The Dark Knight Rises Reviewed

Published by Elaine Arthur on 7 August 2012

Ryan Andrews explores The Dark Knight Rises and takes a look at the cast, the plot and the overall look and feel of The Dark Knight Rises.

The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway and many more. As an end to the Dark Knight trilogy, I think that Christopher Nolan has produced the best end to the trilogy that could have been made, while also leaving the room for a whole new opening to a new franchise from this film.

As in the previous two instalments of this trilogy, Bale is his usual dark and mysterious Batman. However the focus during The Dark Knight Rises is mostly on Tom Hardy’s Bane. Hardy’s interpretation of Bane is chilling because from the moment you hear him first speak and see him in the mask you forget that it is Tom Hardy under the mask, almost in the same way that Heath Ledger became The Joker under his make-up. Nolan’s casting choices prove to be effective yet again, not only in Hardy, but in Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. From the first sight of her, she is exactly as she is portrayed in the comics, she is edgy and sarcastic but ultimately she is almost exactly like Batman. Hathaway fills Catwoman’s heels perfectly.

Graphically, the film delivers more than the previous two. Between the aerial scenes and the road chases, there is plenty to excite every audience member one way or another. The actions scene are exciting and fill the movie so there is no sense of time dragging, if anything the film flies by. Nolan’s minimal use of CGI gives the film a more realistic feel to it and makes the task of drawing the audience in all the more easier.

The scenes between Christian Bale and Michael Cane are possibly some of the most emotional scenes I have seen in a super hero movie, second only to Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spiderman during Uncle Ben’s death scene. The chemistry between each of the cast members is amazing, as each member has a different dynamic with each other, but Bale has such different chemistry with each cast member it is amazing, from the dynamic between Batman and Bane, to the similarities between Batman and Catwoman and the emotional turmoil between Bruce Wayne and Alfred.

Overall I don’t think there is a thing I would change about this film and I don’t really have anything negative to say about it, apart from the closing scenes. I can’t really go into detail about this without going into spoilers but I will say this, Nolan leaves the film on something that feels like a cliff-hanger, but also the start of something new. The closing scenes open the way for a whole new franchise, but it also leaves you with a feeling that something is incomplete.

Although I enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises, I wouldn’t say it was the best movie of the year, I still think that should go to The Hunger Games or The Amazing Spiderman. Having said that, I will look forward to The Dark Knight Rises being released on DVD and I highly recommend that you see this epic conclusion to the Dark Knight legend.

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