Incredible action and storytelling!

Rating: 10/10 (22 July 2012)

This movie is the epitome of summer blockbuster. That's all I have to say about it. The rest of this review will serve as a direct rebuttal to the negative critic reviews. I understand that reviews are a matter of personal opinion, but honestly, it feels like some critics weren't even watching the same movie. Many said it was overly complex, too many characters were introduced without necessity, that the plot was too convoluted. To that I say, "What, are you infants?" The movie was like a puzzle. Christopher Nolan doesn't give you all the pieces at the beginning, but rather introduces new edge pieces or corner pieces with every action, completing a cohesive whole at the end that feels extremely satisfying and emotional. The plot was not that complicated. It was a little confusing at points, but as I said, it's a puzzle. Not all pieces are clear when they are first introduced, but they are all fitted together in the end. There are no lose ends. All critics wrote about "leaps of faith" in logic. OK, so you are reviewing a movie that poses the question "What if Batman could happen in real life" and you complain that you have to think about various actions more thoroughly than "Oh, I did this for this reason and for that reason, and it all makes sense!" No. There is one part that comes with a leap of faith required, that maybe the filmmaker could have added an extra line of dialogue to make it make sense, but you can fill in the gaps with your own mind to make it satisfying. Critics griped that the movie "tried and failed" to have an emotional impact, and to that I just have to say, "What, are you robot infants?" I don't know how you can go through the movie without feeling all manner of emotions. Watching Bane and Batman fight was far more emotional than it should have been if anyone else had made the movie. My wife put it well when we talked about the movie afterward: "The Dark Knight was profound and moving. This one was moving." This one lacked the impact of certain moments in The Dark Knight, but I felt TDKR mined emotion out of places no one would ever think to look.