Meets the mark

Rating: 9/10 (22 July 2012)

The Dark Knight Rises picks up eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, and this time around, Batman has to tackle Selina Kyle aka Catwoman, and Bane.
The Dark Knight really set the bar high and this made me think that even though Christopher Nolan is at the helm, there was a chance that this movie could fail to meet the standard set by The Dark Knight. Another reason for my thinking is that anyone, even if they are very good at something, can trip up. Even acclaimed directors like Steven Spielberg don't get it right every time. This has been one of if not the most anticipated movies of the year. So here's the million dollar question: has it managed to match the standard of The Dark Knight? To give a very brief answer, yes.
The storyline is a very good one spiced with good character background. Anne Hathaway does well in her role of Selina Kyle. Tom Hardy did a great job as the menacing Bane, although there are one or two occasions where you can't quite understand what he is saying. But this is probably the best role he has played alongside Bronson. There are also one or two satisfying action scenes but don't expect so much of that as this focuses much more on story and characters. The movie rounds off the trilogy well and it's a good thing Christopher Nolan decided to do that rather than leaving it open and potentially lose its track. It looks like my prediction of it not being able to match The Dark Knight has been proved wrong.
A couple of months ago, I watched the 1989 Batman movie and I have to say that it looked pretty buffoonish if you compare to The Dark Knight trilogy. The main reason is that the new movies have a darker and more edgy tone. Christopher Nolan has taken a close-to-failure franchise to a whole new level that no one could possibly imagine and has gone on to become one of if not the greatest movie directors in this era. I still maintain that the best movies he did are Inception and The Prestige. Nevertheless he deserves credit for putting Batman back on the movie map and more. I look forward to what he has to offer with next year's Man of Steel and beyond.