

Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle defied my expectations. No longer a dunderhead "enforcer", but one of the criminal masterminds behind "Gotham's Reckoning", coupled with a physical dominance strong enough to send shivers down your spine. Tom Hardy as Bane was quite simply, terrifying.

Bale added emotional depth to the character - a plot point that I think went astray in The Dark Knight - picking up from the development made in Batman Begins. Christian Bale was typically brilliant as Batman, and I felt that Bruce Wayne was more heavily embraced in this final installment. I felt that this was a flaw of Nolan's other films - the vision of emotion was there, but it was hollow. Perhaps what set this film apart from his other films was that it had a genuine emotional heartbeat. Just getting out of it, I've never been so awake. Christopher Nolan has outdone himself with this one.
