Knighty Knight

Seven years from its start, The Dark Knight Returns completes the only trilogy that I've ever got myself out of the house to go and see at the cinema every time. Star Wars? Nah. Lord of the Rings? Fuck right off. Round my way, Batman beats them all to a bloody pulp.

Such a big occasion, then, demands going an extra mile so it was a case of trooping up to Manc city centre to the IMAX. Having never been to one before, I made the fatal error of sitting a tad too close to the screen. Not being a Hammerhead Shark, the screen was wider than my field of vision. Still, a minor quibble as the visuals did look that much better.

However, the sound at times was a bit muddy, something which I've since come to the conclusion (having read online of other people having similar complaints) is down to duff mixing.

The film itself: eight years after punching the Joker through a vortex into the Twilight Zone, which caused everyone to forget he ever existed for some reason, Bruce Wayne is a shadow of his former self. Crime is at an all-time low in Gotham City and our hero is physically knackered out from his nocturnal exploits, reduced to being the Howard Hughes of his town. To make matters worse, some cat burglar nicks a bunch of pearls that belonged to his mother.

Luckily, motivation to sort his shit out is coming in the form of Bane, a slab of muscle in a mask. When Commissioner Gordon cops for a smackdown, Brucie Boy finally stops moping and gets the costume out of the cupboard. Hi-jinx, plot twists and drama follow, of which you'll have to go and see to find out about.

How did I feel coming out, over two-and-a-half hours later? Initially, very impressed. As you'd expect from the series, it looks great and it seems Christopher Nolan was given an open budget judging by the cast he put together. Alongside the usual candidates (Bale, Caine, Freeman, Oldman), Matthew Modine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and, oddly, Tom Conti crop up and all get their fair share of scenes to themselves. Michael Caine especially gets a couple of high emotion moments, but I've found it a little hard to take him seriously since this.

Then, of course, there's Tom Hardy as Bane and Ann Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. When they first announced Bane would be the bad guy, I was a bit doubtful: in the comics, he's a seven foot tall, 400lb mountain of muscle constantly being pumped full of drugs to keep him so. With Nolan's more realistic take, such an approach was never going to happen. However, Hardy still comes across as pretty menacing and looks the part, stomping around the scene, executing mooks who fail him. My only complaint is that his odd accent is very hard to understand at points and at other times verges on camp. A good villain in any case. Hathaway is fine - helped by there being no difference in Selina Kyle and her costumed other side. But yes, let's get the confession done here - I did think her arse looked good when she was riding the Bat-Bike.

Having such a wide cast does have its costs, though. Morgan Freeman essentially sleepwalks his part in, which isn't that significant anyways and Batman himself seems to barely star in his own franchise at points. Gordon-Levitt, on the other hand, may make himself a Hollywood career after doing an excellent job as Blake, an idealistic young cop. The fact he's a handsome devil will probably help too.

In general, the storyline does a decent enough job tying everything together as a finale. More attentive comic fans may well see a big twist coming, but will also love some of the little references (a joke  about a "killer croc" in the sewers is one). However... waking up the day after viewing, my brain was full of "hold on, how did...?" type questions. There are some fairly huge plot holes to be found throughout and for my money, Batman doesn't quite do enough detecting.

All the various plot holes and things that don't make sense would be valid except for one thing: this is a film about a man in a bat suit up against a slab of muscle in a metal mask. Yes, yes, Nolan has tried to import a whole wedge of realism into proceedings but the bottom line is that we're talking about characters from comic books. Suspension of disbelief is pretty much a prerequisite, I would have thought.

Without doubt, the studios will start up a new Batman - we can only hope they spare us yet another origin tale - and I don't envy who gets the job helming it. I'd imagine they may get it started soon if rumours of a Justice League film are to be believed. Flaws and all, Nolan created an excellent trilogy of films and Christian Bale deserves credit too for making a great Batman and Bruce Wayne, even if the voice is still too easy to mock.