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When Memento director Christopher Nolan first helmed the reinvention of the Batman franchise in 2005, Batman Begins was originally conceived as a standalone film. This idea was scrapped when Nolan returned to the city of Gotham for The Dark Knight, which not only became the most successful film of 2008, but also presented a phenomenal performance from the late Heath Ledger as the Joker. Following the sequel’s huge success, there was much discussion about whether he would return to this world or not, but after his complex sci-fi blockbuster Inception, Nolan has decided to conclude his Dark Knight trilogy, with Christian Bale in the cape and cowl for the third and final time.
Eight years have passed since the death of Harvey Dent, of which the still-wanted vigilante Batman has been given the blame, whilst his alter-ego Bruce Wayne has since then, been a recluse from the public. With the arrival of the mysterious cat burglar Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and the mercenary known as Bane (Tom Hardy) who has plans to destroy Gotham, Bruce gets out of his mansion and returns as the Dark Knight who now must become the hero that the city deserves.
As Christopher Nolan steps into Batman’s world for one more time, the big challenge for The Dark Knight Rises was living up to the expectations after its predecessor, which not only presented one of the greatest villains of all time, but set the bar high for comic book movies, in terms of grandeur and taking a closer step into reality, which suits our current political situations. Although one can see the political overtones that occur during the film such as a rather satirical sequence that echoes the Occupy Wall Street Movement, it has more honesty towards the comic book roots, in the same way that Batman Begins did, such as the theatricality of its heroes and villains.
With a running time of 165 minutes, which is incredibly long for a superhero movie, there is an awful lot going on as there are many subplots involving a bunch of new characters, the notable of which is Catwoman. For much of the time, this is serious drama that spans throughout the city and other continents, but there are times where you wished this was more streamlined because the epicness of it all is perhaps too ambitious. On the other hand, the writing by Nolan and his co-writer/brother Jonathan has much heart towards the characters, during the very intimate moments, including Michael Caine as the butler Alfred who breaks down due to the fact he can’t prevent Bruce from being his alter-ego.
Although much praise has been given towards Christian Bale in the role of DC Comics’ most iconic superhero (aside from one particular man of steel), his raspy voice as Batman was problematic for some, despite the fact that it’s Batman who has to be different from his billionaire counterpart. This time around, Bale presents his finest performance in the role of Bruce Wayne, who is introduced as a crippled hermit with no attention of having a normal life after the death of his love Rachel Dawes. With this new threat against Gotham, there is a level of excitement he gets once he puts on the Batsuit, without realising the danger is worse than he imagines and later must rise to face the final battle.
As for the new characters, Catwoman may seem like an odd addition to the Nolan Bat-verse and raises question whether this interpretation will live up to Michelle Pfeiffer’s feisty performance from Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. However, Anne Hathaway steals the show as not only does she provide the sexiness that the role requires, she captures the conflict Selina Kyle faces, which is her own flawed survival against her love towards Bruce Wayne.
Instead of introducing a Joker-like villain like the Riddler (which was a consideration), it was great that the filmmakers decided to go for a different sort of villain, in the shape of Bane, who stands out more as a physical menace for Batman. Despite the initial preview of Bane’s mumbling talk, which has now been tampered with to sound more clearly, Tom Hardy’s presence alone is enough to carry the film as the central antagonist; yes, he’s not the Joker, but then who is?
With grand action sequences such as the comeback for Batman who has a new vehicle to drive, as well as Bane’s master plan involving the destruction of an American football stadium, director Christopher Nolan has made his biggest film yet, to the point of that he’s almost made a war film with an entire city as the battlefield. In this current age where a lot of the big movies are in 3D, you will get a more immersive experience out of this film if seen on IMAX. With the majority of the film being shot in the IMAX format, Nolan and his long-time cinematographer Wally Pfister have made a work of art, in terms of scale and intimacy, whether it is the great helicopter shots or even the tiniest character moments.
Whilst this may lack the perfection of its predecessor and the sprawling epicness might be too much for the film to contain, Christopher Nolan’s third instalment is an ambitious, intelligent actioner that spectacularly concludes the great superhero trilogy of all time.
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RE: The Dark Knight Rises - 
. I also thought his physicality was underused, even in the action sequences. There was only one bit where I felt it really came across (the fight on the City Hall steps after Batman damages his mask, where he moved so fast I thought at first it must have been sped up - he looked like an absolute brute at that point). I didn't think Hardy was bad by any stretch, I just thought he seemed, I don't know, shackled somehow.
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