Very Decent End To The Trilogy

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2014)

In this latest Batman movie, Bruce Wayne/Batman has been "retired" ever since taking the blame for what happened 8 years prior. However, it doesn't take long for him to come back out of "retirement" when the latest villain (Bain) turns up wanting to destroy Gotham City.
Bale as Batman, while still quite annoying with his gravely voice (I feel he just tries to be too much like the deep voiced Keaton's Batman) still brings on a great performance. Anna Hathaway was decent as Catwoman, even if she was pretty irritating at times (and, to be honest, I never really had any sympathy for her "poor little female victim" routine), and Tom Hardy as Bain was excellent as well (even if his accent was off-putting).
Now, after reading the above criticisms, you may wonder why I gave it a decent rating. Well, what bumped it up to 4 stars for me was the jaw-dropping visuals, the relentless action (especially in the last hour, hour and a half), and the sheer scale of the movie. When watching The Dark Knight Rises you can really understand why it took a reportedly whopping $250m to make. This is definitely the biggest Batman movie to date, although it's not the best one I have seen as I think, overall, Batman and Batman Returns are the better films.
The Dark Knight Rises definitely ranks up there, though, just behind the two I mentioned and The Dark Knight (Heath Ledgers performance as The Joker is what makes The Dark Knight so good for me). Batman fans will probably love this movie no matter what, but even if you're indifferent to the Batman franchise, The Dark Knight Rises is still definitely worth watching.