Grand...albeit a bit flawed!!

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2012)

Let me start at the outset by mentioning that I am a major Nolan fiend and had been looking forward to TDKR for almost a year now. But as I sat in the hall watching the end credits roll up, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unfulfillment. Make no mistake, this was a good movie by most standards and a very acceptable end to one of the best trilogies thus far. But this didn't feel like a Nolan movie, the trademark cerebral elements were lacking..been traded off for a grander and more visually appealing style of film-making. The action scenes peppered throughout the movie, were expectedly top notch but one couldn't let go off the feeling that they were being built at the expense of the core story, which for most part felt awfully rushed (not the biggest plus in a movie over 160 minutes long). The twists and turns (although plenty) were mostly predictable and even when they occurred didn't do much to alter the direction of the story.
Another sticking point for me was how every character on the screen kept harping about the doomsday being just around the corner and the director trying hard to portray the sense of dread prevalent in Gotham on the audience. But it never really did wash over the audience and for most parts, it was almost as if Batman was just around the corner and would turn up any minute to wrap things up. This in my opinion could be mostly attributed to the lack of a more menacing villain at the helm of things. Quite honestly, few expected Bane (Tom Hardy) to be be able to surpass the madness of Joker but what we got here was a let down by most standards. If the face mask was supposed to be an accessory in intimidation, it had the complete opposite effect. Not only did it hide most of his face hence negating all of his facial expressions, the resulting voice (with his tone being all over the place), was a major distraction as well. So it all came down to his massive build to the do the talking, but alas there were only a couple of scenes where they were put to good use.
As for the performances, newcomer to the franchise Marion Cotillard felt a bit out of place in her role as Miranda Tate, especially towards the end of the film. The other newbie Gordon-Levitt had no such problems though and was solid as the idealist cop with his foot rooted firmly in the batman camp. Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle didn't really have much to do in the film but was solid in the scenes she was in. Bale was at his very best in his dual avatars first as the perennial recluse Wayne and then in the latter parts as the resurgent Batman. The rest of the old brigade as usual delivered standout performances. The secondary cast had a few glitches here and there but nothing major.
Inspite of the above mentioned flaws and in my opinion being the weakest of the dark knight trilogy, TDKR still provides a solid 3 hours of entertainment with some breathtaking set pieces and commendable performances from most of the primary cast. Definitely worth the watch...