Celebrating Great Films


Saturday, July 21, 2012

The Dark Knight Rises

Unranked at time of writing.

Wow. I have a massively high opinion of the previous two instalments of this trilogy, and this is easily their match. You have to admire the scale of Christopher Nolan's ambition and his uncanny ability to pull it off.

Granted, it's a bit expositiony at times, but the bad guy's ruthless build-up to power reaches such an intensity that you're glued to the screen. The story reaches a point where you cannot imagine the good guys ever recovering - and then it gets even worse... and then the blood-curdling villain Bane really gets going.

Top off that drama with some wonderful twists (so unexpected, yet so fitting), a couple of charismatic female leads, and a bevy of breathtaking and immaculately crafted set pieces, and you have pure blockbuster cinema at its very best. I wonder how this will stand up to a second viewing given that the twists will no longer be a surprise - but if the previous two instalments are anything to go by it will just keep getting better.

Chris Nolan has said that there will not be a fourth film. I'm sure there will. The question is simply whether the franchise will degenerate into second-rate spin-off sequels (or be annoyingly re-re-booted like Spider-Man and Superman), or he takes the helm himself.

As soon as the Dark Knight trilogy is released on DVD, I'm buying.