To begin my blog I am going to review 'The Dark Knight rises'. One of the most anticipated movie of the year, the end to an amazing trilogy and an impressive movie in it own right. The dark knight rises picks up where it's predecessor, the Dark Knight, left off, with Gotham city left psychologically damaged by the Joker, played in an academy award winning role by Heath Ledger. Batman has become recluse and is living on his own, having hung up the cape and cowl for eight years. brought out of retirement by the arrival of a new cat-burglar and criminal mastermind Bane.
Christian Bale plays an emotionally scarred Bruce Wayne, having had to deal with the death of his childhood friend Rachel and covering up an insane Harvey Dent's killing spree. While this portrayal doesn't live up to the expectations left by Dark Knight, his portrayal is believable and truly expresses what is on all of our mind, is that while he has hung the cape, he has not moved on and all he wants is to die feeling that there is nothing left for him. For a second time in this trilogy Bale has been up-staged by the main antagonist. Tom Hardy gives an intimidating, powerful performance as criminal mastermind Bane, although he does not have the same screen presence as Ledger. One major problem I found with his performance is his muffled speech behind his mask, which may take the average movie goer at least half the film to understand what he is saying. One interesting thing for hardy to bring is the sheer strength and size of bane, bringing him to life as well as bringing another factor of batman's skills into light, strength. Anne Hathaway also gives an impressive performance as the feisty, seductive cat woman, although she is rarely referred to as such. Her one drawback as a character is that she does not get as much screen time as we would like.
Throughout the trilogy, the films impressive score has provided us with epic proportions. Changed to suit the tone of the film, Hans Zimmerman use of the chant throughout this film served as both an ominous and inspiring score serving as the backing track to the rise of Bane and Batman. Director Christopher Nolan makes use of dynamic locations, such as Chicago, London, India and Glasgow, and scale models without the use of CGI. The new vehicle, The Bat, was made to look like it was flying through the combination of wires and cranes and models.
The many twist and turns throughout this film give for an interesting cinema experience. Throughout the film, you may find yourself questioning the survival rate of the main cast as they are each tortured or beaten physically and psychologically. As said before, Bane brings an element of batman's skills into fruition. In the previous film we saw his will tested and psychologically damaged and previously we saw him struggle with mastering the night as the batman. A common theme running through this film was the presence of rising, rising up against evil, rising up to the mantle of the bat and rising up to be the hero that Gotham both needs and deserves.
