The Dark Knight Rises

Warning! Spoilers!

The Dark Knight Rises was definitely the best film I’ve seen so far this year. It is very different to the previous two films (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), which I’m glad I watched again just before, in just about every way. The story line was complex, but reasonably easy to follow. I like to have to think about the story in films (The Dark Knight was no Battleship!).

Anne Hathaway as Selina/Catwoman was completely captivating. If not better than Eva Green in Dark Shadows then at least as good. Her character did nothing to dispel the feeling I started to get with the Star Wars prequels that women, at least in sci-fi / fantasy stories are the root of all evil and the source of most of the problems for the male characters. The spectacular Miranda, who turns out to be the real villain did does nothing to change my mind either.

The Batman character in other remakes starring the likes of Michael Keaton was always a weak character. Especially as Batman, not always so much as Bruce Wayne in my opinion. Christian Bale, however is a superb and strong Batman and Bruce Wayne throughout.

There is one plot discrepancy I’ve still to get my head around. During some of the prison scenes Bruce Wayne convinces himself that the child who escaped the prison was Bane while also knowing that Bane was mutilated by the prison doctor before the child left unmutilated. Maybe I missed something more subtle there.

Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine are just superbly cast throughout. It’s only a shame there wasn’t more of Alfred.

The film has a great ending and I didn’t see the twist coming. The final five minutes are pure agony of suspense. The setups for the sequels are great too.

If you see no other film this year, see this one. Although my wife did manage to fall asleep again. I can’t wait for The Expendables 2, the Total Recall remake or the next Resident Evil. It’s going to be a great summer.

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