A Great Way to End the Series

Rating: 9/10 (1 August 2012)

I wasn't sure at first if I was going to see this or not. The Dark Knight left me with such a bad taste in my mouth. The ending made no sense with Batman taking the wrap for Two-Face/Harvey Dent, plus I thought Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was highly overrated. I also read the comments from Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale about not wanting to include Robin in the series, because it would supposedly take away from the dark tone. Obviously neither of them knows the origin of the Robin character, because his origin story is just as dark as Batman's.
All that being said, what turned it around for me was hearing about Christian Bale going on his own to visit the shooting victims in Aurora, Colorado. For him to take time out of his busy schedule to visit those folks in the hospital, makes him a good guy in my book.
The movie itself told a good story, and did their best to try to explain the non-sensical ending of the previous film. I did think it went a little too long, and that they could have probably shaved about 30-45 minutes, and still gotten their point across. It tells the story of Bruce going into seclusion. He is brought back by Selina Kyle/Catwoman who sneaks into Wayne Manor disguised as a maid, and steals his mother's pearl necklace. Then we have the arrival of Bane, and the city in chaos. Commissioner Gordon gets hospitalized, and while there agonizes over whether or not to tell the truth about Batman and Two-Face. Finally, Bruce comes out of retirement, and its on! Bale turned in his best performance, and it helped that this time the focus was more on Batman. Last time, they spent too much time on the Joker. Anne Hathaway made a great Catwoman. I wasn't sure about this when she was first announced, but I was pleased with her performance. Michael Caine, God bless him, in his 70's, and he is still as good as he ever was. I also liked the addition of Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, as Detective John Blake.
I thought I was going to be mad at the end, but luckily they didn't do what I thought they were going to do. That's all I'll say about that.