Dark Knight Rises Review | News | nuts.co.uk

So let's get one thing out of the way - if you're one of the tens of thousands of people that have already booked tickets to see The Dark Knight Rises when it finally hits cinemas this weekend, then fear not - you'll not only love it so much you'll cry with happiness, you'll also definitely want to be Batman when you get home, and possibly try to dress up like him. Although that might be just us.

Opening with a visually astonishing air-bound action sequence that made us want to jump around the cinema and hug the person next to us,  Dark Knight Rises doesn't really let up for any of the remaining two and a half hours, in fact it fairly flies by. The third Batman movie with British director Christopher Nolan at the helm, you'll note several simliarities between this and another of his films; the awesome Inception. This may not surprise you given at least four cast members are in both, but Dark Knight Rises has a very Inception-esque feel to it, albeit with more guns, bat-helicopters, maniacs in masks and Anne Hathaways in skin tight catsuits.

We'd advise spending a few hours re-watching the first two films in the series before you head to see this one, not only are they both ace but they'll bring you back up to speed with a lot of details that make up the plot (and help with the flashbacks) - but really this stands alone even if you've not seen the prequels. It's hard to see a better film being released this year if we're honest; Tom Hardy's villain Bane will give you nightmares for a couple of weeks at least (even if he does sound a bit like Churchill the insurance dog with asthma) Anne Hathaway is as sultry and sexy a Catwoman as you can imagine, and Nolan's using of America's steel city of Pittsburgh makes for a gritty and glamorous Gotham City (until he blows it all to bits.)

Did we mention it has a couple of huge twists toward the end that will make you silently mouth the letters 'WTF' and spill your Maltesers on the floor too? Well it does. So let's run through the checklist: Guns, bombs, sexy girls in leather, cool gadgets, plot twists, bridges/buildings getting blown up, Batman, Catwoman, a frankly pant-wetting baddie, AND loads of fights involving martial arts? Dark Knight Rises has it all. Film of the year by a country mile.

NUTS RATING: FIVE STARS