Saw it yesterday in London at an IMAX cinema. Wont give anything away, or do any spoilers. (And whilst I comment below on the film, all the news over here in England has concentrated on the horrors of what happened in Colorado, so my thoughts have been with the victims and their families...)
Its ...BIG. Grandiose. Epic in thought and construction. Some stellar performances. I owe Anne Hathaway an apology for thinking she was miscast when I heard she'd be playing Catwoman. She was as good as, or better than Michele Pfeiffer.She has a much wider acting range than I'd given her credit for.
Tom Hardy was amazingly menacing with Bane- difficult given that he was having to act through a mask. He was hampered by having to follow the once-in-a-lifetime performance of Heath Ledger as The Joker, and unfairly, will be judged in the light of that film stealing acting. Tom Hardy is a brilliant actor, and he exuded brutality, menace and chilling intelligence as Bane, the demagogue. One of the flaws of the movie is that his character wasnt given enough screen time, and the..denoument wasnt satisfactory.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fantastic. Prior to Inception I could not see him as a lead actor. Now I think his intensity, and skill make that a likely development. Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine...great actors all. The last 2 needed more screen time, but given that the film was nearly 3 hours, that wasnt possible.I like how Nolan has an ensemble of actors he's taking with him from film to film. I mean this had four no, FIVE from his cast of the actors from Inception! I just wish he'd add a couple of black actors-male and female- to his roster.(I'd love to see Ejiofor, Elba, Harris, or Nikki Amukua-Bird amongst the Brit actors he uses again and again).
TDKR is very ambitious. It is a political allegory- parts seemed to be a modern version of the French Revolution with the masses rising up, and then the revolution eating itself.It wants to bring the saga of this particular iteration of Bruce Wane/Batman to a conclusion. It wants to provoke discussionon the flaws in society, and social institutions. It wants to show how good men may make fatal compromises, how bad men may use versions of the truth as a weapon,how near violence is to the surface,under the veneer of civilised society...
Hell, TDKR wants to do a LOT of things at once.That crowded agenda causes problems in focus, the development of some characters, the internal logic of the film.
Overall what is my view of the film? I'm still working that one out, because -trust me- there's a MASSIVE amount to absorb. I'll definitely be seeing it again.
See it on an IMAX screen if you can. Regular size wont do it justice.
Anyone else at BSFS seen it? What did you think?
Replies