Movie Review: 'The Dark Knight Rises'

The Dark Knight Rises. It rises to the fine filming and super story-telling but doesn’t rise to the expectations - this is what I would say in one line. The movie takes its own time with some not-so-needed stuff and extends till 2 hours and 45 minutes, allowing you to frequently realize your left-over pop corn, which shouldn’t happen in a Batman movie.

From the climax of The Dark Knight, this movie leaps forward by 8 years. Time screws everyone and Batman is no exception. Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale), the Batman has gone into oblivion, having taken the heat of Harvey Dent’s murder. He is seen having unshaven whiskers, limping in his age-old mansion with a stick support. He looks feeble and pitiable and doesn’t look even remotely close to someone who once had a charisma of a super hero. Bruce lives a life of a recluse with his only companion, his elderly butler, Alfred (Michael Caine). If I am to exaggerate a bit then I’d say that you would hardly find any age difference between both, at least initially. Moreover, when Bruce tells him that the world doesn’t need Batman anymore, you would sadly agree with him.

The bad boy, Bane (Tom Hardy) however is a beefy mammoth with a mask and is really good in his performance. It is no big deal for him to thrash Batman like a laundry man does to clothes on a rock. Once I actually wished during Bane’s enjoyment of Batman’s bonking if the Hulk were there to crush Bane to dust and help Batman get up on his feet. Trust me, even sexy Catwoman, Selena Kyle (Anne Hathaway) would have given a good fight to Bane with her exceptionally flexible moves.

Now with all the respect to Batman’s commitment to service his city Gotham and his proven previous achievements with his out-of-the-world stunts, I have no hesitation in saying that Batman looks really hopeless this time for his sheer lack of energy and smartness. He saves Gotham from the earth-shattering nuclear explosion as it was purely director Christopher Nolan's wish to make him do that as a revered hero. The eye-catchers however are – couple of bike stunts as one must expect, Anne Hathaway’s beguiling charm, the jaw-dropping scene when Bane escapes from an air-plane, finely shot scene of converting football ground into a dry valley while leaving the audience in the stadium dumbstruck. Last but not the least, I very dearly missed my hero, Heath Ledger, played as a joker in the last sequel who was an unbearable pain in the Batman’s back.

Overall, it is a very good movie but I am really disappointed for the lack of super-heroism in Batman. And I am not a buyer of that nonsense crap that it is due to his age, so please spare me. You can undoubtedly go and take a treat of some mind-blowing action stuff.

Movie Review: 'Cocktail'

It’s a typical Indian love-triangle story wherein whoever goes saintly and does sacrifice, is rewarded at last. It’s the same old wine in a new bottle with an attractive label. New bottle is freshness in approach and attractive label is script-supportive eye-candy.

The movie starts with a seasoned flirt, Gautam (Saif) leering at an air-hostess like a trapped dog at a bone. He is a successful charmer staying in London and has always managed to get beautiful babes to play with at his will. He is a man who doesn’t spare ladies even during his professional times. This real jerk of the first order bumps into a lovely lady, Meera (Diana) who is a fresh-faced Indian beauty with all traditional Indian values and understanding. He tries his luck with her but she ducks him and gets rid of him like one does to cow dung stuck to his shoes. Gautam on one hand is a kind of guy who often exhibits himself as a proud womanizer, who doesn’t believe in melodrama and frequently shows during the movie that he’s quite aware of all forms of it. Meera on the other hand is a ditched wife in a strange city. She stumbles across Veronica (Deepika) in a ladies’ room and gets a bedroom for herself in Veronica’s house. Veronica is supremely out-of-order daughter of a rich father, preferring to wear only tops in the house, is a wild party animal and the sexiest siren around. Meera and Veronica, despite their polar-opposite dispositions become best pals.

When known from Meera about the desperation Gautam has for girls, Veronica gives that salivating dog a chance and finds a good guy in him. Promptly she brings him in her house and gives him the access to her bed. Gautam lives the best boon that can ever be experienced on earth - staying with two sexy ladies in his sinking youth; sleeping with Veronica and trying to get mixed up with Meera who is already married. As a menacing monster, Gautam's mom (Dimple Kapadia) pops up surprisingly along with her brother (Boman Irani) to get her son married. To take her into confidence that her ageing prince has already chosen an Indian girl who is cut out for his family, Saif convinces Meera to be his girl. During the drama, Gautam gets clarity that he is a jerk with a heart. Meera ignores Gautam all the times before finally falling for him by his charms and for a change, genuine compliments. Parallelly, Veronica realizes of her growing love for Gautam and admits to him. But he, shameless as always, flatly denies of it and goes for Meera. Veronica goes typical heart-broken lover way but at the end, she makes herself ready to hoot for his ex-bedmate and ex-roommate.

I am happy to see Deepika emitting a lot of performance as a leggy bombshell with her wanton attitude. Most times, Saif does justice to his joker-stuff, mainly in the first half and is actually funny. Bratty character is well-suited to Saif’s personality and a bit ill-suited to his age but he justifies his character fairly well with some real acting. Dimple's work is okay and not worth mentioning. Boman as usual is a fun as Saif's maternal uncle. Even though Deepika is a show-stopper, Diana looks stunningly beautiful and does a very good job. Her flying hair strands across her smiley, innocent face during ‘Tumhi ho bandhu’ is a still that is capable of competing with any of Deepika’s generous skin-show feast. The movie doesn’t allow you to know more about the characters except their typical characteristics and their random mingling. So you can blame the script which looks half-heartedly written. The movie is a fun to watch in most pieces of it but plot-less story doesn’t hold them tightly enough and gives you whatever is cooked at the end.