Rise of an Overrated Movie Franchise

Rating: 7/10 (20 September 2012)

I personally liked both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, but they weren't amazing, like everyone else said. They're both worthy of a 7/10. Good movies. So as you probably can tell, I wasn't as excited for The Dark Knight Rises as other people were.
I can honestly say that The Dark Knight Rises is the best Batman movie I've seen. Even better than Batman & Robin, which used to be my favorite before this (I don't care what anybody says, that movie is hilarious and heart-warming). The reason for this is because it's much more epic and emotional.
I am a very sentimental person. I am the kind of guy that wouldn't hide a lump in my throat or a tear in my eye. But that doesn't mean I cry at movies often. And before you think I'm gonna praise this movie and say it reaches new standards for superhero movies on an emotional level, you can put those hopes to the test (or whatever's the opposite of "rest"). This movie didn't make me cry or anything, but I got to say that the scenes with Alfred were pretty darn powerful at times. My friend, who is a huge Batman fan, and loved this movie to death, cried. Lucky.
The biggest problem with the movie is that it can't decide whether it's a Batman movie or a crime drama. Both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight had this problem also, but Rises shows it the most. Batman is not even in the middle part, which is extremely disappointing. The only Batman-related thing we have left for the middle part is Bane as the menacing terrorist holding speeches. Bane is what saved the movie. If he wasn't in it, it would've been boring.
Bane is not as good as Joker, but he is more in this movie than Joker was in The Dark Knight (or at least that's what it felt like). He also had this awesome mechanical voice.
Pretty much the best part about this movie is the ending. The ending leaves for a lot of speculation, and it's pretty darn touching as well.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Dark Knight Rises. It's still an overrated movie, but at least I enjoyed it more than I did with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, movies that I felt were too boring and hard to watch at times, due to most of the action scenes taking place in dark tunnels and allies. It's definitely a bit dumb, considering how seriously it takes itself, but if you can look past that, you'll have a good time.