Movie Review: Batman: The Dark Knight Rises

We've seen the three big comic book movies this year: The Avengers. The Amazing Spiderman and now Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.  All of them were pretty good. If I had to pick the best of the lot, it would be Batman.

You know the story: Batman meets girl, girl steals his mother's necklace, an enormous guy with a mask beats the crap out of Batman, Batman rises, the day is saved.

This is a powerful story of pain, betrayal, redemption, and things blowing up. The main characters are back. Christian Bale probably spends more time as Bruce Wayne then he does as Batman. Wayne is a broken man in the beginning of the movie and I think Bale does a good job with it. Michael Caine is back as Alfred and has more of a part then in the previous movies. Alfred hates to see a broken Bruce Wayne but would rather he be broken then dead. Gary Oldman is once again Commissioner Gordon. He's about to be out out to pasture but with the crises he seems to be the only one who can hold things together. And Morgan Freeman is back being pretty much Morgan Freeman.

There are three new characters. Of course, there is Bane, played by Tom Hardy. It's hard to say much about his acting as he plays the whole movie with a mask that covers his mouth and nose. He is certainly the most menacing character in any Batman movie so far. Joseph Gorden-Levitt plays a young cop named Blake. He maybe represents what Batman and Commissioner Gordon once were, young and full of life, not broken by the terrible things they've had to do over the years. And then there is Anne Hathaway as Selina. She is not once called Cat Woman in the movie but that's who she is. She plays the character with a mix of pathos, lightheartedness and guile that works well. And no matter what happens her lipstick is perfect.

I only have one complaint about the movie and I can't tell you what it is because it would be a terrible plot spoiler. There are several surprise turns in the movie, which I also won't detail, but one of them, toward the end, was a shocker which left me a bit disappointed. Not nearly bad enough to ruin the movie but disappointing just the same.  I'll just say it involves Cat Woman and Bain and leave it at that. You'll recognize what I'm talking about when it happens.

If you haven't seen it, what are you waiting for?