The Bats Boogie
Okay I dont do reviews here, these are simply my thoughts and musings about The Dark Knight Rises, packed neatly into a blog. Now it is always a pleasure to welcome Batman back in whatever he appears in, be it his natural home the comic, in a movie or videogame and I was as excited as anyone for The Dark Knight Rises. Its a good movie too, no doubt about that but (the inevitable BUT) it is a bit too bloated for me to begin doing Catwoman style cartwheels.
Nolan could easily have chopped 30 mins off it and made the film more 'potent' because if he had there would have been less bothersome nudges of reality for the audience. For example the cops go underground for what seemed eternity. I assume those officers were sent down shaving kits, clippers and a hearty meal before emerging to battle Bane's forces? Ah Bane! One of my favourite comic villains, I must applaud Tom Hardy for nailing the part so well. Some disliked his voice but I thought it was great; a muffled, cut glass sound with equal doses of menace and mocking.
The baddies in this trilogy have all been a joy to behold; Ra's al Ghul, Scarecrow (present as ever in TDKR,) The Joker and Bane will not be easily forgotten by cinema goers. The late Heath Ledgers Clown Prince of Crime shining brightest from the already ageing posters thanks to a truly mesmerising performance.
I dont see Catwoman as such a great character in this movie. Seems like Hathaway is trying too hard to impress and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the real talent like Oldman and Bale. And her take on Catwoman suffers from it because she is the most fake looking out of all the villains who have appeared in the trilogy, the others seem to fit the world with much more ease. (And yes im well aware Selina Kyle is not all bad.) Also she's nothalf as good looking as others seem to think. Admit it, she's not.
Of course lets not forget the Dark Knight himself; Christian Bale has been an utterly convincing Batman (but I am a teensy bit biased as we're both Welsh.)
Do you want to know something though? Batman Begins was the best out of the three (in my opinion.) It was gritty, raw and showed Bruce Waynes real inner turmoil and his struggle to become the Dark Knight. Go back and waych it again, im sure you will agree. Anyway as single titles you could pick out flaws but watched as one loooong movie, this new Batman reboot has been a success.
*As a huge comic book fan/nerd I'm wondering would Nolan & Bale comeback in say 10-15 years to do a version of Frank Miller's classic The Dark Knight Returns?
