The perfect ending to the perfect trilogy.

Rating: 8/10 (21 July 2012)

Christopher Nolan went out with a bag. And I mean a BIG one. "The Dark Knight Rises" met my expectations head on, and blew them up, in a good way. However, the explosion had one spot where it did not meet my expectations. (I will get to that)
The movie was phenomenal. The craftsmanship, the cinematography, everything came together to make the ending of the long awaited final.
When it came to the characters of the movie, yes there were quite a few many new ones. However, being a huge fan of this movie years before it came out, I knew who each of them were already, so it didn't make things too hard to keep up. Christian Bale gave probably his best performance of Batman to date. He gave us a Bruce Wayne, who, though beaten and torn from the horrendous things from the "Dark Knight," rose from the darkness.
Michael Cain also gave us his best performance as Alfred. Every moment he was on the screen, he gave the heart of the movie. Trying to get Bruce to stay in the world and be happy, but not as batman, and not as a hermit.
I could keep going down on how good the performances of the cast were. Gary Oldman was phenomenal. Tom Hardy's Bane, though everyone says is not as good as a villain as the joker, you can't compare the two. Each is very different, and I have to say that I found Bane to be quite frightening and a very good villain. Joseph-Gordon Levitt's new character was one of the best. Every moment they showed of him, you liked him.
Anne Hathaway's Catwoman was also incredibly enjoyable. Not being sexist or anything, but usually when there is a strong female character; she usually is annoying and to the extent, ruins the movie. Catwoman didn't for me. She was cool and fun to watch and her fun relationship with Batman was neat.
Marion Cotillard's character on the other hand, was the reason I did not give this film 10 stars. Miranda Tate is a board member of Wayne Enterprises and her character was just badly written. Marion Cotillard didn't even do a bad job of acting, her part was just either not deep enough, or wasn't put in the right places. It gave be a feeling that wasn't good, and that let me to give the movie 9 stars.
But every movie has something that someone doesn't like. But something to like in this movie was Hans Zimmer's fantastic score. Though it was loud, the louder, the better. His score really lifted up moments, and made others dark and evil. Fabulous job Mr. Zimmer. So in conclusion,
Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" was by far the best film of the year. You will be leaving the theater, thinking the same thing Batman does: Why do we fall? We fall, so we can pick ourselves back up again. Though in my mind it was not perfect a movie, it was the perfect movie for the perfect trilogy. A trilogy that when all three films are one, is the perfect movie.