A blazing, more than satisfactory conclusion to Nolan's dark franchise

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2012)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Unable to face the public after being held responsible for the death of the apparent 'people's hero' Harvey Dent, Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) goes into hiding, along with his alter ego Batman. Which is bad news, as Gotham City faces a new maniac intent on causing destruction and breaking the people's thin social fabric, in the shape of Bane (Tom Hardy), who sets off a massive explosion at a football stadium and lets the citizens of Gotham know that one of them holds the key to an even bigger explosive device. In his quest to restore order, Batman finds himself saddled with Selina Kyle a.k.a. Cat Woman (Anne Hathaway) who is by turns a sidekick and a nemesis.
If something is hotly anticipated, it's always the worst kind of publicity when something shocking happens when it finally arrives after ages of waiting. The events in Colarado with the maniac and his shootings at their premiere of The Dark Knight Rises have left a dour taste in the mouths of many, with Warner Brothers even refusing to release the films box office takings until next week. Whether this tragic event will come to hold a darker history over this film than Heath Ledger's death in the run up to it's predecessor's, only time will tell. But when the dust has settled, what we have is, what I only learned last week, the last of Christopher Nolan's Batman films. And, like a conductor rounding off his master symphony, he's pulled out all the stops to deliver a distinctively dark, explosive, action packed, deep and thought provoking film that is the concluding part to what can proudly be called the most mature super hero series ever made.
After turning Tim Burton's campy Jack Nicholson Joker on it's head with Ledger's contrasting demented, soulless maniac, here Nolan transforms Bane from the lumbering, graceless dummy Joel Schumacher made him and gives him a terrifying, unnerving presence all of his own, brought to life in a scene stealing way by Hardy, in a mask totally covering the centre of his face that gives his voice a parodiable but scary sound of it's own. Meanwhile, in contrast with Michelle Phyiffer's passive doormat who turns into Batman's toughest female opponent, Hathaway's Kyle is a deceptive wolf in sheep's clothing, who manages to runs rings around Wayne and the bad guys.
Once again, Nolan's Batman series touches on relevant modern social issues, like the very real threat we all live under in this day and age of terrorism, as well as a subtle reference to how the underdogs in society are going to rise up and take some of the wealth 'from those who have more than enough', in line with the rioting that has kicked off across Europe within the last year or so. Some may well just hark back to the old days, when Batman was campy and fun, but Nolan has undeniably delivered a masterful re-imagining of the franchise, which he rounds off here like Sinatra's My Way. ****