FILM REVIEW - The Dark Knight Rises (Spoiler-Free)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan, David S. Goyer (based on the comics by Bob Kane)
Starring: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama
Certificate: 12A
Release Year: 2012

This film has made such an impact, and it came out so long ago, that it's a miracle we haven't got round to reviewing it yet. But we've finally seen it, and it's brilliant.

The Dark Knight Rises is the final film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. It takes place 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight and starts with Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) as a recluse. Gotham has entered a crime-free golden age, and it seems the caped crusader is no longer needed. But then a mysterious masked figure known as Bane (Tom Hardy) arrives in Gotham, intent on reeking havoc on the city.

With this being Nolan's final Batman, there was alot of hype, and alot more people skeptical as to whether it could live up to the standards of it's predecessors. But never fear! It more than does, and provides one of the most complex and creative superhero films to date.

Normally I would pick out a particular actor who did particularly well, but in this incredibly talented cast this is nearly impossible. Christian Bale was fantastic as always, and Tom Hardy played a wonderfully unsettling villain, especially considering the standard set in the previous film by the late Heath Ledger. Possibly the biggest surprise was Anne Hathaway. With credits to her name such as The Princess Diaries, she didn't seem the obvious choice to play the seductive Selina Kyle. But her performance was very impressive and fresh. I'm running out of superlatives.

As to be expected from a Nolan film, the plot was complicated enough to keep the audience intrigued and excited, but doesn't overly confuse them. Excellently written, and brilliant cinematography.

Overall, epic. Don't miss it.

10/10

Tom :)

FILM REVIEW - The Amazing Spider-Man

Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by: James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent, Steve Kloves (based on the comics by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans
Genre: Action/Sci-Fi(ish)
Certificate: 12A
Release Year: 2012

The Amazing Spider-Man is named wrong. A better suited name would be The Slightly Above Average Spider-Man, or the The Just Managing To Step Above Mediocrity Spider-Man. Admittedly, these titles don't have the same ring to them...

From the outset, this film had alot of potential. It had the lizard (which hadn't been done in the original trilogy) and it had Andrew Garfield. But above all, it aimed to reinvent the Spidey franchise as a teen movie series, I didn't mind the first two being kids movies, but Spider-Man 3 was painfully childish.

So let's take these factors individually. The lizard looked fantastic, and Rhys Ifans did a brilliant job playing him and his human version, Dr. Curt Connors. He was definately one of the most believable characters, which is no mean feat considering he was playing a crazy scientist who injected himself with reptile juice and turned into Godzilla.

Andrew Garfield - again brilliant. He had a hard act to follow after Tobey Maguire hung up the skin-tight red and blue suit, but has certainly lived up to expectation. I've been a fan of Garfield since seeing The Social Network. This isn't because I enjoyed The Social Network - watching it was like having my eyes gouged out with a pair of gardening sheers - but because Garfield's performance made the film nearly bearable. Good job.

Finally, the change of target audience.Or the confusion over whether there was one? To some extent, The Amazing Spider-Man did feel more like a teen movie in that it focused alot on school life and thee romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacey (Emma Stone). But, in all honesty, this was handled quite High School Musical-y, and the level of violence wasn't very different to the original film which left me confused about how this had earned a 12A certificate.

So, was it worth rebooting the Spider-Man franchise? I have to say yes, but not on the merits of this film, but more on the downfall of Spider-Man 3. This new interpretation is pretty similar to it's predecessor, but because of this it still retains the same satire and playfulness that made the other series so popular.

6/10

What did you think of The Amazing Spider-Man? Let us know in the comments...
Tom :) 

FILM REVIEW - Avengers Assemble (Spoiler-free)

Directed by: Joss Whedon
Written by:  Joss Whedon
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston
Release Year: 2012
Genre: Action
Certificate: 12A

What do you get when you give a 12 year old boy a litre of coke and 50 blue smarties, then tell him to write a list of everything he wants in a film? The answer is Avengers Assembled. There is more explosions then a popcorn machine on overdrive. And yes this is a good thing. And when there isn't any explosions there is sexy fighting from black widow or a massive green hulk smashing everything to pieces.


The film also has some memorable and funny quotes and scenes and it is hard to choose my favorite. It is well directed and written throughout and I never felt like there was a bad line or moment.


The story line is alright, but then with a film like this a lot of action sequences would suffer with an in depth story line so this was not needed. Some things that bothered me in the film was how powerful Iron man, The Hulk and especially Thor are compared to the rest of the gang. I mean, what can Captain America do, really? He is a slightly stronger then a strong human and his shield would be better off in say Thor's other hand. Obviously paint it so it looks less like a giant lolly pop then we can kill off Captain America. 


Another slight moan is that although Hulk did look really good in this movie there was still a couple of moments where he looked unnatural (well apart from being a giant green man, you get what I mean though right).


I would defiantly recommend this film and I might even be one of the people who goes back and watches the re-release with an extra 30 minutes (if it is released), because it is that good. 


9/10

Kieron :O