I kept my expectations low which helped this movie rise.

Rating: 10/10 (24 July 2012)

I went to see this film with low expectations and the film far exceeded them. It is a nice trick I learned, helped me enjoy The Amazing Spider-man more too. I just knew this film was not going to be as good as the second film and I thought it would be to long and there would be other problems with the plot. I still like the second one best, but this one was really good too. As you can see I gave all three in the trilogy 10's which will bring upon the hatred of people who for this or that reason did not like the Nolan films. I do not really understand those who liked the first two films not liking this one as it plays out in the same way, it is not vastly different in the least. It also seemed a lot shorter than its long running time suggested it would. I was hooked the entire time, I cannot believe how many said this film was boring. To each their own, I know for reasons unknown there was this war between all the comic book films released this summer, each claiming their movie was going to be superior, being a fan of comics I enjoyed all three a whole lot. Honestly, I do not get a dime from these films so the only reason I would care about the box office is for two of the films to have sequels green lighted. This one though is the finale, so this one's take means nothing to me. Its enjoyment value to me does and it did not disappoint in that regard.
The story has Gotham basically at peace. Thanks to Batman taking the fall for Harvey Dent, most of Gotham's criminals are locked away in prison. Commissioner Gordon regrets letting Batman take the fall, and it is clearly eating away at him to the point he keeps a speech where he will reveal the truth to Gotham, but he just cannot bring himself to do that. Instead he praises each day the man who tried to take his son's life. Bruce has become a recluse, his days as Batman now seemingly gone. He is consumed by thoughts of Rachel and is unable to move on. However, Selena Kyle steals a necklace and his fingerprints and this sparks a bit of life in him and a terrorist named Bane brings back the bat. Things will get much worse though before this criminal can be taken care of as Gotham will be pushed to the very brink of annihilation by Bane, who has secrets he keeps in the shadows.
Once again the cast is superb, I enjoyed the portrayals of Catwoman and Bane in this film. I do not understand why so many complain of Anne's Catwoman, I thought it was the cutest one yet. Well I will say she and Lee Merriwether from the 60's are tied. I just thought Michelle Phifer's was to pale and Halle Berry's to much like a stripper. Granted, attractiveness is all a matter of taste, so I will not begrudge people who they thought was the best. I will say though I did like the fact that here Catwoman is just a cat burglar as I believe that is more in the lines with the comics. Bane was also done well, as he may not be getting steroids pumped into him, Nolan was still able to give him the same basic weakness as the Bane from the comics. I also liked how he was able to make Bane look as if he towered over Batman, yet I believe Bale is actually taller than Hardy. All the rest of the cast is great two, but I mainly wanted to go over the two villains. Most of the others are characters we have seen before. Though there was an interesting addition of a young cop that played out nicely for me.
Nolan nearly did the entire movie right, at least in my eyes. There were a couple of areas that could have been improved upon, but in this I may just be nitpicking. I would of liked some mention of the Joker in this one. It could of been the clown prince of crime caused this or something simple. I understand perfectly why no one was recast in the role, but why make no mention of the Joker at all? Granted, this is not the issue I expected it to be as the way scenes played out there was no need to mention him, I just think it would be cool if they did mention Batman's greatest nemesis. My guess is if Heath Ledger did not die, he would of been in this movie as there are story arc's with Joker and Bane in the comics, usually with the Joker getting pulverized. The ending to the film seems to be up for debate too, for whatever reasons I am not sure. It is an 'is he' or 'isn't he' type thing. Me I think it was pretty clear what occurred and the ones thinking hallucination are just looking to much into it, however, it does not hurt anything if this is what they believe and if they enjoy making these theories more power to them. I liked the way it ended though, as there was so much pain and tragedy that it was nice to see some happiness finally come to the character.
So I did enjoy this film a lot and I did like the entire trilogy. It was nice to have a comic book series where the third film was not significantly weaker than the second movie. Like I stated above, the main reason I preferred the second one this time was a preference to the villains...they are my two favorites. This one though ended the story bringing it to a nice close as the Dark Knight indeed did rise.