A good, if lengthy swansong for Nolan's Batman but doesn't go out with the 'bang' I hoped

Rating: Null/10 (6 September 2012)

... however, third time lucky for the female supporting character in Selina Kyle, who is played surprisingly pitch-perfect by Hathaway. A nuanced anti-hero, she plays her as a complex woman who has rancorous feelings towards the privileged, enjoys the part of her selfish version of Robin Hood and will avert danger if she can but always has an element of redemption just under all the cunning and resentment.
Hardy, who's just been reduced to only conveying emotion through his eyes (as most of his face is covered by a mask),is very good as Bane, but the posh Sean Connery accent (much like the much maligned Batvoice in TDK) is unintentionally amusing at points, like the voice of a Saturday morning cartoon villain.
Bale wavers between being very good (particularly when he's displaying darker emotions) to affected is certain places (in stance and open-mouthed and set jaw looks). Caine does give homilies again(script flaw) but is also notably sympathetic and poignant, Oldman's great and natural as always, Cotillard gives an unctuous performance and Levitt's convincing as, (initially), a rookie cop. Only notably bad acting is near the beginning on the plane from a minor character.
The characters are pretty well-drawn but some of the dialogue, particularly when meant to be funny or important can come across as forced and portentous.
At nearly three hours my legs did nearly go to sleep, yet this film had narrative gaps (despite the generous running time) which was odd. Plot was never dull but it did seem like the last threat to Gotham was a bit over-egged and banal, really even if it did give some good set-pieces. Also, for something as seemingly realistic as this presents itself as being, there was some things that went beyond suspension of disbelief that if it was tonally different wouldn't have bothered me.
It's shot well and looks very good, but the hand-to-hand combat is sometimes torpid, but other action has suitable momentum and excitement and doesn't feel like watching a lagging video.
The score did mostly fit whatever scenes it was enhancing but I felt the previous ones had more impact in some emotional scenes.
Overall: A meandering epic with various characters to juggle, but doesn't quite hit the heights Begins and TDK did due to issues I had with plot contrivances, certain dialogue and maybe a sense of obligation to see the character off that lacked the sense of peril it should've had by Nolan. I suppose not enough felt like it was at stake unlike the other two, personally.
Worthwhile and again the sheer temerity of some of the nihilistic ideas of a revolution are commendable and hardly a terrible end to the trilogy, but I did feel it could've been executed better as a whole.