The best movie of the year (but that's not saying much)!

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2013)

In 2008, when I walked out of the theatre after seeing THE DARK KNIGHT I could not believe what I had just seen. Heath Ledger's acting, the music, the acting, the unexpected plot twists and that final scene summed up to make it one of the best movies ever. When the teasers and trailers for THE DARK KNIGHT RISES were released all I could think about was, what could beat that?
Sadly, nothing could beat the brilliance of that movie and Christopher Nolan created a film that was solely dependant on the events of THE DARK KNIGHT. This resulted in (for the first two hours of the movie) every Christian Bale scene having some sort of link to Rachel's death or Batman's inability to fight. This presents us with a superhero movie without a superhero. This is the movie's biggest problem but also it's greatest asset.
There is very little action until the last 45 minutes but this gives the movie more time to explore it's characters. It feels like the movie tries to understand characters like Catwoman, Blake and Miranda Tate more than the Dark Knight. I must say that I loved Ann Hathaway's, Joseph Gordon-Levitt's and Marion Cotillard's acting in this movie, they shine.
Christopher Nolan should have given the people watching the movie more action in the first two acts because in the end I didn't feel any sort of sense of good vs. evil, the ultimate showdown to save Gotham. It just felt kinda random. That said the one sole thing that stood out in this movie for me was it's sound. The sound really captivates you and makes you feel the tension and the emotions better. This should definitely have won the Oscar for Best Sound.
Overall, its a great movie but don't watch it expecting to see a repeat of THE DARK KNIGHT, watch it expecting to see a great conclusion to one of the best movie trilogies ever. Most importantly, watch it expecting to see THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.