Batman is great but this is over hyped

Rating: 5/10 (24 July 2012)

Batman has always been my favourite superhero and I thought that the first two movies in this franchise were very good. It was almost a shock to me then that when I finished watching 'The Dark Knight Rises' I felt a sense of disappointment. All of the reviews I had read or heard rated this as a brilliant movie but unfortunately for me, it didn't impress me anywhere near as much as I thought it would and obviously I need to explain why;
THE BAD; Despite a pretty good opening section, the movie took too long to get going and I actually felt bored at some points. The movie is too long, definitely. At least twenty minutes could be trimmed from this. Catwoman. I love her character but I couldn't even see why she had to be in this movie and a couple of her scenes with Batman were cringe worthy. She should have had a Batman movie where she was the main villain and this felt like padding to me. I wasn't 100% convinced that Anne Hathaway was right for the part, she was OK but that's about all. I see that plenty of reviewer's here have singled her for praise but she isn't at the top of my Catwoman list, that's for sure. I also didn't think that the relationship between Batman and Catwoman worked particularly well, indeed it's the least convincing I have seen and I include the Adam West version in that statement! A couple of scenes featuring Alfred and Batman were cheesy to say the least and not that brilliantly acted.
THE GOOD; The closing forty minutes or so were very well done and quite gripping. The twist towards the end was good and I didn't see it coming. The acting is generally good especially from Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy and Christian Bale. Some of the settings look fabulous and the music fits the mood perfectly.
'The Dark Knight Rises' isn't a bad movie but it isn't a great one either. I fully expect to get ripped to pieces for this review but it is honest and I still think that 'Batman Begins' is the best of the three.