Not Even Close To THE DARK KNIGHT

Rating: 6/10 (25 July 2012)

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES is the final installment in the epic Batman trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan.
Expectations were very high, unfortunately, compared to it's own state-of-the-art standard (THE DARK KNIGHT) this movie is a disappointment.
If I would have not known better, I would have guessed that this movie shared the same cinematographer and composer as THE DARK KNIGHT, but a different writer and a different director.
Plot: 8 years have passed since the events of THE DARK KNIGHT, Batman has disappeared. A terrorist called Bane is threatening to destroy Gotham city.
The script is heavily flawed, plagued with plot holes and generic logical errors. Some things are never explained or don't make any sense, not in the Batman universe or any other universe. There is very little to zero character development. I did not care about Bane (main villain) or his motives (what he wants to achieve is actually the status quo beginning of the movie... idiotic), nor did I care about any of the other (new) characters that were introduced in this movie. The Selina Kyle character is interesting but gets sucked into the generic plot like everybody else, although her scenes are the best in the movie. Still, nobody stands out in this movie. It is beyond me how this script passed Nolan's (super high) QA. There are many, many one liners in the dialogue - bad one liners, that the cast can't pull off. With almost no relationship development prior in the movie, all of a sudden - out of the blue - characters get heavily involved with each other. There is one scene between Bruce Wayne and Miranda Tate that just made me laugh. The relationship between Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle is insane. Amateurish.
Obviously the objective here was to bring closure to the story of Batman. Nolan said this movie will deal with PAIN. Well, the final 5 minutes bring some closure and are done well. The 2.30 hours before that are nothing but a generic action plot, with a generic villain and generic characters. Barely any depth or philosophy. This movie is an unnecessary entry in the series, completely irrelevant after THE DARK KNIGHT. It brings nothing to the series that we haven't seen (much better) before, other than an "ending". I personally prefer no "ending" to the Batman story, but if you decide to make one, it has to be much better than this one.
Although the visuals are great, the scale is disappointing. I was hoping for everything to be "bigger and bigger" and that this time entire Gotham city is involved (as they advertised it). Where are the promised large scale sets ? Nothing (or barely any). Lots of shots and set ups were shot in smaller side streets. Mostly close-ups, at best medium shots. There is no grand feeling of mighty Gotham city or any dark atmosphere. A lot of the movie plays during the day (no dark Batman / Gotham city atmosphere). Aerials during the day look like stock footage from NYC. Where is GOTHAM CITY ?
The movie is too long and gets boring at times (same boredom partially experienced in Batman Begins). Pacing is off. Half of the scenes are irrelevant (they add nothing to the already bad plot). Funny enough, lots of scenes are edited very hard. The scenes in itself are (mostly) too long but then towards the end of a scene you will get a very hard cut to the next scene. I thought I was watching an unfinished rough cut straight from Nolan's editing suite. You could easily take 30 mins out of the movie.
Music and soundtrack - Hans Zimmer w/o James Newton Howard this time - is fully recycled from THE DARK KNIGHT. You will recognize the same samples and music scores from THE DARK KNIGHT over and over again. Not a bad thing, that was one of the best OST ever, but I was hoping for something new.
Cinematography is great, action scenes generally speaking are good, but man-to-man combat is average at best. When Bane fights Batman (when they capture him), the fight choreography is just so bad. A mega fight between a super hero and a super villain and it was just so boring. When an action movie does too many close-ups in one-on-one fight scenes, u know they are trying to cover up what would be revealed in a medium or long shot. Close ups in fast moving action also get very confusing as you can't really decipher what is going on, ergo cover up for bad choreography. Not good.
I wonder why this movie ended up being done the way it was done... Maybe Nolan felt there was nothing left to achieve (in the Batman universe) after THE DARK KNIGHT but still had to fulfill his Batman-trilogy-movie-deal with Warner Brothers. Even then, given his expertise, I would have expected a better ending to the epic series.