An Epic Way to End the Trilogy

Rating: 5/10 (15 August 2012)

Where do I begin?
Well let's start with the Pros,
1. Acting- The performances given by each character was impressive and really made the experience an enjoyable one. I had doubts about Anne Hathaway, but she did a fantastic job of capturing the "Cat Woman" character. Tom Hardy convinced me that he actually killed each person he hit in this movie. Once again we see great things from Joseph Gordon- Levitt in his role as Blake, and in this case "Robin."
2. Backstory- To put it briefly, the overall story introduced Ra's Al Ghul child as the main antagonist, giving sufficient explanation regarding the "let's fukk up Gotham" plan.
3. The Bat- Bruce's latest toy in this movie is a vehicle displaying characteristics of a jet, chopper and a hovercraft, lovingly dubbed The Bat. Whenever I saw this vehicle on screen I smiled because I found it an interesting interpretation of the Bat-Jet, or Bat-Plane.
4. Filmmaking techniques- Everything, from the angles and shots used, to the composition of these shots, was perfect. The movie featured stunning shots of Gotham from a seaward view and within the city itself. Silhouettes are used often but expertly throughout the film.
5. Bane vs Bat- The fight scenes between Bane and Batman are epic; there's a point where Batman manages to move out of the way but Bane continues punching, demolishing a concrete support column.
6. Cooperation, makes it happen- Batman enlists the assistance of several individuals in this film; namely Catwoman and Robin. There's a scene where Bats and Cats are making their way through a series of subterranean tunnels and they simply kick every ass they find using decent teamwork.
7. Feeling- Now this can be seen as an extension of Directing and Acting but Nolan and the actors capture such feeling that I hold on to some scenes more than others. The scene before the all Hell breaks loose, where the boy is singing the National Anthem and Bane says "What a lovely, lovely voice." I was overwhelmed with the feeling Hardy portrayed. I felt like there was a sliver of remorse and at the same time, not at all. This is just one scene but the movie has several.
8. The Ending- Nolan did something that I cannot recall seeing before; he gave Batman a happy ending, and that was well worth sitting through all the cons of this movie.
Now for the Cons,
1. Villain etiquette- Nearly every "bad guy" in this movie used firearms effectively, until Batman shows up. At this point, each gun wielding henchman decides that instead of shooting at Batman, they will try and hit him...with their guns. The two major attacks on Batman were via Bane beating him senseless, breaking his back in the process, and via a small knife. It does not end there though; in the opening scenes of the movie we see Bane at the mercy of...someone. Bane is tied up on a plane, with his captors wielding firearms. So the scene played out like this: Captor: "Bane, I have you tied up on a plane and I could easily shoot you in the face before you break free, but I think I will wait for something to go horribly wrong first!" Of course horrible things follow.
2. Hesitation- This can overlap the point above, but I saw fit to make it a separate point. The main villain, later revealed all Venom style, is holding a knife in Batman's ribcage in one hand and in the other a detonator that will trigger Gotham's destruction. Meanwhile Commissioner Gordon races to disable the detonation trigger on the bomb itself and all the villain does is move their finger over the button repeatedly, this is essentially what ensued: Villain: "I could destroy Gotham right now, but I will monologue a bit and give your friends time to thwart my evil plan! Muhahahaha!"
3. Shitty Cops- When/if you watch this movie you may agree with me in several aspects here, but I refer to one particular incident; failure to shoot Bane. In a grand confrontation, Gotham's entire Police force faces off Bane's army of criminals. As they march toward battle, Bane appears to look at the coming battle, at the top of the fukking stairs. He is in plain sight, yet not one of the 3000+ police officers raises a gun to shoot at him and there are apparently no sharp shooters in the bunch cause not a single officer seems to shoot anyone at all. Instead they run toward the criminals while holding their guns in their hands. The criminals, by the way, are shooting at them the whole time, killing several officers before a massive fist fight breaks out.
4. Predictability- I will avoid spoilers by simply saying "Painfully Predictable."
5. Robin- Once again, I will avoid too much of a spoiler here, but at the very end, if no one got it before, the character known as Blake has his real name revealed to be Robin. Not only is this a cheesy way to reveal a character's identity, there are no Robins (boy wonders) with the name Robin. They could have at least said Grayson, hell I would've been okay with Timmy.
6. War on Terror- This isn't so much a con as it is an observation, but the War on Terrorism theme is continued from the previous film to some extent.
Overall it was a good movie, but it was no where close to the hype that I hear from other fans, and I am a fan of Batman (before I get those in the comments section). The movie was good, with some great scenes, and it was an epic conclusion to this series of Batman films.