Satisfying, it not somewhat of a letdown

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2012)

Before I get down-voted because I'm not giving 'The Dark Knight Rises' a 10 (the trend most of the users on her seem to be following), I'll list the numbers of things I really enjoyed about the film, and there were plenty.
-The cast Nolan's able to put together to end his trilogy is really something to marvel at. From the veterans of the series (Bale, Freeman, Caine, Oldman) to the new faces (Gordon-Levitt, Cotillard, Hathway, Hardy) each bring their all to their characters, even if a few are somewhat undeveloped (more on that later).
-Action scenes. 'Batman Begins,' while I admire it for it's first look at the gritty take to the comic formula, had some incredible poor and incomprehensible fight scenes, where it was unclear how who punching what or what was happening. In 'The Dark Knight,' the scenes were much more clear, a big improvement. Here, the fighting scenes are at their best. When Baine and Batman throw down, it's some of the most intense fight scenes I've seen in a long time.
-Huge setpieces. I could say that about all of these movies, but in this film especially. Gotham City is beautifully recognized. It's always great to see a huge place like this down naturally, never been plagued by artificial CGI (Nolan uses as little as possible.) Not to mention the number of extras, which number in the thousands.
-The ending. Even if it jumps the shark, the ending to Nolan's epic trilogy is overall fulfilling. Fans of the series won't be disappointed, even if the casual might
Not that that's out of the way, the problems I had with the film. . .
-Bane's voice. When we first meet Bane, on a plane, his voice was nearly unbearable. It sounded like something a ten-year-old would do when playing with audio effects on his computer. The dialogue didn't help, as he spewed out clunky one-liners. Here was Bane, with his terrifying appearance,sounding like a cartoon. It did improve over the ocurse of the movie, but the first introduction to the character was something I almost couldn't shake off.
-Too many character introductions. Maybe this is a criticism of the whole trilogy, but I'll have to put the blame on this one. Too many characters are brought in, with their developments feeling rushed. It almost appears like Nolan adds these new additions to the script at the last minute.
For the most part, the good outweighs the bad. It's a very entertaining film and, as far as summer blockbusters, it's definitely worth the price of admission.
7/10