Reviews

Film Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The Good:

Nolan's trademark cinematography shines through again, showing us that he understands how to make Gotham look awesome.

Great Villain. Bane is probably one of the most badass looking characters in Batman. His voice is evil and patronising. And he is played by Tom Hardy, who gives a very body language driven performance.

Catwoman. She is really good and smoking hot in that latex suit.

Fighting and action scenes are the best of the trilogy. When Batman fights Bane the first time, it seems more like a fight with words rather than punches and Bane wins both the mental and physical battle with Batman. The destroyed football stadium and the plane scene were the best action scenes.

The Bad:

The plot. This plot is exactly the same as Batman Begins. The League of Shadows comes to make terror in Gotham but instead of destroying Gotham right away, Bane wants to make the city suffer the impending doom of destruction for six months whilst the criminals are ruling the streets and the high class are executed. Batman meanwhile is stuck in a prison in an unspecified location with a broken back. He needs to get back to save Gotham from Bane. The only differences between the two are how the plan to destroy Gotham is carried out, the beginning of the film and the ending. If you put the Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Rises next to each other, they're pretty much the same.

The film was boring. I was really bored. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight were the two Batman films where I actually thought that superheroes are the New Greek mythology. In this, I could get through the first and second acts okay, despite the fact that they didn't make any sense but the third act was just boring. There was no tension or drama. It was just a run of the mill superhero ending. Batman goes and saves Gotham. You think he's dead but it turns out he's still alive and with Selena Kyle, despite the fact there was no mention that the two ever hooked up. Which reminds me…

The ending. I hate the ending. It was not subtle at all. Alfred is in a bar in Italy and looks up and smiles. I thought "they're gonna end it here, right?" But no, they actually show Bruce and Selena together. Yeah really subtle there. And to top it off, it seems Hollywood wants a film about Robin, because it ends with him inheriting the Batcave. Bravo. Terrible ending.

Christian Bale as Batman. This is a pet peeve I've always had with the Nolan trilogy. Christian Bale is not Batman. His acting is too over the top when he is Batman, he's not really that intimidating when he sounds like a scary monster from a badly dubbed Anime. When he's Bruce Wayne, he's fine. But that's also another thing wrong with the movie. They make Batman look like he's in his late 40s at the beginning and make him look even older because of the fact that he has a cane. The leg becomes a really bad plot device when they fix his leg, which we find out could have been fixed at any given time.

Overall Verdict: 6/10 Okay. It's a real shame that I didn't like this film as much as I thought I would. I was very hyped for this film, being a huge fan of anything Batman and the Nolan Trilogy. This film was a huge disappointment and a big slap in the face to me. It does have redeeming qualities but when it comes down to it, it was Okay. Nothing spectacular, in all honesty. Why does the third movie always have to suck the hardest?