The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

The final part of the Dark Knight trilogy is the weakest. This was the third part of the triple bill and by this point in the cinema experience, I felt like things were going well. I wasn't feel fatigue or getting uncomfortable with the seat I was in but I always knew that this film was going to test me. Set several years after the events of The Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne has become a hermit but a psycho called Bane is going to cause more damage to Gotham than anyone could imagine.

GOOD POINTS

Some good scenes

Despite the run time, there are some good scenes throughout the film.  The opening scene with Bane on the airplane immediately comes to mind but there are plenty which show that Christopher Nolan might someone who likes the big philosophical ideas but he knows how to put interesting scenes together. Also the scene at the football match when Bane launches his masterplan is also very good because its simple and not flashy but to the point and does what it needs to do.

Tom Hardy as Bane

Tom Hardy saved this film for me. Back in 2012, the headlines were that Bane's voice was hard to hear and I don't know if time has fixed that problem (I don't think its a restored cut) but I didn't have any problem hearing Bane. Tom Hardy gives a personality to what is a fairly one dimensional character. Back in 1997, he was just Poison Ivy's hired help but in this he is breaking things up because he believes to be right and doing things for the right reasons. The character and film would have been weaker without Tom Hardy.

Michael Caine is heart-breaking

Michael Caine has been brilliant throughout these three films but he really steps it up in this one. The way that Alfred feels like is breaking his promised to Thomas Wayne is one of the saddest moments in the film and its because we care about Alfred because of what Caine has done with the character. Some might argue that Michael Gough is the best Alfred but in my mind, Caine manages to make Alfred feel like a loyal but integral part of Bruce Wayne's life.

BAD POINTS

There doesn't feel much enthusiasm for it

The first film felt like it had a point to it and the second one also did. This one felt like it was being made because the previous one took $1 billion dollars and Warner Brothers. It feels like there is no real discipline to the flow of the story with Nolan allowing himself to let philosophy take centre stage of the film when it didn't really have any need to.

I don't care about Cat Woman

I think that Selina Kyle isn't a very interesting character. She worked when played by Michelle Pfeffer in Batman Returns but in this she just feels like an irritation. I think it isn't really Anne Hathaway's fault although I don't think she really helped. 

Too Long

At close to three hours, this film is too long. Plain and simple. The whole Gotham under Bane's rule goes on so long that it feels like the film doesn't really belong in the film. You could have cut a bit of this and it would have been a much better product as a result.

OVERALL

This is a disappointing film if you compare it to the previous films in the trilogy but on its own it is ok. The film is too long and the film feels like it has to be something it doesnt want to be. I have no problem with moral messages in a film but the film has to be entertaining for it to work and despite the best efforts of everyone involved, they never manage to pull it. off.

The Dark Knight (2008)

The second of the Dark Knight trilogy is the best. After the teaser at the end of Batman Begins, the most iconic villain in comic book history (probably) makes his first appearance in a movie since 1988. The plot sees Batman take on the Joker as he tries to dismantle the corruption and crime in Gotham whilst Harvey Dent is trying to clean things up in his own way.

Good Points

Heath Ledger steals the show

This has always been my opinion and is the case upon watching again. Every scene is great and its perhaps the biggest loss in this franchise that Ledger died. The face paint along with the manner in which he talks helps create a version of the Joker that is completely different from the version that Jack Nicholson plays. His best scene is in the interview room when Batman is beating him up and then he has that great speech with the detective about why he uses a knife instead of a gun. Every scene is great.

Bale is great as Batman

Due to the plot, there wasn't very much of Bale in the Batman costume and he makes up for that in this film. He has some great moments in the costume most notably with Joker but he is also more confident as Bruce Wayne. He has got the swaggering playboy part down quite well and it makes a clear distinction between the two sides of the character. 

Pace is better than the previous despite longer run time

The first part of Batman Begins was perhaps slower than it should have been but this version doesn't have a problem with pacing. Each scene has something going on and even when the Joker isn't involved the acting helps you forget that and everyone (almost) is on the top of their game.

Rachel 2.0 is a big improvement

Katie Holmes was the weak link in the performances in Batman Begins and Maggie Gyllenhaal is much better in the role. I think that she makes more of the opportunities the character is given than Katie Holmes would have done. The love triangle between Bruce, Rachel and Harvey worked very well and only lasted as long as it needed to. It's a shame that Gyllenhaal wasn't in Batman Begins because I think that she would have made that film just that bit more entertaining.

Much more enjoyable

This film shows what can be achieved when you inject a bit of thought into a film. At this time Marvel was just gearing up for Iron Man and so was what comic book movies should be aiming for. This film deals with many things but still has the action stuff that people would expect. Batman and the Joker don't meet each other too many times and that works for the better so that when they do it means something and those scenes are great. 

Bad Points

Boat scene is too much

There are some high stakes scenes and they work but the final one on the boats is one too many. It goes on too long and doesn't really lead to anything and in the final act this really slows things down and 

Aaron Eckhart not great

When a lot of the central performances are so good, anything not as good will stand out and unfortunately Aaron Eckhart does stand out but not in a great way. I think that he is fine but next to the Joker he isn't as good. I think that he is there more so that the Joker can prove a point that be there for anything good. 

Overall

This is a great movie with a great cast and a story that works very well. The directing isnt flashy but is still great and everything works perfectly. This film was great when I first saw it in the cinema in 2008 and its still great in 2024.

Batman Begins (2005)

For the first time ever, I have seen three films in one day at the cinema. I had seen two films in one day but there was a gap of a couple of hours between them. I have always liked the trilogy and saw them when they originally came out, but there was something about seeing them in one go that proved to irresistible to turn down.

