'Remember when you left Gotham? Before all this, before Batman?'

Rating: 8/10 (5 December 2012)

Christopher Nolan strikes again. Perhaps this is the final segment of the ongoing Batman epic, and if so it is going out with a big bang. The film lasts around 2 1/2 long hours but is packed with action and a continuing storyline that basically stays on line for the most part. The special effects are fine and the cast is huge.
Without summarizing the plot, we meet a physically and emotionally broken Bruce Wayne aka Batman (Christian Bale who despite his apparent physical limitations still maintains a hunky buff body - that is, the little bit that we see of him in this incarnation), grieving over his lost love form the previous episode, and disappearing form the public spotlight. Even his trusty allies Alfred (Michael Caine) and Fox (Morgan Freeman) fear for his welfare. But trouble arrives in the personage of Bane (Tom Hardy, completely unrecognizable in a funky mask) who is out to destroy all Gotham policemen and Batman. The good guys are Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) and officer Blake (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who stay in the fray despite the appearance of the vicious Selina (Anne Hathaway, who practically steals the show) and her associate Jen (Juno Temple). The supposed savior of the mess Wayne that has allowed to disintegrate as his foundation is a society dame named Miranda (Marion Cotillard), but of course she has other plans. The plan to destroy Gotham is planned by Bane and his associates and the rest is the long long long finale.
The cast includes many bit parts for some fine actors such as Matthew Modine, Alon Aboutboul, Ben Mendelsohn , Daniel Sunjata, Nestor Carbonell, William Devane, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy, Tom Conti, and Desmond Harrington among MANY others. The writing is fairly well done and does leave the end as either a farewell or a jumping off for yet another installment. Entertaining but a bit long and oblique.
Grady Harp