The Dark Knight Rises

Director Christopher Nolan wraps up his Batman trilogy with a rousing, if occasionally clunky, conclusion. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) has retired Batman and is living an even more reclusive life when Gotham is besieged by the masked revolutionary Bane (Tom Hardy). Batman is eventually forced out of retirement, and meets his physical match in Bane while also facing off against a crafty cat burglar (Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle, never referred to as Catwoman in the film but obviously playing that part). Hardy makes Bane a great physical adversary, but his performance is marred by a terrible voice dub that makes him sound cartoonish and out of place. Hathaway has a lot of fun in her role, as does Gary Oldman, returning as Commissioner Gordon. The movie has a lot of good action, and Bale has never been better as Batman. It’s not as good as the previous chapters in the trilogy, but it’s still very good and a fitting conclusion to a great story.