The Dark Knight Rises is the film event of the year

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2012)

This review is spoiler free.
There are so few films that conclude a story right. The very few I can think of are The Return of the King, Toy Story 3, Back to the Future Part 3, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Return of the Jedi. I am very glad to add The Dark Knight Rises to the list. The reason the final Harry Potter film is not on that list, is because after watching both parts of the final film in a row, they feel uneven when viewed together and the second part grows weak after multiple viewings. The Dark Knight Rises is what the final Potter should have been like.
I usually try not to get too excited for a film. In this day and age, a movie theater is mostly full of disappointment. But this was different. I am a Batman fanatic. I always loved him as a kid and Batman Begins opened up a whole new world for me to dwell in. He is my favorite fictional hero of all time. So after four years of waiting for this, I am so happy that this truly is the ending this series deserved.
I am not going to reveal plot details. Like most of Christopher Nolan's films, the less you know going in, the better. Like Nolan's other films, the cast is fantastic. Christian Bale gives his best performance of the series as Bruce Wayne and Batman. Michael Caine returns as Alfred, who will break your heart in one scene. Gary Oldman is still great as Commissioner Gordon, who has had an excellent character arc in this series. The new characters are all awesome. Tom Hardy as Bane is one of the best villain performances I've seen in a long time. His master plan made my jaw drop. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays John Blake, one of the few good cops left in Gotham. Marion Cotillard does well as supporting character, Miranda Tate. She is not given a lot of screen time, but she is definitely not a throw away character. My favorite of the newcomers is Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman. She is perfect in this role. I thought she really did the character justice and I think she's the best on screen Catwoman yet.
The technical aspects of the film are flawless, like the previous two films. The cinematography is incredible. If you can, see this film in IMAX. There is about an hour of the film in the format and it looks stunning. The action is spectacular and never overdone. The visual effects are truly incredible. I am so glad that Christopher Nolan prefers practical effects over CGI. The opening sequence is perhaps one of the most exciting stunts ever put on film. And the fact that they really did it, is amazing. Hans Zimmer's score is beautiful and really adds that extra level of excitement to the film. Even though James Newton Howard doesn't contribute to the score for this film, Zimmer has proved to be a really talented composer.
I think Christopher Nolan made the right choice to tell his Batman story in three parts. Looking back on the first two films after seeing this, it really is a solid beginning, middle and end. After seeing the Dark Knight, as much as I wanted to see a finale to the story, I was so unsure of how they could possibly end these films right. Luckily, Nolan is one of the best directors today and he has certainly given us an ending of epic proportions. It's the best film series since The Lord of the Rings. The Dark Knight Rises is not just another summer movie. It is an event and you should definitely take part in it. I doubt we will see anything this spectacular in film for a long time.