Solid. Satisfying. But not spectacular.

Rating: 7/10 (8 February 2013)

The Dark Knight Rises had to be stunning and spectacular and brilliant just...because. After a very good start with Batman Begins and a truly magnificent follow-up with The Dark Knight how could Christopher Nolan go wrong? Expectations were off the charts. And those expectations were not quite met. Nolan certainly didn't get it all wrong but he surely didn't get it all right either. There's no way around it, this film is not as good as The Dark Knight. Does that mean it's a total letdown? No, not at all. It just means it is not the glorious triumph everyone expected. It's a satisfying finish to a great trilogy. People were just hoping to be able to use a better word than "satisfying".
So why does this film not measure up to the last one? Well there are a few reasons but one stands out above the rest. It's glaring and obvious and there was nothing Nolan could have done about it. This film misses Heath Ledger's Joker. Bane is an ominous presence. But a rather dull one. And what the heck is he saying anyway? The Joker had a manic intensity to him that this film sorely misses. Stretched out to almost three hours, clearly too long for its own good, this film desperately needed some real jolts along the way. Someone had to grab a hold of the story and shake the audience up. The Joker did that, Bane does not. Yes, Bane is frightening and foreboding and clearly very dangerous. But the personality just isn't there. There's no sense of wonder. The Joker always had you on your toes, what would he do next? Bane never intrigues you that way.
If you miss the Joker it could also be said that this film leaves you missing Batman. Christian Bale is solid as ever in the dual role of Bruce and Bat but in this film he spends very little time in that famous costume. We see an awful lot of Bruce Wayne, very little of Batman. The other familiar faces from the first two films are back. Gary Oldman and Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman doing what they do. New characters? Well, there's Anne Hathaway doing a better than expected job playing Selina Kyle, who's kinda sorta maybe but not really Catwoman. Marion Cotillard plays Miranda Tate, investor in a Wayne Enterprises energy project. This character is woefully underdeveloped which proves to be problematic. Tom Hardy does the best he can with Bane, a very challenging villain to portray. Hidden away behind a mask it's hard to infuse the character with any personality. And again, seriously, what the heck is he saying? And there's Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing young police officer John Blake who knows Bruce Wayne is Batman just...because.
The fact this nobody cop knows Batman's identity is not the only disappointing contrivance required to move the plot along. The location of Bane's lair? Convenient. The entire Gotham police force trapping themselves underground? Very, very convenient. And dumb. And let us not even delve into Bruce Wayne's remarkable healing powers. This is a story which at times really struggles for momentum. With the Joker around lack of energy was never going to be a problem in the last film. Here things really get bogged down on more than one occasion. But while the film certainly has its flaws it does ultimately manage to satisfy. The trilogy gets the big sendoff it deserves. The Dark Knight Rises doesn't reach the spectacular heights of Nolan's last Batman effort so maybe you come away a touch disappointed. But taken on its own merits this is a good film. True greatness may elude it but it is a worthy end to a terrific saga.