21 July 2012
Last night I went to see the latest of the Dark Night [Batman] films at the cinema. It was its first day out, and I was very eager to see it. It is to be the last of the Christian Bale (Christopher Nolan directing) Batman films, which is a shame, for all three were very good. Yes, I liked this film. If you hadn't gathered that from the title, then I'm telling you now. I'm not going to write one of those reviews where you have to read till the end to find out whether they liked it or not (although I did read a review of the last Harry Potter to the end, and I STILL don't know whether he liked it or not!)
Now, I will warn you now, you read this at your own risk. I will try to refrain from putting any major spoilers in here, but if I do accidentally, then you have been warned! Firstly, a minor spoiler: The Joker is not in it. Now, it was no secret the actor died, but they could have tried some digital-actor magic and put a little conclusion in the film. Failing that, they could have at least mentioned him to round it off. But no. In respects to the actor and his family, the Joker was left hanging (quite literally.)
The new main characters in it are Catwoman and Bane. Anne Hathaway plays Catwoman, and yes, I had my reservations too, but she was very good (and looking particularly stunning, I feel obliged to say. She wasn't quite the ghost-like man repellant that she was in Alice in Wonderland, thank god!) Bane was played by Tom Hardy who did rather well, but nothing will ever top Heath Ledger's Joker.
And in many ways Nolan shot himself in the foot. By putting such a strong character (played by such a wonderful actor) in the second film, be watered down the third because, good as Tom and Ann were, their characters just can't top the Joker. Even so, it still made for a great film none the less.
In this film, given that it was the last one, every possible danger that a character came across you felt they could actually die. In the previous ones you thought Batman would definitely pull through. But this one you were constantly on edge. As to whether he dies or not, I couldn't possibly say.
Oh, and the new cop guy (played by an actor who Ive seen in many things but don't know the name of!) has a surprising revelation at the end. I'm sure you'll love it!
So that's that. A well deserved 4 stars, only held back from a fifth because Joker was so strong, and I would have liked to see a conclusion to his story.
The Dark Knight Rises... And Impresses To Boot. • Opuss № I