And Now for Something (Almost) Completely Different

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2012)

I went into this film knowing full well that it wasn't going to be as good as The Dark Knight—how can you match that. And no, if held to the same standard as the previous film, it does fall short. But TDK could never be emulated, and smartly Nolan and Company didn't try to.
Instead what we get is a different kind of film with a different purpose, but one that fits perfectly as the conclusion of one of the greatest trilogies every made. It is an interesting mix of the first two films. There's still the familiar sense of dread and darkness that permeated TDK, but also the romanticism and heroism of the first. And--this is important--there's more Batman.
Well, Batman himself didn't show up nearly as much as my inner geek would want, but the Batman mythology is present in a way not seen since Begins (which you should see before this one). This gives the new film more of a comic book feel, which I appreciated, but also jarring when compared to the hyper-realism that Nolan had created in the second. Part of this may be because the Gotham we see is too real, but the narrative too fantastical—something TDK avoided.
The second thing that kind of bother at me were the political things, which, though well-expressed, seemed superfluous, especially since every character feels the need to give social commentary. At the same time however, the civics of Rises is not nearly as blunt as the psychology we got in TDK. And in truth, so much of the speeches we hear throughout TDKR are more satire than anything else.
What differentiates this film from the other two is that there are very many questions and themes to ponder, so many that they almost weigh the movie down. However there are two main meta-narratives that sort of consolidate everything and are themselves intertwined. First, there is Gotham's story, which explicitly mirrors that of a classic of English literature. Then there is Bruce Wayne/Batman's story. Both the city and it's guardian have grown tired and complacent in the eight years since the conspiracy between Batman and Commissioner Gordon to cover up the truth of Harvey Dent's death and let Batman take the fall. The film begins with the hope that these actions may have saved Gotham, but this turns out to be a false hope. The "Dent Act" did away with most crime, but forgot about the roots of crime--economic inequality. So while the well-to-do have been enjoying their safe city, the poor have been forgotten and the city is rotting from beneath.
Enter the villains, come to take advantage of this ticking time bomb. Bane is a physically intimidating, very intelligent, and yes, at times unintelligible. Yet I found his speech patterns delightfully eccentric. Anne Hathaway is wonderful as Catwoman, lending a charming feminine touch to a trilogy that desperately needed it.
But this film's strongest point is it's hero that must return to confront the forces bent on pushing Gotham over the edge. While the Joker stole the show in TDK, this time the focus turns back to Batman, and more importantly, the man behind the cowl. Bruce Wayne begins the film physically weak and out of touch with reality. But it's his return as Batman, through extreme difficulty, that holds Gotham, and this epic movie together. The stakes become greater than they have ever been, and Gotham's hero must "rise" again. That, along with the political subtext, makes you think of an equally epic graphic novel by Frank Miller.
As a film TDKR is not perfect. Nolan's ambition exceeded what could be compressed in any single film. But while this hurts the movie's quality as a film compared to TDK, the wealth of themes, narrative twists, social commentary, and mythology makes this a movie that requires more than one viewing, and one that while be talked about for quite some time.