An amazing experience, and a worthy farewell to an amazing trilogy.

Rating: 10/10 (18 July 2012)

Let me just add, I did have the privilege of watching both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight right before the very first ever screening of The Dark Knight Rises last night and, sitting in front of seat kicking, punch-worthy youngsters didn't stop me from absorbing every last word of incredibly amazing dialog. For those who are expecting the film to end in a bang, it does - it literally does, but first you must endure through six hours of the previous two films no, masterpieces, to be fresh and up to date.
The film was excellently written, better than any other film Nolan has done before. Tying up many loose ends, but that of the Joker, who now is long gone. It also tied in well with the action - one of the rare things that both action and writing can't pull off when they combine: intensity. The action wasn't hard to swallow like say, Transformers, and kept to the point of beating the baddies instead of showing off flexibility. The visual effects were stunning, an honest compliment to the well written screenplay, as well as the visuals of the architecture of many cities that created Gotham. Nolan again, does whatever he can possible, practically. Even if it means building the Bat-wing for real - which is just the coolest vehicle in all the land. An improvement and a homage to the long praised Batmobile - or more likely called, the 'tumbler'. But the 'CGI' is so convincing, you cannot even tell. Bane now has his own custom made tanks. And a few of them, too. Whilst the action and so forth has no trouble what so ever in keeping up with the story, there were a few surprises that call for the 'spoiler alert'...
Don't worry, I won't say anything. The twist in personality traits were actually the knots tying up the first two films i.e, Ra's Al Ghul's "wife and child, who were, taken from me..." and, the occasional question that popped up.. 'Who really is the bad guy, here?' Hanz Zimmer typically returns to score the film - but my word, he brings a total new element to the DKR atmosphere. Chills will ensue when the music swoops, and the drums pound, almost as loud and as traumatizing as his score for 'Inception', which is now mediocre compared to his latest project. Hanz Zimmer fans will not be disappointed. The so called 'chant' we heard in the trailers does make its cameo, being the basis of nearly every musical tune. But not all, keep in mind. There are a few old tracks from TDK, but still none from Batman Begins... Nevertheless, you will forget completely about anything before this movie, that's just how fantastic it is.
To compliment that amount of awe, Tom Hardy's Bane is - really a tour De force. His performance was definitely Oscar worthy, which plays as a real compliment to Heath Ledger's Joker. Every time he speaks... He has a terrifying mechanical aspect to his voice. Anne Hathaway was a major improvement from Halle Berry's Catwoman. Hathaway, instead of throwing smart quotes, and constantly being replaced by a CGI replica, did well in playing both torn between between her own complications and falling for the crippled Bruce Wayne. Batman is crippled along with him. Gordon Levvit is no slouch, either. For those who were wondering, the film's ending doesn't leave you hanging, unlike Nolan's previous work... Although concluding the trilogy, he does leave more for a sequel, but his response to this would probably be something like 'I prefer to leave it up to the imagination of the viewers...' So, okay, it is a bit of a cliff hanger. It was however well deserved, not straying to afar from the previous films, in terms of large-scale. The film's orgasm is probably the greatest of all film sagas