5. The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
The Dark Knight Rises is the equivalent to George Lucas's Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, in terms of storytelling mechanics. What does that mean? It means it created a far more epic but clunky plot with a lot more characters and some unnecessary sub plots - all because it was forced to end. Ending a trilogy or franchise is just as difficult as starting one because the pressure to end fluently, satisfyingly and believably, is difficult to get right from a writing perspective. The Dark Knight Rises was completely epic in every sense but with all its epic it started to lose sight of its supreme focus that Nolan managed to master with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. This is all making it sound like The Dark Knight Rises was underwhelming and failed to deliver. Far from it. Nolan's finale was a compelling drama and one that ultimately completed the director's vision of moving away from any comic tones the previous Batman movies had subtly or un-subtly incorporated. The amount of hype surrounding this was insane. I dare say no other movie in the history of film had this amount of hype surrounding it. Therefore this was always going to be a factor that could have caused it all to crumble. The hype surrounding how Bane would be portrayed by Tom Hardy, would his voice audio be understandable, and ultimately would Hardy top Ledger's performance were just some contributory factors adding to all the pre-release intensity. And the answer is no Hardy does not match Ledger, but that is not Hardy's fault. It is just Bill Finger's creation the Joker, is by far the most complex and tragic villain to exist in the Batman universe. Maybe If I was aspiring to be more daring I would have placed one of Burton's films in third place but that I cannot do. Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises just completes the whole package. Its contemporary relevance in its themes of urban warfare, cyber terrorism and the ever changing advancements in today's technology, is far to relevant to just discard. When fans will soon be able to watch the trilogy back-to-back, they will more than likely agree that Nolan's trilogy is a complete beacon of inspiration for any future aspiring comic adaptations and a fitting piece of cinematic filmmaking that highlights the visual capabilities and importance of the 2-D format over 3-D.