Ratings: 7.6/10
Film Class: A
Genre: Action Drama
Managed to catch the gala première of the final instalment of Christopher Nolan's Batman's series. And the conclusion is... that Christopher Nolan achieved what no other director has ever achieved; the 2nd movie in the series being the best of its lot. Followed by the 3rd (this film), then the 1st (Batman Begins). Normally sequels rarely top its original, but in this case it did.
Batman is forced to surface once again, after being deemed the villain responsible for the death of the supposed hero, Harvey Dent (Two-Face in The Dark Knight), by a greater evil, Bane. In fear of spoiling the plot for you, I shall leave it at that, with spoilers, and major spoilers up ahead. The soundtrack was very catchy, with the chant of a language I didn't understand but was later explained, and the scene of the crumbling field (as seen in the trailers) didn't fail to impress once again. The showdown between Bane and Batman might get you at the edge of your seat, and the ending scene was rather breath-gasping. As for everything else... they were only so-so.
The acting wasn't as good as the first, even though it featured many new faces, such as Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, 2 of the latter stars being a favourite of the director's, as assumed since they both starred in Christopher Nolan's Inception. The villain, Tom Hardy, couldn't shine as much cos his face was covered all the time and his voice was rather muffled. I had to switch my cat-like hearing senses on to capture his words... which failed most of the time. And the mandarin translation didn't help much either.
*spoilers ahead* What I didn't like about the movie was the progression of the plot, as well as the scenes. The "jumps" in scenes vital in the logic of the film were extremely prevalent and conspicuous, creating loopholes and breaking the flow of the storyline. While the director tie up loose ends, I thought "loopholes" shouldn't be created for the sake of creating them just to fill them up in the end.
*major spoilers ahead* There's a slight twist to the story and the cameo by Liam Neeson was quite refreshing. However, bringing back the "concept" of the "League of Shadows" led by Liam Neeson in the first instalment was a bad move. I had totally no recollection of the the group considering Batman Begins was 7 years ago (2005) and much of this movie's plot revolves around the ideals of Liam Neeson's leadership role. It would have better aided me in connecting the dots if I had re-watched the first, but still, I thought the conclusion would be better off having a more stand-alone plot.
*major major spoilers ahead* I was silently waiting for "Robin" to "appear" and he finally surfaced at the end. Didn't like how Marion Cotillard so abruptly gained the trust of Bruce Wayne to take over his empire and definitely not how the director conveniently skipped the explanation about how Batman survived the explosion at the very end.
The Dark Knight Rises concludes the Batman trilogy just right, literally. I kinda expected more, but I guess it's good enough for me.
Film Class: A
Genre: Action Drama
Managed to catch the gala première of the final instalment of Christopher Nolan's Batman's series. And the conclusion is... that Christopher Nolan achieved what no other director has ever achieved; the 2nd movie in the series being the best of its lot. Followed by the 3rd (this film), then the 1st (Batman Begins). Normally sequels rarely top its original, but in this case it did.
Batman is forced to surface once again, after being deemed the villain responsible for the death of the supposed hero, Harvey Dent (Two-Face in The Dark Knight), by a greater evil, Bane. In fear of spoiling the plot for you, I shall leave it at that, with spoilers, and major spoilers up ahead. The soundtrack was very catchy, with the chant of a language I didn't understand but was later explained, and the scene of the crumbling field (as seen in the trailers) didn't fail to impress once again. The showdown between Bane and Batman might get you at the edge of your seat, and the ending scene was rather breath-gasping. As for everything else... they were only so-so.
The acting wasn't as good as the first, even though it featured many new faces, such as Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard, 2 of the latter stars being a favourite of the director's, as assumed since they both starred in Christopher Nolan's Inception. The villain, Tom Hardy, couldn't shine as much cos his face was covered all the time and his voice was rather muffled. I had to switch my cat-like hearing senses on to capture his words... which failed most of the time. And the mandarin translation didn't help much either.
*spoilers ahead* What I didn't like about the movie was the progression of the plot, as well as the scenes. The "jumps" in scenes vital in the logic of the film were extremely prevalent and conspicuous, creating loopholes and breaking the flow of the storyline. While the director tie up loose ends, I thought "loopholes" shouldn't be created for the sake of creating them just to fill them up in the end.
*major spoilers ahead* There's a slight twist to the story and the cameo by Liam Neeson was quite refreshing. However, bringing back the "concept" of the "League of Shadows" led by Liam Neeson in the first instalment was a bad move. I had totally no recollection of the the group considering Batman Begins was 7 years ago (2005) and much of this movie's plot revolves around the ideals of Liam Neeson's leadership role. It would have better aided me in connecting the dots if I had re-watched the first, but still, I thought the conclusion would be better off having a more stand-alone plot.
*major major spoilers ahead* I was silently waiting for "Robin" to "appear" and he finally surfaced at the end. Didn't like how Marion Cotillard so abruptly gained the trust of Bruce Wayne to take over his empire and definitely not how the director conveniently skipped the explanation about how Batman survived the explosion at the very end.
The Dark Knight Rises concludes the Batman trilogy just right, literally. I kinda expected more, but I guess it's good enough for me.
