Good. Not great.

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2012)

First the good news. Let me begin by explaining what I liked in this film. This is a very fine movie - no doubt. And it has some incredible cast of actors associated with it, who make it work despite the somewhat cartoonish premise. Christian Bale is simply phenomenal, Anne Hathaway stood out of the other cast of characters by tackling a role that could have easily been hammed up. And Joseph Gordon Levitt is perfectly cast as the subdued but principled cop Blake. There are also a few scenes in the movie that really blow you away, like the return of Batman after 8 years in the streets of Gotham. There are loose ends though. A lot of them. And they made me give this film a rating of "Good. But not great"
First, and foremost - Bane. I had no problems with understanding his dialogues. I however had a lot of difficulty in coming to terms with his plan. What exactly was he feeling? Was he a criminal mastermind, or just a "dog chasing after cars"? There were a couple of moments (the stadium and prison break scenes comes to mind) where Tom Hardy literally hammed it up like anything. Second - Gordon. His character is not as roundly developed as in the other 2 films. He is relegated to a mere sidekick in the later half of the film. Third - Daylight. It makes Batman look like a mad man in a cape. The bulk of the film's action scenes happen in broad daylight. Maybe there is some symbolism here about the rise of Batman, but it makes him look - I don't know - small, battered, thin and a little crazy. Fourth - the Trailers. I think the golden rule for any film's trailer should be to leave out the final third of the movie from the trailers. That way, the audience actually sits back and thinks - "ok. All the scenes from the trailer have gone by. Whatever happens now is uncharted territory". Curiosity stays alive. In this film, I kept remembering - oh they haven't shown that one scene yet. And I could easily guess what was going to happen five minutes later. There is literally no "money shot" from the film that has not already been showed in the theatrical trailers. Not one dialog of Bane that stands out apart from the ones that have been streaming on youtube for months now. Finally, the action scenes. In one word - underwhelming. Be it the one to one fight scenes in the climax, or the truck chase. It was simply frustrating to see such an awesome soundtrack get wasted. Christopher Nolan has handled great action scenes in the past. I don't know what went wrong here. Maybe the editor is to blame?
Now I sound like I am cribbing. I am not. This movie must be seen in the theaters. The way it is wrapped up in the final five minutes is immensely satisfying. There is a lot of talent in this film. But as I said - It is good. Not great.