The Dark Knight Rises

Running Time: 165 minutes

Media: Cinematic Release

The Telegraph gave its review of this film the full five stars stating that this was "a superhero film without a superhero", praising Tom Hardy's performance... Can I confess something to you, my dear readers? I winced in pain when I found that out... The only reason I say that is I feel that the film doesn't deserve five stars... It's just way too generous!

I don't like the idea of being too critical of the films, but I have to be realistic here... Granted, Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have done well together to pull out three movies... And the first two in my opinion have been considerable, I'd even go as far to say that the second film excelled over the first. But to then go and say that the third film deserves five stars...? The Movie Madman suspects a little peer pressure based on the premise of the performance of the previous pair of productions... Sorry, a lot of alliteration there, couldn't resist... But my point still stands, the past two films were great, so there's this huge expectation that this last in the series would be just as good, especially given its $1.08 billion box office takings, right?

Unfortunately, the logic of that kind of expectation falls short there and then. Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, seems to resemble a more broken and frail shell of his former self and is now more of a cripple at the start of this movie... His character looks gaunt, weak and at one stage looks like he could do with a hot meal because he looks like a homeless man. There's no explanation as to why he's gotten this way over the eight years since Harvey Dent's death. To many Batman fans such as myself, it boggles the mind as to how Wayne can become more of a recluse than he was before? The other films show him to be a little rebellious and somewhat flamboyant and there's none of that here... One can only assume that taking on the mantle of the person supposedly responsible for the death of Dent was too much for him and he basically caved. I find the idea of this happening to Bruce Wayne shocking; I mean, he's the Goddamn Batman, for crying out loud!

On the other side, you have Commissioner Gordon, played by the immortal Gary Oldman, who has had to share the lie of Dent's actual cause of death with Batman. As a result he has been consumed from within like Bruce has, but from a different angle. Oldman's performance in all three films has been consistent and has shown a strong progression, maturing from his experience as a cop to now running the entire police division of Gotham. He is close to losing hope but ends up seeing some glimmer of hope in a young policeman, John Blake, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Gordon-Levitt is a complex character. He's switched on and resourceful. He also believes in justice and the strength of the human spirit as Bruce apparently once did. In a sense, he's upholding the values that Bruce Wayne once upheld, and without giving too much away, seems to be determined to carry on the legacy that Batman had begun long ago. He's changed a lot since his time in Third Rock from the Sun... So props to this Joseph for the maturation of his roles.

Michael Caine reprises his role as Wayne's butler and confidant Alfred Pennyworth, and as much as I admire Caine in almost everything he does, he's become very... emotional in this role in comparison to the other two films, though as much as I know that this was necessary to drive the plot line across, I'm not sure if it was to the benefit of the audience to further advance the plot or whether it was a gratuitous display of emotion to grab us in and make us want to watch the movie.

The use of Tom Hardy as Bane is confusing... In the film he's a bald guy with a mask, that's built like a brick outhouse, and yet he sounds like a old man with a case of acute asthma... He hits like a sledgehammer and yet has the language and vocabulary of an plantation owner below the Mason Dixon line. Put simply, he's contradiction personified... And a damn nuisance to boot... What I couldn't understand was why he couldn't have been shot ages ago and saved us all a lot of trouble? Because of Bruce's "no guns" rule... Why no one else thought to kill Bane within seconds of his making himself known is beyond me.

There is some redemption in Marion Cotillard's portrayal of her character as Miranda Tate, a very noble role, but there is one scene towards the end of the film that kinda flips it on its head. This particular scene kinda destroyed my hopes for the film due to the absolute hammy-ness of Cotillard's character... Okay, I'll be honest, the scene made me wince... It was so bad, that it was laughable and could be classed as the worst scene of its kind given the blockbuster nature of the film. Was director Christopher Nolan not paying attention when filming...? Hard to say, but it seems that a final film should bring it all together, not leave you feeling empty... Shall I explain? I may as well now as most people will have seen "The Dark Knight Rises" by now. Cotillard's death scene raises some serious eyebrows, as it is so hammy that if it were a sandwich would have choked Mama Cass. See it for yourself.

Anne Hathaway's portrayal as cat burglar turned vigilante, Selina Kyle is commendable... She's beautiful, talented and OMG, she looks great in black leather cat-suits... Hathaway underwent intense training to ensure her body was in optimum shape for the role, including dancing sessions to help maintain her figure. Her presence in the film is a well-needed breath of fresh air, inasmuch as Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in "The Dark Knight Returns" was magical - and as a result well deserving of his post-humous Oscar.

Sadly, "The Dark Knight Rises" is no "The Dark Knight Returns" and as a result, it suffers accordingly; and not even the ravishing Anne Hathaway nor the dulcet tones of Morgan Freeman can lift this film up to the level of its predecessor, or the one before that for that matter.

So where does that leave us in terms of the film's rating? Disappointingly, it ranks lower than what I would give the two prequels. "The Godfather - Part III" is not the best of films in comparison, but "The Dark Knight Rises" is no better, in fact, it's worse. The plot line is lacking, certain characters play out as hollow or weak and there are too many questions left unanswered... I'm just disappointed, to say the least. I'm actually going to give this film three stars and hope that the next DC Comics film to grace our screens, "The Man of Steel" will fare better.