilogy to a triumphant conclusion.
Stunning CGI, great lighting (great darkness!), a creepy villain (Tom Hardy's Bane looks like something from HELLRAISER or an ALIEN crossbreed ) and a strong storyline bring this movie up to the level of TERMINATOR 2 or TOTAL RECALL (total remake coming soon to a cinema near you!). None of the familiar faces - Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Modine, even Liam Neeson (back like the ghost of Hamlet's father) - shows any sign of being fed up with having to perform encores. Christian Bale is on top form. Marion Cotillard is a more than usually fatal femme fatale, and Anne Hathaway's Selina enjoys herself playing a cat-burglar very close in style to Catwoman! Joseph Gordon-Levitt's independent-minded cop Blake looks as if he's being groomed for greater things, maybe even to pick up the 'mantle'.
This is a long movie, but there is hardly a draggy moment in it. Bale and Nolan can congratulate themselves on delivering 'the goods' in three successive movies, which is something that does not always happen in 'franchise' movies.