Said Bane as he kidnapped Dr.Pavel a nuclear scientist by hijacking his plane.(caution: spoilers ahead) This was the first scene to the final installment of the Batman series and being very familiar with Batman universe I was indeed pleasantly surprised by Tom Hardy’s Bane a menacing super strong nemesis of Batman. The comics Bane is much larger due to a venom(steroid) but Hardy’s Bane uses analgesic gas to relieve pain from injuries he had, which made him not just strong and painless but also fearlessly menacing in his approach. Infact it is only Bane’s presence which made for most of the movie highlights, be it the first fight scene with Batman where he matched Batman step for step without a flinch and toyed with him before the final crippling blow or the way he took over Gotham city by revealing Harvey Dent/2 Face’s prior crimes and releasing the entire prisoners from state penitentiary. His voice through his mask sounded very suitable for a man of such size and strength, eloquent and polished wordings yet bully-like and I was easily able to understand the way he spoke.
The only reason why my ratings do not go all the way is the fact that the timeline of the story, inspite of a long running time feels extremely rushed where more detail would have been suitable and very long where easily 10-15 mins could have been cut. Anne Hathaway does not impress as Catwoman & she was given much more screen presence than necessary. Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine do fit in well in their extended roles as Lucius Fox and Alfred compared to the other 2 movies. Bale as Batman is just the same as he was in the first 2 movies which is quite ok. Joseph Gordon Lewitt plays a cop/detective whose character ties in with a Batverse character in the end. Marion Cotillard’s acting is terrible to say the least even though she played a key role of Talia al Ghul. Bruce’s recuperation time in Bane’s prison from his back injury which spans 5 months is shown in as little as 15 minutes, whereas the starting 30 minutes of the movie could have easily been made crisper and shorter by 20 mins. The end scenes also stretch out a whole lot as if the movie and events are waiting for Batman to be saved & to save the day which wasn’t the case in BB or TDK.
All I can say is the movie is a must watch for fans of the series. Those who haven’t followed the series wont be disappointed either. It is a definite one time watch. The movie drags on at times where there is very little of the main story progressing and where the story shows progression of time over many months those parts are wrapped up in no time and it doesn’t quite gel distributed over so many characters(including an appearance by Scarecrow and Ra’s al Ghul).
Of course I’m merely nitpicking, just my way of saying it could have been much better. The movie is ultimately what it is, the end to Nolan’s Batverse and a very acclaimed 3 part story of a very old legend. The series has a tried & tested cast of great actors and of course it shows in this as well with the story taking a full circle. I shall end this review by saying the ending has 2 possible outcomes based on people’s outlook which has been discussed by Batfans including me in forums, and what is shown needn’t necessarily be how it happened and that’s the best part of a Nolan movie. Unlike the caption of the promotional poster of TDKR, the’Legend’ will not end.