Impacting as a spectacle but jumps around a bit too much and could have benefit from a bit more focus (MAJOR SPOILERS)

Rating: Null/10 (12 August 2012)

Having enjoyed the previous two films as much as I did, I was looking forward to this film so much that I decided to go to a cinema rather than wait for DVD, despite my general dislike of the multiplex experience. True to form we watched this film in the Odeon with a good handful of people chatting all the way through it and of course one woman who refused to turn her phone off or even onto silent even after it had rung for the third time during the near-silent scene in which Batman flies the nuclear bomb away from Gotham (and the pre-film adverts suggest that it is piracy that is putting people off going to the multiplex). Anyway, despite all this i was still glad to have gone to the cinema to see this as visually it is very impressive and does deserve to be seen on the big screen due to its strength as an out and out spectacle because it does look as good as the previous films.
Unfortunately in many ways DKR is the least of the three Nolan Batman films as it doesn't all deliver as it should. As before the film wears a heavy Gothic air to it that sets it far away from the more cartoony comic book movies and at the start of the film I quite liked that it did seem to take its time and let Wayne's physical and emotional seclusion breathe as a subject. However it is not long before there isn't the material to really support the very serious air and there are times where it feels a little superficial, like it is unable to not take itself so seriously. This gets harder as the film quickly gets to a point where it has very little time to do anything. Character development (beyond that which we already know) is gone, even motivations are skimmed and the story telling has very little room and ends up having plenty of convenience (such as characters finding each other without any logical way of being in the same place so easily) and also scenes without any bridge of any form (scene 1, Bruce Wayne climbs out of a prison somewhere in the world, scene 2, Bruce Wayne is in Gotham and bumps into Selina). None of these were major problems in themselves, but it made the film feel rushed and perhaps a little half done.
As a story it was a little too simplistic and had too much going on; I understand the desire to link everything back to the other films but there are several characters I could have done without. Catwoman is poorly developed while the twist of the villainess at the end not only hurts Bane's standing but also seem unnecessary as an addition. Bane's mission offers much but doesn't have the menace or impact it should have and this also had an impact on him as a character. Bane is physically imposing and smart with it, but he doesn't have the menace that the Joker had in the previous film – OK, this is a comparison that I'm making, but it is hard not to make it while watching. The voice doesn't help as it is sometimes difficult to fully make out what was said, while also being a little comical because he sounds like The Elephant Man. Tom Hardy was the right man for the job though (those who saw him in Bronson know he can fearlessly do chaos and violent threat) but he isn't used as well as he could have been. The rest of the cast are mixed; Bale is good and his Batman voice is less of an issue. Gordon-Levitt helps with the action but his character is poor and he coasts on his own charisma (which is nearly enough). Hathaway is OK but again too superficial. Cotillard rounds out an Inception heavy cast. The smaller roles feature a lot of faces, which at times gets distracting whether it is larger smaller roles (Modine, Freeman) or the smallest ones (him from Dexter, them from The Wire etc).
I have sounded negative here but I did enough DKR as a spectacle of noise and darkness – I liked what it was aiming at and I liked that it fitted into the trilogy thematically. However it is flawed; it has too much to do in too little time and would have been better doing a little less as it would have gotten more from its characters if it had fewer of them. DKR still delivers what the previous films had delivered, but just not as well. Still better than many garish comic book blockbusters, just not as good as the bar it set for itself.