Slow beginning, Great ending, but not as good as The Dark Knight

Rating: 7/10 (29 May 2013)

This movie has moments of brilliance and some stellar acting in the personas of Bane, Catwoman and Blake, but unfortunately not in Batman. Keeping the dramatic tension in a 2:45 movie is always difficult, but this one has some really flat spots. Everything between the takeover of the city and the final scenes is confusing, pointless, and a little boring.
**Spoiler** Bane's televised announcement to the city when the prison is blown open and the prisoners released is just meaningless and doesn't link logically to his stated intent of "giving everybody hope" and then later destroying it. Bane is proved to be a highly intelligent and capable leader and strategist, so I'd think he could have come up with something better.
What saved this movie for me were the final 15 minutes and especially the thread left hanging implying Batman survived and the Batcave is rediscovered.