I love the Nolan family batman interpretation and I don't mean in a being in the mood for dancing kind of way but just the gritty, real life tempering of action vs intimate dialogue driven scenes.

This one was always gonna have it tough, trying to follow an Oscar worthy performance and a tragic death was a tall order and I fear they tried too hard.

I'm not going to reveal spoilers as I'd already tried to limit myself from the Batman exposure in the run up to release. My biggest issue with the movie machine is their lack of faith in their ready made audience to make it to the cinema. Hello!!! It's friggin Batman, a final instalment of a massively successful trilogy. Those bums were always gonna hit the seats, why didn't you just show us the flaming bat logo and whip us into a frenzy with no other teasers until we actually saw the film?

Enough of that though, expect the obvious with some twists along the way and great action set pieces. The opening scene is incredible with it all live action, shot over the hills of Inverness. This scene makes me wonder if this is how the A-team could have been if it was serious. On the flip side of this 80's reference comes another with some scenes feeling reminisce of some Die Hard action. My cinema narcolepsy aside I don't believe being awake for that additional 10-20mins would have changed my opinion of the film. Yes I'll be watching it again but my instant hatred of Bane from the moment his voice over hit the screen, resonanting from an Imaginary shoulder boom box, staying too high in the mix to be believable, killed it for me. I know that no one could understand the original voice but maybe subtitles would have been better than the bastard droid of Yoda and Darth. Painted as the big villain of the piece the combination of voice and mask meant that even the presence and acting talent of Tom Hardy couldn't make you not laugh and be dismissive of him as the big bad wolf.

Having seen Hardy play a man of few words, ridiculous size and skilled fighter in the Warrior meant I was sorely disappointed in what we were presented with in Bane. Hardy is known for his villains and the psychotic after his Bronson portrayal but the fight scenes with Batman lacked a ferocity we know he can deliver and I wonder if this is due to the precious nature of fighting the bat suit.

The usual suspects deliver their character with their expected aplomb. The things to highlight are the new guys. Anne Hathaway was pretty decent as cat woman. What's not to love about the Jim Lee feel cat suit with her kitty vision goggles? Yes, I want these. Guys you will drool at her riding the bat pod and as for the acting she brings the cheek and sultry tease you want from your cat lady.

Marion Cotillard is as beautiful as ever but her final scene in the film is acted appalling badly.

The best bit about the whole film for me was Joseph Gordon Levitt. Am I biased, hell yes I am, between him looking hot in a 3 piece suit and his passion in creating Hit Record (if you creatives out there don't know what it is then check it out and watch the best terms and conditions video ever). To coin a Stan Lee-ism "he's a true believer" and this carries the film and a big driver for the story evolving and the legacy to come.

It's a well rounded conclusion to the Wayne saga with the much gossiped torch passing - spoiler? maybe, but you've all got theories. You're all going to go see this and I urge you to just decide for yourselves. Personally I feel let down and I hold the greedy studios and Sam Raimi responsible. For this film to be presented and made accessible to under 12s means it was always going to be lack lustre in the action thrilling department.

2nd Opinion - by Nick

OK so Batman is pretty much the only superhero I know more about. Meaning I actually read the comics rather than recalling my knowledge from early 90s cartoons like X-Men, Spider-Man and of course Batman too, or whatever a quick glance at wikipedia tells me (the shame of it). So I had high hopes for this movie as the last 2 Nolan Batman films have been stunning works, tho have never been convinced that Bane was a villain to light up the big screen.

It was always going to be tough to reach those dizzying heights for a 3rd film so I went in with a Godfather Part III level of anticipation. Meaning I expected it to be a better movie that most of the crap out there, but sucking in comparison to the other films. In conclusion I have to say that I agree with pretty much everything Kirsty said. I think i could still go as far to say that i loved the movie, but i have gripes with some unneccessarily sentimental scenes with Alfred and the ending could have been more ambiguous rather than spelling it out for you completely. The main problem with the movie is Bane's voice, not that he is difficult to understand (like he was in the originally screened footage) but that his voice is really overly theatrical and for me it just jars with his physical persona of being a heavyweight badass mercenary. The best introductions to the cast are Joseph Gordon Levitt's cop and Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Catwoman is about as good as it will ever get for that character on the big screen.

I actually had high hopes that Joseph Gordon Levitt's character was going to don the cowl for the part of the movie when Bruce Wayne is out of action, or some kind of alt universe Terry McGinnis (Batman Beyond) lead in story for a hypothetical future. Alas that wasn't the case, and neither was my hope of a Dark Knight Returns ending to the trilogy (go read it - and see how those 2 hopes couldnt possibly have co-existed. haha). One woulda been nice, but we do get a glance of the future which is a good future for us to sit and think about. Now bring on the porno version!

Time to delve back into the comics old and new (52), cos I really don't think anyone can bring anything more to the character of Batman as Chris Nolan has. The next best developments will come in the form of animated movies and improved storylines in the comics. And check out IGNs list of their 25 best Batman Graphic Novels for your homework till someone comes along and ruins my favourite superhero with something dumb like bat-nipples

SPOILERS

Everyone fucking knows who Batman is!