Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy-part 3:The Dark Knight Rises.

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2012)

Deciding to book my tickets a week in advance,I was surprised to discover that the cinema was planning to do a barely advertised "triple feature",where all three of Chris Nolan's Batman films would be shown in one sitting!.
Since having only seen the previous two movies on DVD, (one side note:about 10 minutes into The Dark Knight.the film had to be restarted,due to the "wrong file" featuring audio description and subtitles being put on first) I felt that seeing all three in a row on the big screen would make an exciting "Batathon".
The plot:
Eight years after the real circumstances behind Gotham City's district attorneys Harvey Dent death has been kept under wraps by Batman deciding to take the blame for Dent's death in the hope of making him a beacon of hope for the people of Gotham.A new law is introduced into Gotham titled "Dents law",which has been designed to ease the apprehension of Gotham's criminal underworld.Feeling that Dents law has at last made the city a more peaceful place,and also being strongly advised by the mayor to retire,due to Gotham now being in a post-war "peace time".
As a number of Gotham's rich & famous start to attend a party being held in Wayne mansion to celebrate the 8th anniversary of "Dents law",the guests start to question Bruce Wayne's (aka:Batman) loyal butler Alfred Pennyworth on Wayne still being alive,due to him having become reclusive since the last ever sighting of Batman and the death of Harvey Dent. (Unbeknownst to any of the guests,Wayne had decided to live in exile for the rest of his life after he was unable to save his childhood sweetheart Rachel Dawes,and had also decided to never again become Batman thanks to the "legacy" of Harvey Dent which has given the people of Gotham the "hope" that Batman never could)
Seeing an opportunity to steal a valuable item from the upstairs rooms of Bruce Wayne's mansion,undercover cat bugler Selina Kyle "kindly" helps Alfred by saying that she will take Wayne's dinner up for him.Seeing no sign at all of the reclusive Wayne,Kyle quickly puts Wayne's meal on the side and begins attempting to unlock a safe of his.
Getting the item easily out of the safe,Selina is stopped right in her tracks,when a worn- down,walking stick using Bruce Wayne suddenly appears.Wanting to understand why Kyle has chosen this particular safe,Bruce decides that instead of calling for Alfred to ring the police,he will instead act like a gentlemen and kindly ask for Selina to give him the stolen item back.Sadly for Wayne,Kyle shows her appreciation towards his manner by kicking his walking stick away and then somersaulting out of the window!.As Bruce Wayne begins to wonder why someone would go to all the trouble of stealing an item from him,and Commisonar Gordon prepares to leave Gotham with its beacon of hope shining brighter than ever.
A terrorist called Bane decides that he is going to use Gotham post-war "peace time" to his advantage,by capturing the city completely off guard,and using something from Bruce Wayne's crumbling business past,which will turn "Gotham into ashes".
View on the film:
Placing the city of Gotham in a post-war "peace time" period,director Christopher Nolan and cinematography Wally Pfister contrast the adrenalin rushing,brightly lit wide angles used for the movies fantastic action scenes by taking Batman back to his rough,pulp Noir roots which had last been fully displayed in the brilliant 1992-1995 Batman:The Animated Series.
Using the character of Selina Kyle (purrfectly (grown!) played as a cunning Femme Fatale by the beautiful Anne Hathaway) Nolan and Pfister slowly build a feeling of something sinister rising from the underground by using an elegant,low-lit Film Noir style to show the characters in a shimmering light,and to also show that the fake beaming light of "hope" from Harvey Dent is actually putting the characters lives in permanent darkness,due to the lies and cover ups that led to it creation.
While the approach to the main villains in the first and second of Nolan's Batman films ( Ra's Al Ghul and the Joker) were merciless short sharp shocks,here,screenwriters David Goyer,Nolan and his brother Jonathan brilliantly show Bane to be someone who can stand his ground and gradually create the maximum damage possible,by not just using the "easy" option of force,but also to use his intellect to make the unlucky, lower class people of Gotham believe that he is "one of them" who is also an outcast.
Faithfully sticking to Banes original design by Graham Nolan, (no relation!) Tom Hardy, (whose terrific vocal performance has more than a whisper of Sean Connery) stunningly breaks out of the mask covering 80% of his face,by turning Bane into a menacingly imposing figure,who Hardy shows does not want to simply burn Gotham on the surface,but to instead get to the very roots holding the city together,and rip them out raw.
Backed by a heartfelt performance from Michael Caine,Christian Bale gives a fantastic performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman,which he cleverly keeps away from being "two" different entity's,by having the Howard Houges like Wayne's regret over the death of Rachel Dawes and his strong feelings of Batman now being useless thanks to the "legacy" of Harvey Dent,seeping into Batman's previously armour plated costume,to give him a haunting sense of doubt.