Eight years after the conclusion of the "The Dark Knight", Gotham City is free of the mob crime that ravaged it for so long and Batman has not been seen since. Batman has been blamed for the murder of city hero Harvey Dent, and Bruce Wayne has not been able to get past the death of Rachel. However, a curious cat burglar in his mansion and the appearance of a new criminal terrorist named Bane bring Batman out of retirement to protect the city once again.
Cast
Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne
Tom Hardy as Bane
Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle
Michael Caine as Alfred
Gary Oldman as James Gordon
Morgan Freeman as Fox
Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Blake
Who will like this movie
With the original cast and Christopher Nolan back as director (and co-creator of the story), this conclusion to the trilogy has many of the same elements that fans of the previous two will appreciate. New fans to the franchise will find themselves a bit lost as the story in this one relies heavily in an arc with the other two.
Phantom Thoughts
The nice thing about this trilogy is that it keeps almost all the main characters (except for Katie Holmes, who was replaced by Maggie Gyllenhaal in the second movie) and also a large part of the crew in all three which give the movies a natural flow as you watch them. Not all series of films can say this, as bringing on new directors or writers cause an obvious distribution in the continuity.
After watching The Dark Knight Rises, it is my opinion that The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger as the Joker was far and away the best one. But watching the trilogy as a whole, it was a very good way to put the franchise to rest. There are those who will say that it could have been left open to make another, but trust me, this is definitely the period at the end of the sentence.
Gary Oldman continues to impress me with how a good an actor he really is. His way of losing himself and becoming the character he is portraying is so impressive, I sometimes forget that it's him...which is what I think an actor SHOULD be. There was a lot of discussion on the casting of Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I believe she pulled it off just about puuurfectly. (Sorry. Could not resist). Although the relationship between her and Bruce/Batman was a bit forced at times, Hathaway did the character justice.
You may have seen the commercial of the football field collapsing behind a player sprinting down the field. What you may not have realized is that several members of the Pittsburgh Steelers make cameo appearances as members of the fictional Gotham Rogues football team in the film, including Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Maurkice Pouncey, Mike Wallace, Heath Miller, Aaron Smith, Ryan Clark, James Farrior, LaMarr Woodley, and Casey Hampton, and former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher as the head coach of the Rogues.
Speaking of cameos, there are a few others that fans may recognize from the previous two films. This was really well done and puts a nice finishing touch to the trilogy as well. LATE EDIT: I learned that there was unused footage of Heath Ledger in Joker make-up that Nolan refused to use because he did not want to "capitalize on Ledger's death". I can respect that view, but I disagree with the decision. The absence of even the MENTION of the Joker was blatant and awkward.
The story had some nice twists and turns, some which were really surprising ...in a good way, that kept your interest enough to almost forget that this is an almost 3 hour movie.
I've heard from a few fans of the Batman comic books that were a bit disappointed in what they saw. To those die hards, I suggest you go back and read the Batman comic book series Knightfall (1993); The Dark Knight Returns (1986); and No Man's Land (1999) and see if you don't change your mind.
I really did like this one. Not as much as the second, as I stated before, but if you've seen the other two, go and see how the story ends. Why wouldn't you, really?
Until next time, see you in the center seat.
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