The Dark Knight Rises.

Spectacular finale....Tom Hardy as Bane and Christian Bale as Batman.

Dubbed, 'the most anticipated film of year' means that The Dark Knight Rises has a lot to live up to. Fortunately, it does, and it does it with style. Christian Bale returns to the role except this time as Bruce Wayne more than Batman. In the third of this trilogy he is pitted against British actor, Tom Hardy as Bane, a disfigured warlord forced to wear a respiratory breathing mask. Bane poses a large threat to the Dark Knight but you can obviously see Christopher Nolan had the whole thing lined up for The Joker to be the primary antagonist. Unfortunately due to Heath Ledger's unexpected death in 2008 this idea was binned. Bane was an interesting choice, and rumors emerged that The Riddler might be a good choice with Leonardo DiCaprio as a possible contender for the role. I think The Riddler would have been interesting but Bane is a wise decision. He is a large bulky, muscular man and makes his presence known to everybody in the room. Bane poses a tough enemy for Batman and at several times, Bane defeat Batman but everyone knows Bats will win or will he?
The real scene-stealer for me has to be Anne Hathaway, she has style, charisma and very funny lines. Hathaway plays Selina Kyle, a young cat burglar that proves to be a bit of a antihero assisting Batman/Bruce Wayne and then turning against him. Gary Oldman is superb as usual while Michael Caine as Alfred is a bit irritating. Marion Cotillard's character, Miranda Tate is a bit more interesting than you first think. Morgan Freeman has a more physical role than in The Dark Knight and Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Officer John Blake, a strong admirer of the Batman.
The first hour of the film is a bit padded and flabby but the second half is brilliant, you will be blown away by the might of it all and the final five minutes will hit you like Sherlock Holmes' fall from Reichenbach Fall. 






4/5

The Amazing Spider-Man.

Back in its prime...Andrew Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man.

There has been several years since the abomination, Spider Man 3. The world has moved on from the Tobey Macguire series, admitting that, that is all they are going to get from the 'Spider Man' comics, in the form of film. Now (500) Days of Summer director, Marc Webb revisits and takes a re-look at the series. Casting Brit-American Andrew Garfield is a stroke of genius, Garfield has the right shape and look for the character and looks wiry yet strong. He plays Peter Parker, a teenager struggling to find himself and who he is ever since his parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) died in mysterious circumstances. The philosophical question of 'what is our name?' is addressed numerous times throughout the film, relating back to Parker trying to find who he is - the answer is Spider-Man. Donning the trademark blue and red Spandex suit, Peter Parker searches for the killer of his uncle (Martin Sheen). After Uncle Ben's death, he is left in the care of his Aunt May, played by Sally Field. The struggle to find the killer leads from a vendetta to becoming a superhero. Parker's love interest in this film is the original girlfriend of Peter, Gwen Stacy, a smart and pretty classmate of his. Emma Stone brings the character to life, making her the opposite of the irritating and needy Mary Jane Watson from the Sam Raimi films. Now we come to the villain of the movie, The Lizard. The thing I like about The Lizard is he isn't a self-appointed one like the pathetic Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), he's more like Alfred Molina's Dr. Octopus, the offspring of a experiment gone wrong. Rhys Ifans plays Dr. Curt Conners, an intelligent man who worked with Peter's father and together they tried to develop cross-species gene splicing, now after Richard Parker's death, Conners has continued the work. After the experiment goes wrong and Dr. Conners tries to regrow his missing arm by using lizard DNA (lizards have the ability to regenerate limbs at will) he turns into The Lizard - two times taller than an average man and very deadly. The good thing about him is that Dr. Conners is still there except he looks like The Lizard. You'd expect the doctor just to disappear, to be taken over by the lizard genes and forget who he is, then wake up naked in a sewer somewhere feeling very tired. But no, Dr. Curt Conners is very much alive in his grotesque transformation. Pushing aside the jaded Maguire trilogy, Andrew Garfield and Marc Webb bring Spider-Man into a glorious new light. 




5/5