Review

Rating: 8/10 (11 September 2012)

This was one of the most anticipated movies to be released this year and I had high expectations, which were strengthened by the trailers. Unfortunately I was feel I was let down by the movie itself.
The film begins with a period of peace in Gotham City. Bruce Wayne has retired his cape and become a hermit, mentally and physically scared by his ordeals with the Joker and Two-Face, in the prior movie. Then once Bane begin to implement his forces throughout the sewers of Gotham, Batman must once again rise up.
Bane is introduced in an epic sky kidnapping, which rivals Joker's bank robbery at the beginning of The Dark Knight. The one thing that I did notice that Bane's voice strangely coming from behind you in the cinema, when he was clearly centre screen. I found this confusing and irritating, but other than the weird orientation I thought Bane's voice was effective. Bane did not quite live up to the extremely high pedestal left behind by the Joker, but he was a scary dominating foe. He was Batman's first rival who was both physically and mentally stronger than him, which made it even more disappointing when he was dispensed of so quickly at the end.
Although it made sense for Batman to be broken at the beginning of the movie, I thought it took away the impact from the inevitable crippling by Bane and his then second recovery. It meant that this one was rushed and was unbelievable. Also Alfred Pennyworth is given a long couple of speeches during Batman's first recovery, which were effective but were a bit long for me and forced the rest of the film to be squeezed too tightly into a shorter time frame.
There is not a lot wrong with the movie, the atmosphere and characters remained strong and consistent. The one problem I had with it was the storyline. Bane, like Ra's Al Ghul in Batman Begins, wants to destroy Gotham City, which is a supervillan cliché that I thought we had broken out of. Also as I said earlier a lot of the film felt rushed, in fact the whole second half did and the film ends terribly.
One aspect that this movie did hit the nail on the head with was the character of Sylina Kyle, or Catwoman. From her introduction, where she slinks around Bruce Wayne's manor disguised as a maid. To her betrayal of Batman and then redemption, she remains playful and cunning.
The film really began to fall apart at the seems towards the end. After the final fight between Bane and Batman and the pathetic end of Bane at the hands of Catwoman... A new surprise villain is introduced, completely unnecessarily and ineffectively. Then the film continues along a stream self indulgent clichés that completely ruin the movie.
Overall I did enjoy the film and would still recommend it, but just with the warning that the storyline is a bit askew from where it should be and especially the ending.
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