I was really disappointed by The Dark Knight Rises

Rating: 4/10 (2 January 2013)

I was disappointed by The Dark Knight Rises. Honestly, I thought it was very amateur. And I thought the initial idea behind it was pretty flimsy.
First of all, I think Bane is a very poor choice of villain. Not that Bane isn't a good character. I don't think he was right for this movie. I'll admit, I prefer it when Bane is more bestial and animalistic, and completely hyped up on army drugs. But, that's just a Batman fan nit-picking. Even if I set aside my pet peeves and personal preferences, I can name at least five Gotham villains better-suited to top off this trilogy then Bane (I'm quite partial to Harley Quinn or Deathstroke.) I just don't think Bane was right for it. He just doesn't have zazz. He's got no flare, he's not that menacing, and he didn't have what it takes to end this trilogy with a bang. Not to mention, in the last few seconds of the film he was demoted from boss to henchman. He was a poor choice. Especially as a follow-up for Heath Ledger's Joker. Granted, Ledger isn't the best Joker out there, but he was the only thing holding The Dark Knight together, and put on a very good performance. He was going to be a tough villain to show-up. And Bane was not the villain to do it.
And then there was Catwoman. I was so disappointed about Catwoman. But it wasn't Anne Hathaway's fault. She did justice to Selina Kyle. I was sad she didn't get more screen time. But the limited screen time isn't my beef with Nolan (that's another bone to pick altogether), it was how Catwoman was written. The animal-loving, over-the-top environmentalist aspect of Catwoman's character was virtually non-existent, although that's basically been erased over the years. But even through the bad writing, Anne Hathaway managed to deliver a satisfactory performance (although I wasn't too fond of her costume.) But what annoyed me was the role Catwoman had. She was reduced to little but a no-name half-assed love interest with no major impact on the plot. The only thing that made her memorable was her actor and the fact that she's CATWOMAN. Had it been some randomly-generated love interest, it would've made no difference. The Catwoman aspect just wasn't there. She didn't swoop in and rescue Batman. She watched from the sidelines, occasionally decided to interfere here and there, but did basically nothing. There was no Catwoman in this movie.
There were so many unnecessary plot twists in this movie. I was vividly reminded of Steven Moffat's take on Doctor Who because of them. That's no compliment. Poor characterisation, cramped dialogue, too-fast plot, and most notably, inexplicable, unnecessary, ridiculous plot twists that leave your head wheeling. I think a good plot twist is one that clicks. One that makes you go, 'Oooh! So that's why this happened and that's why he acted this way!'. A good plot twist needs hints leading up to it and shouldn't leave your viewer feeling like they need a moment or two to figure out what's going on. Well, I needed a whole half hour and second viewing to finally make sense of Nolan's film. That's not a good plot twist.
The Miranda Tate plot twist—pointless, unneeded, headache-invoking. It's only real impact is the devaluing of Bane as a villain. Seeing as his character barely stands as it is, this definitely did not play to Nolan's favour. The Alfred leaving plot twist—not as bad, still unneeded, corny, but all the strings were in the right place. I liked the feeling that everything about Bruce Wayne was falling apart. I didn't like the sap-filled dialogue and dream sequence. Although it acts as an emotional trigger, it wasn't that relevant. There was no aftermath of Alfred's departure apart from an errant comment here or there, and a few sap-pumped scenes from Alfred's perspective. Although not a plot twist, Bruce Wayne making the leap—rife with plot holes, although the set-up was nice. Although we all knew that Bruce was going to make that jump, my fingernails were digging into my palms as he scaled the wall. But it's the events directly after and leading up to that scene that bugs me. Nolan is so often praised for how realistic his version of Batman is, that I found nothing but irony in the fact that Bruce was able to recover from a misplaced vertebrae by damaging his body further, and the fact that he was able to magically teleport from a prison in the middle of nowhere to Gotham City, just as it's about to be blown to smithereens. Nice realism, Nolan.
And then there was the story line. Two words. Batman Begins. This entire film was déjà vu. It's just Batman Begins revamped. Usually I could forgive that but—wait, they're part of the same trilogy and made by the same person? Not only was it Batman Begins .02, the plot progression was predictable and see-through. But plot predictability isn't always a bad thing. But I feel like Nolan tried to make up for this transparency by tossing in those terrible plot twists I mentioned before, giving us all a tumour in the process.
All in all, I was merely disappointed by this film. I don't hate it. But I was excepting so much more. And Nolan failed to meet expectations. As a comic book adaptation, this movie was no good. As a standalone film, this movie was no good. As a political movie, this movie was no good. To polish off a trilogy, this film is acceptable, but not ideal. All in all, as a movie, this is no good. As a wrap up? A thorough meh. Nothing more than eye-candy and a sleeping pill in one. But as a movie? No good. On an off note, I liked Bane's voice. Oddly enough that was a point of irritation for others as pessimistic as I was about this movie.