The Dark Knight Rises

I have wrote this on the way back so apologies for lack of pics, you will have to read it instead of looking at fancy colourful things. Friday saw the release of Christopher Nolan's conclusion to his Dark Knight trilogy. This will be as spoiler free as possible (i can appreciate some people may not have seen it, i made a point of avoiding the internet for a week to avoid any mention of batman hence the delay in my post).

Anyway The Dark Knight Rises sees Christian Bale pull on the cape and cowl for one last time as Batman and Gotham are cast under the massive presence of Bane, played by a masked Tom Hardy. For anyone that wishes to appreciate how good an actor Hardy is before watching The Dark Knight Rises i thoroughly recommened his turns in Rock n Rolla and Bronson...both excellent examples pf British film making. Joining Hardy and the regulars are Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, Marion Coutillard as Miranda Tate and Joseph Gordon Levitt as John Blake, all characters who have major roles in the film. As a result i wont go into major details about them except to say Anne Hathaway is arguably the strongest female character in any Nolan directed film to date and Joseph Gordon Levitt gives this film the sort of humanity that is sadly missing from the underused Alfred character portrayed by Sir Michael Caine.

It was always going to be difficult to follow Heath Ledger as Batman's main enemy. The situation was not helped after complaints flooded in following the release of the prologue and trailer complaining that Bane was incomprehensible but fear not, every word that Bane speaks is crystal clear and as menacing as Darth Vader. Its the look of absolute belief in the cause that Hardy is able to show in his eyes though that leaves a lasting image in my mind (there is one bit where Batman and Bane encounter each other and all it takes is this look of disdain from Bane to really heighten the scene...that or Hardy would turn me, cant quite decide).

This is really hard to write without spoiling things so I am going to give you my top 5 reasons to watch it, like you needed any more convincing!

1) Tom Hardy, rocked my world as Bane
2) Anne Hathaway, didnt think she had this type of performance in her
3) It needs to be seen in Imax to truely appreciate it but it looks beautiful
4) Joseph Gordon Levitt, a great performance
5) the plot twists...just you wait!!!

Chris Nolan has, in my eyes,  created a trilogy worthy of a place  next to the original Star Wars trilogy in terms of best trilogies ever.

No zombies brains required, its essential viewing.

As a final note I wish to write my condolences to the friends and families of those affected by the shootings in Denver at the opening showing of this movie. Its a terrible and unnecessary loss of innocent lives.