The Dark Knight Rises

Christopher Nolan does it again! This man is a directing genius!

This really was the perfect ending to the Batman trilogy. I will confess that I have already seen it three times in the theater. And I think I liked it the best on my third watch. The first time through I had difficulty understanding everything that Bane said through his mask. I also missed a lot of the plot subtleties. But I loved the overall plot, the twist at the end, and was thoroughly enamored by the cast's chemistry. The second time through I paid special attention to Bane and the Miranda chick. As I watched it, the emotion and motivation for Bane's actions became clearer and I found myself kind of empathizing with him a little. I was also able to pick up on smaller details that I had previously missed. But the third time was definitely the charm. I feel like I fully grasped the enormity of the film's message and how each of the characters play into that message. I also felt like I was able to understand all of the subtle things going on in the background. My only real complaint about the movie is that the fighting scenes were just not good. The hand-to-hand fighting of Bane and Batman were lame and poorly choreographed. But other than that I thought it was phenomenal.

Christian Bale again brought us Bruce Wayne, the tortured soul who is trying to find himself and live up to his father's legacy. I think Christian as Bruce Wayne is my favorite role he has ever done. I will also admit that I think Christian Bale is not only exceptionally good looking, but he is an excellent actor. He really gets into every role he does and doesn't sell out to do dumb parts. I quite enjoyed the distinguished gray streaks in his hair.

I thought Anne Hathaway did an excellent job in her role as Catwoman. Her and Christian had great chemistry and she also showed herself as a complex female character. It would be interesting to see a off-shoot of Catwoman at some point.

Jason Gordon-Levitt played Robin well. He has really grown into an adult actor. The show really seemed to set things up for him to do a sequel of some kind.

Michael Caine as Alfred is still one of my favorite characters. I was so happy to see that his dearest wish was fulfilled in the end. I thought Alfred's portrayal of emotion as he worried about Bruce's life was touching and it was the part of the movie that really made me sad. Well played!

I didn't like the girl who played  Ras's daughter. She had no chemistry with Christian and that whole scene by the fire really ticked me off. If there's one thing you glean from this third movie, this is it... "Don't jump into bed with someone you don't know." 

Bane was fabulous. If you watch his eyes and his body language, there is a lot more emotion there than is apparent the first time through. After you know his back story it is difficult not to have pity on him. I thought Tom Hardy did an excellent acting job on this one. I loved his little swagger and how on earth did they make him look so beefy?

All-in-all I loved this movie. I think the second in the series was my absolute favorite. But this third installment is less dark and just as action-packed. If I wanted to watched one over and over, this would be it!