The Dark Knight Rises

Over the weekend I saw The Dark Knight Rises and I was really impressed. I actually liked this movie more the prior two installments. I thought the Dark Knight was a great movie, but it was so dark and emotionally draining that I didn't really care to see it again.

The Dark Knight Rises picks up where the other one left off. Gotham city has been enjoying a very low crime rate for some time. Bruce Wayne is living a secluded life completely withdrawn from society and as a result, Batman has been in retirement for 8 years and is out of practice. It finally takes an attack on Gotham by the villain Bane to get Batman to come out of retirement.

After seeing this movie, I have yet again confirmed that Christopher Nolan rocks! He took 5 of the great actors he obviously liked working with in Inception and they are all featured in this film in very different roles. Tom Hardy, Michael Caine, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Marion Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy all have great performances. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, and obviously Christian Bale all return to the cast and resume their prior roles. Anne Hathaway was a surprisingly good addition and I think Catwoman stole several scenes.

Bane who is a merciless and calculated villain with committed followers, attacks Gotham city and holds it's residents hostage and isolated from the rest of the country. He is able to capture Batman and torments him by making him watch from an isolated underground prison cell as he frees criminals from Gotham's prison and they overthrow the orderly government with a mob rules mentality. Not only was this story interesting, but it also featured some interesting twists at the end which I should have known to expect from Christopher Nolan. The movie was quite long, but it didn't feel like it to me.

I give The Dark Knight Rises 9.0 stars and am glad to see such a good ending to a great trilogy of Batman movies that have put all of the other ones ones to shame.