The Dark Knight Rises

A little over seven months ago, I sat in a packed BFI IMAX screen, surrounded by people who would have sooner disembowelled you with an ice cream scoop than if you'd said anything negative about the preview footage which was about to be screened. That footage was the first six minutes of The Dark Knight Rises and the excited anticipation in the cinema was palpable. Personally, I was certainly impressed by the opening sequence's visuals and its introduction of Batman's new nemesis, Bane: an altogether more serious vision of Gotham's reckoning than the Joker. But as I walked out of that preview and reclaimed my phone from the scary security guard, I couldn't help wondering whether the excitement and the film's hype (which had just been stepped up by releasing those first six minutes) was going to lead to a rather disappointing destination. I'm glad to say that – if anything – the full film was even better.

I'm acutely-aware that in writing this review, I must steer clear of anything that remotely resembles a plot spoiler and I will do my very best not to spoil anyone's experience of what is a tremendously-enjoyable film. Set eight years after the events of The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne has hung up his cape after taking the rap for Harvey Dent's death. But as Bane, a new terrorist leader, surfaces and begins to threaten the city of Gotham, Batman must wrestle with his personal conflicts in an effort to save the city that made him an outcast.

I'll begin by saying that everything in this film is big – biblical, in fact. I reckon it's the loudest film I've ever watched and every bang, crash and note from Hans Zimmer's epic score shook my seat – and myself – to the core. Such an overwhelming assault on my ears brought out the imagery on-screen even more: the aerial shots of Gotham and the screeching of high-speed chase sequences left me awe-struck. The film's director of photography, Wally Pfister, has done a superb job on the cinematography, which was almost a character in itself. The composition of each shot was comparable to any work of art hanging in the Louvre and really helped to set the dark, brooding and exhilarating tone of the film.

Christian Bale is, once again, on fine form as Batman and Tom Hardy's Bane was rather menacing. Much has been made of his unusual voice (speaking, as his character does, through a mask) and all I have to add to the subject is that I've heard many a call-centre operative who has been more difficult to understand. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was a nice injection of the feminine into a world which has, up-to-now, been male-dominated. Creating many laughs and commanding the screen in a way only she could, Hathaway's performance was energetic and focused. With quite a few Inception alumni in the cast, Nolan's direction has drawn fantastic performances.

At 164 minutes, The Dark Knight Rises is Nolan's longest film and as it progressed, the tension seemed to ratchet up a notch every time Bane appeared on-screen. Whilst I did feel that the narrative slipped slightly during the middle section, the fantastic beginning and end sections acted as strong bookends and held the whole film together. Most importantly, the film never felt as though it was dragging, although it wouldn't have suffered by losing fifteen minutes or so. In terms of the plot (and again, no spoilers), the screenplay concentrated enough on the emotional dimensions of the characters to make the action sequences and their outcome more exhilarating and, crucially, matter to the audience. I'm not going to go into the politics of the film because, quite frankly, more articulate and intelligent articles exist online about the subject and are much better than anything I could write.

I did, however, have some reservations. The film did, in places, feel as though it had grasped too many ambitious ideas and had let several slip through its fingers, without ever fully dealing with them. Certain issues were never completely engaged with and appeared sidelined in favour of another punch up that had little relevance to their resolution. On another (and perhaps more critical) level, I felt there just wasn't enough of Batman himself. Sure, his name isn't in the title and yes, Nolan's trilogy was always about more than just a man wearing a bat suit, but at the end of it all, that's what the main attraction is: a millionaire fighting bad guys with all his cool bat weapons.

Nolan has clearly triumphed with the last film in his Batman trilogy. Jaw-droppingly spectacular, intelligent and incredibly loud, The Dark Knight Rises deserves every praise and is definitely a superhero film for adults. Dark, beautiful and enthralling in equal measure, things would have been just a little bit better had the Batman made more of an appearance in his suit. Nevertheless, those six minutes last December promised much and Nolan and his team have definitely delivered. 

Clapperboard Rating: * * * *  (I've just spent twenty minutes deciding on this star rating. Would love to give it another half-a-star...)