It lived up to the hype, but not the way I expected it to

Rating: 9/10 (2 December 2012)

Indeed TDKR is an "Epic conclusion to TDK trilogy". The movie was excellent, just the way I wanted it to be. Did it live up to the hype? Yes. But did it live up to the hype the way I expected it to? No. After watching TDK I had sky high expectations for this movie. While watching TDKR I started to think "This movie is boring", but boy was I wrong.
-Minor spoilers- When the first act was over I though I had enough, and I was starting to enjoy the movie purposely. At this point, one side of me though that this movie is boring, but the other side was trying too hard to enjoy the movie. I was trying to enjoy the movie, when I didn't really want to.
The second act cheered up my mood a bit, because we were starting to get to the point, but again in a slow way. By 1hr and 30 min into the movie the only thing that happened was: All the characters were introduced, and Bane had captured Batman. That's pretty much it.
When we reached the third and final act that's when the movie picked up a BIG notch, and that's when the real stuff started. The suspense was so strong at this point that I couldn't even blink, seriously. When the movie was about to end, I'm like "Is this it"? I didn't know what was coming. There were so many plot twists at the end that I lost count. This act was the "key" to the film.
When I walked out I was blown away. The movie started off slow with quite a few boring parts, but it picked up BIG time, and the movie finished off in a very nice way.
The best things about the movie was character development, suspense, acting, action scenes, cast, direction, etc.
I loved the character development. Especially of Catwomen. She started off as a very clever thief, and trapped Batman in the most impossible situations. Then she went the other way, and helped Batman.
Bane's acting was fantastic. He was very serious, and kept me hanging there. He also had great character development. He started off as a man with a seemingly impossible plan. He carried out his plan, and started to win. He grew more and more powerful and finally fell.
Bruce, and Alfred both were fantastic. Some of the dialogue between the two was very memorable. Alfred's acting and dialogue both were very touching and excellent. He should be nominated for an Oscar.
The action was great. From the football explosion to the fight scenes between Batman and Bane, etc. The best fight was the second find between Batman and Bane. Batman showed Bane who he really is.
The cast was great. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, etc.
One of my major concerns for this movie was Anne Hathway. At first, I thought she was totally going to suck, but I was wrong. She was a very enjoyable character, villain, and thief. This was the exact concern for TDK. Before TDK released back in 08, we all thought Heath Ledger was going to suck, but he delivered one of the best performances of all time. Hathway delivered a pleasant surprise too.
In conclusion, I'll say that this movie starts off slow, and boring, and then turns into something never expected (in a good way). That's what I meant by "It lived up to the hype, but not the way I expected it to". It was very unpredictable. I thought this movie would be a huge let down, but I was wrong. It was amazing. The only bad things were that it was slow, boring at parts, complex, etc. There were a bit too many characters, and near the end there was a lot of things thrown in, which made the plot more complex. But put behind the complexity, and boredom and look at what this movie delivered. It gave us a great plot, cast, twists, action scenes, dialogue, and much more. I was very surprised by this movie. It was a near-perfect movie. TDKR almost matched up to the TDK. It fell short at a few levels, but managed to do so well in many other levels.
In short, very surprised, it's easily the best movie of 2012, and it's one of my Top 10 movies.