Perfect conclusion to Nolan's BATMAN Trilogy

Rating: 9/10 (28 April 2015)

After The Dark Knight, a sequel to both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight was in the works, but had to go through some intense re-writing due to the tragic and unexpected death of Heath Ledger. The Joker was originally scheduled to appear in this film, which is why Batman left him hanging on the building at the end of THE DARK KNIGHT and his fate is left a mystery. The film featured the villains Bane and Selina Kyle / Catwoman and our new heroes, Miranda Tate / Talia al Guhl and John Blake.
The release of this film was widely anticipated by fans and critics and the film received widespread acclaim and was a huge success at the box office, going on to outgross it's predecessor and become the eleventh-highest-grossing film of all time grossing over a billion dollars. The film was titled The Dark Knight Rises and it was released on July 20, 2012.
The story takes place eight years after Harvey Dent's death. Feeling guilty for covering up Dent's crimes, Police Comissioner James Gordon writes a speech confessing the truth, but decides not to use it. Batman has disappeared and Bruce Wayne is in retirement, but he is once again called to become Batman again and faces a new foe: Bane, a powerful villain who breaks Batman's back in the first fight. But he is able to recover after months of re-training and stops Bane from destroying Gotham, who plans to blow up Gotham into ashes. Batman gets help from John Blake, Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Lucius Fox and Miranda Tate and is able to take out Bane.
The story is okay. Christopher Nolan and his brother wrote one hell of a story using inspiration from a few of the comic books. The film's run time is over three hours long (165 minutes) and it is really long and I saw the whole movie, but there's more to this film.
The action is just top-notch and I saw this movie for the first time and I just wanted to cry when Bane hit Batman in the back and also, at the end when Batman died in the explosion, but I found out that he wasn't really dead. The final fight between Batman and Bane at the end of the film was amazing, and to have Catwoman help him was really good.
I think the only main criticism and issue that I have with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is when Batman and Bane first fight. There's no music playing during the film and all you hear is the punches and grunting. Also, the other issue is when Bane breaks Batman's back. I found myself saying, "Why would Bane do such a crazy thing to Batman?" and then I could not come up with a simple answer for the question.
That part was overkill for me because I was expecting Batman to take out Bane easily, but because Bane is more stronger than Batman, he really broke his back and that is the worst thing you can do to Batman.
The acting is okay. Christian Bale makes a final appearance as Batman / Bruce Wayne and he gives a good decent performance. Michael Caine is emotionally powerfully as Alfred Pennyworth. Gary Oldman is great once again as Comissioner James Gordon. Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate / Talia al Guhl was really fun to watch, but when she started acting evil, that is when I said, "Really?". Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, does a decent job as well in this film. Anne Hathaway is hot as Catwoman / Selina Kyle. When I first saw this, I was like, "She's gonna nail this part." And she did.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake is really cool and he plays a great part and gives me one hell of a performance. The last person to mention is Tom Hardy as Bane, and I have to admit, he was confusing to hear talk, because all of his lines of dialogue sound like it was muffled, but I could really hear what he was saying once I saw this for a second time.
The music and visuals are just amazing and fantastic, especially the music composed by Hans Zimmer. I was sad that James Newton Howard did not return with Zimmer to compose the music for this film, but Hans Zimmer did a great job. The visuals are impressive and it was a wise to chose for Nolan to shoot this movie entirely in IMAX.
Overall, with THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, I think it's really cool and I like and hate it at the same time. Christopher Nolan concludes his Batman trilogy with a bang! I give it a 9.3 out of 10, while some of the movie can drag after a few minutes, I still love this movie and Christopher Nolan's trilogy in total. The film is not the best Batman film ever, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse, but it does not become worse. It is definitely one of the best films of 2012 and the second movie based on a DC Comics character to gross over $1 billion worldwide.