The Dark Knight Rises
Dir: Christopher Nolan
2012
****
The Dark Knight Rises follows one of the biggest and best films ever made, certainly in the Superhero genre. Thankfully, and considering Nolan's body of work, unsurprisingly, it's pretty much faultless. It's the perfect way to leave the Nolan/Goyer/Bale trilogy. Nolan has been completely unselfish (unlike his predecessors) and has left the story wide open for speculation or indeed to be continued. DC have pressed the reboot button once more but Nolan left the legend in quite a wonderful place. I think it's safe to say that people like myself who are into the comics and understand the different threads of the Batman universe are pleased with this conclusion. I like so much of what he's done here, the last film was so good and left in such a strange way, it is credit it to him and Goyer to start and close the franchise the way they did. I did have certain reservations going into the film, Catwoman being one of them but I thought Anne Hathaway (an actress I haven't always liked) as Catwomen was great. I especially liked the fact her character (never referenced as Catwoman) had purpose, she's very much a Frank Miller version of Catwoman. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was brilliant (as always) in his new role and Tom Hardy was great, although his Sean Connery/Darth Vader voice made me laugh which I'm not sure was the desired effect. The trilogy comes together quite beautifully, I liked the Ra's Al Ghul connection, the Dr. Jonathan Crane cameo and most of all, I liked the fact this was a Batman film. The last film was The Joker movie, nothing wrong with that, the Joker is as big as Batman with the fan-base but it didn't make it a 100% Bat film if that makes any sense. I'm sure I wasn't alone in wanting another Nolan Batman film but I admire is integrity by calling it a day after three, just as he said he would. He did everything he set out to achieve and has raised the bar for anyone else thinking of making a Batman, or indeed any other Superhero film. If I'm being perfectly honest (and I am) then I'd have to say The Dark Knight Returns isn't perfect. There are mistakes. However, the mistakes made are few, small and forgivable. It is overshadowed slightly by its predecessor. The Dark Knight was an impossible film to top but Nolan did as best anyone could have done, sometimes it is tough living to the high standards that you yourself have raised. It is still a wonderful finale to a brilliant trilogy.