End of an Era
Before I give my review of the movie itself, there are a couple things I would like to point out.
Firstly, I would like to remind everyone that all of these comic book movies are not made for those of us who go to our local comic book shops every Wednesday and are handed a stack of books off of our pull list. These movies are made for the masses and to bring in that money. They are never going to be true and pure representation of the characters and stories we read each and every week. That's just the way it is. Get over it.
That being said, I think that Nolan has done a good job of providing mass appeal while still doing things that are true to the characters as they are in the books. He has created his own versions of them and build his own Gotham, but I think we has done of good job of making you feel like Batman is Batman.
Lastly, this movie was not the original end to this world of Batman. I am sorry, but the death of Ledger changed everything. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that the Joker was intended to return in the final installment of this trilogy. Zero doubt. It would have involved some other villain, yes, but the Joker would been revealed as pulling the strings.
Now my review.
I cannot stop thinking about this movie. It has been almost 48 hours since saw the ending credits and I want nothing else more than to go see it again. I had a great time throughout the film and it provided a great and clean ending to a fantastic journey through the Nolan-verse of Batman. I felt like each and every actor played their character very well and I never once felt like there were too many of them. Tom Hardy was a fantastic Bane and I have no problems with any of the liberties taken with his character and his back story. Some people have express their distaste with his voice, but I though it was great. Didn't bother me one bit. He was a very intimidating villain. And even though Tom Hardy didn't get as big as the comic book Bane, his actions showed us just how brutal he would be. Catwoman was a much more physical Catwoman than we are used to seeing, but I really liked Anne's performance. I will say that I wish there would have been little more detail into the "whys" of her choices, but all in all, she was a good character. Joseph Gordon Levitt's character was well done and interesting. Jim Gordon has a few moments where we are reminded that he can be little bit of a bad ass still and that his a great detective. One could argue that there wasn't enough Batman in this Batman movie, but I never felt that way. Batman's stories have always been great because he has the best set of villains of all the super heroes. No one else's rogue gallery even comes close.
The plot to this movie really kept me interested. There were a few plot twists that I saw coming, a couple that I should have seen coming, and one or two that I wasn't expecting. Even though the overall threat was something that has been done before, the way that it played out was presented very well.
There was a plot hole or two, but I am not the kinda of person to let them ruin the whole film. The truth is there is a slightly long list of things in this movie that I don't like, but even combined they don't make me like the movie any less.
There are about a million different things I want to write about right now, but I don't think I can say much else without giving away some spoilers. My recommendation is that you go see this movies. Right now. And pick me up on your way to the theater. This is a really good movie.
