The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The worthy culmination of an unforgettable trilogy.

Since the release of The Dark Knight (2008), the world has held their collective breath to see how Christopher Nolan would finish his record-breaking Batman franchise. Never before has so much expectation been placed onto a comic-book series, one so enormously popular and beloved. This final film in the Nolan trilogy sees Christian Bale’s Batman, go toe-to-toe with an impressively muscular Tom Hardy as maniacal terrorist Bane, who threatens to blow Gotham City out of the water.

Set eight years after the climax of the second movie, we find Bruce Wayne is now a social recluse, bedridden and broken, avoiding the city who blames him for killing their saviour - Harvey Dent. Whilst Batman did not kill Dent, he did take the rap in order for the politician’s legacy of hope to endure, making the city a safer and promising place to live in. However, a threat to the peace exists in the form of another masked man - Bane. Said to have been born in an pit, and raised in a prison, Bane is a massively powerful terrorist, with links to the League of Shadows (a little nod to Liam Nesson’s character in the first film). With no other option, Bruce comes out of hibernation to save Gotham from this brutally evil baddie.

Utterly superb, The Dark Knight Rises is why people love movies! Everything is there for any viewer to enjoy, and the result is a compelling, thrilling and engaging watch throughout. Nolan’s keen eye for complex set-pieces which flow effortlessly is unmatched, and the film enjoys some stunning visual taken from this bleak metropolis.

Many will ask, and rightfully so, why all the fuss? What is it about Nolan that is so captivating, why are his films so popular? And while the easy answer is that they are just so damn entertaining, the answer, more likely, lies in the man’s ability to pick the perfect players for his theatrical games.

The casting of all the new Batman films has been immense. Bale reinvented the comic-book hero with an understated charm and finesse, more relatable to the original source material. The villains have varied, but all have been spectacular examples of how evil characters can be represented. In TDKR, Hardy delivers an immense portrayal of this bulging, bomb-threatening nasty man, which is a million miles away from the ridiculous portrayal of Bane in the unmentionably horrific Batman & Robin (1997) - where Joel Schumacher almost signed his own death warrant. Hardy’s performance is laden with gripping ferocity, and although his vocals sound like Ask Jeeves with a muzzle, he still presents himself as a force to be reckoned with.

Other performers worth mentioning include Anne Hathaway’s subtle depiction of Catwoman - a career-thief whose moral indecisiveness makes her an engaging character. Michael Caine must be applauded for his dedicated portrayal of Alfred - whose moments of pain and anguish at Bruce’s despair make for some of the most compelling moments in the movie. Also, Joseph Gordon-Levitt does well as the naïve but determined cop, and Gary Oldman puts in another solid depiction of Commissioner Gordon.

The actors are awesome, the storyline is complex and challenging, and the themes of the films are brutally relevant. Few films will come along each decade with this amount of bite. Nolan has created an unforgettable series of movies. Each stands alone as an outstanding film, but together they have created an incredible story, one that will endure the tests of time.