Let's not waste any time clarting around here, we all know that Batman Begins was a film of near flawless quality, only surpassed by it's sequel, The Dark Knight. Director and writer Christopher Nolan re-established the dark, brooding feel of the Batman icon we all loved from either the comics, the animated series or Tim Burton's two movies. There is a sense of bizarre plausibility in these films; yes we know the idea of the villains is a little ridiculous, but they aren't beyond the realms of possibility, and it is this closeness to reality which makes the films what they are. They are the perfect mix of reality and faithfulness to the comics without succumbing to the campiness of Joel Schumacher's efforts in the mid-nineties. So we already know that Nolan's third instalment is going to be more of the same, he simply wouldn't have done it if it wouldn't be.
Right, the story - it's pretty damn good. Basically, Bruce Wayne has been living the life of a recluse in Wayne Manor since allowing Batman to take the flack of the deaths of Harvey Dent and his victims in The Dark Knight. Dent's death allowed the Dent Act to be passed, meaning that Commissioner Gordon was able to keep all the criminals of the city imprisoned in Blackgate with no chance of early release; Gotham has since passed through eight years of relative peace. However, when Gordon is kidnapped and taken to a secret underground city, he discovers that supervillain Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows like Bruce Wayne, is seemingly leading an army to rise against Gotham. Gordon's escape alerts Wayne, who reluctantly makes a return as Batman to confront Bane. And then there's a MASSIVE amount of spoilers, which I may very well discuss in a separate post, as the film is just that interesting; but I stand by not spoiling it for anyone here, as that'd make me want to falcon punch a kitten if the roles were reversed.
I will say it now, just to get it out of the way; there are some plot holes in the story. A notable one being the recovery time of a certain Mr. Wayne at the mid-point of the film. It's nothing short of miraculous, and that's before you even consider the time it then takes him to get back to business in Gotham. However, fortunately, the plot holes that are present in the story are the kind of "mistakes" that you can happily ignore, but the film ultimately runs smoothly despite them, and is still very much enjoyable. And let's be honest, are there really that many stories out there that don't have a "hmmm, that didn't make too much sense, did it?" moment or two?
When it comes to the cast, there is a series of familiar faces that we already know the majority of the character background for. However, pretty much each of these characters have a certain something ectra about them now that eight years passed in storytime. Christian Bale bring an older, wiser Bruce Wayne, although one that can also be a little reckless, due to the pain he still feels for the death of Rachel Dawes. His performance is exactly what you wanted; just him being Batman, because he really is just the man we'll think of as the Caped Crusade for many years to come (you know, unless you really like nipples on your Batsuit). Gary Oldman adds a certain soldier-eager-to-jump-over-the-line quality to Commissioner Gordon, which appropriate represents his uneasiness at the peace running through Gotham. Michael Caine's limited screen time is still a masterclass for anyone wanting to learn the trade, in what must be under 10 minutes of actual face time, Caine displays not only the dry humour we've come to associate with his Alfred character, but also a full on display of sheer sorrow and loss at varying points throughout the film, notably when he is trying to persuade Wayne to keep Batman in retirement. Morgan Freeman is Morgan Freeman again as the Lucius Lox character, and provides much the same as in the previous instalments, which is again pleasing all round. There's even a brilliant cameo for Cillian Murphy as Dr Jonathan "Scarecrow" Crane, quite possibly the best cameo since Bill Murray got reflective in Zombieland.
But of course, we have a couple of new faces to look at this time. The most notable of which is definitely Tom Hardy as Bane. Hardy beefed up an extra 30lbs of pure muscle for the role, he's basically as huge and terrifying as he was in Bronson. Now consider the character of Bane from the comics and cartoon, he is both physically enormous and mentally brilliant; he is definitely not the giant brute of a henchman the hero is used to coming up against. And Hardy conveys this magnificently in his performance. He has to speak through a face mask which gives echoes of Darth Vader sinisterness, but at the same time, he speaks very well and very gently, the physical threat is always imposed by extremely intimidating yet subtle body-language. In short, Hardy is fantastic, and what Nolan did to the character is genius, a slightly altered backstory allows him to fit in perfectly with Nolan's Gotham universe. Then we have Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, who is thankfully never referred to as Catwoman (methinks that would be a tad too cheesey), who as some critic rightly said, comes dangerously close to stealing the show for herself. Hathaway seems to have studied the Kyle character relentlessly, as she talks, walks and fights exactly how we imagine her to, she is the epitome of the reluctant hero, concerned more with stealing for herself than the big picture for others...or is she? It's this hot-cold theme we're so used to with the Catwoman character that runs through Hathaway's performance, and she too is fantastic. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a new character in the series, a plucky cop named John Blake who resembles the young Jim Gordon, and his performance as such does the job needed, perfectly fits into the plot and never gets irritating, despite a large amount of screentime. And, completing the Inception-connection, Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate, a powerful business woman who is extremely interested in helping Bruce Wayne's clean energy project and on-off love interest. Again, she does exactly what you'd expect...and then a lot more, she's probably one of the hidden stars of the whole film.
I almost feel I don't need to look into cinematography or effects, as frankly, as we've all seen in the previous two movies, they are faultless. Everything is shot beautifully, and every time any kind of CGI is needed, it is done so well that you sort of forget that a computer will have been used at all. It is this which I believe adds a great strength to the film, as it merges a feeling of comic book style in the gadgets and disasters used, but avoids making them seem ridiculous or out of place. The whole thing runs smoothly.
All-in-all, the film takes you on such a journey that it by climax, you are close to letting out an embarrassing cheer. You're taken through so many emotional points for a great deal of the characters, and you end up sympathising with a surprisingly large amount of them too. And there is definitely a couple of unexpected twists and turns along the way, most of which yours truly genuinely did not see coming right up until they happened. What's more, there are a geek-pleasing amount of nods to the Batman universe, with mentions of Killer Croc being one and SPOILER being another...but less of that for now.
5/5 - There was not a single thing about this film that I did not enjoy. To me, it was everything I expected, and in parts, it even delivered more. Admittedly, I did enjoy The Dark Knight a little more, but honestly, that film would be worthy of a 6/5. As a member of the not at all insane Reddit community described it, I fully expect Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy to enjoy a place in culture that Star Wars has enjoyed. First film: Classic, nothing we've seen before. Second film: Definition of great film making, better than the predecessor. Third film: Amazing conclusion, if a little flawed. This trilogy is arguably the best since Star Wars, and The Dark Knight Rises may well have it's flaws, but it is simply phenomenal.
