Screen Struck: Review of 'The Dark Knight Rises'

Promises were made that this will be the EPIC conclusion to Christopher Nolan's Batman. And EPIC was what was delivered.

Set eight years after Batman took the fall for Two Face Harvey Dent's crimes, all with the hope of making Gotham crime free. Batman's sacrifice has paid off, until terrorist Bane threatens to wipe Gotham City off the map permanently. 

The Dark Knight Rises had the uphill task of living up to the standards set by The Dark Knight in 2008 and Christopher Nolan, with the success of Inception under his belt, has put together and made great great use of a stellar cast all working together like a well oiled machine. 

Every character, developed beautifully, each telling their own story, some torn apart by their loyalties and some driven by their vengeance.

Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Michael Caine as Alfred, Joseph Gordon - Levitt as Blake and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox all play key roles in Bruce's journey to finding himself and the Batman again. 

Anne Hathaway as Selina, the catty thief whose only priority is herself, treads the fine line between good and bad, responsible and ruthless perfectly well, adding that needed dose of glamour and oomph into the story. 

Marion Cotillard essays the role of Miranda, a wealthy philanthropist with a twisted past. Despite being so pivotal to the entire plot line, the development of this character is somehow lacking and though a very powerful climax is delivered, a lot is left to the imagination and one can only imagine the impact of a more powerful character could have had on the entire movie. 

Tom Hardy, the Bane of this movie, delivers a role that is powerful and strong. To fill in the boots of Heath Ledger's JOKER is virtually impossible, and Tom Hardy does his bit to become Batman's worst nightmare. Nolan successfully takes Batman to his breaking point with great delivery and orchestration from Bane. But despite the brute force, Bane never holds you the way The Joker did, but thats being way too hard on any body, even though he is the central negative character of the entire movie. 

The Dark Knight in 2008, was purely about the JOKER, the evil and the madness, and the The Dark Knight Rises is only about Batman. Christian Bale does an excellent job of portraying the struggles of a fallen hero. The conflict in him to protect his city at any cost or to live a comfortable life and a sprawling business empire. He takes on a journey of determination and belief, of failures and successes, of transcending beyond a broken body, making sacrifices and protecting what you love the most. For me Christian Bale is Batman. Period. 

Despite its fairly long run time, the movie keeps you engaged and waiting for what is to happen next. The production quality is impeccable and true. It is not a run of the mill superhero movie with action sequences one after the other, Nolan has taken the time and effort to create a story, to incorporate the drama and fiction which make this film stand apart and stand leagues ahead of what I have seen in recent times. 

The downsides? 

Bane, with his mask, was difficult to understand at times. The plethora of characters has resulted in lack of development of certain key characters. The romance between Bruce and Miranda, seemed out of place and unnecessary. 

The biggest downside though, was the lack of 'Batman' time. I surely could have done with more time of him in his cape. 

These few downsides do not undermine the magnitude of this movie at all. I came out a pretty satisfied customer and could not hide my joy for quite a while. 

I'd give The Dark Knight Rises a 4.5 out of 5. 

Till next time.