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| Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures |
Director: Christopher Nolan
Release Date: July 20, 2012
Studio: Warner Bros. Studios
Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, & Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ever day after school in my early grade school years, I remember coming home to my grandma’s snacks and flipping on the television with my three brothers to watch our favourite show: Batman.
Batman, we had determined was the best of all the superheroes. His black cape, his utility belt and the fact that he had no actual super powers gave us the hope that just maybe it could happen.
DC Comics created Batman in 1939. When Tim Burton’s original film, simply titled Batman (1989), was released I was only a year old. At 24, a five-year-old kid came into my bakery the other day and in complete incoherent excitement, told me about his Batman birthday cake. This, along with the recent release of Christopher Nolan’s final instalment, made me think that the Batman legacy has touched generations.
The third film, which will be forever scarred by the tragic opening night shootings, left the audience generally satisfied.
With the first two films, each movie seemed to stand by itself. Though they flowed together smoothly, both were distinct. Batman Begins set up Nolan’s series and gave incredible detail on how Bruce Wayne became Batman. The second movie, The Dark Knight was incredibly well done. Any doubts about Joker’s portrayal by Heath Ledger were shattered in the opening bank heist. Some people claimed that no one could compare to Jack Nicholson’s depiction of Batman’s greatest nemesis. However Jack’s version seemed laughable compared Ledger’s psychotic, chaos-loving adaptation. Ledger’s posthumously Oscar for Best Supporting Actor definitely secured him a spot as one of the best villains of all time.
With the second film’s huge success, I knew it would be difficult to outshine it with the third film. This film seems to be more of a continuation of the first film. If you hadn’t seen the first one, there would be a lot of confusing parts. Like why is Liam Neeson showing up in Batman’s visions?
My main complaint about the film would be the complexity of the storyline. There seemed to be a lot going on and sometimes simple is better. There were so many characters and sub-plots that you left the theatre wanting to see it again because you knew you didn’t catch everything. But I always love an excuse to see a movie again.
There were quite a few new characters introduced. The most notable being John Blake played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Gordon-Levitt creates a very memorable and dynamic good cop. In many scenes, he steals a lot of the spotlight away from other well-known characters and actors. In this film, we are also introduced to Selina Kyle (Catwoman) played by Anne Hathaway. She doesn’t add anything new to the Catwoman character. She is still sexy with attitude. I don’t even recall her being referred to as Catwoman now that I think about it and I definitely noticed there were no cats in any of her scenes. This was a good thing seeing that she is a cat burglar and finally not portrayed as a crazy cat lady (like Michelle Pfeiffer or Halle Berry).
The villains are depicted by Tom Hardy as Bane and Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate (Spoiler Alert: aka Talia al Ghul). Hardy portrays a much more complex Bane then previously seen. He wants to deliver Gotham back to the people and doesn’t believe in police forces. He does a great job, but I know a lot of people were comparing him to Ledger from the second film and thought he fell short as a villian. Hardy makes the character his own and impressed me. Cotillard is a famous French actress who is slowly making a name for herself in North American films. Her character, Miranda Tate, surprises the audience (and Batman) with a sudden confession of her true identity.
Christian Bale doesn’t disappoint in this final film and gives his very serious portrayal of Bruce Wayne. Gary Oldman shows flaws in Commissioner Gordon and Michael Caine gets emotional as the butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Morgan Freeman (who I love and can’t believe I am writing this) gets more screen time as Lucius Fox, but kinda falls flat in this film. None of his scenes had his typical dominant presence.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film (both the positives and the negatives in it) and would recommend it to anyone. Nolan finished the series with a great finale. Fingers crossed that when he and Bale get their final cheques, they will consider doing one more (since they definitely set up the ending with a chance for continuation).
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