The Dark Knight Rises: Review (Spoilers)

Sequel to 2008's critically acclaimed 'The Dark Knight', The Dark Knight Rises had very big shoes to fill. Starring Christian Bale as comic-book hero Batman, the film's hype began about a year before it's release, getting many fans including myself well and truly excited. Initially after watching The Dark Knight Rises I believed it to be one of the best films I had seen, still buzzing from the pre-movie build up. Now almost 10 months after it's release, it's still incredibly entertaining, but is it as good as I once thought? 

The film revolves around Bruce Wayne's (C. Bale) struggle at becoming the Batman once more, after 8 years of leaving it behind and going into isolation. He is forced out of seclusion however when a masked terrorist known only as Bane threatens the city in which he resides. Bane, played by the award-winning Tom Hardy, is a much darker and realistic vision of the comic-book villain, leaving behind the original back story and instead trying a much more intimidating look (in my opinion), with a mask covering only his mouth, allowing Tom Hardy to act almost solely with his eyes, no easy feat which he still manages to pull off spectacularly. 

Bane (Thomas Hardy)

The Dark Knight Rises keeps you glued from start to finish, which is a huge accomplishment seeing as the movie is almost three hours long. Bane is a brute of a man and a physically superior adversary to the Batman, hugely different from what the Joker was in The Dark Knight. He is built up to be such an interesting villain, with every scene he features in being amongst the best in the film. It is a shame then, and this is a major spoiler, how his on-screen presence was concluded. For me, this is one of the major faults in The Dark Knight Rises, as Bane is simply blown away by Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) when she rides in on Batman's motorbike. It's just all far too abrupt for my liking, making an almost perfect finale not quite extra-ordinary. 

Regardless of this however, The Dark Knight Rises is still a fantastic conclusion to arguably the best trilogy in films. The choice of ending to (again, huge spoiler) make the viewer believe the Batman was dead was a bold choice by director Christopher Nolan, but one which paid off immensely. And I suppose technically the Batman did die, allowing Bruce Wayne to begin again, running away from everything with Selina Kyle. I also respect Christopher Nolan for including a subtle nod to Robin, even though he confirmed he would not be bringing him into the trilogy. 

Verdict

So is The Dark Knight Rises as good as it was built up to be? Yes, I do believe it is. But is it better than it's predecessor The Dark Knight? Unfortunately I do not think so, as nothing for me will top the phenomenal acting by the late Heath Ledger as the dark and twisted Joker. It is however a near-perfect conclusion to the Dark Knight trilogy, and one which deserves to be viewed in it's entirety along with the previous two films.     8.5/10

"You're pure evil."

"I am necessary evil"