The final chapter of a great trilogy

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2012)

Warning - Spoilers Below!
I was looking forward to seeing this movie ever since "The Dark Knight" ended. After seeing the 2nd film, I told myself the 3rd one may not top the 2nd, but may be just as good. Unfortunately, I felt disappointed after the first time I saw The Dark Knight Rises. I didn't want to write a review until I saw it once more and had a definite opinion of the film.
After seeing it again, I felt better but still did not think it was as good as the 2nd. The reason why is because I feel the movie could've been better without Catwoman. It's not that I didn't like Hathaway's performance, she did a great job. I just never liked the character overall. She may have saved Batman in the end, in more ways than one, but I feel other characters could've done the same job (such as Blake or Gordon). In fact, it would've been better if Blake saved Batman from Bane in the end since Blake is accepting the role of Batman now.
The character of John Blake was absolutely phenomenal. I had a feeling he would help Gordon throughout the film, but then I slowly started to realize that he would be Batman's predecessor.
The character of Bane was great, as well. Great choice by Nolan and writers. I feel he lived up to the hype as being physically superior, and quite possibly, mentally superior to Batman/Bruce Wayne. The only flaw was that Bane's lines weren't always crystal clear. Also, I still didn't understand why Ra's Al Ghul saw absolute evil in him, kicked him out of League of Shadows, yet Bane tried to execute Ghul's plan by destroying Gotham. Ghul wanted Gotham to suffer and perish, just as Bane did. So where was the differntiation?
The Bat wasn't too realistic either. I understand it was a critical component in the ending since it got the A-Bomb out of the city in just the nick of time, but the whole build and operation just seemed a bit much to believe.
Overall, my rating is an 8/10. The Dark Knight was absolutely fantastic, Batman Begins was terrific as well. My ranking of the trilogy: The Dark Knight, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight Rises