So in the final film in ‘Batman v Superman – The FilmGeeky Cinematic Battle‘ is the 2012 finale in the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy – The Dark Knight Rises, set 8 years after the events of the Dark Knight.

The death of Harvey Dent has led to the creation of the Dent Act – a set of increased powers for Gotham’s law enforcement that has allowed them to hugely reduce the amount of crime in the city.

Bruce Wayne (again played by Christian Bale), has taken to a reclusive lifestyle following the high profile failure of a project to create a sustainable energy source, is struggling with the physical impacts of his time as Batman – the role that he walked away from following the death of Dent.

The film sees the emergence of a new criminal presence in the form of Tom Hardy’s Bane – a masked mercenary trained by the League of Shadows and now planning to complete their mission of destroying Gotham.

Additional new characters to this trilogy include Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) – a ‘cat’ burglar and jewel thief from Gotham, Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard) – a member of the board of Wayne Enterprise, and Officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – a Gotham police officer.

Returning to reprise their roles are the stalwarts of the Nolan Batman films – Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Commissioner Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox.

The film successfully draws the Nolan trilogy to a satisfying close. Much in keeping with the previous two films, it remains grounded in a sense of realism across the film and is at its best when exploring the relationships between characters and their development – the shifting relationship between Alfred and Bruce Wayne for one.

It’s a strong end to the trilogy that is hugely important in the cinematic existence of the Batman character having picked up from the mess that Batman and Robin had ended in.