Slow at getting to the point, but a satisfying closure

Rating: 7/10 (15 August 2012)

"The Dark Knight Rises" truly does rise higher than Nolan's previous two Batman film, "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight".
"Batman Begins" was a simple start, with a straight forward yet shallow story.
"The Dark Knight" pushed intensity too far, creating something too dark and depressing, despite an even better story.
And now, "The Dark Knight Rises" comes, which seems to bring both two previous films together as well as a whole new realm on improvement. Never at one point did I loose interest. The film's story was much for thought-out than the two previous films, and, unlike "The Dark Knight", there is justified retaliation which makes you cheer for Batman.
What the film is really about is the last seven minutes, which seems to tie the entire trilogy together and bring it to an end. Although everything before those seven minutes don't necessarily connect with how the story ends, they still tell an interesting tale and should be viewed prior to the ending.
The film starts out rather peaceful, but then begins to take a tremendous drop down into the depths of hopelessness. At one small point you will feel that all is lost, but the ending truly does bring it all right back up and sets everything back to normal.
The performances are fantastic in this one. Tom Hardy as Bane, the new villain, becomes rather memorable, but does not haunt you like The Joker did in "The Dark Knight". Ann Hathaway as Catwomen was certainly the best performance in the film, with Michael Cane showing us even more of Alfred than the previous two films.
I give the film a 7/10. The film lost 3 points as the film really did start to go on for too long without really accomplishing anything. There wasn't really anything too spectacular, but it was, for the most part, entertaining.