The Dark Knight Rises review

I saw the Dark Knight Rises yesterday and I have to say that it really lived up to expectation. Christopher Nolan has ended the legend well and The Dark knight Rises
 will (for me) forever be known as being one of the best Batman movies of all time... scratch that, one of the BEST movies of all time.


The story was well put together and the cast were an excellent choice. Christopher Nolan really put his heart and soul into this movie and I take my hat off to him. The movie was definitely a collaboration of all the previous Batman movies (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight) and you don't even have to see those movies to understand the plot for The Dark Knight Rises.


As I have said, the cast was well thought out with new comers and characters we all know and love from the other two films.


THESE MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!


Christian Bale returns as the Dark Knight, but a more older and vulnerable Bruce Wayne.
The way that Christian Bale moved made it more believable that he has been out of action for the past eight years, with him taking the fall for Harvey Dent. It seemed like he was trying his best, but yet he had become more stiff and out of the game.
You really see this when Bane is "breaking him" in the sewer where Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) fools him and actually leads him to where Bane was waiting for Bats. By doing this she would be saving herself from Bane's thugs where they're constantly trying to kill her.
This movie seems more about Bruce Wayne than Batman and that is one of the reasons why I like this movie so much. It's not just all about beating up the criminals, but it's also about him finding himself and showing that he is strong with and without his suit and fancy gadgets. After all, he is the one that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs. 


Tom Hardy plays a merciless terrorist known as Bane, who plans to destroy Gotham city once and for all. In the movie, they reveal that he had worked with the League of Shadows, but was then excommunicated.
Tom Hardy really gets into character in this movie and from how he portrays Bane, you would never think that a person like Hardy was behind the mask which was keeping him alive. I find Bane scary both in mind and physicality. This may also be true for Batman, as Bane has too been trained by The League of Shadows and is a match for The Dark Knight both physically and mentally.
I can imagine that Tom Hardy spent most of his time in the gym getting ready for his role as the mighty Bane, who frankly is as big as a tank (metaphorically speaking).
Tom Hardy also put on a voice which sounds rather menacing, yet calm in a malevolent way.
I found it rather clever of Nolan to not make Bane be pumped with the venom like in the comics. It was a very bold move. I also liked how instead of the mask being used for the venom, that it was in fact to help him recover from previous injuries.

Selina Kyle is portrayed by Anne Hathaway. She is a cat burglar who was said to have been working for Bane. Hathaway play Selina just right. All I really have to say is that it was much better than Halle Berry's portrayal of Catwoman in the 2004 movie with the same name.
Hathaway doesn't play her as being too hard, but not too soft either; she portrays Selina just right.
I really liked the fact that she is never actually called Catwoman in the movie and isn't too much of the comics version. She doesn't carry a whip around and her costume isn't too much like the ones in the comic books.
Another little hint that Nolan put in the movie was that whenever she put her goggles up, they would turn out to look like ears!


Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate you say? Well you're mistaken my friend because she in fact play Talia Al Ghul!
Talia was first thought of as being Miranda Tate. She was part of Wayne Enterprises executive board who tries to encourage Bruce Wayne to continue his father's legacy.
At the end of the film it's then revealed that she was in fact Talia Al Ghul (daughter of Ra's Al Ghul) and was working with Bane all along. She tries to finish what her father had started and attempted to destroy all of Gotham.
Ever since I heard that Marion Cotillard was in the movie, I immediately thought of Talia.
The secret was kept very well from fans before the movie release and after.


John Blake is a new character, created by Nolan. John Blake is played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
John Blake is a young police officer who seems to be intelligent enough to work out that Bruce Wayne was in fact Batman. He is also portrayed as believing in Batman.
Before the movie came out, fans thought that John Blake would be replacing Bats if he were to die, but the funny thing is that at the end of the film, he then reveals that his legal name is in fact Robin (Batman's sidekick for those who don't know)!


The ending to the movie was just pure genius, with us not actually knowing if The Dark Knight had died or not. Then we realize that there was in fact an auto-pilot setting in his jet ironically named "The Bat" which was made by Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman). Also Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) finds Bruce and Selina in Italy, but could this have been him thinking it, or was it real? That's for us to decide.


Overall I am going to give this movie a 9.5 out of 10. 'Nuff said. (I don't usually give such a high rating but the movie was just brilliant!)


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