Films of the week

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 2002 Channel 4, 6.35pm ÌÌÌÌÌ

Tom Cruise reprises his role as IMF agent Ethan Hawke in this follow-up to the cult 1996 film that spawned a seemingly never-ending raft of sequels (the seventh will be released later this year). In a plot borrowed from Hitchcock’s Notorious, this film follows Hawke as he tries to prevent villain Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) from stealing a deadly virus and starting a pandemic by seducing Ambrose’s ex, played by Thandiwe Newton.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 2012

Sky Showcase, 9pm

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The final film in Christopher Nolan’s excellent Batman trilogy is intriguing, as it’s almost a superhero film without a superhero. Eight years have passed since the events of The Dark Knight, and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) is living a Howard Hughes-like existence in his manor. But the emergence of Bane (Tom Hardy), a masked terrorist, drives Bruce out of self-imposed exile. It’s a ferociously satisfying close.