The Dark Knight Rises: A Review

Finally, the most anticipated film of the year is out! Does it deliver? Certainly! Much better than its rival too!

Set 8 years after The Dark Knight, Batman is public enemy #1, wanted for the murder of Harvey "Two Face" Dent, which we know is an elaborate scheme by Batman and Police Commisioner Gordon to not bring Gotham's citizens hope down, since Harvey was their shining knight. Batman hasn't been seen in that 8 years, and so is Bruce Wayne who locked himself up in his Manor, like Howard Hughes.
However the arrival of Terrorists led by Bane (played excellently by Tom Hardy), forced Batman to come out of retirement to face his greatest challenge yet.

Adopting a far more serious tone, than its predecessors and longer runtimes, Rises is a fitting conclusion to the Dark Knight's trilogy. The long runtime certainly doesn't drag as much as The Dark Knight and there are some cheeky and clever references that will leave one simply impressed.

The scope of the action sequences are simply pure cinematic, from the excellent mid-air plane kidnapping opening, to the explosive showdown in downtown Gotham, this film put The Avengers to shame. Catwoman as played by Anna Hathaway is a delight to watch, switching between comic book character and traditional femme fatale of the Noir genre, that is definitely on par with the Catwoman of Batman Returns.

It is a shame that Marion Cottilard's character is seriously underplayed, outshined by Hathaway's Selina Kyle as Wayne's love interest. Those paparazzi pics released months ago, also ruined the surprise the film had in store, but it was still a pretty good twist. Another detractor to this film would be The Bat, which at some moments in the film look cool, but at other moments look like something out of Transformers.

Another bug, would be the usage of New York as Gotham which gives us a huge continuity break, since Gotham changed way too drastically from Begins and The Dark Knight. However, the bridge explosions scene justify the usage of New York in the film, and the story distracts us away from it anyway.

All in all, one couldn't hope for a better conclusion to the Dark Knight's saga.

4.5/5