The first reviews for 'The Dark Knight Rises' have begun to trickle in, with hardly a negative word in sight. It was always expected that Christopher Nolan would deliver something hugely accomplished to sign off from the Batman franchise, though by the looks of it, he could be taking some awards with him too.
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine got the ball rolling by writing, "Potent and provocative, The Dark Knight Rises is the King Daddy of summer movie epics", while Robbie Collin of the UK's Daily Telegraph gushed, "After a breathless, bravura final act, a nuclear payload of catharsis brings The Dark Knight Rises, and Nolan's trilogy, to a ferociously satisfying close". Some rumors have suggested that Batman could meet his endgame against the terrifying Bane, played by Tom Hardy, and most reviews hint at some sort of epic final sequence. Xan Brooks of the Guardian newspaper joined the long line of critics praising the movie, writing, "The dark knight duly rises for the bruising final stanza in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, a satisfying saga of revolution and redemption that ends the tale on a note of thunder", while Todd MCCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter provided perhaps the most positive review, saying, "Big-time Hollywood filmmaking at its most massively accomplished, this last instalment of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy makes everything in the rival Marvel universe look thoroughly silly and childish". The movie currently holds a 95 per cent rating on the reviews aggregating website Rotten Tomatoes - 'The Dark Knight' holds 94 per cent, while Nolan's first movie 'Batman Begins' has 85 per cent.
Though' Ice Age 4' took over $45 million to take the box-office No.1 spot this weekend, 'The Dark Knight Rises' will obliterate all competition when it opens on Friday (July 20, 2012). The questions are, firstly, will it outdo the massive grossing 'Avengers' film, and secondly, will it become the first superhero movie to win an Oscar?