Michael Caine as Alfred in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)
In his twilight years, the legendary Michael Caine has become the unexpected mascot of Nolan’s movies: he’s featured in all six of Nolan’s films since “Batman Begins,” proving a reliable supporting hand from that film through to a fine turn in “Interstellar.” They’re all typically strong performances (even the one as brief as in “Inception”) but perhaps Caine’s finest Nolan hour so far came in “The Dark Knight Rises.” Of all the relationships Bruce Wayne has had throughout Nolan’s trilogy, none have been as important as that with Alfred, his most significant father figure. As the man who raised him, and promised his parents to look out for the young man for the rest of his life, Alfred has grappled with Bruce’s desire to save Gotham even as it so very often comes at the risk of his own life. And in “The Dark Knight Rises,” Alfred reaches the limit of what he can stand by and watch Bruce do. With his body battered, spirit waning and public image still tarnished, Bruce is very much on a path of martyrdom early in the movie (and seemingly pretty much suicidal), something the world-wise Alfred recognizes all too well, and he will have no part of it. When he announces to Bruce that he can no longer in good conscience be with him — and reveals at the same time the contents of Rachel’s letter from “The Dark Knight” as a last resort to get Master Wayne to move on from his plans to return as Batman — it’s a crushing scene. And Caine is absolutely shattering in it, delivering one of the best pieces of acting in the entire trilogy, giving the film a much-needed emotional core, and the trilogy a lovely arc for Bruce and Alfred.
Anne Hathaway as Selena Kyle in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012)
As we said, women in Nolan’s films can get something of a rough ride, but the director’s final Bat-film proved to be the major exception to that rule, as it let him deploy the most famous of Bruce Wayne’s female counterparts: Selena Kyle, AKA Catwoman. Anne Hathaway landed the role (beating out Keira Knighltey, Jessica Biel, Kate Mara, Charlotte Riley and Gemma Arterton), and like Ledger, wasn’t a choice that fans embraced at first, her public persona being quite some distance away from previous inhabitants of the catsuit likeMichelle Pfeiffer, Eartha Kitt or Halle Berry. But that turned out to be the point: Nolan’s take on Kyle was as radical a reinvention of the character as his Batman and Joker had been before that. The only way that the idea of having nine lives plays in here is as Hathaway’s Kyle as a survivor, one who’ll fight and scrap and do whatever it takes to walk away without a scratch. Her ability to drop in and out of a character (witness that deft, sexy switch into her real self when Bruce Wayne catches her stealing his mother’s pearls, or her transition into screaming damsel in distress so she can sneak out of a shootout) mirrors Bale’s performance in the first film, but she’s a better manipulator, a better people person, even if she doesn’t really like other people. Most people, anyway: Hathaway really sells both the genuine amorality of Kyle in the early stages, and her growing, genuine admiration, and seemingly more, for Wayne and Batman. “The Dark Knight Rises” is, while divisive, arguably the best-acted of the trilogy, but it’s Hathaway that walks away with the honors.
Honorable Mentions: Of the cast of “Following,” Lucy Russell is the best as The Blonde — she’d go on to star in Eric Rohmer‘s “The Lady And The Duke” before cameoing in “Batman Begins.” In “Memento,” the aforementionedCarrie Anne-Moss and Joe Pantoliano are both great, while “Insomnia” has a nice supporting turn from Nicky Katt, and another from the great Paul Dooley.
We might argue that “Batman Begins” is the most inconsistently acted of the Bat-movies, but franchise stalwarts Michael Caine and Gary Oldman are both strong, and Rutger Hauer‘s good value as a corporate villain. Aside fromChristian Bale‘s typically solid, unshowy work in “The Prestige,” we’d also pick out Andy Serkis and, in another example of Nolan’s facility for casting, David Bowie.
Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal are both good in “The Dark Knight,” while Marion Cotillard makes an effectively ethereal villain, of sorts, in “Inception.” Finally, one certainly shouldn’t ignore Tom Hardy‘s boldly bonkers turn in “The Dark Knight Rises,” which sees the actor performing with his eyes and physicality alone.
