Good Movie...But Not A Great One

Rating: Null/10 (29 July 2012)

First of all, I'm a fan of Nolan's films. He sure knows how to make an interesting movie...but I came home last night after watching this film and I was a little bit disappointed.
Some scenes were hits, awesome sequences that awesomed all over the place, but some plot points were clichés: Catwoman turning into a good woman and "unexpectedly" saving Batman during the fight between him and Bane. Batman carrying the bomb and "dying" as a hero...but wait! He's alive! What a shocker!
The performances...
Christian Bale was good. He made a good Batman. Gary Oldman: I can't say anything bad about him. I love Gary Oldman! Michael Caine: This was his movie!! When he told Bruce about Rachel's letter, and when he cried at Bruce's funeral...If Alfred cries, I cry!! Marion Cotillard: She was OK but I don't know. Not my favorite performance. Anne Hathaway: I sorta liked her. I think that she took Selina's way of speaking and walking one step too far. There was a point were I actually told my sister "What is Jessica Rabbit doing in this movie?" Tom Hardy: Good villain. Wouldn't want to get into a fist fight with him. I'm not sure about his voice though. But in the competition for best villain, I'm sorry Hardy, but Ledger takes the cake. And I know that I shouldn't try to compare TDKR with TDK but I can't help it. (Nobody can)
I felt that some parts of the dialog were a little bit corny. I don't know if the lines were corny or the actors were corny. But seriously, some lines could've been spoken by Horatio from CSI Miami. Also the story about how Ra's Al Ghul met Talia's mother and how she was born on "hell on Earth" was a little bit cheesy, like some kind of fairytale or tragedy that 13 year old girls love. And what's up with Robin? I think that the way he found out that Bruce was Batman was lame. I don't know. Him being Robin undermined the dark tone of the trilogy that we loved.
But don't get the wrong idea. Don't say that I'm a Batman hater because I'm not. I'm just saying that Nolan had raised the bar so high. I think that TDK was a huge success because the plots were unexpected: You didn't expect Rachel to die or Gotham hating Batman who ends up being a fugitive while the villain Dent is praised. You got chills when the Joker blew up the hospital, his voice and twisted way to control everyone like puppets and making them go crazy gave you goose bumps... and that's were TDKR fails.
So, to sum it all up. This movie is good, but not excellent, and although I will miss Nolan's Batman, my favorite Batman movie will not be this one. Instead I'll take TDK anytime, because I think that deep down we all like the tragedy, we all like the unconventional hero with a gray moral compass.