Spectacular scenes, good acting, real heroes, but flaws and plot holes stop it achieving greatness.

Rating: 7/10 (14 August 2013)

The Dark Night Rises grips the viewer on many levels and appeals as a film to return to. It's success is based on many aspects which combine to make this an overall satisfying end to Nolan's triumphant trilogy (even if it doesn't reach the same heights as The Dark Knight.) Some flaws hinder the film's greatness but these flaws are by and large minor enough (if you let them be) and just about eclipsed by the positives to be of too detrimental damage.
As one would expect, special effects are up to scratch and on the most basic level of thrilling the audience with well filmed fight scenes and pyrotechnics, it succeeds. The reader is never bored despite its length. But the soundtrack, acting and some/most character formation all help elevate the film above and beyond another average action or superhero movie. Oldman and Caine are excellent as usual, Bale continues to play a fantastic Bruce Wayne and Batman, while performances from Gordan-Levitt and Hathaway are equally impressive in breathing new life into traditional Batman characters. Most characters are developed, but not over-developed, and there is never a sense that the director is trying too hard to develop characters. It seems to happen in a natural way which doesn't bog down the plot but enhances it.
The character of Batman/Bruce Wayne is the truest and most inspiring 'superhero' yet to grace the big screen. The fact that he is human, with a human weakness and fragility (Bane is as strong if not stronger than him physically) helps make his sacrifices tug at the emotions of the audience and remind us what a true hero is: Not a mutant with superpowers but an ordinary person doing their best to help others and follow a moral code. Lines such as 'Not everything, not yet' and 'A hero can be anyone, even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a young boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hadn't ended' can make the hair on the back of ones neck stand up. It is the central appeal of the entire trilogy.
The film goes back to its predecessors successfully to remind the viewer that it is a trilogy with one interconnected story. It is, however, not too convoluted or concerned with the past: a good balance is achieved.
The ending is exciting and captivating right until the end and largely satisfying. It could have been more ambiguous, to keep us guessing about the true fate of Bruce Wayne, but the way it was handled was still effective and the score really helps in these final minutes to end the film on a high.
On a negative side, there are plot holes, many of which become more noticeable and damaging upon each new viewing. Some moments make one consciously try to ignore their impossibility and not dwell on them because to do so would allow doubts to creep in over the authenticity of the whole film. For example, the fact that 3000 policemen (almost all except Blake and Commissioner Gordan it seems) are trapped in tunnels for 3 months without escape is difficult to believe, if you allow yourself to think about it. As is the fact that Gothom appears isolated entirely from outside civilisation: There is no action from outside forces or government to protect one of its biggest cities. It seems hard to believe that Miranda Tate would be holed up with Fox for most of the revolution when she is essentially Bane's partner/boss and the angle that fear (no rope) is required for her's and Bruce Wayne's successful jump out of the prison is dramatic stuff but defies the laws of physics, and, lets be honest, the laws of common sense. Many more minor, smaller details and plot gaps appear if you look for them. Such plot holes and question marks don't really reduce the enjoyment, dramatic appeal and sheer spectacle of the film, but they leave some regrets when reflected upon.
Another slight disappointment is the way in which some parts of plot and character are underexposed. For example, we see Bane's initial revolution and all of a sudden it's three months in. The public aren't seen in this film: there is no sense to what life is like in this revolution. All we see is essentially Blake and co. on the streets following the three trucks. It doesn't have the same gripping angle that The Dark Knight had where the audience saw the ordinary citizens, whom Batman is trying to save, in the two boats loaded with explosives. We know what it is Batman is fighting for in The Dark Knight Rises, but we don't really see it.
Although Bane is well acted for much of the film, essentially he is neutralised and demoted to petty villain in the end after playing such a central and menacing role for the most part. It is tough to follow the brilliance of Heath Ledger as the Joker but Tate and Bane don't provide as menacing a presence when their slightly clichéd plan to 'blow up the city' is fully revealed. That, along with the traditional villain characteristic of explaining herself, allowing Gordan to disable the detonator, reduce the impact of the villain. All the energy had been poured into making Bane the bad guy (successfully) but it was undone when they made him little more than hired muscle to the real mastermind who gets killed very soon after (also, her relationship with Wayne is under-developed.)
Comparisons to The Dark Knight are inevitable and overall, I think the Dark Knight Rises matches it in terms of excitement and spectacle but not in terms of greatness. The flaws mentioned above hold it back from being a truly great, even though it has many good points that make it an good, enjoyable film in its own right.