In retrospect if it wasn't for the horrible Batman and Robin Warner Bros would not had re-booted the franchise and gave us one of the best Trilogies of all time. Luckily for everyone, there are no comparisons between The Dark Knight Rises and Batman and Robin. But although TDKR is gruff, gritty it may also leave you with an unexpected lump to your throat as it's fully loaded with emotional engagement, a genuine sense of jeopardy, deepening the drama.The Dark Knight is no ordinary comic book adoption, it always offered a very real world and real characters not matter how evil or insane. It also breaks from the Nolan norm in getting to grips with key, charismatic characters who aren't all blokes. But before I let the cat out the bag, I need to make something clear, this is a Batman movie that's all about Batman. Where the previous chapter shone the spotlight to Heath Ledger's awesome take as Joker,as Bruce faces his toughest mission yet, retirement. This is the most adrift we've seen the character on screen. Weighing a return to action against taking a new path, Bruce and Alfred debate Batman's future in tense, tender exchanges. In these scenes I was hooked as you do feel the love between the two characters and the fighting hasn't even started. After a skyjack opening Nolan goes small for a while, then movie's massive. This final chapter is the most ambitious scheme yet, bunging faith, idealism, social revolution and a combustible crisis that could put all the peril in all the Die Hard's combined to shame. As the scale and stakes balloon, Nolan maintains control, the storytelling is sharper than The Dark Knight. This time it's painfully personal. Don't think that the film has become all self important, rest assured, there's a ridiculous amount of cool stuff here and a heightened realism that lets us buy the idea of a city enslaved by a half naked muscle man in a mask. Particularly when he's played by Tom Hardy, whose Bane is a nasty mix of brawn, brains and as far removed from the version in the dreadful 1997 train wreck. A lot of bad press was made by Bane's mumbles under the mask, but after the first few minutes I had no problem understanding him as it's his body language that does all the talking and it's full of menace. Then there's Anne Hathaway's cat burglar Selina Kyle (never referred to as Catwoman), this time not a tragic misfit as with Michelle Pfeiffer, but a smart con-artist and in Hathaway's hands she not there just to be eye candy (Although she is that also) with such a strong cast no ones forgettable. While Bruce's father figures Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and the brilliant Michael Caine are at their warmest. As for Batman? He's never more vulnerable, likeable or willing to get his gloves dirty, pushing to new emotional depths for his final Gotham show down. Unfortunately it is The End, a resounding resolution for what Batman Begins begun. Threads from that film are picked up, lengthened and strengthened, bringing a staunch integrity in every sense to the overall arc. It's not perfect due to a few clunky catch up exposition near the start, a cringey, log fire love scene and moments where Hans Zimmer's score nearly foghorns the actors off the screen. Is it up there with The Dark Knight? Not quite. The Joker in the pack still gives part two the edge. But there's no shame in coming second to Nolan's a masterpiece trilogy. This film succeeds where so many third chapters have failed and slyly slips in possibly controversial elements from the Bat mythos without risking outrage or enraging the censor and pushes the 12 cert as far as possible.
It's brilliant!