A Breathtaking Climax to Comics' Best-Translated Property

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 2012)

A perfect fit alongside Christopher Nolan's preceding Batman films, with no single chapter standing clearly above the others. Where The Dark Knight played up the conundrum of Bruce Wayne as a public mask for Batman, this installment flips the script and focuses more intently on a well-rounded civilian identity at the expense of Wayne's more notorious alter-ego. That shifted focus fits snugly alongside the presence of a more grounded, topical-tinged foil in Bane, whose grand plans aren't all that different from those of his two predecessors, but reverberate in the modern social atmosphere. The strict black-and-white nature of the very real debate at the core of Bane's scheme is my sole disappointment, really, as the shades of gray I so appreciated in the first two episodes have been subtly brushed aside. Tom Hardy performs admirably in full pantomime as the big bad, with Anne Hathaway playing a fine Catwoman (though the role seems inessential for the majority of the film), but it's Michael Caine who steals the show in a very brief, emotional final turn as Wayne's infamous butler Alfred. Although he enjoys only five minutes of screen time, when the curtain falls it's his vivid performance you'll most remember. A brilliant, daring, explosive climax that expertly puts the lid on one of modern film's finest action/adventure trilogies, it surprised and impressed me from the very first word.