Baldrick44

Christopher Nolan has finished up the Batman series in remarkable style. Where Batman Begins was about conquering fears and the Dark Knight was about traversing the fine line between order and madness; the Dark Knight Rises seems to be a movie about compromise and acceptance.

It has been eight years since the death of Harvey Dent and Gotham has settled down into some semblance of peace. The main instigators of this crime-free age, however, have many scars for their trouble. Bruce Wayne ( Christian Bale ) is a reclusive cripple- with shot knees and scar tissue riddling his body. Commissioner Gordon ( Gary Oldman ) has found his career is now burdened by the lie that he and Batman wove to keep Harvey Dent's reputation spotless- so much so that he is separated from his family. Alfred ( Michael Caine ) despairs about Bruce Wayne's welfare- fearing that his master wants little more than a grand death. And Lucius Fox ( Morgan Freeman ) is attempting to stave Wayne Enterprises from bankruptcy thanks to all the money that Wayne has invested into Miranda Tate's ( newcomer Marion Cotillard ) renewable energy source.

However a new threat emerges in the guise of Bane ( Tom Hardy )- a massive masked mercenary who has a connection to Batman's past. He claims to want a new Gotham where the 'have-nots' can rule over the 'haves' and bring true justice to the rich and corrupt. Alongside him is Selina Kyle ( Anne Hathaway ) a cat burglar who motives are enigmatic at best. It is therefore up to the old guard as well as idealistic cop John Blake ( Joseph Gordon-Levitt ) to try and hold Gotham together.

Nolan has gone for bigger is better in his third movie of the trilogy and it certainly comes off as an sweeping, epic movie. Christian Bale probably gives his best performance as Bruce Wayne and Batman and the scenes he has with Caine's Alfred are particularly moving. Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman are both very good also- with the scenes between Oldman and Gordon-Levitt ( probably the best of the newcomers ) nice to watch.

But as good as the film is...it doesn't really seem to cover much more new ground. This isn't really helped by their choice of villain. Hardy does a good job as Bane, but he isn't helped by his breathing mask which makes him, at times, hard to understand. Furthermore, while Bane is shown to be dangerous, Nolan seems to be forcing the viewer to show how dangerous he is. Without the personal and affable menace of Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul or the twisted and frightening charisma of Ledger's Joker, Bane's most menacing moments come before the real action kicks off. Furthermore, it's difficult to see why anyone would want to follow him- utopia or not.

As for Catwoman, Hathaway is very good in the role, but her character seems to be frustrating at times- seeming to just sit on the fence for the heck of it. Cotilliard's Miranda Tate is a fairly bland character that doesn't add much to the proceedings either.

Furthermore, while the movie is indeed epic in scope, it sometimes gets lost in its own arcs in a way that the Dark Knight never did. The twists and turns that would have been seen as remarkable in the Dark Knight in this movie came across as almost unnecessary.

Begins was a tight film that revolved around a single plot arc and holds together well. The Dark Knight was the true noir epic- a sweeping tale about morality and order in a insane city. The Dark Knight Rises is a flawed masterpiece- it's achievements not quite living up to the ambitions that it perhaps had. However, any Batman movie directed by Christopher Nolan is probably a good one. This is no exception.

Sequels are a business fraught with difficulty. If you don't have a clear idea where the franchise is going from the start, they often get lost in a myriad of new characters and plot holes. Such is what happened to the Matrix sequels and such is what has happened here in Terminator: Salvation.

It is the Year 2018, and Skynet's Teminator program is wiping out the human population that is left post-Judgement Day. In this war scenario we find John Connor ( Christian Bale )- not the messianic leader yet of the Resistance but a leader of his own pocket of hardened veterans. However his faith in his mission is shaken by the arrival of a new figure- Marcus Wright ( Sam Worthington ) whose own agenda and past will force Connor to form an uneasy alliance with him in order to save Connor's father- Kyle Reece ( Anton Yelchin ).

Terminator Salvation is not a sci fi/action film- but rather a futuristic war movie that doesn't really add up. By making this movie only M rated ( PG-13 if you are in the states ) the war against the machines is reduced to something quite...tame. Terminators no longer are the ruthless killing machines that they once were and instead are quite content tossing people around a lot. The whole idea of a brutal world seems silly as it lacks the brutal bit. Why don't the terminators simply kill the marines instead of tossing them against walls? Why doesn't Skynet simply slaughter the humans as soon as they arrive? To their credit Worthington and Yelchin are quite good in their roles, giving Marcus and Kyle some good scenes together and managing to find something in what is a pretty dull story. Christian Bale on the other hand is waaaay too intense. Every line is delivered with a frown and a grimace and he doesn't seem to get emotional at all- except to yell.

Terminator: Salvation would always get compared to 1,2 & 3- but they've tipped the balance in the machines favour. In doing so the movie doesn't become more interesting, but less.

Richard Curtis' first 'non romantic comedy film' is really another romantic comedy film- it's just that the romantic bit gets swamped within 20 other sub-plots so you try and not notice.

The Boat That Rocked sees Carl ( Tom Surridge ) go aboard Radio Rock- a pirate radio station owned by Quentin ( Bill Nighy ) whose DJ's (Phillip Semour Hoffman, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Chris O' Dowd, Rhys Darby, etc. ) broadcast 24-hour rock and roll music to the UK. They are adored by the populace but hated by the government, including the Minister of Communications ( Kenneth Branagh ) and his chief subordinate ( Jack Davenport ) who aim to shut them down.

If that was the extent of the plot then it would probably be a 100 mins film. However the Boat That Rocked has so many little sub-plots- many seeming like excuses to put in another montage or cameo cast appearance that the time has ballooned out to 154mins and it does tell at times. Furthermore, while Richard Curtis is entitled to look back on these days with an air of nostalgia, he sometimes seems to get a little too weepy eyed with the story.

But these faults are more than made up for in the performances; all of which are good- and some are outstanding. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Count is a lovable character who approaches everything with great gusto, while Chris O' Dowd's Simple Simon has a wonderful part in the middle section of the movie which brings a little bit of emotion to what is a pretty emotionally vacant movie. Nick Frost is cheeky as Dr Dave and finally Rhys Darby- fresh from Flight of the Conchords- simply shines in his role as the unpopular and daggy Angus who nonetheless gets arguably the best line in the whole movie.

Overall the Boat That Rocked is silly and entertaining fun. It does get overweight by a looong script, but the soundtrack and the cast are good enough to carry it through.