Last night I went to see all three Batman films back to back. A lot of people think that’s weird/lame/nerdy/excessive…I’d agree with the nerdy part but that’s all. In fact, this isn’t even close to the longest I’ve spent in a cinema (Grimm Up North last year saw me in a theatre for about 12 hours a day…for three days…good times).
Anyway, I’d always said they should do a triple feature leading up to the new release of The Dark Knight Rises and I am really glad that’s how I got to see it, because this really is the best trilogy of films…ever.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Batman Begins and I’d forgotten what such an excellent film it is, obviously it’s rather overshadowed by its predecessor now but it shouldn’t take anything away from this one because it’s utterly brilliant. What I’d forgotten is how good Katie Holmes actually is, oh pipe down…she is. In fact…I’d go as far as saying better than Maggie Gyllenhaal. Yup, I’m saying that right now. Also, the Scarecrow is fabulous and Cillian Murphy is outstanding, I always forget how much I love him until he comes on screen. It’s this moment that always gives me chills:
The Dark Knight is a film I’ve now seen four times at the cinema, that’s not much compared to some people I know, but it’s still a fair few times. No matter how many times I see it though, I am still blown away by the opening scene and Heath Ledger’s electrifying performance, it never gets old.
So that brings me to The Dark Knight Rises, I’m not going to do a massive in-depth review, just some brief thoughts.
After watching those first two films and getting all excited, it was a definite worry that this new one would not live up to the fantastical expectations I had for it. And it was about 25 minutes into the film and I started to get…not worried, but a little disheartened…see, if you look back onto TDK, I was instantly enthralled and thrust into this menacingly badass film with the opening heist scene and I didn’t feel that happening in TDKR. That is…until everything changed and I didn’t unclench for another two hours. I could have got up and done a little happy dance had I not been so rigid in my seat I was that excited.
I am not going to mention ANY of the story lines in the movie. What is great about these films is how you can have an idea of what’s going to happen, and then it just does something that blows you away…maybe it’s the visuals of how it’s done…maybe it happens in a way you don’t expect or maybe it just wasn’t what you thought was going to happen at all. I think it was a mixture of all three for me.
When Anne Hathaway was cast as Selina Kyle I was super dubious but I remember being very unsupportive of the casting choice of Heath Ledger before I saw the initial images of him as The Joker, so I decided to not judge before I saw the film. Yet again Nolan proves another spot on casting choice, Hathaway was excellent and made the character her own, she was the surprise performance for me. Also Bane, who although sounds like Sean Connery for most of the film, is menacing and brutal as he needed to be…Tom Hardy isn’t recognisable in the slightest.
I actually don’t want to say more than that about it, go watch it for yourselves and stay away from spoilers!
For me The Dark Knight Rises is the perfect way to finish Nolan’s trilogy. It is an unbelievable, emotional, ridiculous adventure and I can not wait to see it again.
