I saw the third part of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy a few days ago in Kobe and I was suitably gobsmacked.
TDKR is, I think, better than its immediate predecessor,
The Dark Knight and just as good as
Batman Begins, maybe even a touch superior (no Katie Holmes in this, for example). The plaudits should go primarily to Nolan himself. This guy could find a novel way to direct a film based on the instructions on how to open a bottle of Pocari Sweat. Probably. He makes a seemingly routine story sparkle and the odd thing is, I'm not sure how he does it. Some of the scenes would have been quite clunky without Nolan's sure hand.
He is helped no end by Wally Pfister, the DOP and by the guy responsible for the gargantuan task of editing this web of character and plot. It doesn't seem rushed and yet it's probably the longest 'tight' film I've ever seen (at 2 hours 45 minutes). There's not a single superfluous, 'look at your watch' moment and credit must go to the massively accomplished Aussie editor Lee Smith.
The cast knocks seven shades out of most other big films out in recent years. Christian Bale reminds me that he is bloody good on screen and helps me forget that he's most likely a tool off it. Tom Hardy is superb as Bane, odd accent and all and Michael Caine is just Michael Caine. Which = brilliant. Anne Hathaway has most of the witty lines and pulls them off well. Not enough actual purring though. But the supporting cast could carry other films on their own, and they have done so in the past. Without giving anything away, the likes of Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Gary Oldman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt all offer quality back up, shit even Ben Mendelsohn has a significant role.
Saying any more may give too much away for those who haven't seen it so I'll wrap up by posing a theory that this may be the best trilogy of films ever to grace the screens (even with the slight misgivings I have about
The Dark Knight). Musings on that claim may appear in another blog soon.
