Batman.

Kitty and I decided to do a switch in the alternate day blogging so I could be a geek and write a full review about The Dark Knight Rises. We were up bright and early, enjoyed some gluten free cereal for breakfast, and headed out to the cinema at half past ten. The cinema wasn't as busy as we thought it would be when we arrived, considering it was only the second day of its release, but it soon filled up.

The film was immense. I've literally been waiting for it to come out ever since I saw The Dark Knight when I was in America four years ago. Obviously I don't want to give the plot away for those who haven't seen it so I'll try and stay very generalised. People have been moaning that there were quite a few new characters, but they all added to the plot line. Tom Hardy was brilliant as Bane and Marion Cotillard's character proved to be a huge twist to the plot. Michael Caine had all the emotional scenes and Gary Oldman was outstanding and cool as ever. Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character was an interesting addition and proved many of our theories correct. Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was also excellent, new level of respect for her. In our discussion the previous evening we had joked about how Cillian Murphy would probably make a cameo appearance like he usually does in Christopher Nolan films, so all four of us burst out laughing when he turned up.

The film itself nicely rounded off Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy but also left it pretty open ended for more without leaving any questions unanswered. Don't know how this was possible but it was. There was a lot more emotion in this film, coming mainly from Michael Caine's Alfred and his relationship with Bruce Wayne. Christian Bale did a good job of balancing all the strange emotions that come with being Batman and kept up his hilarious Batman voice throughout of course. The fights between Batman and Bane were at times almost painful to watch, because they were quite clearly painful for Batman. He becomes a different type of hero in this film, having taken on the responsibility for Harvey Dent's death at the end of the previous film. Christopher Nolan definitely likes to play with the notion of terrorism and heroism, portraying both from different angles.

Here's my one tiny hint and personal highlight to the film. At one point, near the end Gary Oldman reads out the famous final lines from Dickens' Tale of Two Cities: "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known." As someone who had to study this book, the meaning behind this was an excellent addition. And for those assuming things from reading that, you're wrong. But I promise once you figure it out, it makes the end of the film so excellent. Kitty and Emma greatly appreciated it once I had explained the meaning behind the words, and the twist at the end of Tale of Two Cities. I'll say no more. Except that, I predicted that someone would reveal themselves to be called Robin in the film and I was once again right! Always right.

Post cinema, we went for lunch at a really nice vegetarian restaurant called Fresh, before wandering through Toronto to check out the area of Kensington Market. This was a cool area full of quirky shops. Toronto is very much a young people city. We stopped at a cafe where the two people behind the counter happened to be English, one was from Preston and one was from London, so that was entertaining!

After wondering around for a while, we made our way back to Emma's as it was about five o clock, stopping to pick up a duck in Chinatown on our way.

James had gone Batman crazy and wanted to start watching the Tim Burton Batmans so we watched the one with Jack Nicholson's joker in and had a nice simple dinner of rice noodles and bits of duck. Kitty also made her famous gluten free chocolate and peanut butter cookies so we were all very happy!!