Batman - The Dark Knight Rises

I know this is a book review site but I love a good comic book movie almost as much as I love books and I couldn't resist reviewing this one.

This particulate incarnation, with a focus on Batman's coming to terms with himself, has to be the best entry of the saga to date. Both "Batman Begins" and the "The Dark Knight" have featured a stellar modernization of the classic villains like Scarecrow, Joker, and Harvey Dent so I had been looking forward to this latest adventure for months. I was not disappointed: This one needs to go directly onto you "must see" of the summer list.

Christian Bale has a knack for playing the batty hero of Gotham. Even with the mildly annoying 'tracheotomy voice of disguise' (which I'll be honest, threw me a little in the first movie), presented his fantastically dark and conflicted version of Bruce Wayne without a hitch. The story this time is Wayne's beloved Gotham City is under threat of a nuclear bomb (surprise!) being wielded by the wickedly twisted Bane. His reasons for holding New York Gotham hostage are deeper than what you might be used to for an action film and may just have you thinking on you're way out of the theater.

With all the highs in this movie I don't want to linger too long on any lows, but I found myself wishing that the relationship Bruce has with Miranda (played by Marion Cotillard) was explored deeper than the 10 minutes of screen time it was allotted. By the end some of the motivations seemed altogether too weak and frankly, unjustified. If I'm totally honest though, I didn't really care and I'm kind of glad that time was taken with the more colorful co-stars where there was obviously a tremendous amount of acting chemistry. Beside - would you rather see Batman getting it on with someone who feels like a non-sequitor more than a coherent part of the story or would you rather see more Alfred? 

Lastly, the on-screen chemistry between Bale and Anne Hathaway (The Cat (burglar) Woman) and a last minute Robin reveal truly have me wishing this wasn't the final chapter of this Batman before the inevitable reboot in a few years. I'm happy for the masked man when the story closes but selfishly want him to put on his suit just one more time.