The best of the three

Rating: 7/10 (8 June 2014)

I feel The Dark Knight Rises is the best of Nolan's Trilogy in overall entertainment. The hallmark of this series is its dark, gritty realism, at least as realistic as you can get for a superhero movie. I prefer this approach to the semi-goofy style of the 1989-97 series.
Bane's a formidable villain and Anne Hatheway surprisingly plays a good "Catwoman" (I say "surprisingly" only because I thought she has too innocent/sweet of a quality to pull off the role). Also on hand is Marion Cotillard, who's stunning as Miranda Tate, and Joseph Gordon-Levite, who's effective as police officer Blake. Beyond these we get the principal characters/cast of the first two films, minus the Joker and Harvey Dent.
My only beef with this series is that the plots are convoluted and there's an overload of characters, which means you really have to pay attention or you'll get lost in the process. This is never a problem when a story is ultra-compelling, but none of these films are, although "The Dark Knight Rises" is definitely the most compelling of the three. This factor is what keeps this series from being great in my opinion.
But don't take that the wrong way; I'm just being honest. "The Dark Knight Rises" is a quality Batman film.
The film runs 165 minutes and was shot in Pittsburgh (Gotham City), England, Scotland, India, Italy, New York, Newark and California.
GRADE: B+