"The Dark Knight Rises" Review

Now, everyone I know it's late, but I just got home from seeing "The Dark Knight Rises." I also know that the recent events that took place opening night have scared a lot of people away from movie theaters and all I can say is that this is definitely worth seeing. Not trying to be insensitive, but this is the kind of thing that would usually scare me but after all of this and a lot of thinking I decided I wouldn't let a homicidal manic keep me from enjoying my life as much as possible and I was going to go see this movie. Also...I'm a HUGE Batman fan.

In all fairness I know it's hard to sit through a movie that's almost three hours long, but if we all could make it through every single Harry Potter movie then we can sit through another Batman flick. Of course, this stars Christian Bale as the billionaire Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman who protects the fictional Gotham City from evildoers. Michael Kaine still takes his rightful place as Alfred, where he will forever hold my heart. I am aware that a lot of people were iffy about Anne Hathaway playing Cat Woman a.k.a. Selina Kyle, and I'll admit I was as well no matter how much I absolutely adore this woman. Bane is played by Tom Hardy, and of course, Gary Oldman continues to play the famous Commissioner Gordon.

As far as the plot for "The Dark Knight Rises" goes, the most basic way I can put it without giving away too much seeing as it's opening weekend is that Bruce Wayne has been out of the game for eight years when Bane (renowned terrorist and mercenary) comes into the picture, promising revolution through terror in Gotham City, completely overwhelming the local police force. Bruce Wayne, even though it wasn't easy, decides to become Batman once again to save his fair city he had fought to protect for so long. During his eight year "vacation" his company had been seriously neglected and he loses everything except his gorgeous home.

But, of course, as Bruce Wayne always does. He falls into the clutches of yet another woman, as well as Cat Woman. One thing I can definitely say about this trilogy is that the bad guys are what I can best describe as based in reality. Bane wasn't a science experiment gone wrong like in the original, but an injured man who needed the mask to be able to function. Cat Woman wasn't a woman brought back to life by her cat, but was a very talented cat burglar who wanted a fresh start and a clean slate. I have to say I really do appreciate the "realness" of the characters and their complexity, and the actors and actresses in this movie have really outdone themselves. This was one of the best performances I have seen in a long time.

Now, I will admit this. A few parts of the story seemed to drag on just a little bit for me, but I do feel in some stories it is necessary to be able to give you the complex characters that we all come to know and love. "T.D.K.R." was no different. The length of time they took to make sure we knew these characters was well used and even though I felt it was a little slow in some areas I wasn't disappointed. There were no holes in the story begging to be filled. Everything we needed to know was there, and there was even a slight twist to indulge in our curiosities.

From one human being to another though, I would definitely say that anyone who really wants to see something they think, as well as I do, that they would thoroughly enjoy that this is worth the time and the slight amount of anxiety anyone may have at stepping into a movie theater right now. I know it's tough when you have so much fear in you that you can't even go out and enjoy something as simple as a movie. But one thing I learned from going out and doing it myself is that we can't let anyone dictate how we live our lives and we can't let anyone keep us from enjoying the simple things in life that make it more tolerable.