The Dark Knight Rises – Movie Review

Starring:  Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Studio: Warner Bros

Director: Christopher Nolan

Rating: UK:- 12A

UK release date: 20th July 2012

I’ve been following The Dark Knight Rises for a while now, and as mentioned in my previous posts, this film comes with a lot of hype and expectation. Does it live up to it?  I’m glad to say that you will not see another film like this all year.

The film begins 8 years after The Dark Knight ends, with Batman being wanted by the police for the murder of Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is now something of a recluse, with hardly anyone having access to him, bar his trusted butler Alfred (Michael Caine).

During this time, a cat-burglar, Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) poses as a maid in Wayne Mansion, and steals a set of fingerprints of Wayne, and sells them on to his business rival John Daggett (Ben Mendelsohn). Meanwhile, Bane (Tom Hardy) stages a series of attacks in Gotham, with the view of destroying the city.

As things start to spiral out of control, police officer John Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who had deduced Batman’s identity, requests Batman to spring back into action. Blake’s talent gets noticed by Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman), who promotes him to detective, and takes him under his wing.

I’ve tried to stay reasonably vague in the review above, and once you’ve seen the film, you’ll know that a  lot has been missed out – and that is deliberate, as this is a film to be experienced. Despite a running time of over 2 1/2 hours, the film very rarely bores, and the only reason I got restless was the seats in the AMC in Birmingham aren’t the most comfortable!

The title of the film is apt in more ways than one – this film is very dark indeed, and despite the 12A certificate, this could end up being a little disturbing to younger viewers. However, this darkness adds to the film, making the happenings seem all the more real.

The film seamlessly merges recurring characters from the previous films (Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Lucius Fox, played by Morgan Freeman, Commissioner Gordon), with new characters (Selina Kyle, John Blake, Bane). The story, written by Nolan and Blade Trinity director David S Goyer, and the screenplay by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, is absorbing – but does, at times, require a fair amount of attention. The rest of the time, the visuals will keep you hooked (in particular the scene with the football field collapsing).

Performance wise, there isn’t much to be said – Nolan has always extracted excellent performances in his films, be it Memento, Insomnia, or the Batman movies. The background score by Hans Zimmer helps elevate the atmosphere in the individual scenes.

So are there any complaints with the film? Yeah, a couple. In a couple of instances, it was hard to understand what Bane was saying – the voice was a little too muffled. Secondly, the digital presentation that I saw wasn’t of the best quality. And the biggest disappointment – that this is the conclusion to what, in my opinion, is the best superhero trilogy to date. This is the sort of series that you want to continue for a long, long time.

Overall verdict – this is my film of the year so far. Highly recommended, go watch it!