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What's it about?
Eight years after Batman aka Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) defeats the Joker, but loses his love Rachel Dawes, he withdraws into a shell. Gotham is at peace, having used the Harvey Dent act to put away members of notorious organised crime groups, and so Wayne believes the city no longer needs him and chooses to stay within the confines of Wayne manor. However he is jolted back into action after his fingerprints are stolen by femme fatale Selina Kyle aka Catwoman (Anne Hathaway), and a new terrorist leader Bane (Tom Hardy) surfaces. Wayne decides to don his suit again, much to the chagrin of his trusted aide and butler, Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) but finds support from old friends (Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox) and new (Joseph Gordon-Levitt as officer John Blake, Marion Cotillard as Wayne's romantic interest, Miranda Tate).
The new additions to the cast are impressive. Hathaway is a revelation, Cotillard smoulders her way through and Joseph is extremely likeable as the earnest cop who won't give up on Batman or Gotham. Caine's Alfred rises above being simply the geriatric sidekick with the witty lines, and his scenes with Bale are bound to leave you with a lump in your throat. Bale, half anger, half angst and all awe-inspiring, puts in a performance that's going to be hard to live up to, for anyone who chooses to don that suit and cape again. Hardy's Bane is a menacing foe, though if there was one huge grouse, it is that he is barely audible in parts, thanks to an already thick English accent and that darned mask.
Performances apart, there's also the sexy Batpod that's turned over to Catwoman, and The Bat - an armoured aircraft that more than makes up for the absence of the Batmobile. Gotham City, as a wintry wasteland, is beautifully captured. One also gets a hint of political references buried under dialogue, like Selina Kyle's bitter warning to Wayne about the haves and the have-nots (Occupy Wall Street?) or Bane's call for the overthrow of the government and establishment of an anarchist state (Arab Spring?).
What to do?
We won't be surprised if you're exclaiming 'Holy Nolan!' instead of 'Holy Batman!', when the credits roll. Watch 'The Dark Knight Rises'. It's Batman-datory.
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