The opening part of the trilogy is not as gritty as people think it is. It is gritty compared to the Batman films that have come before it but its not that gritty and perhaps feel more grounded than gritty. The film follows as Bruce Wayne goes away to understand the criminal underbelly to try and exact revenge on the person who killed his parents all while the corruption of the city tries to stop him and the League of Shadows tries to get Wayne to be one of them.

The horror of the neon campiness of the Joel Schumacher which nearly killed the franchise is consigned to the history books with a film directed by someone who has a vision and a plan for bringing this character back from the dead.

Good Points

Strong Central Performances

Christian Bale is very good as the caped crusader, we see him through all stages of grief and he is believable as Bruce Wayne and as Batman. This version of Bruce Wayne feels the most grounded out of all the versions that we have seen in the movie. Bruce Wayne in this movie has the playboy lifestyle that has always been there in the character but Bale makes it seem a facade and hiding his true character. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman are great as Alfred and Lucius Fox respectively and are as awesome as ever. Gary Oldman makes the character of James Gordon feel a bit more important than he has in the previous films.

Good Action sequences

Despite this being a more grounded version of Batman, there are still the action sequences which are all very good. Christian Bale never stuck me as an action star or someone who could do them but he manages to pull it off. This version of Batman is a more talkie incarnation of the character but it is still lends itself to the action sequences that cinema-goers would expect.

Visuals are good

We have the dark gritty version of Gotham in the Tim Burton films, the camp neon light version in the Joel Schumacher versions and now we get a better version in this movie. It has a futuristic feel and yet current. It does feel like it was film in a real street in a real city that is doubling as Gotham which is a nice middle ground from the two previous versions. 

Bad Points

Villain could have been stronger. Scarecrow was a better villain

I liked that there was some personal backstory for the character of Ducard but I would have liked to see more of Scarecrow because I think Scarecrow was a more traditional villain for Batman and he was played brilliantly by Cillian Murphy. Liam Neeson is great don’t get me wrong but I think that he was overshadowed by Murphy. 

Katie Holmes is not a great Rachel

Trying to be kind to Katie Holmes but she isn’t very good as Rachel. Rachel is suppose to be this form of support to Bruce and yet there isn’t that connection with Bruce Wayne that there should be. This was her only performance and it was a good thing. 

Overall

This is an underrated Batman movie, it’s the middle of the trilogy in terms of quality but it zips along at a good pace. This being the first part of the trilogy at the cinema. It has a story which it takes time to tell but doesn't feel like there is any padding or rushing at the end. An enjoyable film which even nearly 20 years later holds up and should be a film that people watch.

Oppenheimer (2023)

I have been looking forward to this film for over a year. Ever since I heard about it I knew I wanted to see it and my main worry going into the screening was similar to the worry I had when I went to see 'Last Night in Soho' was whether it would live up to my expectations. Like 'Last Night in Soho' I am relieved to say that those worries were unfounded. Oppenheimer is a brilliant film and probably my favourite Nolan film since 'Insomnia' (I have to state that I haven't seem 'Memento'). 

The film follows Oppenheimer (played superbly by Cillian Murphy) as he helps create the atomic bomb but in a way the film is actually about the complexities of Oppenheimer. How his relationship with women wasnt normal and how he was basically picked on by the U.S government because he may have been a communist even though the film shows that he may have liked the ideas of the communist party he wasnt a member of the party even though everyone around him seems to have been. Even after the bomb has been dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the film focuses its attention on the security briefing hearings and how the U.S. government were trying their best to screw Oppenheimer and there is a mystery at the beginning of the film about what Oppenheimer and Einstein said to each other which we dont hear and its finally revealed at the end and in the hands of a lesser director it would have been an anti-climax but with Nolan, it becomes a lovely moment and worth the nearly 2 and a half hour wait.

Cillian Murphy is excellent as Oppenheimer and even though he is always good in whatever he is in he is on another level here. Robert Downey Jr almost steels the show for me as he is so horrible to Oppenheimer and deceptive that he makes you forget he was ever Iron Man. Emily Blunt is very good as Kitty in a role which is really tough to deliver convincingly because Kitty was a very complex person and Florence Pugh does well with her brief role as Jean Tatlock.

The film has the highest number of big names in one place since Avengers Endgame (probably more). There is Jason Clarke, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Conti, Josh Hartnett, Matt Damon, Jack Quaid, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, James Remar & Gary Oldman and all of them are very good. Matt Damon was according to IMDB trivia, on a break from acting as a promise to his wife and the only condition for this break was that he could return to acting if Christopher Nolan came calling which he obviously did and its a great performance from Damon. His best probably since the Jason Bourne films.

Nolan deserves a lot of praise for this film. I was really disappointed with Tenet because I felt like it was Nolan being way too smart for his own good. Inception was a smart film but Tenet made that film feel like it was for dummies. This is a massive return to form. I thought that at 3 hours it was going to drag but it never did. I was NEVER bored at any point and 90 minutes films have felt longer than Oppenheimer. This is because Nolan always ensures something interesting is happening. He has written a screenplay which has lot of science in it but makes it clear enough so everyone can understand it (to a point). He also has all these big names and gives them enough material to shine and show what they can do. 

Oppenheimer is currently my favourite film of the year. Its the first 5 star film since 'The Banshees of Inisherin' and if this isn't my film of the year by the time we go into 2024 then I am really looking forward to what is yet to come. There is a great documentary called 'To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb' (https://boxd.it/HqSy) which is an excellent companion piece to this movie and shows how good the attention to detail was in 'Oppenheimer'