The Dark Knight Rises

Before Marvel's Spider-Man: Far From Home hits cinemas, I recently revisited The Dark Knight Rises for the first since seeing it in cinemas back in 2012. Outside of Christopher Nolan's work DC didn't have much else to offer at that moment and this film marked the end of a hugely successful, and highly regarded time for the studio before Man of Steel would mark the start of a more troublesome era. However, that's not to say this was the perfect conclusion and I remember feeling disappointed by this even though it seemed to have all of the right pieces.

Batman Begins will always be one of my favourite films and The Dark Knight broke new ground for the superhero genre, proving it could be more than just chiselled jaws in spandex. The series didn't necessarily require a conclusion or another sequel and I do recall somewhere that Nolan was happy to end the series there but DC/Warner Bros. wanted a third and so the director came back and released The Dark Knight Rises five years later. Expectations were high and this was going to be a challenge after Heath Ledger's chillingly fantastic performance as the Joker. Nolan had already proved he works well with passion projects prior to this and with the studio almost dragging him back, this was the first warning sign.

Having killed Harvey Dent (Two Face) in order to save Jim Gordon's family, while severely injuring himself, at the end of the last film, Bruce Wayne now hides away in his mansion during the city's peacetime. Gotham remembers Dent as a hero and Batman as the murderer meanwhile a new threat in the shape of Tom Hardy's terrorist Bane and Anne Hathaway's cat burglar force Wayne of out of early retirement to save the city once more.

Watching this again, the film starts strong as we see Bane hijack a plane through the use of another and was overall a lot of fun to watch. Having also recently watched The Dark Knight, I was pleasantly surprised to have a break from the bleakness as Nolan wisely takes a lighter approach which made this a refreshing experience. Christian Bale, an Oscar winner by this point, is great in the lead role and really captured Wayne's pummelled persona, while still hitting the film's more humorous moments. Tom Hardy provides the physical threat and fully commits to this as he does for every role but the real surprise was Hathaway as Selina Kyle (aka Catwoman) whose charisma helps to carry the film during its weaker moments.

Speaking of such, the two hours and 44-minute running-time is used efficiently but the film does start to falter in the final hour. The action sequences are all fantastic to watch, particularly those shot in IMAX, but the story starts to run out of steam as we near the end when the cracks in the villain's plot begin to show. Sometimes this can be overlooked but if a film is going to be this long, it needs a satisfying conclusion which this one doesn't quite achieve.

I'm glad I gave The Dark Knight Rises another shot even if it pales in comparison to what came before. This just needed a stronger story as Nolan and the team successfully deliver on all other fronts, and it had the potential to make for one of the best trilogies.